Foundation Annual Reports

AHMANSON FOUNDATION

9215 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210
(310) 278-0770

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was established in 1952 by Howard F. Ahmanson (1906-68), a financier and civic leader in Los Angeles, and his first wife, Dorothy. In 1972, the foundation began to receive proceeds from Mr. Ahmanson’s estate, along with contributions by other family members that augmented the fund’s endowment.

The foundation’s grant making emphasizes the arts and humanities, precollegiate and collegiate education, health care and medicine, and human services. Approximately 90 percent of its grant dollars go to nonprofit organizations based in and serving Los Angeles County.

During its 2003 fiscal year, the foundation approved 446 grants totaling $25,383,345. The education program received $11,043,000, or 43 percent of grant dollars; human services, $6,175,095, or 24 percent; the arts and humanities, $5,721,250, or 23 percent; and health, $2,444,000, or 10 percent.

Education grants focused on after-school programs; arts and recreational activities for young people; capital projects; computers and other technology; literacy and tutoring; and scholarship support for ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged students. For example, a $25,000 grant went to the Community Harvest Charter School, in Los Angeles, for a technology project, and $150,000 went to Biola University, in La Mirada, to renovate Rose Hall.

Human-services grants supported projects on a diverse range of issues, including child care and development, domestic violence, the elderly and disabled, emergency services, housing and homelessness, hunger, and youth development. Allocations included $250,000 to St. Anne’s Maternity Home, in Los Angeles, to construct a transitional-living facility, and $25,000 to the Foodbank of Southern California, in Long Beach, for a program that provides surplus fruit, vegetables, and other unsold food to low-income elderly people.

The foundation made two large grants to Museum Associates, in Los Angeles, to acquire two paintings for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: $800,000 for the purchase of Inspiration of the Poet, by Jacob Jordaens, a 17th-century Flemish Baroque painter, and $700,000 for The Ecstasy of St. Francis, by Giovanni Baglione, an Italian painter from the same era.

Health grants included $25,000 to the Doheny Eye Institute, in Los Angeles, for research on macular degeneration, and $10,000 to the Methodist Hospital Foundation, in Arcadia, to purchase specialized X-ray equipment.

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. After reviewing the foundation’s guidelines, 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 direct 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 and Manya Schaff, program officers; Yvonne de Beixedon, grants administrator.

JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MacARTHUR FOUNDATION
140 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Ill. 60603
(312) 726-8000
http://www.macfound.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was endowed in 1978 through the will of John D. MacArthur (1897-1978), who was sole owner of the Bankers Life and Casualty Company and one of the three wealthiest men in America at the time of his death. Mr. MacArthur was also involved in hotels and other businesses and owned lucrative real estate in Florida and New York.

In 2003, the foundation received 6,300 grant requests and allocated 634 grants, of which 458 went to organizations and 176 to indivi-duals. The average grant award was $381,000, and the geographic scope of grantees included the United States and 86 foreign countries.

Grant making concentrates on four program areas: human and community development, which received $71,383,650; global security and sustainability, $69,168,663; general-program grants, $37,988,280; and the MacArthur Fellowships, $12,141,791.

Allocations to the human and community development and MacArthur Fellowship programs remained at approximately the same level as in 2002, while grant dollars for the global security and sustainability program and the general program increased from $55,655,700 and $27,620,295, respectively.

The program on human and community development limits its grant making to projects in the United States. It focuses on six issues: community development and regional economic competitiveness; stable and affordable housing, with an emphasis on revamping public housing in Chicago and preserving low-cost rental housing nationwide; enhanced student learning through better instruction and the dissemination of useful information and practices; juvenile-justice and mental-health policies; policy research on issues that affect disadvantaged people; and regional policies and solutions.

Awards included $550,000 over two years to Washington University in St. Louis for the Network on the Family and the Economy.

The program on global security and sustainability concentrates on international peace and security; conservation and sustainable development; population and reproductive health; “global challenges,” including human rights and the creation of an international justice system; the increasing role of globalization — “the rapid spread of technologies, people, money, and information”; and research and writing.

The program maintains offices in India, Mexico, and Nigeria that focus on projects on human rights and population and reproductive health, as well as an office in Russia that focuses on human rights and academic scholarship. The foundation is also providing long-term support to four leading Nigerian universities.

Awards included a three-year, $300,000 grant to Fundación Arco Iris, in Loja, Ecuador, for activities to conserve biodiversity by ameliorating the negative effects of mining in southeastern Ecuador.

The general program currently supports projects on intellectual property and the public domain, arts and cultural groups in metropolitan Chicago, and public radio and independent documentary film and video projects in the United States.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should send a one-page summary and a two- to three-page letter of inquiry, mailed to the Office of Grants Management at the foundation’s Chicago address or e-mailed to LOI@macfound.org. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Jonathan F. Fanton, president; Susan E. Manske, vice president and chief investment officer; Joshua J. Mintz, vice president and general counsel; Arthur M. Sussman, vice president and secretary; William E. Lowry, vice president, human resources and administration; Julia M. Stasch, vice president, human and community development; Marc P. Yanchura, treasurer; John Hurley, acting vice president, global security and sustainability; Raymond C. Boyer, associate vice president, communications; Richard J. Kaplan, assistant vice president, institutional research and grants management; Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, chair of the Board of Directors.

Program directors: Kennette M. Benedict, international peace and security, and senior adviser in philanthropy; Herman Brewer, Laurie R. Garduque, and Susan E. Lloyd, program on human and community development; David A. Harris, program on human and community development, Florida office; Judith F. Helzner, population and reproductive health; Mary R. Page, global challenges; Catherine H. Picard, program administrator; Elspeth A. Revere, general program; Debra D. Schwartz, program-related investments; John W. Slocum and Tatiana Zhdanova, Initiative in the Russian Federation and Post-Soviet States; Daniel J. Socolow, MacArthur Fellows; R. Michael Wright, conservation and sustainable development.

WALLACE FOUNDATION
2 Park Avenue, 23rd Floor
New York, N.Y. 10016
(212) 251-9700
http://www.wallacefoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

DeWitt Wallace, founder of Reader’s Digest magazine, and his wife, Lila Acheson Wallace, created several philanthropic funds in the 1950s. Following their deaths in the mid-1980s, two private foundations, the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund, were established to carry out their philanthropic intentions.

Following program reviews in the 1990s, it was determined that the two funds shared a common goal: “healthier communities that provide ample opportunities for the education and enrichment of children and families.” Accordingly, the two funds were legally merged in 2003 and renamed the Wallace Foundation. Meanwhile, the foundation has divested all its Reader’s Digest stock, its primary bequest from the Wallaces.

Grant making is restricted to projects in the United States. In 2003, the foundation approved grants and related expenses totaling $44.1-million for programs, research, and related activities in these areas: education leadership, which received 38 percent of grant dollars; participation in the arts, 34 percent; “foundation-wide initiatives,” 23 percent; and out-of-school learning, 5 percent.

Education grants seek to improve student achievement nationwide by bolstering educational leadership, particularly among school principals and superintendents. For example, the foundation has been working with 15 states, as well as 12 districts within those states, to test various approaches to revising the professional development and working conditions of education leaders.

Through its arts program, the foundation works to help “create and promote new standards of practice” for cultural organizations that in turn expand public participation in the arts. Grant making currently emphasizes two initiatives: Leadership and Excellence in Arts Participation (LEAP) and the State Arts Partnerships for Cultural Participation. In 2003, the foundation named 21 arts and cultural groups to participate in LEAP, bringing the total receiving support to 49. Awards included $300,000 to Dell’Arte, in Blue Lake, Calif., to improve its presentation of art forms that stem from American Indian and Latino cultural traditions.

The program on out-of-school learning seeks to provide greater numbers of children from low- and moderate-income families with high-quality extracurricular activities.

Application procedure: Most grants are awarded through foundation-initiated programs. Although unsolicited proposals are rarely supported, organizations may submit letters of inquiry. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: M. Christine DeVita, president; Nancy Devine, director, communities programs; Richard D. Laine, director, education programs; Michael Moore, director, arts programs; Jack Booker, director, operations; Mary E. Geras, director of finance and assistant treasurer; Lucas B. Held, director, communications; Lee Mitgang, director, editorial services; Rob D. Nagel, director of investments and treasurer; Edward Pauly, director, evaluation; Rebecca Edwards, Kimberly J. Jinnett, Sabrina Hope King, Rory MacPherson, Sheila Murphy, Jody Spiro, and Jessica Schwartz, senior officers; Walter V. Shipley, chairman of the Board of Directors.