Foundation Annual Reports

JOYCE FOUNDATION
Three First National Plaza
70 West Madison Street, Suite 2750
Chicago 60602
(312) 782-2464
http://www.joycefdn.org

Period covered:Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: This foundation was endowed in 1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean, whose fortune was based on inherited lumber and sawmill interests.

In 1998, 201 grants totaling $29,862,709 were allocated in these program areas: the environment, which received $10,772,715; education, $6,136,142; employment, $5,678,673; gun violence, $3,953,653; money and politics, $1,541,546; culture, $857,000; and grants from the President’s Discretionary Fund and special opportunities, $922,980.

Grant making focuses on the Great Lakes region, which comprises Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A limited number of environmental grants are made to Canadian groups. Cultural grants are restricted to organizations located in metropolitan Chicago.

Grant making for environmental programs increased somewhat, up from $8.1-million in 1997. The foundation emphasizes support for projects to protect and improve water quality in the Great Lakes region; to reduce the production, use, and discharge of toxic substances in agriculture and industry; to promote more-efficient transportation and energy systems that limit the use of fossil fuels; and to develop a strong regional network of environmental groups.

The foundation decreased the amount spent on its education program, down from $11.4-million the previous fiscal year. Grants emphasize the reform of public schools and school districts in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, and stress four issues: equitable and adequate financing of urban schools, the professional development of teachers, improved measures for evaluating both student and school performance, and engaging parents and diverse constituents in school reform.

Employment-related grants stress efforts to affect public policy on work-force development and welfare reform. For example, a two-year, $174,358 award went to House of Mercy, in Des Moines, to assess the effectiveness of job training and placement programs for low-income women and to incorporate the findings into state policies.

The program on gun violence focuses on death and injury from firearms as a public-health problem, and promotes strategies that emphasize prevention rather than relying exclusively on punishment. New allocations included $600,000 over three years to Harvard University’s School of Public Health, in Boston, to develop a national system for reporting and tracking injuries caused by firearms.

The foundation decreased support for its program on money and politics, which supports efforts to promote campaign-finance reform through state-based projects in the Midwest and improved news-media coverage of the issue.

Earlier this year, Deborah Leff, who had served as president since 1992, left the foundation to head Second Harvest, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.

Application procedure: Before submitting a formal proposal, prospective applicants should send to the appropriate staff member a two- to three-page letter that briefly describes the proposed project and its goals, how it relates to the foundation’s interests, the target audience and beneficiaries, the estimated budget and duration, and plans for evaluating and disseminating its findings. Letters of inquiry are reviewed by a program officer, who will tell the prospective applicant whether the project falls within program guidelines and should be developed into a formal proposal. Applicants are encouraged to submit letters of inquiry four to six weeks before the proposal deadline to allow ample time to discuss the project. Grant proposals are considered at board meetings in March, July, and December; deadlines for forthcoming grant cycles are August 16 for the December meeting and December 8 for the March 2000 meeting. Applicants are encouraged to submit their proposals for the March or July meetings, since most grant funds are distributed at those times.

Key officials: Paula DiPerna, president; Lawrence N. Hansen, vice-president; Linda K. Schelinski, vice-president of administration; Ellen S. Alberding, program officer and investment officer; Peter T. Mich, program officer and technology officer; Mary M. O’Connell, communications officer; John T. Anderson, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program contacts: Ellen S. Alberding (culture), Roseanna Ander (gun violence), Warren K. Chapman (education), Lawrence N. Hansen (money and politics), Reginald Lewis (education), Peter T. Mich (education), Kara Kellaher Mikulich (employment), Margaret H. O’Dell (environment), James Seidita (employment), and Unmi Song (employment).

MEADOWS FOUNDATION

Wilson Historic District
3003 Swiss Avenue
Dallas 75204-6090
(214) 826-9431
http://www.mfi.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1948 by Algur H. Meadows, a Texas oil-company executive, and his wife, Virginia. It awards grants throughout Texas but generally allocates between one-third and one-half of grant dollars to Dallas-area organizations.

In 1998, the foundation committed more than $37-million through its five program areas: arts and culture, civic and public affairs, education, health, and human services. It also made four program-related investments totaling $4.7-million.

Arts and cultural projects received $20.7-million, far more than any other program area. This was due in large part to an $18.5-million grant to Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, in Dallas, to construct and endow a museum that will house the Meadows Collection of Spanish Art. The collection includes works by such artists as El Greco, Goya, Diego Velazquez, and Picasso.

The human-services program received the next-largest amount: $6,657,765. New grants included $25,000 to Family Eldercare, in Austin, to expand money-management services available to senior citizens in 51 Texas counties.

The foundation awarded approximately $450,000 through its “Awards for Charitable School Projects” program, which encourages volunteerism among students at middle and high schools in northern Texas.

In 1981, the foundation began acquiring and renovating several dilapidated Victorian homes in the Wilson Historic District near downtown Dallas. Local non-profit groups are provided rent-free office space in those buildings, and the foundation covers security, landscaping, and maintenance costs. In exchange, the tenants agree to work to improve their managerial effectiveness and to develop cooperative programs with other community groups. In 1998, the foundation purchased a new property and undertook a comprehensive review of the Wilson Historic District program.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts grant applications throughout the year and there are no formal application forms. An organization may submit only one application within a 12-month period. The application should include a brief history of the organization and its work; a description of the proposed program; the specific amount requested and the date payment is needed; a list of all other entities approached for support for the project, including their responses to date and dollar amounts committed; a budget for the project and plans for financing it after the grant expires; specific plans to evaluate the project; a list of board members that includes their profession, ethnicity, and gender; the names and qualifications of staff members involved with the project; the organization’s current, year-to-date financial statements; a copy of the most-recent certified audit; and a copy of the latest verification of tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. Receipt of all applications is acknowledged within three weeks; applications are usually processed within three to four months. The foundation’s grant guidelines are available in print and on audiocassette in both English and Spanish.

Key officials: Linda P. Evans, president and chief executive officer; Bruce H. Esterline, vice-president for grants; Bob Weiss, vice-president for administration; Martha L. Benson, vice-president, treasurer, and chief financial officer; Michael E. Patrick, vice-president and chief investment officer; Eloise Meadows Rouse, vice-president for special projects; Michael K. McCoy and D. Matteson Pascal, senior program officers; Susan G. Saunders, grants administrator; Robert A. Meadows, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST

Two Park Avenue
New York 10016
(212) 686-0010
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: The trust was established in 1924 to facilitate giving to benefit New York City residents. It administers more than 1,300 charitable funds that were created by individuals, families, and corporations.

In 1998, grants were allocated as follows: education, the arts, and the humanities received 40 per cent of grants awarded; community development and the environment, 25 per cent; health and people with special needs, 18 per cent; children, youths, and families, 16 per cent; and special projects, 1 per cent.

Grants focusing on poverty, welfare reform, and employment cut across all four programs. For example, $80,000 went to the Institute for Life Coping Skills to provide vocational counseling to young women on public assistance, and $40,000 to the Center for Disability Advocacy Rights to expand its services for children whose Supplemental Security Income benefits have been reduced or terminated.

The education, arts, and humanities program also includes support of human-rights and social-justice projects. Awards included $25,500 to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center to attract audiences to a complex on Staten Island that houses 20 arts groups, and $30,500 to the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project for a unit to help victims of hate-motivated crimes.

The program in community development and the environment focused on civic affairs, conservation and pollution, housing and neighborhood revitalization, and microenterprise development.

Grants for health and special needs emphasized AIDS, disabled children and youths, the elderly, health systems and policy, mental health and retardation, and visually impaired people.

The children, youths, and families program stressed projects related to girls, hunger and homelessness, social services and welfare, substance-abuse prevention, and youth development.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should request a copy of the “Guidelines for Grant Applicants” brochure before applying for a grant; it contains detailed information about application procedures and brief descriptions of the foundation’s grant-making programs, as well as a proposal cover sheet. Separate brochures with additional information on each of the four grant-making programs are also available.

Key officials: Lorie A. Slutsky, president; Joyce M. Bove, vice-president for grants and special projects; Karen Metcalf, vice-president for financial administration; Robert V. Edgar, manager of donor services; Anne Backman, manager of publications; Suzy D. Sonenberg, executive of the Long Island Community Foundation; Catherine Marsh, executive of the Westchester Community Foundation; Anne Nally, grants administrator; William M. Evarts, chairman of the Distribution Committee.

Program contacts: Patricia Jenny, director (Neighborhood Strategies Project); Len McNally, program director (health and people with special needs); Anita R. Nager, senior program officer (community development and the environment); Jane R. Stern, program director (education, arts, and the humanities); Patricia White, senior program officer (children, youths, and families).