Foundation Annual Reports

FORD FOUNDATION

320 East 43rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10017
(212) 573-5000
http://www.fordfound.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was created in 1936 by Henry Ford with an initial gift of $25,000. It operated solely in Michigan until 1950, when it expanded its grant making to include national and international projects. By that time its assets had also grown significantly, as the foundation received bequests of Ford Motor Company stock upon the deaths of Edsel and Henry Ford in 1943 and 1947, respectively. Since then, the foundation has diversified its portfolio and no longer owns stock in the company.

In addition to its headquarters in New York, the foundation maintains 12 offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Russia and has partnerships in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Approximately half of the foundation’s staff members work outside the New York office.

The foundation’s grant making falls into three broad program areas: asset building and community development, which comprises the community and resource development unit and the economic-development unit; knowledge, creativity, and freedom, which comprises the education, sexuality, and religion unit and the media, arts, and culture unit; and peace and social justice, which comprises the governance and civil society unit and the human-rights unit.

In fiscal 2003, the foundation allocated grants and program-related investments totaling $525.2-million, primarily through the six aforementioned units: governance and civil society, which received $121.2-million; education, sexuality, and religion, $89.3-million; human rights, $86.5-million; community and resource development, $78.5-million; economic development, $63.6-million; and media, arts, and culture, $44.6-million.

In 2003 the foundation received approximately 40,000 grant requests and made 2,510 grants.

The governance and civil society unit allocates grants on a broad range of topics, including the responsiveness of governments to social needs; challenges stemming from trends toward governmental decentralization; U.S. electoral processes and campaign financing; conflict mediation and prevention within and between nations; civil-society organizations and philanthropy; citizen oversight of both public and private organizations and agencies; and global coalitions working for social justice.

For example, the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, in Istanbul, received $100,000 for a comparative study of philanthropy that bolsters social justice in Muslim societies, with a focus on Turkey.

The foundation’s education, sexuality, and religion unit emphasizes efforts to revamp educational systems so that disadvantaged people are better served; scholarship in such areas as gender and pluralism; education and policies concerning human sexuality; the role of religious traditions in shaping social values; and the participation of historically excluded groups in examining religious and cultural traditions and resources.

Awards included $139,000 to Boston College, in Chestnut Hill, Mass., to initiate publication of the Journal of Higher Education in Africa, and $120,000 to the Federal University of Bahia, in Brazil, for education on race and for curriculum development and public debate on affirmative action.

The foundation’s human-rights unit has two overlapping areas of interest: traditional human rights and sexuality and reproductive health. Through the first, the foundation promotes access to justice and the protection of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, especially for refugees and immigrants, minority groups, women, and other at-risk members of society. For example, the Innocence Project New Orleans received $150,000 for the Southern Freedom Project, which helps overturn wrongful convictions through investigation and litigation.

Through the second area, the foundation advocates the recognition and enforcement of the Programme of Action that resulted from the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, in Cairo. Grants focus on HIV/AIDS prevention; increased access to reproductive-health services and technologies; and efforts to curtail HIV/AIDS-related discrimination and sex-related exploitation, trafficking, and violence.

The foundation’s unit on community and resource development has three goals: helping people and organizations acquire, protect, and maintain forests, land, water, wildlife, and other natural assets in ways that can reduce poverty and injustice; improving quality-of-life indicators and opportunities for positive change in urban and rural communities; and focusing on the cultural, economic, and social factors that affect sexuality and reproductive health.

Allocations included $1-million to the Gamaliel Foundation, in Chicago, to develop strategies for combating urban sprawl and the “concentration of poverty,” and $125,000 to the American University in Cairo for a research program on changing social and economic relations in rural areas of Upper Egypt.

The economic-development unit stresses efforts to expand work-force development, to help businesses create job opportunities, and to assist low-income people in acquiring, developing, and maintaining homes, land, savings, and other assets. For example, $345,000 went to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in Washington, to analyze the effects that potential revisions in the Social Security system would have on low- and moderate-income workers.

The foundation’s unit on media, arts, and culture emphasizes increasing artistic opportunities for people of all backgrounds; documenting and distributing both new and traditional creative arts forms; expanding public access to the arts; advocating “free and responsible” media outlets that focus on crucial civil and social issues; promoting policies and laws that ensure that media and information systems serve the public interest; and enriching public dialogue on such issues as democracy and pluralism.

Application procedure: Applicants should first submit a brief letter of inquiry. Detailed information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Susan V. Berresford, president; Barron M. Tenny, executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel; Barry D. Gaberman, senior vice president and acting vice president, asset building and community development; Alison R. Bernstein, vice president, knowledge, creativity, and freedom; Bradford K. Smith, vice president, peace and social justice; Linda B. Strumpf, vice president and chief investment officer; Alexander W. Wilde, vice president for communications; Kathryn S. Fuller, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors: Frank F. DeGiovanni, economic development; Cynthia M. Duncan, community and resource development; Michael A. Edwards, governance and civil society; Alan Jenkins, human rights; Janice Petrovich, education, sexuality, and religion; Margaret B. Wilkerson, media, arts, and culture.

W.M. KECK FOUNDATION
550 South Hope Street, Suite 2500
Los Angeles, Calif. 90071
(213) 680-3833
http://www.wmkeck.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was created in 1954 by William Myron Keck, a businessman who founded the Superior Oil Company. Initially, the foundation’s endowment was relatively small; however, it received a large influx of funds upon the settlement of Mr. Keck’s estate in 1978. Grant making is limited to institutions and programs in the United States.

In 2003, the foundation made 35 grants totaling more than $23-million in five program areas: science and engineering research, medical research, undergraduate science and engineering, Southern California, and the liberal arts.

In general, the foundation’s engineering, medical-research, and science programs seek to facilitate innovative research and the development of new technologies. Eligible institutions are accredited four-year colleges and universities, medical schools, and major independent research institutions.

Awards included $500,000 to Western Michigan University, in Kalamazoo, to measure “line tension,” a phenomenon essential to the transport of materials into and out of cell membranes.

The foundation named its fifth class of Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research. Through this special program, the foundation supports scientists at early stages of their careers who are pursuing potentially groundbreaking projects in biomedicine.

The foundation allocated two liberal-arts grants, including a grant to Austin College, in Sherman, Tex., to develop a core course on culture, science, and society.

The Southern California grants program concentrates on the arts and culture, civic and community services, health care, and precollegiate education. For example, the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, received a grant to establish a second campus in order to expand arts-education programs available to the public.

In 2001 the foundation established the Early Learning Program as a new focus area within its Southern California grant making. This five-year effort supports projects that provide high-quality early-education opportunities for children ages 5 and younger who live in Los Angeles County.

Application procedure: The foundation has a two-phase application process and awards grants twice a year, in June and December. Prospective applicants should first submit a letter of inquiry and supporting documents; detailed information regarding this process is available on the foundation’s Web site. Unsolicited proposals and electronic applications are not accepted.

Key officials: Robert A. Day, chairman, president, and chief executive officer; Jonathan D. Jaffrey, vice president and chief administrative officer; Dorothy Fleisher, program director, Southern California; Roxanne Ford, program director, medical research; Maria Pellegrini and Mercedes Talley, program directors, science, engineering, and liberal arts.

RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
1 Union Station
Providence, R.I. 02903
(401) 274-4564
http://www.rifoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support:

Created in 1916, this community foundation makes designated, discretionary, and donor-advised grants to benefit Rhode Island residents. It comprises some 800 funds set up by individuals, companies, and others.

In 2003 the foundation allocated grants totaling $25-million to more than 1,000 nonprofit groups. Discretionary grants awarded through unrestricted and field-of-interest funds focused on the theme of “attaining vibrant communities.”

Under this rubric, the foundation makes various types of grants, including “strategy grants” of $5,000 or more for projects related to policy, advocacy and systems reform, organizational and leadership development, or “innovative models and proven programs.”

For example, $64,760 went to the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation for the Northern Rhode Island Affordable Housing Coalition, and $50,000 to Family Service, in Providence, for a child-development and community-policing project.

The foundation made grants totaling more than $500,000 to arts groups. Awards included $15,000 to Rhode Island Black Storytellers, in Providence, for a project called The Stories Continue.

The Basic Human Needs Program makes awards of up to $5,000 to social-services groups that provide food, clothing, rent, and other emergency assistance to needy Rhode Island residents. The foundation also makes leadership-development grants of up to $500 to enable nonprofit leaders and staff members in the state to attend workshops and conferences.

Application procedure: Detailed information, including a list of upcoming grant-proposal deadlines, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Ronald V. Gallo, president and chief executive officer; Carol Golden, senior vice president for philanthropic services; Michael Jenkinson, senior vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer; Karen Voci, senior vice president for program; Rick Schwartz, vice president for communications; David Karoff, director, program department; Pablo Rodriguez, chairman of the Board of Directors.