Foundation Annual Reports

WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION

2121 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, Calif. 94025
(650) 234-4500
http://www.hewlett.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1966 by William R. Hewlett, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, in conjunction with his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their oldest son, Walter B. Hewlett. Mrs. Hewlett died in 1977 and the elder Mr. Hewlett died in January 2001, having bequeathed much of his wealth to the foundation. The fund is entirely independent of the Hewlett-Packard Company and any of its charitable programs.

Grant making revolves around six program areas: population, which received $31,099,000; the environment, $29,671,500; education, $29,634,500; the performing arts, $16,228,400; U.S.-Latin American relations, $9,321,100; and conflict resolution, $8,989,000. The foundation also allocates some grants in the areas of global affairs, which received $15,174,000; philanthropy and organizational effectiveness, $2,398,000; and neighborhood improvement, $1,865,000. It also made awards totaling $30,683,863 for special projects that “responded flexibly to unanticipated problems and opportunities, incubated new initiatives, or complemented grants within a program.”

The population program seeks to reduce population growth in regions with high fertility rates by expanding access to high-quality family-planning and reproductive-health information, services, and technologies. Although most of the program’s work focuses on developing countries, the foundation also makes some grants in connection with domestic population issues. Allocations included $350,000 to Brown University, in Providence, R.I., for its Population Studies and Training Center.

The environmental program has two major goals: saving critical ecosystems in western North America and reducing reliance on fossil-fuel energy systems by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. For example, $2-million went to the Energy Foundation, in San Francisco, for its program on transportation and pollution in China.

The foundation revamped its education program in 2002 and developed a new strategic plan. Grant making now focuses on five areas: increasing student achievement by improving teaching in urban school systems and community colleges; using information technology to expand access to high-quality academic content; promoting excellent, equitable education in California schools and community colleges; supporting methods for providing universal basic and secondary education in developing nations; and pursuing special projects whose goals jibe with the other four areas.

Performing-arts grants stress support for arts and cultural institutions in the nine counties that border the San Francisco Bay Area.

The program on U.S.-Latin American relations makes grants to organizations in Latin America and the United States for projects on specific issues related to the environment, “democratic consolidation,” and population and education.

The foundation has decided to phase out its formal support for conflict resolution, largely due to the growth and maturing of the field over the past two decades.

Application procedure: Detailed guidelines are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Paul Brest, president; Susan Bell, vice president and director for philanthropy and organizational effectiveness; Laurance R. Hoagland Jr., vice president and chief investment officer; Eric Brown, director of communications; Carolyn Provost, manager, grants administration; Constance Bassett, grants administrator; Walter B. Hewlett, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program and initiative directors: Terry Amsler (conflict resolution); Moy Eng (performing arts); Hal Harvey (environment); C.R. Hibbs (U.S.-Latin American relations, Mexico); Cindy Ho and Kristina Palmer (program managers, Neighborhood Improvement Initiative); Joseph Ryan (U.S.-Latin American relations, Brazil); Sara Seims (population); Christine Sherry (Philanthropy Workshop West); Marshall Smith (education).

RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION
1 Mellon Center
500 Grant Street, Suite 4106
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219
(412) 392-2800
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/rkmellon/

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: Established in 1947, the foundation was endowed by Richard King Mellon (1899-1970), a longtime Pittsburgh resident and the president of Mellon National Bank. Mr. Mellon was also an avid sportsman and served on various corporate boards, including the Gulf Oil Corporation and the Aluminum Company of America. His wife, Constance Prosser Mellon, served as chairman of the foundation’s Board of Trustees from its creation until her death in 1980, when she was succeeded by Richard P. Mellon, the couple’s older son. Their younger son, Seward Prosser Mellon, is president and chairman of the board’s Executive Committee.

The foundation’s trustees have set two major grant-making priorities: programs that benefit residents of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, and conservation efforts to protect key tracts of land in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the United States from urban sprawl and environmentally insensitive development.

In 2003, the foundation allocated new grants totaling $55,741,329 in five program areas: regional economic development, which received $21,914,500; conservation, $13,130,529; education, $11,213,700; families, youth and child development, and other human-services projects, $8,245,600; and system reform, $1,237,000.

Of that total, $46,221,100 went to efforts to boost the quality of life in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania; the remaining $9,520,229 went to projects in other regions.

The foundation’s work to facilitate economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania focuses on “a diverse but strategically selected set of projects.” Areas of interest include job creation, with an emphasis on the technology and manufacturing industries; the revitalization of Pittsburgh’s downtown and riverfront areas; the recruitment and retention of young professionals; strategic marketing of the region’s amenities and cultural attractions; and job-skills development for the region’s residents.

For example, the Pittsburgh-based Sports and Exhibition Authority received $1-million to complete development of North Shore Park, which is situated along the Allegheny River and near such attractions as the Carnegie Science Center and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Other awards included $100,000 over two years to the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance to support iPort, an economic-development effort to encourage entrepreneurs and businesses from India to start up operations in Pittsburgh.

In 1988 the foundation initiated its American Land Conservation Program, through which it purchases tracts of undeveloped land and donates them to national parks, wildlife refuges, and other institutions. Regional conservation grants focus on Pennsylvania, and stress efforts to contain urban sprawl and to manage and conserve forests, watersheds, and other natural resources.

The education program emphasizes projects that support charter, private, and parochial schools; that help ensure that regional higher-education institutions remain “globally competitive”; and strengthen work-force training. The largest award in this program was a $4-million commitment to Chatham College, in Pittsburgh, for its capital campaign for a new athletic and fitness center.

Grants for families, child and youth development, and related human services emphasize early-childhood development, effective child rearing, youth programs, and services for needy families.

The foundation’s newest program area, system reform, promotes collaborative efforts in southwestern Pennsylvania that establish standards and best practices for youth programs; that revamp human-services delivery; and that strengthen leadership at nonprofit groups. For example, the Tides Center/Western Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh, received $250,000 over two years to develop operating standards for regional youth-services groups, which have proliferated over the past several years.

Application procedure: Proposals should include a completed application form. Forms and additional information are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Seward Prosser Mellon, president and chairman of the Executive Committee; Michael Watson, vice president and director of the program staff; Douglas L. Sisson, vice president; Scott D. Izzo, associate director and secretary; Ann Marie Helms, program officer and assistant secretary; John J. Turcik, controller; Richard P. Mellon, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

CORPORATIONS

GOLDMAN SACHS FOUNDATION
375 Park Avenue, Suite 1008
New York, N.Y. 10152
(212) 902-5402
http://www.gs.com/foundation

Period covered: Year ending November 30, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1999 with a $200-million donation from the Goldman Sachs Group, the prominent global investment banking and securities firm. The foundation’s mission is “to promote excellence and innovation in education and to improve the academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people worldwide.” To that end, it makes grants, loans, and private-sector investments; engages in strategic partnerships; and encourages volunteerism among its employees.

In 2003, 15 percent of grants paid went to support activities in New York City, 43.5 percent to activities elsewhere in the United States, and 41.5 percent to international activities. Grant making for domestic activities was down from 57 percent the previous year, while grant making for international program was up from 29 percent.

In its fourth full year of grant making, the foundation focused on three priorities: enhancing the academic achievement and future outcomes of students attending secondary schools, developing the abilities of youths worldwide who show exceptional academic potential, and ensuring top-notch education for young people in the fields of business and entrepreneurship.

The foundation’s efforts to advance academic achievement at the secondary level include support for activities at both public and alternative schools that foster effective teachers and administrators, bridge gaps in technology, and duplicate effective models around the world.

For example, the World Links for Economic Development Institute, in Washington, received $525,000 for a project that engages Brazilian and Chinese students and teachers in international online-learning projects.

The foundation’s program for academically talented, disadvantaged youths helps prepare them to attend selective universities and pursue careers in challenging professions.

Through a partnership with Pine Street, the firm’s leadership-development unit, the foundation created a program that trained 25 Goldman Sachs managing directors in nonprofit governance and then placed them on the boards of nonprofit groups supported by the foundation.

Application procedure: Prospective applicants are invited to submit to the foundation a short letter of inquiry — approximately two pages — that describes the program or organization for which the grant is sought and the organization’s mission, accomplishments, budget, and current funding needs.

The foundation advises that prospective applicants provide any documentation of results achieved to date, along with published program descriptions or brochures. The foundation does not make grants to individuals, fraternal organizations, or political causes, campaigns, or candidates; it also does not provide support for fund-raising events. The foundation makes grants year-round and, with a few exceptions, there are no fixed deadlines.

Key officials: Stephanie Bell-Rose, president; Elizabeth Wahab, chief operating officer and corporate secretary; Christopher J. Williams, communications officer; Elizabeth Githens, program associate; John C. Whitehead, chairman of the Board of Trustees.