Foundation Annual Reports

THE DANFORTH FOUNDATION
1 Metropolitan Square
211 North Broadway, Suite 2390
St. Louis 63102-2733
(314) 588-1900

Period covered: Year ending May 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1927 by Adda and William H. Danforth, and made grants in St. Louis and nationally, focusing on children and youths and precollegiate education.

Since its 70th anniversary, in 1997, the foundation’s exclusive focus has been on the metropolitan St. Louis area, where the trustees felt its “limited funds might have optimal impact.” In addition, grant-making priorities were expanded to include civic and community-development issues.

A total of $31,694,747 was paid out for grants, programs, and other activities. Of that amount, $4.6-million went to 67 commitments made prior to June 1, 1997, and $24.7-million went to commitments made after May 31, 1997. Payments totaling $2.4-million were made to four foundation-administered programs.

The largest grant made in fiscal 1999 was a $60-million, 10-year award to construct and operate the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Partners in this venture include Washington University, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Monsanto Company, and three other major universities. Upon completion, the center will house scientists working to improve and increase the global supply of food and fiber.

The foundation made several grants for projects to benefit downtown St. Louis. For example, it supported a feasibility study by Webster University on the use of the Old Post Office as a classroom, performance, and office space.

Other grants included $2-million to construct and endow the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Youth Center in East St. Louis.

Application procedure: Not given in report; however, it states that “persons who would like additional information about the foundation’s grants and programs are invited to contact the foundation.”

Key officials: Bruce J. Anderson, president; Robert H. Koff, vice president; Wilma M. Wells, senior consultant; Kay P. Dusenbery, grants and programs manager; John C. Danforth, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

McKNIGHT FOUNDATION
600 TCF Tower
121 South Eighth Street
Minneapolis 55402
(612) 333-4220
http://www.mcknight.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1953 by William L. McKnight, a founder and president of the 3M Company, and his wife, Maude. Mr. and Mrs. McKnight were the parents of the honorary board chair, Virginia M. Binger, and the great-grandparents of the current board chair, Noa Staryk.

In 1999, the foundation paid 806 grants totaling $92.2-million. The money was distributed by program area as follows: children, families, and communities received 72 percent of grant dollars; the arts, 10 percent; the environment, 9 percent; research and applied science, 7 percent; and international, 2 percent.

The largest grant paid totaled $6.5-million, and 77 percent of grants paid were $100,000 or less. Forty-seven percent of grants paid went to groups in Minneapolis and St. Paul; 35 percent went to groups that are statewide or serve other areas of Minnesota; and 18 percent went to groups outside the state. Those proportions were consistent with the previous year’s.

In mid-1999, the foundation introduced the new children, families, and communities program, which comprises the former community-improvement, human-services, and public-affairs program areas.

Charities in the Twin Cities are eligible for grants for planning, special projects, general operations, and capital needs. Groups elsewhere in Minnesota are eligible for capital support only, and most of that money is channeled through McKnight’s six regional Minnesota Initiative Funds.

The foundation made a $23-million pledge to the Family Housing Fund, in Minneapolis, to develop 5,000 units of housing for low-income Minneapolis-St. Paul residents over the next four years.

Within the children, families, and communities program, the foundation also administered seven Special Initiatives: Congregations in Community, the Family Loan Program, the Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service, Legal Services for Women, the Minnesota Initiative Funds, the Summer Youth Program, and Welfare Reform.

Arts grants are made only to Minnesota organizations. Awards included approximately $1-million divided among statewide fellowship programs for artists working in 12 disciplines, including writing, music, ceramics, and photography.

Environment-related grants are made to groups in the 10 states bordering the Mississippi River that promote a healthy and sustainable environment in the river basin.

A second goal is the development of clean, renewable energy in the Upper Midwest; the Energy Foundation in San Francisco administers the foundation’s energy grants.

The foundation’s research and applied-science program supports research on neuroscience, eating disorders, and collaborative crop research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In 1999, the foundation made a $44.5-million, 10-year commitment to the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. Through that fund, the foundation created the Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Awards program, which provides $200,000 over two years to scientists working on technological advances in brain research.

The international program supports projects that strengthen women’s economic opportunities in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe and projects that bolster economic development and human services in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. For example, the foundation provided $100,000 to World Education, in Boston, for a project to spur community development and improve education in the Laotian province of Salavan.

Application procedures: Before applying for a grant, potential applicants should ascertain whether or not the work of their organization and the purpose for which the money would be requested fits the foundation’s grant-making priorities. For a more detailed description of priorities for the areas of children, families, and communities; the arts; the environment; or for specific international programs, request the foundation’s “Guidelines for Grant Applicants” by calling (612) 333-4220, sending an e-mail to info@mcknight.org, or visiting the foundation’s Web site. Requests for support from the research and applied-science programs are accepted only by invitation or following a special announcement.

Key officials: Rip Rapson, president; Carol Berde, executive vice president; Richard J. Scott, vice president for finance and administration and secretary; Neal I. Cuthbert, program director, arts; Daniel Ray, program director, environment; Louis Hohlfeld and Nancy Latimer, senior program officers; Gayle Thorsen, communications director; Kristin Batson, grants manager; Kathleen Rysted, manager of information systems and research programs; Noa Staryk, chair of the Board of Directors; Virginia M. Binger, honorary chair.

DAVID AND LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION
300 Second Street, Suite 200
Los Altos, Calif. 94022
(650) 948-7658
http://www.packfound.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1964 by David Packard, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and his wife, Lucile Salter Packard. The foundation was named as the beneficiary of a major portion of Mr. Packard’s estate upon his death in early 1996. The subsequent distribution of that bequest has more than tripled the foundation’s assets in the past four years.

Foundation officials and staff members have completed five-year plans for all program areas. In 1999, grants were allocated as follows: conservation, which received $87,495,556; science, $85,785,167; population, $79,065,971; children, families, and communities, $72,070,268; special areas, $58,116,484; organizational effectiveness and philanthropy, $20,159,398; and the arts, $9,268,273.

The total awarded through the conservation program was up substantially, from $49.6-million in 1998. The geographic regions on which it principally focuses are the West Coast of North America and the Pacific. Approximately $43.1-million went to the Conserving California Landscapes Initiative, an effort to conserve at least 500,000 acres of sustainable natural systems and agricultural lands in California’s Central Coast, Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada regions. Other awards included $6-million to the Energy Foundation, in San Francisco, for the China Sustainable Energy Program and the United States Clean Energy Program.

Science grants went to a broad range of disciplines, including ocean science, to fellowships in science and engineering, and to groups underrepresented in science, including blacks and American Indians. Through the new Interdisciplinary Science Program, the foundation awarded 11 grants of nearly $1-million each. Two awards totaling nearly $50-million were made to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, in Moss Landing, Calif., for operating and capital support.

The population program began the inaugural year of its five-year plan to expand reproductive-health options, to slow world population growth, and to ensure a more equitable and sustainable future for women and their families. Grants are made in the United States and in eight other countries: Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sudan. Allocations included $200,000 to the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, in Washington, for the final phase of a media campaign to increase women’s awareness of emergency contraception in the United States.

The children, families, and communities program focuses on expanding children’s access to health insurance and high-quality medical care, early-childhood education and youth development, child-care and after-school programs, welfare reform, violence prevention, employment and training, and food and shelter. Direct services continued to emphasize support for residents of Monterey, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties and elsewhere in California.

The special-areas program supports activities and projects that do not fall within traditional program guidelines or that meet special or emergency needs. Awards included $2-million over five years to the American Indian College Fund, in Denver, to construct science and math laboratories and classrooms at 17 American Indian tribal colleges. The foundation also made 12 program-related investments totaling more than $66-million.

Arts grants were awarded primarily in the foundation’s local four-county area, with a focus on arts education, school-based arts programs, cultural facilities, and arts councils.

Application procedure: Specific guidelines for grant-making programs, lists of recent grants, and recent annual reports are available at http://www.packfound.org or may be obtained by contacting the foundation at (650) 948-7658. Before preparing any proposal, applicants should review the guidelines and geographic limitations for a given grants program. The foundation accepts grant proposals primarily from tax-exempt, charitable organizations and does not accept proposals that benefit specific individuals or that serve religious purposes.

Key officials: Richard T. Schlosberg III, president and chief executive officer; Carol S. Larson, vice president and director of programs; Hugh C. Burroughs, director of external affairs; George Vera, director of finance and administration; Barbara Wright, general counsel and secretary; Susan Packard Orr, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors: Sarah Clark (population), Jaleh Daie (science), Nancy Glaze (arts), Barbara D. Kibbe (organizational effectiveness and philanthropy), Jeanne C. Sedgwick (conservation), Lorraine Zippiroli (children, families, and communities).