Annual Foundation Reports

M. J. MURDOCK CHARITABLE TRUST
703 Broadway, Suite 710
Vancouver, Wash. 98660
(360) 694-8415
http://www.murdock-trust.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1975 through the will of Melvin J. (Jack) Murdock, the co-founder of Tektronix, a technology company. It awards grants primarily to non-profit organizations in five Pacific Northwest states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington State. Special emphasis is given to projects that benefit the metropolitan Portland, Ore.–Vancouver, Wash., area.

In 1998, 90 grants totaling $16.6-million were appropriated as follows: education received $5.1-million; health and human services, $4.0-million; scientific research, $4.0-million; and arts and culture, $3.5-million.

Education projects focused on Pacific Northwest higher-education institutions and schools, program expansion, capital support, science education, and incorporating new technologies in teaching and learning. Awards included $500,000 to Whitworth College, in Spokane, Wash., to expand and modernize research space for biology, chemistry, and physics education.

Grants in the health and human-services program emphasized youth development, hospitals, health-care and mental-health services, low-cost housing and homelessness, and employment and training. For example, $187,000 went to the Saint Elizabeth Community Health Foundation, in Yakima, Wash., to provide mobile medical care to American Indian, Hispanic, and migrant communities.

Grants for scientific research stressed projects in the natural sciences at Pacific Northwest institutions that seek to acquire new scientific knowledge in biotechnology and other areas and that train students in research skills.

A total of $299,000 was awarded through the Murdock College Research Program for Life Sciences, which supports research by biology-department faculty members and students at private colleges and universities in the foundation’s five-state region.

The largest arts-related grant was a $1.5-million award to the Portland Art Museum to renovate and upgrade its Conservation Laboratory.

Application procedure: Prospective applicants should first determine their eligibility by viewing the proposed project against the trust’s stated philosophy, policies, and practice. The applicant should then send a letter of inquiry summarizing pertinent information about the project so that the trust may determine the propriety of the applicant’s submitting a formal proposal. The trust may be contacted for guidelines on what to include in the letter. An appropriate application packet will be sent in response to letters of inquiry that outline projects deemed to be appropriate for further development. Letters of inquiry should be addressed to John Van Zytveld, Senior Program Director, P.O. Box 1618, Vancouver, Wash. 98668.

Key officials: Neal O. Thorpe, executive director; John Van Zytveld, senior program director; Christopher (Kit) Gillem, Janice W. Kennedy, and Terry L. Stokesbary, program directors; James R. Martin, chief financial officer.

PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION
One PPG Place, 30th Floor
Pittsburgh 15222-5401
(412) 391-5122
http://www.pittsburghfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: Established in 1945, this community foundation makes both discretionary and donor-advised grants for projects in Pittsburgh and in western Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County. Grants may be made in other areas when stipulated in the terms of individual trusts.

The foundation comprises more than 630 individual funds. In 1998, grants totaling $15,794,002 were approved in the following program areas: community development and the environment, which received $4-million or 26 per cent; health and special-needs populations, $2.9-million or 18 per cent; education, $2.7-million or 17 per cent; families, children, and youths, $2.6-million or 16 per cent; arts, culture, and the humanities, $2.3-million or 15 per cent; and special projects and philanthropic relations, $1.3-million or 8 per cent.

Themes that guide grant making in all program areas are persistent poverty, economic vitality, racism, and the overall quality of life for all Pittsburgh-area residents.

Community-development allocations emphasized projects to increase employment opportunities, to revitalize neighborhoods, and to increase civic participation. For example, $60,000 over two years went to the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business to create an entrepreneurial-training program for low-income women who are starting home-based businesses.

Health grants focused on the need to evaluate services and priorities in light of managed-care trends and the demand for cost-effective treatment.

Education grants supported activities designed to insure that all children perform at grade level and are adequately prepared for higher education or careers. The foundation also administers 117 scholarship funds, which provided financial aid totaling more than $900,000.

The Forbes Fund is a supporting organization that works to improve the effectiveness and management of non-profit groups in western Pennsylvania.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants to non-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for unrestricted grants, organizations must be located within Allegheny County, Pa., or demonstrate that a significant majority of their clients are from Allegheny County. Application guidelines may be obtained by calling or writing the foundation. Prior to submitting a full proposal, applicants are encouraged to submit a letter of inquiry that includes a brief statement about the organization, the proposed project and its intended results, and the approximate total cost of the project. Program staff members will review each request and get in touch with the applicant organization if additional information is required. The board meets four times a year to consider grants; letters of inquiry should be submitted by November 1 for consideration at the March meeting, February 1 for the June meeting, May 1 for the September meeting, and August 1 for the December meeting.

Key officials: Alfred W. Wishart, Jr., president and chief executive officer; Thomas S. Hay, vice-president for finance; Gerri Kay, vice-president for program and policy; Barbara E. McGill, vice-president for development and donor relations; Yvonne Cook, Jane A. Downing, Annette Green, and Beverly J. Wall Lovelace, program officers; Gina D. Toppins, director of communications; James V. Denova, executive director, the Forbes Fund; Elizabeth D. Metzler, grants-administration officer; William J. Copeland, chairman of the Board of Directors.

NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY FOUNDATION
229 West 43rd Street
New York 10036-3959
(212) 556-1091

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation makes grants in five programs: community services, cultural affairs, education, the environment, and journalism. Geographically, grant making focuses on projects in the New York area and in 16 communities served by affiliate businesses of the New York Times Company.

In 1998, 345 grants totaling just over $5-million were awarded. The cultural-affairs program continued to receive the largest percentage of any program area, followed by education. Allocations in those areas included $35,000 to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for programs to help public-school students and teachers improve their understanding of Shakespeare, and $25,000 to Studio in a School for arts-instruction programs at New York public schools.

Contributions made through the foundation’s matching-gifts program totaled $1,079,699. The program donates $1.50 for each dollar contributed by any active or retired employee or director of the New York Times Company to non-profit cultural and environmental organizations, schools, and colleges, up to an annual total of $3,000 per individual.

Earlier this year, Jack Rosenthal, editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine, was appointed president. He succeeds Arthur Gelb, who will continue as a consultant to the foundation.

Application procedure: Initial inquiries should consist of a letter describing the purpose for which funds are requested and how those funds will be appropriated for the specific project. A list of other potential sources of support, a financial report of the organization, and a copy of the letter from the Internal Revenue Service determining the organization’s tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code must also be included. If a grant is awarded, an accounting of the expenditures must be submitted at the end of the award year, as well as a one-page summary of the progress of the project for which the funds were appropriated. The foundation’s Board of Directors meets at least twice annually, usually within the first and third quarter of the calendar year, to authorize grants.

Key officials: Jack Rosenthal, president; Russell T. Lewis, executive vice-president; Michael Golden, John M. O’Brien, and Solomon B. Watson IV, senior vice-presidents; Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., chairman of the Board of Directors.