Foundation Annual Reports

CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT

21650 Oxnard Street, Suite 1200
Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367
(800) 449-4149
http://www.calendow.org

Period covered: Year ending February 29, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation began operations in May 1996 following the conversion of Blue Cross of California, a nonprofit organization, to WellPoint Health Networks, a for-profit corporation. The endowment’s mission is “to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved residents and communities and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians.”

To that end, the endowment’s grant making emphasizes support for community-based health organizations, as well as expanded policy and advocacy programs that can result in long-lasting, systemic change.

During its 2004 fiscal year, the endowment awarded more than 1,200 grants and carried out direct charitable activities totaling $153-million. It maintains four program areas — access to health services, cultural competence, disparities in health, and work-force diversity — and two special programs on mental health and the health of agricultural workers. The endowment does not accept unsolicited proposals in any of these “foundation driven” areas.

The endowment makes most of its discretionary grants through the CommunitiesFirst program, which focuses on “community driven” grants in these areas: enhanced access to comprehensive, coordinated health services using existing public and private resources; culturally specific approaches that help lessen cultural and ethnic disparities in health; and projects that advance healthy behaviors, manage and prevent chronic conditions and injuries, mitigate the effects of communicable diseases, and protect against environmental factors that can adversely affect health.

For example, the Labor Community Strategy Center, in Los Angeles, received $99,588 for the Clean Air, Clean Lungs campaign, and the Merced Lao Family Community received $200,000 over two years for its work to create a culturally appropriate program for Hmong women experiencing mental-health problems.

In the spring of 2003, the endowment conducted a survey of nearly 300 CommunitiesFirst grantees and applicants and solicited responses on such topics as improved program guidelines and ways to expedite both the grant-making and “denial” processes.

The endowment also provides discretionary support through the Local Opportunities Fund, which makes grants of up to $50,000 to help grass-roots groups improve health conditions in their neighborhoods. Approximately 250 grants were made through the fund, including $25,000 to Homeless Health Care Los Angeles for a task force that provides education and advocacy services related to hepatitis C infection among high-risk individuals.

The endowment committed $20-million to help hasten the enrollment in health plans and the use of health-care services by low-income residents of Los Angeles County.

The California-Mexico Health Initiative is an effort to foster discussions between government agencies and nonprofit groups in the United States and Mexico on bilateral approaches to meeting the health needs of migrant and agricultural workers and their families.

Through its Children’s Coverage Program, the endowment is working to bolster local efforts to provide health coverage for the estimated 1 million uninsured children in California.

Also that year, the endowment awarded $4-million to California State University at Fresno to establish the Central Valley Health Policy Institute.

In addition to its headquarters in Woodland Hills, the endowment operates regional offices in Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco to better serve residents of California’s 58 counties.

Application procedure: The endowment employs various funding approaches, including the discretionary CommunitiesFirst and Local Opportunities Fund programs, special projects, and periodic requests for proposals. The endowment makes grants to nonprofit organizations, tribal government units, and public and government agencies in California. Detailed information is available on the endowment’s Web site.

Key officials: Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive officer; Irene M. Ibarra, executive vice president; Dennis Hunt, vice president of communications and public affairs; Alicia Lara, vice president of program; Michael J. Januzik, vice president and chief financial officer; Gwen Walden, director of regional programs; Laura Hogan, Mario Gutierrez, and Marion Standish, program directors; Rebecca Martin, director of grants administration; Barbara Masters, public-policy director; Astrid Hendricks-Smith, acting director of evaluation and planning; Cynthia Ann Telles, chair of the Board of Directors.

Senior program officers: George Flores, Gwen Foster, Larry Gonzales, Gregory Hall, Roland Palencia, Barbara Webster-Hawkins, and Dianne Yamashiro-Omi.

EDNA McCONNELL CLARK FOUNDATION
415 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10077
(212) 551-9100
http://www.emcf.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: This foundation was initially endowed in 1950 by Edna McConnell Clark, a daughter of the founder of Avon Products, and her husband, Van Alan Clark. In 1969, the Clarks revamped what had become a large but unstaffed family foundation, doubling its endowment and charging their three sons — Hays, James, and Van Alan Jr. — with overseeing staffing and grant-setting priorities.

Until fairly recently, the foundation made grants in five areas: preventing child abuse and neglect, accelerating student achievement in middle school, transforming state criminal-justice systems, revitalizing low-income New York neighborhoods, and battling trachoma and other tropical diseases.

Over the past several years, the foundation has designed and executed “exit strategies” for those programs that enable other groups to continue the foundation’s work in a given field. For example, in 2001 the foundation made a grant to the Center for the Study of Social Policy, in Washington, to create the Center for Community Partnerships for Child Welfare.

The foundation now allocates the bulk of its grant dollars to its youth-development program, created in 2000. The program seeks to strengthen selected youth-service organizations and help them provide expanded high-quality programs for disadvantaged young people during out-of-school time.

Along these lines, the foundation made several grants to organizations that serve older teenagers and young adults. For example, the Massachusetts Youth Teenage Unemployment Reduction Network, in Brockton, received $250,000 for its work to help 16-to-22-year-olds continue their education or enter the work force.

Other youth grants included $5-million to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, in Atlanta, to expand Project Upward Bound throughout its national network, and $1-million to the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, which provides tennis, academic, and life-skills instruction to low-income children and adolescents in the District of Columbia.

In 2003, the foundation concluded its programs on student achievement and New York City neighborhoods.

Application procedure: The foundation relies primarily on nominations by colleagues and advisers in the field of youth development to identify organizations that seem likely to meet its grant-making guidelines. Although it is not currently accepting unsolicited proposals, the foundation does encourage any interested youth-serving group to visit its Web site and to complete an online survey about the group’s activities and programs and the young people it serves. A staff member will contact the group if the foundation determines that there is a potential match between itself and the organization. In general, the foundation does not consider proposals for capital support, endowments, deficit operations, scholarships, or grants to individuals.

Key officials: Michael A. Bailin, president; Nancy Roob, chief operating officer and vice president; David E.K. Hunter, director, office of evaluation and knowledge development; Bruce S. Trachtenberg, director, office of communications; Ralph Stefano, director, finance and administration; Jamie McAuliffe and Woodrow C. McCutchen, portfolio managers; James McConnell Clark Jr., chair of the Board of Trustees.

MEADOWS FOUNDATION
Wilson Historic District
3003 Swiss Avenue
Dallas, Tex. 75204
(800) 826-9431
http://www.mfi.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: Algur H. Meadows, founder of the General American Oil Company of Texas, and his wife, Virginia, established the foundation in 1948. Since then, three generations of Meadows family members and their advisers have guided the foundation’s philanthropy.

Under the terms of its charter, the foundation distributes grants only to qualified public entities and tax-exempt charities that directly serve Texas residents.

In 2003, the foundation allocated grants totaling $22,420,897 in its five program areas: human services, which received 30 percent of grant dollars; health, 24 percent; education, 19 percent; civic and public affairs and the environment, 15 percent; and arts and culture, 12 percent. The percentage of grant dollars awarded each program was commensurate with the previous year’s totals.

The human-services program stresses nine areas, in descending order of dollars awarded: essential human needs, housing, human development, residential care, community life, legal assistance and justice issues, employment and job training, family life, and child care.

Grants included $125,000 to Baptist Children’s Home Ministries, in San Antonio, to expand support and advocacy groups for youths who are “aging out” of foster care.

Within the health program, the foundation places special emphasis on support for mental-health or counseling services, which received 51 percent of the program’s total grant dollars. The foundation has streamlined its support for other health-related areas, which now include health-care services, disease prevention and health education, and substance-abuse prevention and treatment. Awards included $96,000 to the Hospice of Midland to renovate a building that will house bereavement services for children.

The education program concentrates on projects designed to boost the academic achievement of Texas schoolchildren at the early-childhood, primary, and secondary levels. A few grants are also made for adult, community, literacy, and postsecondary education.

Civic-affairs and environmental grants emphasize economic and community development; nonprofit organizations; energy, plant, water, and wildlife conservation and research; and the relationship between built and natural environments. For example, the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, in Lake Jackson, received $132,500 to assist public and private owners of migratory-bird habitats along the Gulf Coast.

The largest arts grant was $600,000 to Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, to mount exhibits and acquire new artworks for the Meadows Museum.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts grant applications throughout the year and there are no formal application forms. Any given organization is limited to one application within a one-year period. Applications are usually processed within three to four months. Prospective applicants should review the foundation’s grant guidelines, which are available in both English and Spanish on its Web site.

Key officials: Linda P. Evans, president and chief executive officer; Bruce H. Esterline, vice president for grants; Paula Herring, vice president and treasurer; Michael E. Patrick, vice president and chief investment officer; Bob Weiss, vice president for administration; Emily J. Jones, assistant vice president and corporate secretary; Carol A. Stabler, director of communications; Steve Davidson, Michael K. McCoy, and Kathy Smith, senior program officers; Cindy M. Patrick and Adrianna Cuéllar Rojas, program officers; Cynthia Cass, grants operation manager; Robert A. Meadows, chairman of the Board of Trustees.