Foundation Annual Reports

HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING

85 Gillett Street
Hartford, Conn. 06105
(860) 548-1888
http://www.hfpg.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Note: 2001 financial data are for the 15-month period October 1, 2000, through December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Established in 1925, this community foundation makes discretionary, donor-advised, designated, and other types of grants to institutions in Hartford, Conn., and 29 adjacent towns. It comprises approximately 800 individual funds.

In 2002, the foundation authorized grants totaling $26,544,533 in three areas: general grant making, initiatives, and special projects. Grants ranged in size from $500 to $1.3-million.

Through its general grant-making program, the foundation allocated $17,526,370 in new grants, primarily for projects in the arts and culture, children and youths, economic and community development, education, health, housing, social services, and summer programs.

The foundation made a substantial number of transitional operating grants in order to help recipients maintain programs affected by government cutbacks or other losses in income.

Through its initiatives and special projects, the foundation commits resources to supplement its regular grant making and to deal with specific community needs and issues. For example, its Nonprofit Support Program authorized $615,000 in new awards to help local nonprofit groups with strategic planning, board development, and technology upgrades. The program also provides loans, conducts workshops, and publishes a newsletter.

Through its Brighter Futures Initiative, the foundation made grants totaling $2,336,850 to organizations working to increase the readiness of disadvantaged young children in Hartford to attend school.

Application procedure: Prospective applicants should carefully review the foundation’s “Guidelines for Grantseekers” publication, available on its Web site, to determine the eligibility of their organization for a grant from the foundation. After doing so, they should call the foundation to speak with a program officer. Eligible applicants will then be sent a packet that includes detailed instructions, forms, and a list of required attachments. Applications for grants may be submitted at any time during the year; the only exception to this policy is the foundation’s Summer Grants program, which has its own deadline and application process. Detailed information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Michael R. Bangser, executive director; Virgil Blondet Jr., director of finance and administration; Christopher H. Hall, director of programs and special projects; Rick Porth, director of grant making; Sandra B. Wood, director of development; Donna E. Jolly, senior communications officer; Sharon O’Meara, Hubert E. Sapp, and Sara A. Sneed, senior program officers; Cheryl L. Gerrish, grants manager; Nancy D. Grover, chair of the Board of Directors.

ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND

437 Madison Avenue, 37th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10022-7001
(212) 812-4200
http://www.rbf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was established in 1940 as a way to coordinate charitable giving by the daughter and five sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The fund received a major gift from Mr. Rockefeller in 1951 as well as a large bequest following his death in 1960. Since the fund’s creation, three generations of family members have served as members of the Board of Trustees; since 1952, the board has also included individuals who are not members of the Rockefeller family.

The Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, of Stamford, Conn., merged with the fund in 1999. The Board of Trustees conducted a subsequent evaluation of all Rockefeller Brothers and former Culpeper grant programs. As of January 1, 2003, the fund’s grant programs have been pared down from nine to the following four: democratic practice, human advancement, peace and security, and sustainable development.

These four programs are each being implemented at the global level and in North America and East Asia. In addition, the fund has designated New York City, Serbia and Montenegro, and South Africa as “pivotal places” where it is pursuing at least two of its four major programs. These three locations were selected for their “extraordinary regional or global significance” and for their special applicability to the fund’s grant-making priorities. The fund is also considering the possibility of designating an area in Asia as a fourth “pivotal place.”

In 2002, the fund awarded 284 new grants totaling approximately $18.4-million. Eighty-one percent of grants went to organizations based in the United States, and 19 percent went to foreign organizations. The average grant size was $65,000, and 40 percent of the grants were multiyear commitments.

The fund’s democratic-practice program seeks to encourage civic engagement and foster effective governance in the United States. On a global basis, it seeks to expand participation and democratic representation in transnational organizations and to ensure transparency and accountability at transnational institutions, particularly with regard to their effect on human lives and the environment.

The human-advancement program focuses on the arts and culture in New York City and in Serbia and Montenegro; visual- and performing-arts exchanges involving U.S. and Asian artists, through the Asian Cultural Council; education in New York City and South Africa; increased diversity among U.S. teachers; recognition of exemplary leadership in Asia, through the Ramon Magsaysay Awards; and health in South Africa and the United States. Health-related grants in South Africa focus on responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in that country, while U.S. grants focus on the Charles E. Culpeper Scholarships in Medical Science and the Charles E. Culpeper Biomedical Pilot Initiative, a new program that supports innovative research in bioengineering, molecular genetics, pharmacology, and other health topics.

The program on peace and security has two main objectives. The first is to promote U.S. global engagement, taking into account the implications of global interdependence, and to encourage related public discussion and debate on “America’s role in the world and on the values and principles that should shape it.” The second, newer objective focuses on enhanced communication and understanding between Muslim and Western societies.

The sustainable-development program seeks to combat global warming in the United States and on a global level and to conserve biodiversity and protect ecosystems in the United States, British Columbia, East Asia, and elsewhere.

The fund maintains historic-preservation and public-visitation programs at the Pocantico Historic Area, overlooking the Hudson River in Westchester County, N.Y. At this site, the fund also operates the Pocantico Conference Center, at which 65 meetings on global and other topics were held in 2002.

Application procedure: Grants are restricted to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and foreign organizations that would be considered tax-exempt if based in the United States. Letters of inquiry of no more than three pages — written in English — are recommended for most program areas, and should be sent to Benjamin R. Shute Jr., Secretary, at the above address. The fund’s review of grant inquiries is continual throughout the year. Separate guidelines and deadlines exist for the Biomedical Pilot Initiative, the Scholarships in Medical Science, and arts and culture grants for New York City. Detailed information is available on the fund’s Web site.

Key officials: Stephen B. Heintz, president; William F. McCalpin, executive vice president and chief operating officer; Benjamin R. Shute Jr., secretary and program officer; Boris A. Wessely, treasurer; Nancy L. Muirhead, assistant secretary and program officer; Priscilla Lewis, William S. Moody, Michael F. Northrop, Peter W. Riggs, and Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, program officers; Charles L. Granquist, director, Pocantico programs; A. Heather Masters, grants manager; Steven C. Rockefeller, chair of the Board of Trustees.

WEINGART FOUNDATION

1055 West Seventh Street, Suite 3050
Los Angeles, Calif. 90017-2305
(213) 688-7799
http://www.weingartfnd.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1951 by Ben Weingart, a California-based real-estate developer and investor, and his wife, Stella.

In its grant making, the foundation gives preference to organizations that provide services in seven Southern California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. It also provides grants for groups that serve California’s Imperial and San Diego Counties through the Weingart-Price Fund, administered by the San Diego Foundation.

During its 2003 fiscal year, the foundation approved 377 grants totaling $20,322,400. It made approximately 75 awards to first-time grantees of the foundation and approved more than 100 small grants of less than $35,000.

The foundation makes grants through two broad program areas: adults and the greater community, which allocated 209 grants totaling $12,371,544, and children and youths, which allocated 168 grants totaling $7,950,856.

Grants to benefit adults and the community focused on social services, including programs that serve disabled, homeless, and mentally ill adults. Many of these awards went to support facility and equipment needs and to strengthen or expand programs. For example, $150,000 went to the Lamp Community, in Los Angeles, to expand its day center and crisis shelter, and $250,000 went to the Braille Institute of America, in Los Angeles, to construct a replacement facility in Santa Barbara.

The foundation also earmarked a portion of its grant making for programs that benefit all residents of Southern California. Those grants emphasized improving the fund-raising ability of regional nonprofit organizations and expanding direct health services, including efforts on disease prevention and education.

Grants to benefit children and youths focused on the arts and culture, elementary and secondary education, physical and mental health, recreation, and social services. Awards under this program area included $75,000 to the Venice Family Clinic for an automated immunization registry and $25,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley to purchase computers and increase staffing at its learning center.

Application procedure: Tax-exempt organizations that believe they meet the foundation’s eligibility criteria should submit a brief letter of inquiry. Prospective applicants should consult the foundation’s Web site for detailed instructions.

Key officials: Steven D. Broidy, chairman and chief executive officer; Fred J. Ali, president and chief administrative officer; Laurence A. Wolfe, vice president for administration and real estate and corporate secretary; Deborah M. Ives, vice president and treasurer; Rosa M. Castillo, Barbara Kaze, Belen Vargas, and Jerry C. Yu, program officers; Veronica Johnson, grant facilitator.