Foundation Annual Reports

THE DANA FOUNDATION

745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 900
New York, N.Y. 10151
(212) 223-4040
http://www.dana.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1950 by Charles A. Dana, a New York State legislator and industrialist who died in 1975. Its grant making focuses on science, health, and education.

During the 1990s, science and health grants focused on brain research, but recently expanded to include immunology. Foundation programs primarily support competitive clinical hypotheses programs in the areas of immunology, brain imaging, and brain-heart interaction, as well as the pilot testing of experimental and innovative ideas that have the potential to advance clinical applications. The foundation also supports the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, in New York, which received $3,342,377 in 2001 for its campaign to educate the public on advances in neuroscience research.

The foundation supports an invitational program that awards grants for research designed to improve immune-system responses to biological agents. Another area of emerging interest is the field of “neuroethics,” and awards in that area included $1,875,000 to the Science Museum, in London, to construct a center that will focus on the ethical dimensions of scientific advances.

Education grants currently emphasize a new field of interest: programs that foster improved teaching of the performing arts in public schools and children’s related cognitive development. The initial round of grants went to five arts groups in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington that work to help children discover and develop their talents in dance, music, and theater. For example, Arts Connection, in New York, received $61,500 for a research-and-evaluation project studying how children learn through the arts and how understanding of the process can enhance teaching methods.

The foundation also awarded $700,000 to the U. of Texas at Austin for the Dana Center for Educational Innovation. That grant built upon the foundation’s previous emphasis on improving the teaching of mathematics, reading, and science.

The Dana Press, publisher for the Dana Foundation and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, produces periodicals, special publications, and books in the field of health, particularly brain research. Most publications are available free of charge and may also be read on the foundation’s Web site.

Application procedure: For science and health grants, requests for proposals for most clinical hypotheses programs are sent to the deans of U.S. schools of medicine and public health and other invited institutions. The foundation also makes a few grants for adjunct clinical studies. All other grants for science and health are made solely by invitation. The foundation makes no grants directly to individuals, does not support annual operating budgets of organizations, and does not schedule meetings with applicants other than by specific invitation. Grants made under the education program are meant to benefit schools and school systems nationwide, but they are ordinarily not made directly to individual schools. Additional information on the foundation’s grant-making priorities and guidelines may be found at its Web site.

Key officials: Edward F. Rover, president; Francis Harper, executive vice president; Barbara E. Gill, vice president for public affairs and executive director, Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives; Burton M. Mirsky, vice president for finance; Jane Nevins, vice president and editor in chief, the Dana Press; Barbara Rich, vice president and director, news and Internet office; William Safire, chairman of the Board of Directors.

LILLY ENDOWMENT

2801 North Meridian Street
P.O. Box 88068
Indianapolis, Ind. 46208-0068
(317) 924-5471

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Three members of the Lilly family endowed the foundation in 1937 through gifts of stock in their Indianapolis pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although Eli Lilly stock remains the most significant component of the endowment’s financial portfolio, the foundation is not affiliated with the company and maintains a distinct governing board, staff, and headquarters.

The endowment distributes grants in three broad programs: community development, education, and religion. It also places special emphasis on programs that benefit young people and that promote leadership education and financial stability at nonprofit institutions.

In 2001 the endowment approved grants totaling $777-million to 722 grantees, 251 of which were first-time Lilly grantees. Those funds were distributed as follows: community development received $343.4 million, or 44.2 percent of the total; education, $300.5-million, or 38.7 percent; and religion, $133.1-million, or 17.1 percent.

As in recent years, the endowment concentrated its grant making on Indianapolis and Marion County and on other Indiana locations. Of total grant dollars approved, $613.6-million, or 79 percent, went to programs in the state. The vast majority of the remaining 21 percent of grant dollars approved were for programs elsewhere in the United States. The endowment’s work in religion and leadership education is national in scope.

Under its community-development division, the endowment continued its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative, approving nearly $190-million in operating support and challenge grants for community foundations in Indiana. Other grants included $15-million to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to develop a major dinosaur exhibit; $10.4-million to the Indiana Symphony Society, in Indianapolis, for music-education projects, capital improvements, and capital-campaign costs; and $25.3-million to the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, in Indianapolis, for a capital campaign to expand its downtown Central Library.

Grants approved under the endowment’s education and youth division included awards to many school districts and public and private schools in Indiana to encourage them to achieve higher distinction. The endowment also made grants to several Indiana colleges and universities for self-evaluation programs to help them determine and learn from their best and worst practices and for research and leadership development in education.

Under its ongoing Community Alliances to Promote Education (CAPE) initiative, the endowment approved grants totaling $116.4-million to numerous Indiana communities. By year’s end, 44 of Indiana’s 92 counties had assessed their most compelling educational needs and planned strategies to meet those needs.

Other education awards included 113 grants totaling nearly $800,000 for organizations planning summer activities for youths; $4.8-million to the Indiana Youth Institute, in Indianapolis, for general operating support; $20-million to DePauw University, in Greencastle, Ill., for a comprehensive technology-education program for students, faculty members, and others; and $25.6-million to the Purdue Research Foundation, in West Lafayette, for the Purdue Discovery Park, a center for research, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Under its religion and leadership-education division, the endowment made awards totaling $56.8-million to 35 U.S. colleges and universities to establish theological vocational exploration programs, which encourage students to take their religious values into consideration when choosing a career, and to explore the ministry as a possible vocation. Other allocations included $2.2-million to the Fund for Theological Education, in Atlanta, for a pilot program for congregation-based pastoral leadership recruitment, and nearly $7-million to Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Mich., for a national program on ecumenical worship.

Application procedure: Organizations with projects that fit the endowment’s guidelines — which are available upon request but are not yet online — may submit a preliminary letter of two pages or less with information about the organization, the project, and the amount of money requested. The endowment responds to all preliminary inquiries and will request a full proposal from those groups whose projects it feels warrant further consideration. The grant-review process takes between three and six months, and all applicants receive written notification of the endowment’s decisions.

Key officials: N. Clay Robbins, president; Sara B. Cobb, vice president for education; Craig Dykstra, vice president for religion; William M. Goodwin, vice president for community development; David D. Biber, secretary and treasurer; Thomas M. Lofton, chairman of the Board of Directors.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

Route 1 and College Road East
P.O. Box 2316
Princeton, N.J. 08543-2316
(609) 452-8701
http://www.rwjf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1936 by Robert Wood Johnson (1898-1968), whose father had incorporated the Johnson & Johnson health-supplies company in 1887. Although the fund’s grant-making emphasis was initially local, it became national in scope in 1972 when Mr. Johnson left the bulk of his estate to the foundation.

Following the reorganization of its programs in 1999, the foundation makes grants in two main categories: health and health care. Grants awarded under the health category seek to decrease the number of Americans who use tobacco; to reduce the negative health and social consequences of alcohol and drug abuse; to increase the adoption of healthy behaviors, especially physical activity; to strengthen family health through supportive relationships and community resources; and to promote leadership and resources leading to health improvements. Grants made under the health-care category aim to increase the number of Americans with health insurance; to improve access to health care for underserved population groups; to reduce the gap between what is known and what is practiced with regard to chronic disease; to develop and strengthen community-based long-term care; and to increase the number of Americans who receive high-quality palliative-care services at the end of life.

In 2001, the foundation approved 1,023 grants totaling $487.7-million, $188.7-million more than in 2000, and awarded an additional $54.8-million in program contracts and related activities. Grant funds were allocated as follows: $156.1-million, or 28 percent of grant dollars, for programs related to substance abuse; $112.4-million, or 20 percent, for a new program on health and well-being; $93.2-million, or 17 percent, for programs to expand health-care access; $98.0-million, or 17 percent, for programs on chronic health conditions; $54.1 million, or 10 percent, for other health and health-care programs; and $47.4-million, or 8 percent, for general philanthropy projects primarily in or near New Brunswick, N.J., where the foundation originated.

Under its new program on health and well-being, the foundation makes grants to prevent disease, promote physical activity, and help middle-aged and elderly people sustain their vitality and productivity. For example, AARP (the American Association of Retired Persons), in Washington, received $4.3-million over four years to promote increased activity levels among adults 50 and older.

The access program seeks to ensure that all Americans can obtain basic health care at a reasonable cost by building support for expanded public and private health-care options, making enrollment in public health-coverage programs easier, and supporting efforts by individual states to develop and test new programs. For example, the foundation made a four-year, $950,000 grant to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, in Little Rock, to increase the number of children and adults who are benefiting from federal and state health-care coverage.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants in two ways: through competitive national programs, in which it issues a call for proposals or invitational announcements, and through awards made in response to unsolicited proposals that address the foundation’s goals and interest areas.

Applicants for unsolicited projects should submit a letter of inquiry of five pages or less on the institution’s letterhead. Proposal letters should be sent by mail or fax to the director of the office of proposal management, or by e-mail to proposals@rwjf.org. The foundation’s Web site provides additional, up-to-date information about its grant-making guidelines and priorities.

Key officials: Steven A. Schroeder, president and chief executive officer; Lewis G. Sandy, executive vice president; Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey, senior vice president and director, health care group; J. Michael McGinnis, senior vice president and director, health group; David J. Morse, vice president for communications; J. Warren Wood III, vice president, general counsel, and secretary; Peter Goodwin, vice president and treasurer; Robert G. Hughes, Doriane C. Miller, Paul S. Jellinek, Nancy J. Kaufman, vice presidents; Richard J. Toth, director, office of proposal management; James R. Knickman, vice president for evaluation and research; John D. Gilliam, chief investment officer; Robert E. Campbell, chairman of the Board of Trustees.