Foundation Annual Reports

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN

333 West Fort Street, Suite 2010
Detroit, Mich. 48226
(313) 961-6675
http://www.cfsem.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1984 and primarily serves residents of seven counties in southeastern Michigan — Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne. The foundation administers more than 700 funds, including 39 created by donors in 2004.

That same year the foundation allocated 2,021 grants totalingapproximately $24-million, the second-highest dollar amount awarded in its history. In general, grant making focuses on support for arts and cultural projects, civic affairs, education, the environment and land use, health, human services, neighborhood and regional economic development, and work-force development.

The foundation stresses programs that adopt one or more of the following strategies: developing or testing new solutions to community problems, boosting the efficacy of nonprofit groups, responding to special opportunities to improve the quality of life in southeastern Michigan, promoting cooperation among groups, and advancing volunteerism and community involvement.

The foundation’s GreenWays Initiative is a five-year, $75-million effort to create a regional network of trails, including hiking and biking paths and “corridors” of conserved land. Other major contributors to the GreenWays Initiative include the Ford Motor Company Fund and the Hudson-Webber, W.K. Kellogg, Kresge, and Skillman Foundations.

The companion Great Outdoors program is a three-year, $3-million effort to increase the involvement of children, families, and community organizations in outdoor activities. The foundation has also initiated a program to combat childhood obesity, based on findings that Michigan ranks third in the nation in the number of children who are overweight or obese.

Grants included $5,000 to the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit to provide winter basketball activities for young people in Livingston County.

Awards in other program areas included $15,000 to Oakland University, in Rochester, to convert five graduate-level nursing courses to online formats, and $15,000 to the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in Chelsea, to implement an audience-development plan.

In June 2004 the foundation held a seminar on “best practices and good governance” at nonprofit organizations that attracted more than 500 attendees. Participants reviewed possible regulatory changes that could affect charities as well as various actions that organizations can take to strengthen their governance practices.

In keeping with its focus on civic involvement, the foundation also began a partnership with Detroit’s WWJ NewsRadio 950 to highlight the stories of local volunteers through weekly 90-second on-air segments called “Making a Difference in Southeast Michigan.”

Application procedure: The foundation accepts grant requests from organizations serving southeastern Michigan that are tax-exempt public charities under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Grant guidelines revised in June 2005 are available on the foundation’s Web site, and grant inquiries and applications are welcome at any time. The foundation’s trustees make all grant decisions at meetings held quarterly.

Key officials: Mariam C. Noland, president; Robin D. Ferriby, vice president, philanthropic services; Karen L. Leppanen, vice president, finance and administration; Cassandra L. Joubert, vice president, community investments; Anne S. Weekley, director of communications; Lisa Cylar Miller and Randall S. Ross, program officers; Ronald E. Whiteside, grants manager; Eugene A. Miller, chair of the Board of Trustees.

ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND

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

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was established in 1940 as a means through which the daughter and five sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. could coordinate their charitable giving. Mr. Rockefeller made a large donation to the fund in 1951 that was followed by a major bequest from his estate in 1960. In 1952 the foundation’s board was expanded to include trustees who were not members of the Rockefeller family.

Grant making currently centers around four program areas that are often interrelated: sustainable development, democratic practice, human advancement, and peace and security.

Within each program area, the fund finances activities in various geographic locations. It also places special emphasis on four locales it has designated “pivotal places” — New York City, Serbia and Montenegro, South Africa, and southern China — that have “disproportionate significance for the future of a surrounding region, an ecosystem, or the world.”

In 2004, the fund approved 319 grants totaling approximately $23-million, and the average grant size was $75,000. Roughly two-thirds of the grants provided program support and one-third provided general support.

The largest single portion of the fund’s grant making — 24 percent — went to the sustainable-development program, and 32 percent was allocated among projects in the “pivotal places.”

The sustainable-development program has two main goals: combating global warming both in the United States and on a global level, and conserving biodiversity and protecting ecosystems in British Columbia, the Russian Far East, the United States, and elsewhere. Within that framework, the foundation emphasizes preserving blocks of coastal temperate rain forest, promoting the sustainable management of forests and fisheries, and supporting efforts to protect Pacific salmon.

The democratic-practice program seeks to encourage civic engagement and effective governance in the United States. It also works globally to support selected partnerships that can help “bring about a pattern of globalization that is more transparent, equitable, and sustainable.” For example, the Aspen Institute, in Washington, received $200,000 over two years for a project entitled “Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative.”

The program on peace and security has two main goals: advancing “responsible” U.S. global engagement and promoting mutual understanding and respect between Muslim and non-Muslim societies. Awards included $60,000 to the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, for its independent task force on U.S. policy toward Iran.

Human-advancement grants currently emphasize the arts and culture in New York City; arts exchanges between U.S. and Asian artists, through the Asian Cultural Council; education in New York City and South Africa; increased racial diversity among American teachers; recognition of outstanding leadership in Asia, through the Ramon Magsaysay Awards; and the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa.

In March 2004, the fund decided to concentrate its future grant making in Asia on southern China. Grants for projects in other “pivotal places” included $37,500 to the Institute for Sustainable Development, in Warsaw, to assist public and private institutions in Montenegro, and $81,000 over two years to the Topsy Shelter, in Bryanston, South Africa, to improve psychological and social services for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children.

Application procedure: Only organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or that are seeking support for a project that would qualify as educational or charitable are eligible. Foreign organizations must meet similar requirements. Letters of inquiry that are no more than three pages long and written in English are recommended for most program areas, and should be submitted via e-mail to grants@rbf.org. There are no application forms, and the fund reviews grant inquiries year-round. Additional 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, democratic practice-U.S.; Boris A. Wessely, treasurer; Nancy L. Muirhead, assistant secretary and program officer, South Africa; Joseph P. Simmons, project director and special adviser, peace and security; Charles L. Granquist, director, Pocantico programs; Miriam Añeses, director, fellows program; Gail L. Fuller, communications officer; Lisa Kang, grants manager; Steven C. Rockefeller, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Shenyu Belsky (southern China), Michael Conroy (democratic practice-global), Priscilla Lewis (peace and security), William S. Moody (Serbia and Montenegro), Michael F. Northrop (sustainable development), and Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas (New York City).

HARRY AND JEANETTE WEINBERG FOUNDATION

7 Park Center Court Owings Mills, Md. 21117 (410) 654-8500 http://www.hjweinbergfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending February 28, 2005.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1959 by Harry Weinberg (1908-90), an entrepreneur who had emigrated with his family at the age of 3 from what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although Mr. Weinberg had no formal education past the sixth grade, he went on to own a network of mass-transit bus lines nationwide and made a fortune in securities and real estate in Hawaii and elsewhere. When Mr. Weinberg died in 1990, one year after the death of his wife, Jeanette, the foundation received most of his billion-dollar estate.

The foundation’s grant-making policies reflect the stipulations of Harry and Jeanette Weinberg. It makes grants totaling approximately $100-million annually, and focuses on assisting poor people through operating and capital grants. Although it has no geographic restrictions, the foundation places high priority on supporting programs and organizations that serve disadvantaged residents of Baltimore, Hawaii, northeastern Pennsylvania, New York, Israel, and the former Soviet Union.

The foundation emphasizes projects that help meet the basic needs of low-income people, including adequate nutrition, affordable housing, and health care. Within that framework, grants stress support for elderly and Jewish individuals.

Other grant-making priorities include community development and building self-sufficiency among poor people through education, work-force development, and aid to families, homeless people, and substance abusers.

Over the past 15 years, the foundation has made grants totaling nearly $90-million to The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and its constituent groups, including a $2.7-million award during fiscal year 2005. Other grants to Jewish causes included $100,000 to the Jewish Fund for the Righteous, in New York, which assists people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

Allocations in other program areas included $2-million to the Maryland Food Bank, in Baltimore, to purchase and renovate a new facility, and $100,000 to the Enoch Pratt Free Library, also in Baltimore, for a family-oriented literacy project.

The foundation maintains a second office in Honolulu that directs its programs in Hawaii, where the Weinbergs spent the last 25 years of their lives. Grants for Hawaii residents included $525,000 to Mental Health Kokua, in Honolulu, to provide housing for mentally ill people in Hilo and Maui.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts letters of inquiry from organizations that are tax-exempt public charities under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that principally serve low-income people. The foundation does not provide support for academic or health research, annual giving, the arts and culture, colleges and universities, deficit financing, political-action groups, publications, scholarships for higher education, or think tanks. Additional, detailed information regarding guidelines for letters of inquiry and formal proposals is available on the fund’s Web site.

Key officials: Shale D. Stiller, president; Alvin Awaya, Timothy P. Kelly, and Donn Weinberg, vice presidents; Barry I. Schloss, secretary and treasurer; Rachel Garbow Monroe, chief operating officer; Nancy Coleman and Stan Goldman, program officers; Ted Gross, program officer and director, Weinberg Fellows Program.