Foundation Annual Reports

JOYCE FOUNDATION

70 West Madison Avenue, Suite 2750
Chicago, Ill. 60602
(312) 782-2464
http://www.joycefdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: Beatrice Joyce Kean, of Chicago, established the foundation in 1948. When Mrs. Kean died in 1972, the foundation received most of her estate, which was based on family wealth derived from lumber and sawmill interests.

In 2004, the foundation approved 278 grants totaling $42,216,107 in the following program areas: the environment, which received $12,247,174; education, $10,195,131; employment, $8,262,089; money and politics, $4,010,447; gun violence, $3,802,000; culture, $1,878,634; and special-opportunity and discretionary grants, $1,820,632. Overall, grant making was up substantially, from $24,006,827 in 2003.

The foundation’s grant making focuses on projects that benefit the Great Lakes region, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A limited number of environmental grants are given to Canadian groups, and most culture grants are made to Chicago-area organizations.

The environment program strives to protect the Great Lakes ecosystem and find sustainable solutions to environmental challenges in the region, particularly those that have to do with water resources and quality. For example, the Natural Resources Defense Council, in New York, received $100,000 to advocate more-stringent implementation of the Clean Water Act in the upper Midwest.

The foundation’s support for education programs was up substantially, from $3,829,595 in 2003. Current grant making focuses on narrowing the “achievement gap” that separates disadvantaged children from their peers.

There are three program priorities: expanding access to high-quality preschool education for children ages 3 to 5 in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin; improving the quality of teaching at public schools in Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee with poor student performance; and exploring the increased use of small and charter schools to revamp education in those three cities.

Employment grants emphasize policies that can enhance educational, vocational, and other opportunities for low-wage workers, enabling them to move into stable, well-paying jobs with good benefits and opportunities for advancement. Awards included $469,914 over two years to Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, to compile easy-to-use data about prevailing labor-market conditions in the state and their consequences for Illinois families.

The foundation’s program on money and politics works to strengthen campaign-finance laws and enforcement agencies at the federal level and in Midwest states. To a lesser extent, the program stresses better news-media coverage of government, politics, and public-affairs issues and efforts to ensure independent, impartial judiciary systems.

Grants made through the program included $120,000 over two years to George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management to analyze the significant growth in contributions made by small donors during the 2004 presidential election campaign and use the findings to inform policies that could help broaden civic participation in future elections.

The gun-violence program supports efforts to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by handguns and other firearms. To that end, it supports efforts to bring the firearms industry under comprehensive consumer-product oversight and related health and safety regulations. Grants included $125,000 over 18 months to the Entertainment Industries Council, in Reston, Va., to collaborate with entertainment companies on ways to accurately and responsibly depict gun violence on television.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts grant inquiries throughout the year. Before submitting a formal proposal to the foundation, prospective applicants should send a two- to three-page letter of inquiry outlining the proposed project to the appropriate program director or officer, who may then request a formal proposal. Additional information — including what should be included in the letter of inquiry, deadlines, and proposal guidelines for specific programs — is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Ellen S. Alberding, president; Lawrence N. Hansen, vice president; Deborah Gillespie, vice president of finance and administration; Mary O’Connell, director of communications; Jane R. Patterson, director of investments; Margaret H. O’Dell, program manager, environment; Jennifer Phillips, program manager, employment; Gretchen Crosby Sims, program manager, education; Veronica Salter, grants manager; John T. Anderson, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program officers: Roseanna Ander, education and gun violence; Michelle T. Boone, culture; Lawrence N. Hansen, money and politics; John Luczak, education; James Seidita, environment.

NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST

909 Third Avenue, 22nd Floor
New York, N.Y. 10022
(212) 686-0010
http://www.nycommunitytrust.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation makes the vast majority of its grants to nonprofit groups located in New York City’s five boroughs. Created in 1924 by a group of bankers, the trust currently comprises more than 1,700 charitable funds set up by individuals, families, and businesses. It also operates two suburban divisions — the Westchester Community Foundation and the Long Island Community Foundation — that administer the trust’s grant making in those regions.

The trust makes grants through four general program areas: education, arts, and the humanities, which received 44 percent of total grant dollars; health and people with special needs, 19 percent; community development and the environment, 18 percent; and children, youths, and families, 18 percent. Special projects received the remaining 1 percent of grant dollars.

Grants for education, arts, and the humanities stress four areas: improving public education in New York City; promoting access, diversity, and equity among arts groups and artists; supporting preservation activities in low-income and minority neighborhoods and the restoration of historic sites; and protecting civil rights, supporting court reform and legal services for poor people, and overcoming racial and ethnic divides, particularly among young people.

Grant making for health and people with special needs emphasizes groups working on these issues: biomedical research; blindness and visual disabilities; children and youths with disabilities; elderly people; health services, systems, and policies; HIV/AIDS; and mental health and retardation. Allocations included $45,000 to the New York Botanical Garden to survey traditional-medicine practitioners in the Dominican community to learn about their definitions of illness and diseases and the remedies they prescribe.

Community-development and environment grants focus on civic affairs, conservation and the environment, environmental health, neighborhood revitalization, technical assistance for nonprofit groups, and work-force development.

Grants to benefit children, youths, and families address the following areas: girls and young women, hunger and homelessness, social services and welfare, substance abuse, and youth development. For example, the Church Avenue Merchants Block Association received a grant to provide legal representation to families facing eviction.

During 2004 the trust processed grants totaling $49,115,539 for the September 11th Fund, which it established in conjunction with the United Way of New York City following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should first request the foundation’s “Guidelines for Grant Applicants” publication and one or more of the brochures that provide detailed descriptions of the four program areas. The foundation also suggests that potential applicants review copies of its grants newsletter, which provides examples of the types of grants the foundation is currently making. These materials may be requested by calling the foundation or by visiting its Web site as listed above.

Key officials: Lorie A. Slutsky, president; Joyce M. Bove, senior vice president for grants and special projects; Mercedes M. Leon, vice president for administration; Robert V. Edgar, vice president for donor relations; Kit Conroy, chief financial officer; Mary Z. Greenebaum, chief investment officer; Catherine Marsh, executive, Westchester Community Foundation; Suzy D. Sonenberg, executive, Long Island Community Foundation; Ani F. Hurwitz, director of communications; Liza Lagunoff and Anne M. Nally, grants administrators; Samuel S. Polk, chairman of the Distribution Committee.

Program contacts: Patricia Jenny, program director for community development and the environment; Len McNally, program director for health and people with special needs; Jane R. Stern, program director for education, arts, and the humanities; Patricia A. White, senior program officer for children, youth, and families.

WILLIAM PENN FOUNDATION

2 Logan Square, 11th Floor
100 North 18th Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19103
(215) 988-1830
http://www.williampennfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1945 as the Phoebe Waterman Foundation by Otto Haas, a co-founder of the chemical company Rohm and Haas, and his wife, Phoebe, an astronomer. Mr. Haas died in 1960, leaving the majority of his estate to the foundation, and Mrs. Haas made regular donations to it until her death in 1967.

The foundation’s grant making concentrates on efforts to benefit residents of the metropolitan Philadelphia area, which includes Pennsylvania’s Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties and New Jersey’s Camden County.

In 2004, the foundation approved 215 grants totaling $57,734,460. The money was divided among its three grant-making programs, which were adopted in 2001: environment and communities, which received $21,779,645; children, youth, and families, $17,491,399; and the arts and culture, $11,247,916. The remaining funds went to grants made through the foundation’s Opportunity Fund and a special $4-million award to the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation.

The environment and communities program strives to conserve and restore local watersheds and related ecosystems, revitalize selected neighborhoods, and ensure sustainable development. Awards included $495,000 over 18 months to 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, to advocate policies that advance regional planning and local land-use regulations while protecting open space and natural resources.

The children, youth, and families program focuses on projects related to child care, early-childhood development, education reform, and support services for at-risk families. In general, grant making focuses on “critical transitions” in the lives of children and adolescents.

For example, the Crozer-Chester Foundation, in Upland, Pa., received a grant of $1,145,100 over three years for staffing and other support of a coalition working to improve neighborhood-based services for young people in Chester, Pa.

Arts and culture grants emphasize operating and planning support, and awards included $72,050 to Spiral Q Puppet Theater, in Philadelphia, for staff salaries, strategic planning, and other organizational development.

In February 2005, Kathryn J. Engebretson, who had served as president since 2001, succumbed to cancer at the age of 48. The foundation named Feather O. Houstoun, a board member and the regional president of AmeriChoice, in Philadelphia, as her successor.

Application procedure: Prospective applicants should visit the foundation’s Web site for detailed information about its grant-making strategies, eligibility requirements, and procedures for submitting a letter of inquiry.

Key officials: Feather O. Houstoun, president; Ronnie L. Bloom, director, children, youth, and families; Louise Foster, chief financial officer; Olive Mosier, director, arts and culture; Helen Davis Picher, director, evaluation and research; Barbara A. Scace, director, information systems and grants administration; Brent Thompson, director, communications; Geraldine Wang, director, environment and communities; Janet Haas, chair of the corporation; David Haas, chair of the Board of Directors.