Foundation Annual Reports

MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION
1300 Dexter Avenue North, Suite 115
Seattle, Wash. 98109-3576
(206) 691-3134
http://www.caseygrants.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: In 1948, Marguerite Casey and her three brothers established the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in Baltimore. In 1966, Jim Casey, one of the brothers and the founder of United Parcel Service (UPS), created Casey Family Programs, a foundation in the family’s hometown of Seattle that focuses on improving foster-care systems. The Marguerite Casey Foundation was established in October 2001 by Casey Family Programs to expand its work in the child-welfare field.

The foundation makes grants for projects that engage disadvantaged families — including parents, caregivers, and youths — in enhancing their living and economic conditions and becoming strong advocates for improved child services within public systems. Grant making emphasizes three categories: education, advocacy, and activism. The foundation’s demographic focus is on low-income families and youths, rural and urban minority communities, and children, adolescents, and young adults ages 6 to 24.

While the financial data above reflect calendar-year activities, the narrative portion of the foundation’s annual report covers the period from January 2002 through August 2003. Since December 2002, when the foundation began making grants on a large scale, it has allocated funds totaling $41-million to more than 150 organizations. With a few exceptions, the foundation focuses on four U.S. regions: the West, with an emphasis on California and Washington State; the Southwest and the U.S.-Mexico border; the Deep South; and the Midwest, with an initial emphasis on Illinois.

Grants in the education category support community-based groups that provide needy families with information and training in early-childhood development, financial management, health and nutrition, housing, and related topics. For example, the Louisiana Children’s Museum, in New Orleans, received a two-year, $150,-000 grant to expand the Healthy Lifestyle Choices program, which reaches out to low-income families with children.

Advocacy grants focus on community organizations that actively engage families in learning how to better navigate the child-welfare, educational, judicial, and other public systems that affect their well-being. Awards included $150,000 over three years to the American Friends Service Committee, in Pasadena, Calif., to support organizing, monitoring, and advocacy activities related to immigrant rights and to protect immigrant families from unlawful abuse in the U.S.-Mexican border region.

Grants in the activism category support the involvement of low-income families in shaping public policies and laws that govern child care, criminal justice, education, health care, taxation, and other germane issues.

Application procedure: The foundation does not accept unsolicited grant proposals or letters of intent. Questions may be sent electronically to info@caseygrants.org. The foundation does not provide support for individuals, capital campaigns or fund-raising drives, endowments, litigation, religious activities, or the production of films or videotapes.

Key officials: Luz A. Vega-Marquis, president and chief executive officer; Beth Rosales, director of programs; Thomas G. David, director of organizational learning and evaluation; David Brotherton, director of communications; Cynthia Renfro, program officer; Clay Atkins, grants administrator; Ruth W. Massinga, chair of the Board of Directors.

EL POMAR FOUNDATION

10 Lake Circle
Colorado Springs, Colo. 80906
(719) 633-7733
http://www.elpomar.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1937 through an initial gift by Spencer Penrose and his wife, Julia. Mr. Penrose amassed a fortune in gold and copper mining and founded the Utah Copper Company, which was subsequently acquired by the Kennecott Utah Copper Company. Following the death of Mr. Penrose in 1939, the foundation received a large portion of his estate, and received additional funds upon the death of Mrs. Penrose in 1956.

The foundation’s grant making is limited to grants for Colorado organizations and for activities that take place in and benefit residents of Colorado. The fund’s name means “the orchard” in Spanish, a reference to the apple orchards surrounding Penrose House, the couple’s Colorado Springs home.

In 2002, the foundation approved grants totaling $10,803,712 in these program areas: the arts and humanities, which received $3,560,000; education, $2,972,600; human services, $2,106,329; civic and community affairs, $1,136,-500; health, $644,950; and other, $383,333.

Grant making for the arts and humanities was considerably higher than last year’s allocations, which totaled approximately $1-million. The foundation made two large commitments: $1.7-million to the Denver Art Museum, for a new building, and $666,667 to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, for the El Pomar Space Activity Center.

Education-related grants included $136,000 to the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region, in Colorado Springs, for the Adventures in Learning program, and $25,000 to the Ridgway Public Library to construct a new facility for that town.

Human-services grants emphasized support for Latinos and other minority groups, at-risk children and families, the elderly and disabled, employment and training, homelessness and housing, and domestic-violence and substance-abuse prevention and treatment. For example, Urban Peak, in Denver, received $25,000 for services for homeless youths in Colorado Springs, and the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, in Denver, received $10,000 for programs in southern Colorado.

In addition to its direct grant making, the foundation administers several programs that honor Colorado residents and involve them in community service and nonprofit activities, including El Pomar Youth in Community Services, the Colorado Leadership Alliance, the El Pomar Fellowships, the Nonprofit Leadership Program, the Awards for Excellence, and the El Pomar Nonprofit Resource Center.

When devastating wildfires affected the state in June 2002, the foundation’s Wild Lands Fire Fund provided resources to volunteer fire departments in the communities in peril. All told, the foundation and 389 donors provided nearly $2-million to 170 Colorado fire agencies.

Penrose House is a villa built in the Spanish Mission Revival style; the foundation provides the house and its extensive grounds at no cost as a site for conferences and educational programs run by nonprofit groups and government agencies.

Application procedure: Applicant organizations must be based in Colorado and classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Additional information and program-specific application requirements are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: William J. Hybl, chairman and chief executive officer; R. Thayer Tutt Jr., president and chief investment officer; Robert J. Hilbert, secretary, treasurer, and senior vice president, administration; David J. Palenchar, senior vice president, operations; Susan S. Woodward, vice president, Penrose House and Awards for Excellence; Kristin H. Donovan, associate vice president, grant making and communications; Theophilus D. Gregory, associate vice president, outreach; Kathleen B. Rader, associate vice president, operating programs and staff recruitment; Mary Rose Taylor, grants administrator; Kent O. Olin, chairman, Executive Committee.

TRIANGLE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
4813 Emperor Boulevard, Suite 130
Durham, N.C. 27703
(919) 474-8370
http://www.trianglecf.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2003.

Grants, philanthropic services,& special projects 8.2

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was created in 1983 by George H. Hitchings, a Nobel Prize laureate who served as president of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, in Research Triangle Park, N.C., from 1974 to 1990.

The foundation makes grants primarily to benefit residents of North Carolina’s Chatham, Dur-ham, Orange, and Wake Counties, including the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. It comprises approximately 550 donor-advised, field-of-interest, unrestricted, designated, and agency funds.

During its fiscal year 2003, the foundation allocated more than 1,900 grants totaling approximately $8.3-million. Grant making emphasized the following program areas: the arts, culture, and humanities; children and youths; civil rights, social action, and advocacy; community relations; education; the environment; health and human services; and religion.

Awards included $10,000 to Friends of the Carrboro Library, $8,900 to Urban Ministries of Durham, and $5,500 to the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill.

The foundation administers various scholarship funds, including the Native American Health Education Fund and the Alpha Phi Alpha African-American Scholarship Endowment Fund.

In November 2002, the foundation introduced Philanthropy Central, an online tool available at its Web site that contains profiles of hundreds of nonprofit organizations and matches potential donors with groups and projects that suit their interests. Donors contributed more than $875,000 through Philanthropy Central during the foundation’s fiscal year 2003.

The foundation is a member of the Catalyst Project, a coalition of corporate, foundation, and private representatives working to triple the overall philanthropic resources of Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties from approximately $1-billion to $3-billion over 20 years.

Application procedure: Potential grantees are strongly encouraged to visit the foundation’s Web site in order to complete an “impact profile” that provides information about the grant seeker’s organization, the demographic and program areas it serves, and specific projects that require funding. This information is shared with the foundation’s constituent funds and with other philanthropists via the foundation’s Philanthropy Central online tool. Organizations that complete a profile are also eligible to receive appropriate requests for proposals. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Shannon E. St. John, president; Steve Michalak, vice president of finance and operations; Beverley Francis, director of philanthropic services; Jodi Hubble, director of communications; Fred S. Stang, director of development; Fred D. Hutchison, chair of the Board of Directors.