Foundation Annual Reports

AHMANSON FOUNDATION

9215 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, Calif. 90210
(310) 278-0770

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: Howard F. Ahmanson and his wife, Dorothy, created the foundation in 1952. Mr. Ahmanson, a business and civic leader in Los Angeles, died in 1968. The foundation began to receive proceeds from his estate in 1972, and its endowment was further augmented by gifts from his nephews, Robert H. Ahmanson and William H. Ahmanson.

The foundation’s grant making concentrates on four program areas: culture, precollegiate and collegiate education, health care and medicine, and human services. The vast majority — approximately 90 percent — of grant dollars benefited charities based in and serving metropolitan Los Angeles.

During the 2004 fiscal year, the foundation’s board approved 449 grants totaling $37,591,350. The education program received $11,377,500, or 30 percent of grant dollars; culture, $11,311,500, or 30 percent; human services, $7,631,950, or 20 percent; and health, $7,270,400, or 20 percent. Thirteen percent of the awards went to first-time grantees.

The 164 precollegiate and higher-education grants emphasized arts and recreational opportunities for youths; capital projects, computers and other technology, financial-aid and other programs at colleges and universities, scholarship support for minority students from low-income backgrounds attending private schools, and teacher education. Awards included $400,000 to the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia, for undergraduate and graduate scholarships, and $150,000 to Teach For America, in New York, for the Los Angeles Corps Program.

The foundation appropriated 82 cultural grants, including $37,500 for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association for a documentary entitled Beautiful Simplicity: Arts & Craft Architecture in California. As in previous years, the foundation also made two large grants to Museum Associates, in Los Angeles, to acquire two art works for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: $1,950,000 for “Seated Voltaire,” a sculpture of the famous philosopher by Jean-Antoine Houdon, an 18th-century French sculptor, and $750,000 for Selene and Endymion, a painting by Ubaldo Gandolfi, an 18th-century Italian artist.

The 147 human-services awards focused on critical needs in the Los Angeles area, including child and youth development, domestic violence, the elderly, employment and training, housing and homelessness, hunger, and substance-abuse treatment. For example, Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles received $50,000 to renovate a food-distribution facility, and $25,000 went to the National Council on Alcoholism-Long Beach Area to acquire a van for its residential-recovery program for women.

The foundation made 56 health-related grants, including $253,400 to St. John’s Well Child Center, in Los Angeles, to renovate a clinic on Hoover Street, located in a South Central neighborhood with high rates of infant mortality, poverty, and teenage pregnancy.

Application procedure: The foundation makes grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and not private foundations as defined by Section 509(a) of the code. Potential applicants who feel their needs are compatible with the foundation’s goals should send a brief letter of inquiry to the managing director.

The letter should contain the organization’s mission statement, a brief description of its background, a statement of need, and other potential financial sources under consideration. The foundation screens all letters of inquiry to determine whether the request and mission of the applicant fall within the foundation’s current grant-making interests. In most instances the foundation will promptly send written responses to those unlikely to qualify. The foundation will ask those who may qualify to submit a full proposal for further consideration.

Key officials: Robert H. Ahmanson, president; Leonard E. Walcott Jr., vice president and managing director; William H. Ahmanson and Robert F. Erburu, vice presidents; Karen A. Hoffman, secretary and program officer; Kristen K. O’Connor, chief financial officer and treasurer; Mindy Jones, Jinhee Pai Kim, Kathleen McDonnell, and Manya Schaff, program officers; Yvonne de Beixedon, grants administrator.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SERVING RICHMOND AND CENTRAL VIRGINIA

7325 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 210
Richmond, Va. 23225
(804) 330-7400
http://www.tcfrichmond.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was created in 1968 by several Richmond-area business and civic leaders. The foundation and its affiliates administer more than 425 funds, including 42 funds that were established in 2004.

Grant making in 2004 totaled $48-million; of that, the vast majority of grant dollars — $44-million — came from donor-advised and designated funds that allow donors to offer specific grant recommendations or to select specific charities that will benefit from their gifts.

The remaining $4-million was allocated by the foundation through its competitive grant activities, which include the Strengthening Families-Strengthening Communities program, special grant and scholarship opportunities, and supporting organizations and affiliates.

Strengthening Families-Strengthening Communities stresses five program areas: access to care, community and economic development, community enrichment, promoting philanthropy, and youth and family development.

Grants to expand access to heath care included $75,000 to Meals on Wheels of Greater Richmond to expand its services to Petersburg and Colonial Heights, and $32,500 to the Fan Free Clinic, also in Richmond, for its medical-outreach and pharmaceutical programs for low-income and uninsured people.

Community- and economic-development grants emphasized job skills and employment, low-cost housing, and support for refugees and immigrants. For example, the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce received a $35,000 award for salary support of a full-time coordinator who will work with local Latino residents.

Grants in other areas included $15,000 to Assisting Families of Inmates for a school-based counseling program for children with incarcerated parents, and $9,450 to the Barksdale Theatre for a program for senior citizens that will offer midday performances at the theater and productions at retirement and other facilities throughout Richmond.

The foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Project promotes volunteerism and charitable giving by engaging young people in grant making. Each year approximately 20 high-school students in the region review grant proposals and make grants to benefit community-service projects carried out by their peers. The project awarded grants totaling $65,480 in 2004, and recipients included the Richmond Peace Education Center and the James River High School, in Midlothian, Va.

The foundation maintains partnerships with eight supporting organizations, each of which is an independent entity that maintains separate legal status and governing board. They include the Jenkins Foundation and the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts unsolicited proposals only for grants that will be awarded on a competitive basis. Additional information on grant guidelines and application procedures is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Darcy S. Oman, president and chief executive officer; Robert L. Thalhimer, associate director; Susan Brown Davis, director of programs; Susan H. Hallett and Elaine Summerfield, program officers; Karen W. Hand, director of finance; Lisa L.P. O’Mara, donor-services officer; Kimberly M. Russell, communications officer; Fred T. Tattersall, chairman of the Board of Governors.

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, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: Richard King Mellon, the president of Mellon National Bank, established the foundation in 1947. A lifelong resident of Pittsburgh, Mr. Mellon (1899-1970) was a sportsman who was interested in protecting the environment and wildlife. His wife, Constance Prosser Mellon, served as chairman of the foundation’s Board of Trustees from its creation until her death in 1980. The couple’s older son, Richard P. Mellon, became chairman, a position he continues to hold. The couple’s younger son, Seward Prosser Mellon, serves as president and chairman of the Executive Committee.

The foundation has two major grant-making priorities: programs that directly benefit residents of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, and conservation efforts that preserve critical tracts of land in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the United States from urban sprawl and detrimental development.

In 2004, the foundation allocated new grants totaling $83,896,159, a substantial increase over the previous year, when it allocated $55,741,329. The money was distributed among five categories: regional economic development, which received $31,164,000; conservation, $23,591,234; education, $20,428,000; families, youth, and child development, and other human-services projects, $7,343,500; and system reform, $1,369,425.

Geographically, $63,988,925 was awarded to programs designed to improve the quality of life in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, and $19,907,234 went to projects elsewhere.

The foundation’s work to spur economic development in southwestern Pennsylvania emphasizes advancing Pittsburgh’s “reputation and market position,” creating jobs in technology, manufacturing, and other industries; reviving Pittsburgh’s downtown and riverfront areas; making the city appealing to young professionals; and fostering entrepreneurship. For example, a $700,000 grant went to the Idea Foundry, a charity that helps transform entrepreneurial ideas into start-up businesses in the Pittsburgh region.

In 2004 the foundation’s trustees concluded that conservation should remain a top grant-making priority. In previous years, conservation efforts concentrated on the American Land Conservation Program, through which the foundation purchases tracts of undeveloped land and donates them to national parks, wildlife refuges, and other institutions. To date, the foundation has preserved more than one million acres for public use through the program. Future grant making will focus on watershed-protection and land-preservation projects in Pennsylvania.

The foundation made two large education-related grants: $5-million to Saint Vincent College, in Latrobe, Pa., to construct a business and conference center, and $3-million to the Valley School of Ligonier for the capital campaign of this institution that serves students from Pennsylvania’s Cambria, Somerset, and Westmoreland Counties.

In 2004 approximately one-half of the grants made in the families, youth, and child development area went to programs that foster high-quality early-childhood development or otherwise offer “positive life experiences.” Awards included $250,000 to the Hill House Association, in Pittsburgh, to provide safe summer programs for several hundred young people.

The foundation’s newest program, system reform, promotes collaborative efforts in southwestern Pennsylvania that establish standards and best practices for youth programs; restructure the delivery of human services; and strengthen management at nonprofit groups.

Application procedure: The foundation gives priority to projects and programs that have clearly defined outcomes and an evaluation component. It does not consider requests from individuals or from outside the United States. 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; Scott D. Izzo, director; Michael Watson, senior vice president; Douglas L. Sisson, vice president; Ann Marie Helms, program officer and secretary; John J. Turcik, controller; Richard P. Mellon, chairman of the Board of Trustees.