Foundation Annual Reports

FORD FOUNDATION

320 East 43rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
(212) 573-5000
http://www.fordfound.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: Founded in 1936 by Henry and Edsel Ford, the foundation operated only in Michigan until 1950, when it expanded its grant making to include national and international interests. In addition to its headquarters in New York, the foundation now maintains offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Russia. As of December 2002, it was the third largest foundation in the United States, with assets surpassed only by those of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lilly Endowment.

The foundation makes grants in three broad areas: asset building and community development, which comprises community and resource development as well as economic development; knowledge, creativity, and freedom, which comprises the education, sexuality, and religion program and the media, arts, and culture program; and peace and social justice, which includes governance and civil society and human rights.

In 2002 the foundation reorganized its grant-making programs in reproductive health and human sexuality. Grants in this area are now made through the three broad areas described above, and the program unit formerly dedicated to education, knowledge, and religion is now called education, sexuality, and religion. Also, grants for international cooperation are now made by the governance and civil-society unit.

In fiscal 2002, the foundation approved grants and program-related investments totaling $557.7-million, primarily among the seven program units as follows: human rights and international cooperation received $103.6-million; governance and civil society, $87.3-million; education, knowledge, and religion, $87.0-million; community and resource development, $71.9-million; human development and reproductive health, $62.7-million; economic development, $62.3-million; and media, arts, and culture, $52.1-million. The foundation also approved $17.6-million for “foundationwide actions” and $700,000 for “good neighbor” grants, which support activities in neighborhoods near the foundation’s New York City headquarters and its offices in countries outside the United States. Sixteen percent of all organizations that received support in fiscal 2002 were first-time grantees.

The program unit on human rights promotes access to justice and the protection of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, especially for the most vulnerable people in the United States and elsewhere. Grants are made to organizations that focus on advocacy, research, and education. The unit also supports programs — including international collaborations — that combat racism, sexism, and xenophobia.

Grants for governance and civil society focus on improving the performance of governments; increasing public awareness of budget and tax issues; managing the international economy and challenges that arise from governmental decentralization; conflict mediation and prevention; promoting social justice and equality; and changing the U.S. election process and laws on raising money for political campaigns. Recent areas of emphasis include strengthening philanthropic institutions that support social-justice causes and helping international coalitions work to solve societal problems.

The unit on education, sexuality, and religion supports education-overhaul efforts, higher education, and scholarships; education and policies concerning human sexuality and its relationship to culture, religion, and identity; and the role of religion in strengthening cultural values and social practices that promote cooperation, democracy, equity, and justice. The unit emphasizes issues of gender, identity, pluralism, and social change.

Community and resource-development grants support efforts to purchase, protect, and sustain natural resources in ways that help reduce poverty and injustice. The program also promotes community-based institutions that work to improve the quality of life in rural and urban areas by encouraging philanthropy and the investment of capital, human, and natural resources in ways that do not harm the environment. The grants also seek to improve the lives of needy people by helping them develop job skills and earn adequate wages, and by helping them acquire and maintain savings, investments, businesses, homes, and other assets.

The unit on media, arts, and culture focuses on artistic creativity and resources; increasing public access to arts programs; “free and responsible” information media that focus on important civil and social issues; and policy, democracy, and pluralism.

In 2000, the foundation made a one-time commitment of $280-million over 10 years to start the International Fellowship program, which provides scholarships for graduate study to people from regions outside the United States where the foundation has offices.

Application procedure: Applicants should first submit a brief letter of inquiry. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Susan V. Berresford, president; Barron M. Tenny, executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel; Barry D. Gaberman, senior vice president; Alison R. Bernstein, vice president, knowledge, creativity, and freedom; Melvin L. Oliver, vice president, asset building and community development; Bradford K. Smith, vice president, peace and social justice; Linda B. Strumpf, vice president and chief investment officer; Alexander W. Wilde, vice president for communications; Paul A. Allaire, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors: Frank F. DeGiovanni, economic development; Cynthia M. Duncan, community and resource development; Michael A. Edwards, governance and civil society; Alan Jenkins, human rights; Janice Petrovich, education, sexuality, and religion; Margaret B. Wilkerson, media, arts, and culture.

PUBLIC WELFARE FOUNDATION
1200 U Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-4443
(202) 965-1800
http://www.publicwelfare.org

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1947 by Charles Edward Marsh, a newspaper publisher. He endowed the fund by donating three Southern daily newspapers — The Gadsden Times, The Spartanburg Herald & Journal, and The Tuscaloosa News — that were sold in 1985 to the New York Times Company.

In fiscal 2002, the foundation approved grants in the following program areas: the environment, which received 48 grants totaling $3,380,000; population and reproductive health, 63 grants totaling $3,058,500; health, 41 grants totaling $2,660,000; human rights and global security, 65 grants totaling $2,386,000; community economic development and participation, 46 grants totaling $2,270,000; disadvantaged youths, 34 grants totaling $1,492,500; criminal justice, 31 grants totaling $1,467,500; disadvantaged elderly, 8 grants totaling $660,000; and special opportunities, 11 grants totaling $695,000. The foundation also made several grants to organizations recommended by its trustees and made awards for technology assistance and projects focusing on changing federal and state welfare systems.

Seventy-one percent of grants were made for general support. Although most of its grants go to groups in the United States, the foundation has no geographic limitations and does make a limited number of international grants.

Environmental grants focus on advocacy and policy change, sustainable development, and technical assistance and other support for grass-roots groups. For example, the Farmworker Association of Florida, in Apopka, received $40,000 for a project to teach agricultural workers about the dangers of pesticides and to advocate safer working conditions.

Grants for population and reproductive health support AIDS prevention, education, and advocacy; and programs for reproductive health and rights, including projects on issues that directly affect teenagers.

The health program emphasizes health advocacy, access to health-care services, and changes in the health-care system; hunger and nutrition; mental-health advocacy and services; occupational health and safety; and preventive and primary health services.

Grants for human rights and global security seek to counter hate-motivated activities and discrimination; to help immigrants and refugees; to promote international human rights; and to prevent the use and spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The program for community economic development and participation emphasizes advocacy and policy change; technical and other support for grass-roots and local nonprofit groups; and assistance to low-wage workers.

Grants for disadvantaged youths focus on advocacy and policy change; early intervention that assists children in at-risk families; teenage parents and their children; and youth leadership.

Application procedure: Initial requests for first-time support and for projects that have not received recent support from the foundation should come in the form of a letter of inquiry. Instructions for writing letters of inquiry and detailed information on grant-making priorities are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Larry Kressley, executive director; Phillipa P. Taylor, chief financial and administrative officer; Abdillahi S. Alawy, evaluation director; Millie Brobston, program officer for community economic development and participation; Adisa Douglas, program officer for population and reproductive health; Teresa Langston, program officer for health and disadvantaged elderly; Midge Taylor, program officer for environment; Charisse M. Williams, program officer for criminal justice and disadvantaged youths; Joe Wilson, program officer for human rights and global security; Kimberly J. Villa, manager of investments; June P. Drew, grants manager; Thomas J. Scanlon, chairman of the Board of Directors.

ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

420 Fifth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10018-2702
(212) 869-8500
http://www.rockfound.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The industrialist John D. Rockefeller incorporated the foundation in 1913. Its grant making is organized around four major themes: creativity and culture, food security, health equity, and working communities. Under a fifth “cross theme,” global inclusion, the foundation seeks to identify emerging trends while also supplementing the work conducted under its other themes. The foundation also supports several regional and special programs, including the Africa regional program, the Southeast Asia regional program, communications for social change, public-private partnerships, and global philanthropy.

During 2002 the foundation awarded fellowships and made grants and program investments totaling $140,572,000, which were distributed as follows: the working-communities program received $31,205,000; health equity, $29,672,000; food security, $26,500,000; creativity and culture, $19,165,000; regional programs, $13,077,000; global inclusion, $12,047,000; special programs, $6,556,000; and program investments, $2,350,000.

Grants for working communities aim to make poor urban neighborhoods safe and healthy environments by increasing the quantity and quality of jobs, improving city schools, and ensuring that disadvantaged people are engaged in democracy and social change. For example, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, in Milwaukee, received $300,000 for a project to improve educational opportunities for children from low- and middle-income families in Wisconsin by providing resources to schools and encouraging parental involvement.

Health-equity grants are aimed at reducing “avoidable and unfair” differences in the health status of people around the world, including by preventing and treating diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The program also seeks to improve health care in impoverished regions by supporting skills training for health professionals and high-quality information management. For example, the Ministry of Information and Culture of Laos, in Vientiane, received $43,610 to study the social impact of increased mobility in regions of the country that border China and Myanmar, and its implications for increased HIV transmission and substance abuse.

Grants for food security support the development of agricultural technologies, institutions, and policies that result in improved nutrition for people living in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. One grant recipient, the Sustainable Agricultural Centre for Research and Development in Africa, in Bungoma, Kenya, received $169,871 for on-farm testing of technologies to improve soil-fertility management in western Kenya.

Grants for creativity and culture support the preservation and renewal of the cultural heritages of disadvantaged people; the engagement of artists in the creation and maintenance of democratic and inclusive societies; and the support of diverse creative expression through the performing arts and through digital and other new-media technologies. For example, the Asia Society, in New York, received $100,000 for an exhibition, “Through Afghan Eyes: A Culture in Conflict, 1987-1992,” and related public programs.

The Africa regional program aims to revitalize the African continent by strengthening human resources and institutions, and by disseminating information that promotes policies and programs that benefit poor people. The Southeast Asia regional program focuses on bolstering economic development, reducing ethnic tensions, and solving other problems related to inequitable development in the Greater Mekong region. For example, the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, in Phnom Penh, received $100,000 for a collaborative research project by groups in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand, and Vietnam examining the efficiency of marketing, internal trade, and export in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

Grants for global inclusion seek to increase the benefits and reduce the negative effects of globalization on vulnerable people around the world.

Application procedure: The foundation strongly discourages unsolicited grant proposals. Organizations seeking funding for projects that conform to the foundation’s strategic interests should send a letter of inquiry to the director of the relevant subject area. Additional information, including detailed guidelines on submitting a letter of inquiry, are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Gordon Conway, president; Lynda Mullen, corporate secretary; Robert Herdt, vice president; Julia Lopez, vice president and acting director, creativity and culture; Denise Gray-Felder, vice president for administration and communication; Charles Lang, comptroller; Donna Dean, treasurer and chief investment officer; James F. Orr III, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors and managers: Tim Evans, health equity; Janet Maughan, global inclusion; Gary Toenniessen, food security; Darren Walker, working communities.