FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORTS

JAMES IRVINE FOUNDATION
One Market, Steuart Tower
Suite 2500
San Francisco 94105
(415) 777-2244
http://www.irvine.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1937 as trustee of a charitable trust created by James Irvine, an agricultural pioneer who inherited a 110,000-acre ranch in Southern California.

The foundation promotes “the general welfare of the people of California,” and grants are made in seven program categories: the arts; children, youths, and families; civic culture; higher education; sustainable communities; work-force development; and special projects.

In 1999, the foundation authorized 246 grants totaling $48,930,791; the average grant award was approximately $200,000, with most grants payable over one to two years. Those figures were consistent with the previous year’s grant making.

Arts grants are predicated on these strategies: providing multiple-year program support to a select number of “cornerstone” organizations that are invited to apply; fostering projects that strengthen organizational planning and decision making and expand public awareness of the arts’ role in California; supporting arts groups and individual artists in California and providing aid for special exhibition, touring, commissioning, and performance activities; and testing new ideas and exploring innovative training, distribution, financing, and management methods.

The children, youths, and families program seeks to improve the academic achievement of students in California through out-of-school learning opportunities. Grants are made primarily through the site-based Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) Initiative and the Museum Youth Initiative. For example, $20,000 went to the Mexican Museum in San Francisco to assess and plan youth-development and community-involvement activities.

Civic-culture grants support collective problem-solving efforts in California communities, with an emphasis on religious congregations and racial and ethnic minorities. Awards included $100,000 to the Chinese American Voters Education Committee for an interethnic news-media exchange program and $260,000 over two years to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches to support congregation-based community-organizing activities. In addition, 34 projects received funds totaling $120,500 through the Small Grants Program of the Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship.

The foundation’s higher-education program encourages the full participation of California’s ethnic-minority and low-income populations at all levels of postsecondary education. The largest award was a three-year, $3.2-million grant to Stanford University for four programs, including the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Institute for Diversity in California Art.

Grant making in the work-force-development program was devoted to evaluating the work of the foundation’s current grantees.

Through the special-projects program, the foundation makes grants for projects that are interdisciplinary, that test new ideas or strategies, and that respond to unusual and one-time opportunities. Allocations included $150,000 to the University of Southern California to plan a statewide database on California foundations.

The foundation maintains a second office, in Los Angeles.

Application procedure: Initial contact with the foundation should be in the form of a one- to two-page letter of inquiry that provides brief background information on the organization, an overview of the issue to be dealt with, a summary of the goals and objectives of the proposed work, a budget for the project, and a copy of all correspondence from the Internal Revenue Service concerning the organization’s tax-exempt status and, if applicable, name changes. All letters of inquiry should be addressed to Heather G. Graham, Grants Manager. Additional and regularly updated information on grant-making guidelines and applications can be found at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Dennis A. Collins, president and chief executive officer; James E. Canales, vice president and corporate secretary; Larry R. Fies, chief financial officer and treasurer; Cora Mirikitani, senior program director; Martha S. Campbell, director of evaluation and program director; S. Kimberly Belshe, Diane B. Frankel, Craig E. McGarvey, and Robert M. Shireman, program directors; Mark A. Sedway, director of communications; Christy Pichel, director of administration; Heather G. Graham, grants manager; James C. Gaither, chairman of the Board of Directors.

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION
1200 Mott Foundation Building
Flint, Mich. 48502-1851
(810) 238-5651
http://www.mott.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1926 by Charles Stewart Mott (1875-1973), an industrialist affiliated with General Motors and a three-term mayor of Flint, Mich. Over the years, the fund’s grant making has expanded from Flint and the rest of the United States to encompass Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa.

In 1999, the fund authorized 580 grants totaling $113.9-million, a significant increase over the previous year’s allocation of $88.2-million. Grants were made in five programs: pathways out of poverty, which received $48.8-million, or 42.9 per cent of grant dollars; civil society, $26.3-million, or 23.1 per cent; the Flint area, $21.3-million, or 18.7 per cent; the environment, $14.2-million, or 12.4 per cent; and exploratory and other, $3.3-million, or 2.9 per cent.

Following a two-year planning effort, in September 1999 the foundation adopted a new six-year plan designed to alleviate poverty in the United States. This new plan focuses on three “pathways out of poverty”: education, economic opportunity, and community action. Although some of its previous grant-making strategies remain in place, several new approaches are being adopted and others will be phased out gradually. The foundation plans to curtail grants on violence prevention, private capital development, and comprehensive community revitalization, and, over time, will discontinue support for microenterprise development and efforts to stem teenage pregnancy. In addition, it is reshaping its work on family and child-rearing support and on early childhood development.

Grant making in the civil-society program promotes nonprofit-sector development, improved race and ethnic relations, and civic rights and responsibilities. Geographically, the program focuses on the United States, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, and South Africa. Awards included $100,000 to the Institute for Sustainable Development, in Warsaw, to promote informed environmental policies in Poland and $240,000 to the Gender Advocacy Programme, in Cape Town, to raise the awareness of South African women about their rights and to educate them about the legislative process.

Since early 1999, grants in the environment program have been made based on revised funding priorities: the reform of international finance and trade, the conservation of freshwater ecosystems in North America, and special initiatives. Allocations included $50,000 to the Conservation Strategy Fund, in Philo, Calif., to train Latin American environmental leaders to have greater influence upon internationally financed development projects.

The foundation operates field offices in Johannesburg and Prague.

Application procedure: The foundation has no official application form. Letters of inquiry, including a brief description of the proposed project and the range of financial support needed, are acceptable for initial contact. Specific guidelines and grant-summary booklets are available without charge for each program; they can be requested by writing the foundation, by sending an e-mail message to infocenter@mott.org, or by calling the Publication Request Line at (414) 273-9643 or (800) 645-1766. Information is also available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: William S. White, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the Board of Trustees; Phillip H. Peters, vice president of the administrative group, secretary, and treasurer; Maureen H. Smyth, vice president for programs; Richard K. Rappleye, vice president for field services; Marilyn Stein LeFeber, vice president for communications; Robert E. Swaney Jr., vice president and chief investment officer; Jimmy L. Krause, director of grants administration and assistant treasurer.

Program directors: Lois R. DeBacker (environment), Karen B. Aldridge Eason (Flint), Ray Murphy (civil society), and Kevin Walker (pathways out of poverty).

SAINT PAUL FOUNDATION
600 Norwest Center, 55 Fifth Street East
St. Paul 55101-1797
(651) 224-5463
http://www.tspf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: Created in 1940, this community foundation makes unrestricted, field-of-interest, designated, and donor-advised grants to benefit residents of St. Paul and the East Metro area of Minnesota’s Ramsey, Washington, and Dakota Counties. It comprises approximately 513 constituent funds.

In November 1998, the foundation approved “Connections — Commitment to Community,” a new 10-year strategic plan for grant making that emphasizes four themes: creating an antiracist community, economic development for all segments of the East Metro area, strong families that provide healthy starts for children and youths, and high-quality education for all area residents. The foundation plans to spend a minimum of 50 percent of available unrestricted grant dollars on achieving those four goals.

The foundation approved 2,624 grants and transfers totaling $27,412,148 in nine fields of interest: human services, education, civic affairs, health, the arts and humanities, religion, scholarships, the environment and nature, and international.

Human services received 31.3 percent of grant dollars and education garnered 24.8 percent. Grants included $17,000 to Resources for Child Caring to support the salary of a bilingual counselor to serve Hmong clients, and $10,000 to the African American Mentor Program Incorporated for the School-Based Mentoring Program.

In 1999, the foundation received a $25-million gift from the estate of John Seeger Holl, a former board member. The bequest is the second-largest unrestricted gift in the foundation’s history.

The St. Paul Foundation’s administrative structure includes several support organizations, including the Minnesota Foundation, an affiliated statewide community fund.

Application procedure: Potential applicants are encouraged to obtain a copy of the foundation’s application form, narrative guidelines, and evaluation plan summary form prior to submitting a letter of inquiry or proposal. Those materials are available by calling the foundation at (651) 224-5463, at the foundation’s Web site, or by e-mail at inbox@tspf.org. The applicant may wish to submit a letter of inquiry describing the proposed project before preparing a full proposal. That letter should address the information included in the narrative guidelines, should be two to three pages in length, and should be less detailed than a full proposal. Letters of inquiry and full proposals must be in writing and should be addressed to Paul A. Verret, President, at the address given above.

Key officials: Paul A. Verret, president; Joseph R. Kingman, senior vice president; John G. Couchman, vice president of grants and program; Marcia S. Hanson, vice president of development; Jack H. Pohl, vice president of finance and administration; Ann L. Thompson, director of communications; Jo-Anne E. Stately, senior program officer; Claire J. Chang, A. Ruby Lee, Carol R. Olson, and Carrie Jo Short, program officers; Rosemary E. Milton, grants manager; Ann Huntrods, chairwoman of the Board of Directors.