Foundation Annual Reports

HOUSTON ENDOWMENT

600 Travis, Suite 6400
Houston 77002-3007
(713) 238-8100
http://www.houstonendowment.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1937 by Jesse H. Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. Mr. Jones was a Houston-based financier, commercial builder, and a former U.S. Secretary of Commerce during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration.

The foundation places priority on organizations and programs that serve residents of the metropolitan Houston area. In addition, some grants are made to aid other Texas cities and towns, and a few are made to U.S. institutions outside Texas. However, none are made to organizations that operate outside the United States.

In 1999, the foundation allocated grants totaling $54.9-million to 424 organizations working in six program areas: higher education, which received $16.9-million, or 31 percent of grant dollars; health and human services, $13.1-million, or 24 percent; community enhancement, $9.1-million, or 16 percent; arts and culture, $7.0-million, or 13 percent; medical facilities and research, $4.9-million, or 9 percent; and kindergarten-through-12th-grade education, $3.9-million, or 7 percent.

Higher-education grants went to 39 colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Forty-one percent of these grants went for buildings and facilities, 27 percent for program development, 25 percent for scholarships and fellowships, and 7 percent for professorships and other endowed programs.

The Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones Scholarship Program awarded $12,000 each to 308 graduates of 83 high schools in the Houston area. Recipients may use the money for undergraduate tuition at any accredited four-year college or university. Since the program’s inception in 1958, scholarships totaling $36,672,500 have been awarded to 6,669 students.

Grants in the health and human-services category emphasized support for at-risk children, multiple-purpose human-services groups, hunger and homelessness, emergency relief, health care, and the elderly. For example, $250,000 went to Healthy Families Initiatives, in Houston, to expand collaborative efforts of seven local groups to encourage positive family development and to ward off child abuse and neglect.

Grants for community-enhancement focused on community education and cultural diversity, environmental and wildlife conservation, historic preservation and education, parks and natural spaces, and community development. Awards included $1,000,000 to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, in Houston, to acquire land in order to establish a greenway system along Buffalo Bayou, and $10,000 to the Association of State Floodplain Managers to inform property owners about voluntary buyouts of flood-prone land.

In the arts and culture category, 97 percent of grant dollars went to support the visual and performing arts. The largest new award was $1,000,000 to Theatre Under the Stars, in Houston, to aid that company’s transition from the Music Hall to its new home at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Within the medical facilities and research category, 53 percent of grant dollars went to medical research and 47 percent went to support capital needs.

Grants to benefit primary and secondary education went to both public and private schools and emphasized curriculum enhancement, students with special needs, buildings and facilities, and school-based social services. New allocations included $250,000 to the University of Texas at Houston Health Science Center, for a program that identifies and helps children with reading difficulties at the start of second grade.

Application procedure: The foundation makes grants only to organizations that are tax-exempt under Sections 501(c)(3) or 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. It does not make grants to individuals or loans of any type. Application forms are not required, but requests must be made in writing. Applications should consist of a letter and other supporting documents; specific information on what should be included is available through the “Grant Guidelines” section of the foundation’s Web site. The site also provides detailed information on the application process, including deadlines and communication protocols. Information regarding the Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs Jones Scholarships may be obtained from the principals and counselors of Houston-area high schools.

Key officials: H. Joe Nelson III, president; Sheryl L. Johns, vice president, treasurer, and chief financial officer; David L. Nelson, vice president and grant director; George V. Grainger, Ann T. Hamilton, Anna B. Leal, Michele J. Sabino, Donald Sheppard, and Emily L. Todd, grant officers; E. Jane Floren, Helen Hill, and Carolyn A. Powell, grant managers; Milton Carroll, chairman of the Board of Directors.

OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

1300 North Broadway Drive
Oklahoma City 73103
(405) 235-5603
http://www.occf.org

Period Covered: Year ending June 30, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1969 by the oilman John E. Kirkpatrick and eight other community leaders. It awards grants to nonprofit public charities or state or local government programs that primarily serve residents of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

In fiscal year 2000 the foundation paid out $9,709,236 in grants. Of those grant dollars, 32.8 percent went to projects for education; 25.9 percent to arts and culture; 10.9 percent each to social services and health; 5.0 percent to environment; 4.4 percent to youth; 4.1 percent to religion; and 5.9 percent to other.

The foundation currently comprises more than 800 donor-advised, field-of-interest, and other funds.

The Fund for Oklahoma City contains all unrestricted contributions since the foundation’s inception and supports the following programs: After-School Options, Agency Capacity Building, and Parks and Public Spaces. The fund also administers the New Opportunities Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships to students in Oklahoma County who want to attend college or receive other posthigh-school training.

For example, in the After-School Options category, the foundation approved a $13,225 grant to the metropolitan library system to provide staffing and materials to expand two literacy programs to additional sites.

The Agency Capacity Building grants support administrative, communications, and planning efforts at local organizations. A $4,838 grant to the Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Center assisted that organization in its purchase of computer software and hardware.

Parks and Public Spaces grants encourage public responsibility and public-private partnerships to care for and maintain public lands. Grants approved in 2000 included several beautification and tree-planting projects. For example, a $3,031 grant to Oklahoma City Beautiful helped that group improve a playground built to honor the children who died in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The Fund for Oklahoma City also awards grants for joint projects undertaken by neighborhood groups. For example, the foundation approved a $7,500 grant for the Areawide Aging Agency for its Senior Health on the Go project, which coordinates efforts to assure that the elderly can easily gain access to health care.

Application procedure: The foundation has a two-part application process. All applicants fill out the first part, which solicits general information about the organization, a summary of the proposal, and supporting documents. The second part is customized for each program area.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact appropriate foundation staff members before submitting proposals. The foundation does not accept proposals by fax; applicants should mail or deliver the proposal to the address above. For descriptions of current programs, guidelines, deadlines, and application forms, see the foundation’s web site at http://www.occf.org.

Key officials: Nancy Anthony, executive director; Sam Bowman, program director; Susan Elkins, grants manager; Penny Voss, director of donor services; Jeanette L. Gamba, president of the Board of Trustees.

HITACHI FOUNDATION

1509 22nd Street, N.W.
Washington 20037-1073
(202) 457-0588
http://www.hitachi.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1985 by the Japanese corporation Hitachi Ltd., which has headquarters in Tokyo, and it promotes “social responsibility through effective participation in global society.”

The foundation makes grants to U.S. nonprofit organizations for projects in the areas of education, community development, and corporate citizenship. In addition, it runs a matching-grants program and administers the Yoshiyama Awards, which honor 10 young people annually with a $5,000 award for exemplary service to their communities.

In 1999 the foundation paid out $2,042,863 in grants. Grants typically range from $15,000 to $250,000.

Education grants supported programs for schools, teachers, administrators, students, and community members who use technology to improve teaching and learning, particularly in underserved communities.

Community-development grants included a two-year, $250,000 grant to East New York Planning Group, of Brooklyn, for a community-gardening project that preserves open space while providing fresh food and business training for local residents.

In 1999 the foundation began a new program, Strengthening Communities Through Corporate Citizenship, which supports local business-community partnerships.

Application procedure: The foundation only accepts proposals in response to its formal requests, which are issued up to twice each year and specify a particular focus. For more information, go to the foundation’s Web site at http://www.hitachi.org; call its fax-on-demand system at (202) 457-0588, ext. 551; or send a self-addressed envelope and a list of requested documents to the program office at the address above.

Key officials: Barbara Dyer, president and chief executive officer; James J. Gillespie, chief financial officer; Renata Hron and Susan Jenkins, senior program officers; Katrinka Hall, grants manager; Joseph E. Kasputys, chairman of the Board of Directors; Katsushige Mita, honorary chairman.