Foundation Annual Reports

ACHELIS AND BODMAN FOUNDATIONS

767 Third Avenue, Fourth Floor
New York, N.Y. 10017-2023
(212) 644-0322
http://www.foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/achelis-bodman

Purpose and areas of support: The Achelis Foundation was established in 1940 and endowed by Elisabeth Achelis, whose father, Fritz Achelis, founded the American Hard Rubber Company.

The foundation supports organizations primarily in New York City, where Miss Achelis lived for more than 70 years.

The Bodman Foundation was established in 1945 by George M. Bodman, a banker, and his wife, Louise Clarke Bodman. Although it primarily supports organizations in New York City, it occasionally supports projects in northern New Jersey, including Monmouth County, where the Bodmans had a home.

Both foundations were administered by Morris & McVeigh LLP, in New York, until 1975, when they became affiliated, establishing a shared staff and Board of Trustees.

Both funds make grants in the following program areas: arts and culture; education and school reform; entrepreneurship and employment; the environment and conservation; family preservation and civil society; health, rehabilitation, and biomedical research; volunteerism and philanthropy; and youth services.

Within these areas, special consideration is given to programs that foster self-help and character development, parental involvement, consumer choice, economic empowerment, faith-based efforts, the institution of marriage, and “two-parent intact families.” The funds also favor programs that incorporate prevention and early intervention, independent research, and the measurement of project and client outcomes.

Education-related grants emphasize support for charter schools, the restructuring of public schools, and school vouchers and choice, but also support projects on adult literacy and curriculum development.

Employment and entrepreneurship grants support job placement for homeless individuals, programs that examine the effectiveness of welfare restructuring, welfare-to-work programs, and other projects.

The Achelis Foundation awarded grants totaling $2,130,000 in 2000 and $1,738,500 in 2001. Allocations included $50,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City for a juvenile-justice mentoring program, and $50,000 to the National Audubon Society of New York, in Albany, to establish a new nature center in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

Grants from the Bodman Foundation totaled $3,770,000 in 2000 and $3,505,000 in 2001. They included $50,000 to the New Jersey Family Policy Council, in Parsippany, for programs on marriage, fatherhood, and youths, and $30,000 to the Oasis Foundation, in Paterson, N.J., for computer education and job training for disadvantaged women.

Application procedure: Proposals should be mailed to Joseph S. Dolan, executive director, at the address above. Applications may be submitted at any time during the year.

The funds’ trustees meet three times a year to review proposals, and generally do not support the same organization or program on a continuing annual basis.

Additional information and proposal guidelines are available at the foundations’ Web site.

Key officials: Joseph S. Dolan, executive director; John B. Krieger, program officer; Russell P. Pennoyer, president, Board of Trustees; John N. Irwin III, chairman and treasurer, Board of Trustees.

THE ARCA FOUNDATION

1308 19th Street, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20036(202) 822-9191http://www.arcafoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1952 as the Nancy Reynolds Bagley Foundation by Nancy Susan Reynolds, who was the daughter of the tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds. In 1968 she changed the foundation’s name; “arca” is the Latin word for “treasure” and the Italian word for “ark.”

The foundation makes grants to U.S. organizations working in two major areas — domestic policy and foreign policy.

Domestic-policy grants focus on campaign reform, social change, and philanthropy.

Foreign-policy grants emphasize primarily U.S. relations with Latin American countries, especially Cuba, and various other topics, including human and labor rights, immigration and asylum seekers, public policy, and women’s leadership.

Domestic-policy grants made in 2001 included $25,000 to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, in Washington, to coordinate strategies among state groups working on death-penalty issues, and $25,000 to the Farm Worker Association of Florida, in Apopka, to strengthen the leadership skills of Haitian and Latino farm workers.

Foreign-policy grants included $40,000 to the Center for Constitutional Rights, in New York, to provide legal advice and representation to people traveling or considering traveling to Cuba, and $40,000 to the International Women Judges Foundation, in Washington, to train judges in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Panama in the application of international and regional human-rights law.

Application procedure: Proposals should be sent to Donna F. Edwards, executive director, and must be received by September 1 for consideration at a December board meeting, and by March 1 for consideration at a June meeting.

The foundation no longer accepts unsolicited proposals for its program on campaign reform. It does not support scholarships, scholarly research, individuals, government programs, capital or endowment projects, or organizations outside the United States.

Additional information, including more-detailed proposal guidelines, is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Donna F. Edwards, executive director; Bernadette Roberts, program associate; Smith Bagley, president, Board of Directors.

OTTO BREMER FOUNDATION

445 Minnesota Street, Suite 2000
St. Paul, Minn. 55101-2107
(651) 227-8036
http://www.ottobremer.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1944 by Otto Bremer, a German immigrant to Minnesota who worked his way up from bookkeeper to chairman of the American National Bank.

The foundation seeks to promote and protect human rights and to “create opportunities for social and economic justice” in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and, to a lesser extent, in Montana.

Most of the foundation’s assets are invested in the Bremer Financial Corporation, a bank and holding company with offices throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, and many of the grants it makes are to organizations in the largely rural areas served by the corporation.

In 2001, the foundation made distributions totaling $21,521,430 as follows: general grants received $13,203,537; program-related investments, $4,441,000; organizational-effectiveness grants, $2,460,593; shelter and housing, $1,256,300; and “program initiative,” $160,000.

The foundation made 732 grants; they varied in size from $1,500 to $200,000 and averaged $23,334.

General awards included $50,000 to the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, for Girls BEST, an economic-education program for girls, and $5,000 to Bottineau Public School District, in North Dakota, for a center for teenagers.

Grants for organizational effectiveness included $20,000 to the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project, in Minneapolis, for evaluation, planning, and restructuring, and $20,000 to African American Relief and Development Initiatives, in Minneapolis, for a technical-assistance program that provides support to nonprofit groups led by African-Americans.

Housing-related grants included $10,000 to Northwest Homes of Wisconsin, in Amery, to assist elderly and low-income people with home repairs, and $10,000 to Ain Dah Yung Center, in St. Paul, an emergency shelter for American Indian youths.

Program-related investments included $500,000 to enable the West Side Health Clinic, which primarily serves Latino residents of St. Paul’s East Side, to expand its services.

Application procedure: Applications are accepted throughout the year. Only organizations in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, or Wisconsin are eligible. The foundation awards a very small number of grants to groups in Montana. Additional information, including more-detailed application guidelines, is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: John Kostishack, executive director; Mark Lindberg, Karen Starr, and Elsa Vega-Perez, senior program officers; Lynda Marrone, grants manager; Charlotte S. Johnson, William H. Lipschultz, and Daniel C. Reardon, trustees.