Foundation Annual Reports

BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND
P.O. Box 13901
Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709
(919) 991-5100
http://www.bwfund.org

Period covered: Year ending August 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was created in 1955 as the corporate foundation of the Burroughs Wellcome Company, the U.S. affiliate of the England-based Wellcome pharmaceutical corporation. In 1993, the fund received a $400-million gift from the Wellcome Trust, which had been established in 1936 through the will of Henry Wellcome, one of the company’s founders. The fund subsequently became an independent entity, and is not affiliated with GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical giant created in 2000 when Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged, or with any other corporation.

Broadly stated, the fund seeks to advance the biomedical sciences by supporting research and other pertinent scientific and educational activities. It has two primary goals: helping scientists who are at an early stage of their careers develop as independent researchers, and promoting fields in the basic biomedical sciences that the fund deems “undervalued or in need of particular encouragement.”

The fund allocates approximately 90 percent of its grant dollars through five major competitive, peer-reviewed award programs. To complement these programs, the fund also makes some ad hoc grants to nonprofit groups for more-general scientific activities. In fiscal year 2003, the fund appropriated grants totaling $22,211,459 through the following programs: basic biomedical sciences, which received $8,226,386; translational research, $5,136,612; infectious diseases, $3,678,500; “interfaces in science,” $3,632,000; science education, $1,257,911; and science and philanthropy, $280,050.

Most grant dollars expended through the basic biomedical-sciences program support “career awards,” each of which provides $500,000 over five years to a physician-scientist during his or her advanced postdoctoral training and initial stint as a faculty member. During its 2003 fiscal year, the fund made 13 such awards from a pool of approximately 175 applicants from the United States and Canada.

The foundation’s translational-research program supports mid-career, independent physician-scientists who are “capable of translating basic science insights into clinical application[s], and translating clinical questions back into hypotheses that can be explored in the laboratory.” Under this program, the fund approved multiyear awards of $750,000 each to six recipients, whose areas of interest include chemotherapy and stem-cell transplantation with regard to leukemia, and new approaches to inhibiting the replication of HIV.

In 2000, the fund folded its five separate infectious-disease programs into a single program that focuses solely on investigating the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. Awards included $80,000 to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, for a researcher’s work to identify human genes associated with hepatitis B outcomes.

Application procedure: Most of the fund’s award programs are open only to citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada. Most grants are made to degree-granting institutions on behalf of individual researchers, who must be nominated by their institution. Government agencies are generally not eligible. In addition, the fund does not support activities that are primarily clinical in nature — such as disease diagnosis and treatment — or primarily related to health care and health-care policy. The fund also does not generally support research projects or other activities outside its competitive programs or provide support for endowments, fund-raising campaigns, ordinary operating expenses, capital facilities, equipment, or publications. Additional information, including the deadlines for the fund’s individual award programs, is available on the fund’s Web site.

Key officials: Enriqueta C. Bond, president; Scott G. Schoedler, vice president, finance; Martin Ionescu-Pioggia, Victoria P. McGovern, and Nancy S. Sung, senior program officers; D. Carr Thompson, senior program and communications officer; Mirinda J. Kossoff, communications officer.

PENINSULA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

1700 South El Camino Real
Suite 300
San Mateo, Calif. 94402
(650) 358-9369
http://www.pcf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: Established in 1964, this community foundation makes discretionary, donor-advised, and other types of grants to benefit residents of California’s San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. It administers approximately 550 charitable funds established by individuals, families, corporations, and nonprofit groups.

In 2002, the foundation allocated grants totaling $62-million, including discretionary grants totaling $6-million from its Community Endowment Fund. Discretionary grant making stresses eight program areas: arts and culture, children from birth through age 5, community development and leadership, the environment, families, health and wellness, school-based and out-of-school activities, and strengthening local nonprofit groups. Geographically, grants are made to programs that benefit residents of the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley, specifically from Daly City in the north through Mountain View in the south.

The foundation made a $250,000 grant — the largest single grant ever approved through its Community Endowment Fund — to San Mateo County to provide universal health and dental care to children living in the county.

In May 2002, the foundation created the Safety Net Fund in order to assist food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics, and other organizations that are facing economic shortfalls in tandem with increases in client volume. Recipients included the Daly City Youth Health Center, the Mental Health Association of San Mateo County, and the South San Francisco Food Pantry.

Other discretionary grants included $15,500 to Aspira Foster and Family Services, in Daly City, to enable siblings separated by foster-care placements to attend summer camp together, and $10,000 to the Latino Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, in San Mateo, for general operating support.

The Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families is a joint effort by public and private organizations to improve the well-being of children in San Mateo County who are 8 and younger. Initiated in 1993 by the foundation and San Mateo County, the partnership focuses on ensuring that children are prepared to attend kindergarten, strengthening parents’ child-rearing skills, and supporting early-childhood literacy, family-counseling, mentorship, and tutoring activities.

The foundation also administers several special funds, including the Neighborhood Grants Program, the Emerging Arts Fund, the Peninsula Artists Fund, and the Peninsula Faiths Partnership.

The foundation’s Center for Venture Philanthropy continued its mobile Venture Vans program, which highlighted various community issues, including the need to preserve the San Francisco Bay ecosystem and the important role of the arts in schools.

Application procedure: Nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or that hold comparable status, are eligible to apply for grants made through the Community Endowment Fund. Programs must serve residents of California’s San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. The foundation’s special funds each have a separate application process. Detailed information, including guidelines for submitting grant proposals, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Sterling Speirn, president; Vera Bennett, vice president, finance and administration; Ellen Clear, vice president, community programs; Marilyn Merz, vice president, organizational resources; Ash McNeely, vice president, philanthropic services; Erica Wood, executive director, Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families; Carol Welsh Gray, executive director, the Center for Venture Philanthropy; Kaarin Knudson, communications manager; Marjorie Fujiki, Dick Matgen, and Judi Powell, senior program officers; Patricia Bresee, chair of the Board of Directors.

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

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: This private foundation was created in 1947 by Charles Edward Marsh, a newspaper publisher. Mr. Marsh endowed the foundation by donating three daily newspapers in the South — The Gadsden Times, The Spartanburg Herald & Journal, and The Tus-caloosa News — that were sold to the New York Times Company in 1985. Initially incorporated in Texas and then in Delaware, the foundation moved its office to Washington in 1960.

During its fiscal 2003, the foundation allocated grants totaling approximately $18-million in the following program areas: health, which received 47 grants totaling $3,097,500; human rights and global security, 76 grants totaling $2,862,500; community development, 45 grants totaling $2,520,000; reproductive and sexual health, 53 grants totaling $2,492,000; youth, 35 grants totaling $1,787,500; the environment, 41 grants totaling $1,715,000; criminal justice, 28 grants totaling $1,247,500; disadvantaged elderly, 14 grants totaling $1,060,000; welfare reform, 19 grants totaling $510,000; and special opportunities, 9 grants totaling $380,000. The foundation also made 58 trustee-initiated grants totaling $220,000.

The names of three program areas were revised: “community economic development and participation” was renamed “community development”; “population and reproductive health” was renamed “reproductive and sexual health”; and “disadvantaged youth” was renamed “youth.”

The health program supports activities related to health advocacy, access, and reform; hunger and nutrition; mental-health advocacy and services; and preventive and primary services. For example, Pisgah Legal Services, in Asheville, N.C., received $45,000 for efforts to restructure the delivery of mental-health services in North Carolina.

The program on human rights and global security seeks to counter hate-motivated actions and discrimination, to assist immigrants and refugees, to promote international human rights, and to stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Five grants were made for human-rights activities in Mexico, including $25,000 to K’inal Antzetik, in Chiapas, for projects benefiting indigenous women in rural communities in the state of Chiapas.

Community-development grants emphasize advocacy and public-policy development, technical and other support for grass-roots and local groups, and assistance for low-wage workers. Awards included $50,000 to United for a Fair Economy, in Boston, for the Fair Tax Initiative, which trains state-level groups to promote more-progressive tax structures.

Grants in other program areas included $12,500 to the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, in Richmond, to involve Christians, Jews, and Muslims in efforts to assist poor and incarcerated people in Virginia.

The annual report highlights its work on two public-health issues in Africa: countering the spread of HIV/AIDS and ending the practice of female genital mutilation.

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 three-part letter of inquiry, written in English. If the foundation determines that a letter of inquiry fits its grant-making priorities, and if resources are available, it will then request a full proposal. 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 Taylor, chief financial and administrative officer; Adisa Douglas and Teresa Langston, directors of programs; Kimberly J. Villa, manager of investments; Jacqueline Chun, manager of administration; Ericka Taylor, program officer for community development; Midge Taylor, program officer for environment; Charisse M. Williams, program officer for criminal justice and youth; Joe Wilson, program officer for human rights and global security; June Drew, grants manager; Thomas J. Scanlon, chair of the Board of Directors.