Foundation Annual Reports

ANNENBERG FOUNDATION

Radnor Financial Center, Suite A-200
150 North Radnor-Chester Road
Radnor, Pa. 19087
(610) 341-9066
http://www.annenbergfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1989 with proceeds from the sale of Triangle Publications, the last of the media properties owned by Walter H. Annenberg and his family.

In 2004 the foundation awarded 489 grants, and the average grant size was $513,000. Approximately three-quarters of the new grants will be distributed over three or more years.

The foundation’s grant making focuses on four objectives: expanding education opportunities, bolstering arts and cultural institutions, promoting responsible citizenship and strengthening civic life, and supporting medical centers and medical education.

Arts and cultural programs received 45 percent of grant dollars; education and youth, 26 percent; civic and community affairs, 22 percent; and health, 7 percent.

Geographically, 40 percent of the new grants were made for national programs, 33 percent for charities and causes in the Philadelphia area, 19 percent for programs in Los Angeles, and 8 per cent for international activities.

Arts-related grants included $5-million to the Sundance Institute, in Beverly Hills, Calif., for a program that will identify promising young filmmakers and provide them with residencies, mentorships, and stipends.

The largest commitment in the education and youth category was a $25-million grant to the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, to construct the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Center for Information Science and Technology.

Civic-affairs grants included $150,000 to the International Women’s Media Foundation, in Washington, for its work to advance the global role of women in the news media, and $300,000 to Pups for Peace, in Seattle, to train bomb-sniffing dogs for deployment throughout Israel.

The foundation also made 17 environmental grants, including $350,000 to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation, in Monterey, Calif., for the Seafood Watch program, which supports sustainable fisheries and works to counter the declining condition of the world’s oceans.

In addition to its headquarters in metropolitan Philadelphia, the foundation maintains an office in Los Angeles.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should review the “Guidelines for Grantseekers” section of the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Gail C. Levin, executive director; Gillian Norris-Szanto, senior program officer; Jennifer Cleghorn and Mark Eiduson, program officers; Holly Livingston, grants administrator; Paul Manganiello, director of finance; Dianne Lomonaco, director of human resources and risk management; Leonard Aube, managing director of the Los Angeles office; Leonore Annenberg, president and chairman of the Board of Trustees; Wallis Annenberg, vice president.

JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION

Wachovia Financial Center, Suite 3300
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Fla. 33131
(305) 908-2600
http://www.knightfdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1950 by John S. (Jack) and James L. (Jim) Knight, brothers who owned various newspapers nationwide that later became part of the Knight-Ridder chain. The two men, who died in 1981 and 1991, respectively, each made a large bequest to the foundation, which is completely independent of Knight-Ridder.

The foundation operates three large programs: the community-partners program, which allocates grants in the 26 cities and towns across the country where the Knight brothers owned newspapers; journalism; and the National Venture Fund. The foundation also maintains some flexibility in its grant making “to respond to unique challenges, ideas, and projects.”

In 2004, the foundation disbursed $90.4-million and awarded 329 new grants amounting to $99,905,480 as follows: the community-partners program received 201 grants totaling $61,135,880; the National Venture Fund, 26 grants totaling $22,315,500; journalism, 49 grants totaling $14,823,500; and 53 other grants totaling $1,630,600. The average grant size was $303,664.

The community-partnership program includes those 26 cities that were eligible for grants from the foundation at the time of James Knight’s death in 1991. Overall, awards stress support for children and families, civic engagement, community foundations, culture, economic development, education, and housing and community development. However, the most pressing needs in each community are diverse, and grant making focuses on priority areas identified by local advisory committees. In Charlotte, N.C., for example, grant making concentrates on improving the readiness of young children to enter school, enhancing race relations, and preserving and maintaining open space.

The foundation made grants to two programs designed to put innovative technology to work in Knight communities. The National Council of Churches, in New York, received $600,000 to implement an Internet-based program that helps low-income people in Mississippi and Ohio calculate and apply for benefits. The fund also made a $1-million award to Accion USA, in Boston, to help small businesses in four cities apply for loans using new online services.

Grants made through the National Venture Fund were up significantly, from $9,254,000 in 2003. Awards included a five-year, $1,250,000 grant to the Center for Community Change, in Washington, to help community-based groups link new immigrants to existing resources and opportunities.

Journalism grants were reduced substantially, from $39,115,430 the preceding year. Awards go to U.S. and foreign organizations that focus on diversity in both the newsroom and in news content; journalism education and training; freedom of the press and of information; news that is in the public interest; and electronic and other new media as they relate to journalism.

Grants included $500,000 over three years to the Fund for Constitutional Government, in Washington, for its work to educate the public and key decision makers about the dangers of government secrecy beyond that required by national security.

The foundation appointed Alberto Ibargüen, publisher and chairman of The Miami Herald, to be president and chief executive officer, effective in mid-July. He succeeded Hodding Carter III, who is retiring.

Application procedure: Potential applicants whose projects fall within the objectives and interests of the foundation should submit a two-page letter of inquiry. Additional information, including detailed guidelines for submitting a letter of inquiry and a list of the foundation’s 26 designated communities, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Alberto Ibargüen, president and chief executive officer; Michael Maidenberg, vice president and chief program officer; Belinda Turner Lawrence, vice president and chief administrative officer; Juan J. Martinez, vice president of finance and treasurer; Larry Meyer, vice president of communications and secretary; Susan Patterson, interim director of the community-partners program; Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives; Julie K. Kohler, interim director of the National Venture Fund; Lizabeth L. Sklaroff, president’s special assistant for evaluation; Julie B.A. Brooks, grants administrator; W. Gerald Austen, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

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

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The industrialist John D. Rockefeller established the foundation in 1913, and its overarching goal is “to enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of poor and excluded people throughout the world.”

The foundation’s grant making stresses five themes: creativity and culture, food security, global inclusion, health equity, and working communities. It also maintains several regional and special programs, and works extensively in East and Southern Africa, North America, and Southeast Asia.

In 2004 the foundation allocated grants and program investments totaling $124,089,000 as follows: the working-communities program received $28,044,000; health equity, $27,157,000; food security, $22,651,000; regional programs, $19,661,000; global inclusion, $10,030,000; creativity and culture, $7,578,000; and miscellaneous, $8,968,000.

The community program works to transform poor urban neighborhoods into safe and healthy environments by expanding the quantity and quality of available employment, ensuring adequate financing for public schools, and revitalizing poor neighborhoods through mixed-income community development and better housing. The program emphasizes organizational development, research and policy analysis, and public engagement as strategies for achieving its goals.

Grants in the health-equity portfolio seek to reduce “avoidable and unfair” differences in the health status of poor people worldwide. The foundation supports programs to accelerate the development of vaccines and medicines for diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; it also strives to improve health care in developing countries by augmenting the number of well-trained health workers in those regions.

The food-security program supports the development of agricultural technologies, institutions, and policies that can increase food production, improve crop varieties, and otherwise raise the nutritional status of people living in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The Africa regional program, based in Nairobi, Kenya, promotes research and innovative strategies that can reduce poverty on the continent. The Southeast Asia regional program, based in Bangkok, works to counter inequitable development and to meet health and other needs in the Mekong region. The North American program, based in New York, supports analysis of the effects of migration on the cultural, economic, and social dynamics of major U.S. cities and rural communities in Mexico.

The global-inclusion program supports efforts to increase the benefits and reduce the negative effects of globalization on poor and marginalized people around the world. The foundation places emphasis on analysis of global trends, sustainable development by multilateral institutions, plant biotechnology, more-equitable intellectual-property policies, and strategies that can reduce conflicts.

For example, the Public Patent Foundation, in New York, received $100,000 for a project that will challenge certain patents issued on essential agricultural and medical technologies, in order to promote greater access to them.

Grants to promote creativity and culture support cultural institutions and artists; scholarship in such disciplines as ethnic, gender, and religious studies; and the presentation of traditional and contemporary art work, with a focus on the performing and media arts and digital media.

In March 2005, Judith Rodin, president emerita of the University of Pennsylvania, formally became president. She succeeded Gordon Conway, who retired after leading the foundation for six-and-a-half years.

Application procedure: The foundation periodically adjusts its strategies and programs, and potential applicants should first visit the foundation’s Web site to determine if their proposed project aligns with current foundation goals. Organizations seeking funding for projects that conform to the foundation’s strategic interests should send a brief letter of inquiry to the director of the relevant subject area. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Judith Rodin, president; Julia Lopez, senior vice president; Lynda Mullen, corporate secretary; Cheikh Mbacké, vice president for administration and regional programs; Robert Giacometti, vice president for human and financial resources; Charles Lang, director of financial resources; Joyce Moock and Ruben Puentes, associate vice presidents; André Oliver, director of communications; James F. Orr III, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors: George Brown, health equity; Janet Maughan, global inclusion; Gary Toenniessen, food security; Morris Vogel, creativity and culture; Darren Walker, working communities.