Foundation Annual Report

THE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT
21650 Oxnard Street, Suite 1200
Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367
(800) 449-4149 or (818) 703-3311
http://www.calendow.org

Period covered: Year ending February 28, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1996 as the result of the conversion of the nonprofit Blue Cross of California to WellPoint Health Networks, a for-profit corporation. At the time of the conversion, WellPoint issued all its then-outstanding common stock to the California HealthCare Foundation, in Oakland. As the California Health-Care Foundation sells this stock over time, it makes periodic contributions to the California Endowment.

The endowment’s grant making emphasizes regional strategies that directly benefit the overall health of California residents, as well as selected statewide projects in California. The endowment maintains five regional offices — in Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco — in addition to its headquarters in Woodland Hills.

The endowment has adopted four goals to guide its grant making over the next few years: increasing the diversity and distribution of California’s health-care work force; improving the quality and proficiency of health-care services available to people of diverse races and cultures; expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care and services for underserved California residents; and reducing existing disparities in the health status of minorities and poor people.

During its 2002 fiscal year, the foundation approved 809 grants totaling $215,822,500.

The endowment’s largest discretionary grant-making program continued to be CommunitiesFirst, which focuses on community-level access to health-care services, health and well-being, and “multicultural health” — the amelioration of social inequities related to health and the distribution of health resources. The foundation initiated a second discretionary program, the Local Opportunities Fund, which provides grants of up to $50,000 to groups focusing on local health issues.

The endowment also works in partnership with other foundations, organizations, and government entities to carry out special projects. For example, the Agricultural Worker Health Program is a collaboration with Mexico, the State of California, nonprofit groups, and research institutions. The endowment has committed $50-million to the five-year program, which focuses on improving the health of the state’s estimated one million agricultural workers and their families. In February 2002 the foundation announced the first round of grants, in which 30 groups received awards totaling $10.5-million.

In conjunction with the California HealthCare Foundation, the endowment is supporting a new five-year, $10-million program to deliver health-care services to chronically ill, uninsured California residents. The endowment also started a three-year, $12-million program designed to reduce asthma “triggers” in places statewide where children live, learn, and play. In fiscal year 2002, 12 community-based organizations focusing on asthma prevention and education each received a $450,000 grant.

Regional grants made in fiscal year 2002 included $400,000 over three years to the Alliance for Children’s Rights, in Los Angeles, to expand a program that tracks the health-care needs of foster children in the city, and to develop programs to detect and prevent violence among children and youths in foster care.

Statewide grants included $904,089 over three years to Organización en California de Lideres Campesinas, in Pomona, for a program to improve the health of female agricultural workers and to develop leadership on health issues affecting Latina farm workers statewide.

Application procedure: The endowment uses a variety of funding approaches to meet the needs of communities, including the CommunitiesFirst and Local Opportunities Fund open-application programs, requests for proposals, and funding partnerships. Grant making is restricted to nonprofit and government organizations in California, and no grants are awarded to individuals. To apply to the CommunitiesFirst or Local Opportunities Fund programs, an organization must generally have tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Additional information is available at the endowment’s Web site.

Key officials: Robert K. Ross, president and chief executive officer; Julie Tugend, senior vice president and chief operating officer; Dennis Hunt, vice president of communications and public affairs; Alicia Lara, vice president of program; Carolina Reyes, vice president of evaluation and planning; Rakesh Varma, vice president and chief financial officer; Mario Gutierrez, director of strategic programs; Alex Hsiao, chief investment officer and treasurer; Becky Martin, director of grants administration; Laura Hogan, interim manager, northern California region; Jai Lee Wong, senior program officer and manager, Southern California region; Marion Standish and Gwen Walden, senior program officers; Laura S. Wiltz, chair of the Board of Directors.

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, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1966 by the Palo Alto industrialist William R. Hewlett, his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their eldest son, Walter B. Hewlett. The elder Mr. Hewlett, who co-founded the Hewlett-Packard Company in 1939 with the late David Packard, died in January 2001, leaving much of his estate to the foundation. It has no connection to the Hewlett-Packard Company or to any of that company’s philanthropic activities.

Although the foundation has no geographic limitations stipulated in its charter, a percentage of its disbursable funds is earmarked for projects in the San Francisco Bay area. More than half of the foundation’s annual grants budget is typically allocated for general operating support.

In 2001, the foundation authorized grants totaling $212,005,200 in the following programs: conflict resolution, education, the environment, family and community development, the performing arts, population, U.S.-Latin American relations, and special projects.

In September 2002, the foundation announced that it would cut its grant making for conflict resolution substantially and focus on “building a sustainable infrastructure for the field,” working only with current grantees. Currently, the foundation is not accepting proposals from prospective new grantees under this program.

Education grants promote “long-term institutional or field development, reform, or knowledge development” at elementary and secondary schools and higher-education institutions. Grant making focuses on projects that help increase student achievement; that use information technology to improve education worldwide; that improve education at schools and community colleges in California; and that explore and implement ways to make teacher instruction in developing countries more effective.

The foundation’s environment program has undergone significant revision in the past year, and now focuses solely on conservation in western North America, with an emphasis on preserving vast tracts of open land, and on energy policy and systems that encourage cleaner, more-energy-efficient cars and trucks. Much of the foundation’s energy-related program work is done through the Energy Foundation, in San Francisco, which received two large grants in 2001: $4,020,000 for the Energy Initiative, and $2,235,000 to promote nonpolluting energy systems and policies in the U.S. West.

The program on family and community development closed at the end of 2002, and is no longer accepting proposals. The neighborhood-improvement initiative, a project designed to improve selected neighborhoods through community-based partnerships in the San Francisco Bay area, does not accept unsolicited proposals.

The population program is global in scope and emphasizes the involvement of public and private groups, the news and entertainment media, and educational institutions in population issues; the improved delivery of family planning and related reproductive-health services; and the evaluation and duplication of educational and economic-development projects focusing on fertility. While many grant recipients are based in the United States, population projects specific to the United States represent only a small proportion of the program’s annual budget.

Grants for U.S.-Latin American relations support projects that tackle environment, population, conflict-resolution, and education issues in Mexico and Brazil.

Application procedure: Detailed guidelines are available on the foundation’s Web site. The foundation supports organizations that are classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Potential applicants should send a brief letter of inquiry, addressed to the president, containing contact information, a statement of the need for funds, and information about other possible sources of support. The relevant program officer may then request further information or invite the submission of a formal proposal.

Key officials: Paul Brest, president; Laurance R. Hoagland Jr., vice president and chief investment officer; Susan Bell, vice president, planning; Carolyn Provost, manager, grants administration; Walter B. Hewlett, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program directors: Terry Amsler (conflict resolution); Marshall Smith (education); Rhea Suh (director, energy initiative, and program officer, environment); Hal Harvey (environment); Alvertha Bratton Penny (neighborhood improvement initiative); Moy Eng (performing arts); and David E. Lorey (U.S.-Latin American relations).

Program officers: Nicole Gallant (children and youth issues); Cindy Gire (conflict resolution); Jorge Ruiz-de-Velasco (education, children and youth issues); Renu Karir (family and community development, children and youth issues); Andrea Faiss and John McGuirk (performing arts); Tamara Fox and Nicole Gray (population); C.R. Hibbs and Joseph Ryan (U.S.-Latin American relations).

SKILLMAN FOUNDATION

600 Renaissance CenterSuite 1700
Detroit, Mich. 48243
(313) 393-1185
http://www.skillman.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Rose Skillman endowed the foundation in 1960 with funds from the estate of her late husband, Robert, a former vice president and director of the 3M Company. Mrs. Skillman died in 1983. The foundation supports organizations that focus on improving the homes, schools, and neighborhoods of children in Detroit and in surrounding Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland Counties.

In 2001, the foundation paid out grants totaling $24,494,656 as follows: the program on home and community, $10,133,000; learning opportunities, $5,442,045; children’s relationships, $3,991,000; other grant-making opportunities, $4,450,050; and gifts to match contributions from current and former employees and trustees, $478,561.

Grants for home and community emphasize healthy and safe environments for children. For example, the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, in Detroit, received $1.5-million over five years to engage children and families in the creation and use of greenways in the city.

Learning-opportunities grants promote high-quality educational opportunities for children and youths. The foundation also administers the Skillman Scholars Program, which each year enables approximately 30 academically outstanding minority students from Detroit to attend local private schools.

The program on children’s relationships supports positive, nurturing relationships between children and adults, particularly parents.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts applications from organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Detailed information about grant-making programs and procedures is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Kari Schlachtenhaufen, president and chief executive officer; Richard Connell, vice president, treasurer, and chief investment officer; Carol Goss, vice president, program; Alison Harmon, senior program officer; Rex Nelson and Robert Thornton, program officers; Halcyon Liew, communications officer; Suzanne Moran, grants manager; Walter E. Douglas, chair of the Board of Trustees.