Foundation Annual Reports

FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS

217 South Tryon Street
Charlotte, N.C. 28202
(704) 973-4500 or (800) 973-7244
http://www.fftc.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1958 as the United Community Foundation and originally awarded grants solely for projects in Charlotte and adjacent Mecklenburg County, N.C. In 1984, the organization changed its name to the Foundation for the Carolinas, and now makes grants to benefit residents of 13 counties in North and South Carolina. It comprises approximately 1,500 constituent funds.

Through a network of affiliated regional funds, the foundation serves the following areas in North Carolina: Cabarrus, Cleveland, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Richmond, Stanly, and Union Counties and the cities of Lexington and Salisbury. In South Carolina, funds reach residents of Cherokee, Lancaster, and York Counties.

Geographically, the communities served by the foundation are clustered in southwestern North Carolina and the adjoining part of northern South Carolina.

In 2004 the foundation distributed grants totaling $52,983,246 in these program areas: the environment, which received $15,491,924; education, $12,692,432; religion, $8,520,736; human services, $6,972,491; the arts, $3,197,608; health, $3,055,092; public and civic affairs, $2,154,263; youths, $635,407; and senior citizens, $263,293.

Environmental grants included $25,000 to the Catawba Lands Conservancy, in Charlotte, for its Open Space Protection Program, through which regional land-conservation groups provide financial and estate-planning assistance to landowners and their advisers.

Awards made through the education program included $10,000 to the Hispanic Cultural Center of Charlotte for a project that provides workshops and tutorials on attending college to Latino youths and their parents.

Grants in other program areas included $54,000 to Womenfolk Unlimited, in Rockingham, N.C., to provide shelter and services to individuals who are escaping violent domestic situations, and $2,650 to the Lancaster County Council of the Arts, in South Carolina, to provide teenagers in an alternative school program with instruction in pottery making.

The foundation restructured its client-services department and created three resources: the Center for Personal and Family Philanthropy, the Center for Nonprofits, and the Center for Corporate Philanthropy.

The foundation provides administrative services to eight supporting foundations; the newest are the Crosland Foundation, the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Foundation, and the Salisbury Community Foundation.

The fund also directly manages 25 scholarship programs and oversees the administration of 53 others. In 2004, the programs awarded approximately $2-million to benefit 1,121 students.

Application procedure: The foundation offers various competitive-grants programs to which nonprofit groups may apply. Detailed application and deadline information is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Michael Marsicano, chief executive officer and president; Laura L. Meyer, executive vice president; Donald K. Jonas, senior vice president, community philanthropy; Jenene H. Seymour, senior vice president, scholarships; C. Barton Landess, senior vice president, development and planned giving; Judy L. Kerns, senior vice president, investments and administration; Holly Welch Stubbing, senior vice president, client services; Debra S. Watt, senior vice president, operations; Charity L. Perkins, vice president, communications; Harvey Gantt, chair of the Board of Directors.

JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION

Wachovia Financial Center, Suite 3300
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Fla. 33131
(305) 908-2600
http://www.knightfdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2005.

Purpose and areas of support: This private foundation was established in 1950 by John S. and James L. Knight, brothers who owned various newspapers nationwide that subsequently became part of the Knight-Ridder chain. The two men died in 1981 and 1991, respectively, and each made a large bequest to the foundation.

The foundation administers three major programs: the community-partners program, which makes grants in the 26 cities and towns nationwide where the Knight brothers owned newspapers; journalism; and the National Venture Fund. The foundation also maintains some flexibility with regard to supporting complementary projects.

In 2005, the foundation paid out $92.6-million and allocated 286 new grants totaling $78,224,147 as follows: the community-partners program received 167 grants totaling $34,652,325; journalism, 43 grants totaling $25,922,667; the National Venture Fund, 28 grants totaling $13,261,855; and 48 other grants totaling $4,387,300. The total amount awarded was down from $99,905,480 in 2004.

The community-partnership program includes those 26 cities that were eligible for grants from the foundation at the time of James Knight’s death in 1991. In general, awards emphasize six grant-making priorities: civic engagement, community and housing development, economic development, education, the vitality of cultural life, and the well-being of children and families. However, the foundation recognizes that the most-pressing needs vary within each community, and relies on local advisory committees to make recommendations.

Allocations included $1.5-million over three years to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, in Detroit, to install its core exhibit, which chronicles 400 years of the experiences of blacks in America, beginning with the slave trade in Africa and ending in modern-day Detroit.

Grants for journalism projects were up substantially, from $14,823,500 the previous year. Awards go to U.S. and foreign organizations and stress diversity and professionalism in both the newsroom and in news content; journalism education and training; freedom of the press and of information; news that is in the public interest; and the use of electronic and other new media.

Awards included $250,000 to the Internews Network, in Arcata, Calif., for the pilot phase of the Health Journalism Partnership, a program designed to train and assist health journalists in countries in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere that are experiencing public-health crises.

Grants made through the National Venture Fund emphasize support for national-scale projects on civic engagement, economic development, housing and community development, and the well-being of children and families. For example, the foundation’s $6-million American Dream Fund made grants to more than 30 grass-roots groups in Knight communities that are helping “hard-working, tax-paying immigrant families become citizens, vote, and play an active role in community life.”

The annual report features photo essays on the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina as well as humanitarian and rebuilding efforts, particularly in the Knight communities of Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss.

Application procedure: Detailed guidelines, including information on submitting letters of inquiry and a list of the foundation’s 26 designated communities, are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Alberto Ibargüen, president and chief executive officer; Michael Maidenberg, vice president and chief program officer; Belinda Turner Lawrence, vice president and chief administrative officer; Juan J. Martinez, vice president of finance and treasurer; Larry Meyer, vice president of communications and secretary; Susan Patterson, director of the community-partners program; Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives; Julie K. Kohler, interim director of the National Venture Fund; Linda B. Fitzgerald, deputy director of the community-partners program; Julie E. Tarr, director of evaluation; Julie B.A. Brooks, grants administrator; W. Gerald Austen, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

LUMINA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION

300 South Meridian Street, Suite 700
Indianapolis, Ind. 46204
(317) 951-5300 or (800) 834-5756
http://www.luminafoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2005.

Purpose and areas of support: In July 2000, the USA Group sold its assets in guarantee servicing, student-loan servicing, and secondary-market operations. The proceeds of that sale endowed the USA Group Foundation, now called the Lumina Foundation for Education. This private foundation just completed its fifth year of grant making and is among the 40 largest foundations in the country.

In 2005 the foundation made 190 grants totaling $81,470,305 in the following program areas: community colleges, which received $42,248,259, or 52 percent of grant dollars; student access to higher education, $18,852,763, or 23 percent; student retention and success in postsecondary education, $11,943,362, or 15 percent; educational and related efforts in Indiana, $3,359,500, or 4 percent; special grants, $2,828,700, or 3 percent; and adult learning, $2,237,721, or 3 percent.

The average grant amount was $401,662, up from $242,044 the preceding year, and the overall dollar amount awarded more than doubled, from $39,937,265 in 2004.

This uptick was largely because of multiyear grants made through Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a large-scale program to assist the nation’s community colleges and the students they serve, particularly those who are low-income or members of underrepresented minority groups. The program now works on 35 campuses in seven states, and in 2005 signed on two new partner organizations: the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, in Ohio, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, in Connecticut.

Other community-college activities included $208,400 to the University of Massachusetts at Boston to study the factors that affect the successful transfer of community-college students to selective four-year institutions.

Grants to expand access to postsecondary education seek to overcome barriers to student enrollment, including college costs, inadequate academic preparation, and the lack of encouragement and resources. For example, the CalPirg Education Fund, in Los Angeles, received $140,000 to expand its campaign to reduce the cost of college textbooks to several other states.

Also that year, the foundation held a meeting in conjunction with the start-up of its College Costs: Making Opportunity Affordable initiative; the summit attracted hundreds of participants from more than 60 national organizations to discuss what the foundation terms “one of the nation’s most critical problems.”

Grants to spur students’ success in postsecondary education emphasize student attainment, perseverance, and retention. Awards included $230,000 over 18 months to Excelencia in Education, in Washington, to study the role that institutional leadership plays in improving student achievement at institutions that serve primarily Latino students.

Adult-learning grants support services for nontraditional students, including those who attend school part time or intermittently. For example, the Urban Institute, in Washington, received $207,000 to study the impact of postsecondary-education programs on prisoners.

Application procedure: Detailed information on the various programs, including guidelines for applying for grants, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Martha D. Lamkin, president and chief executive officer; Susan O. Conner, executive vice president for impact strategy; Leah Meyer Austin, senior vice president for research and programs; J. David Maas, senior vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer; Holiday Hart McKiernan, senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary; Nathan E. Fischer, vice president for investments; Samuel D. Cargile, senior program director; Dewayne Matthews, senior research director; Mary Grcich Williams, senior evaluation director; Gloria Ackerson, grants-management coordinator; John M. Mutz, chairman of the Board of Directors.