Foundation Annual Reports

ROBERT STERLING CLARK FOUNDATION

135 East 64th Street
New York, N.Y. 10021
(212) 288-8900
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/rsclark

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: Robert Sterling Clark, an art collector and grandson of Edward Clark, a founder of the Singer Manufacturing Company, created the foundation in 1952.

In fiscal year 1999 the foundation awarded 88 grants through its three main program areas: ensuring access to comprehensive reproductive-health information and services, which received 21 grants totaling $1,780,500; improving the performance of public institutions in New York, which received 30 grants totaling $1,387,500; and strengthening cultural institutions, which received 37 grants totaling $1,370,000. The foundation also awarded $161,280 for 13 miscellaneous projects.

Reproductive-health grants support policy analysis, advocacy, litigation, research, organizing, and media campaigns that promote family planning and comprehensive reproductive-health care. Specifically, grants in this category support activities that counter the passage or implementation of federal or state regulations and programs that negatively impact reproductive-health services; develop legislative programs that promote reproductive rights and access to comprehensive reproductive-health information and services; reverse laws or legal decisions that undermine reproductive rights; promote comprehensive sexuality-education programs in public schools; educate young women about reproductive-rights issues; study groups that oppose contraception, abortion, and sexuality education; support media campaigns to protect reproductive rights; and educate the public about reproductive rights.

For example, a two-year, $200,000 grant to the Center for Reproductive Law & Policy, in New York, supported litigation and the development of legal and advocacy strategies to combat the exclusion of abortion from federal Medicaid coverage, restrictions on abortion providers, mandatory waiting periods, compulsory counseling against abortion, and parental-involvement requirements.

Grants to improve the performance of public institutions in New York support human services for low-income and other at-risk New York residents served by publicly funded programs. Grants awarded in this category benefit children in foster care; victims of child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence; homeless and mentally ill people; and families moving off public assistance. Awards also are made to ensure that disadvantaged children in New York have access to high-quality child-care, education, and other programs.

For instance, a $70,000 grant to Child Care Incorporated, of New York, helped that group work with city and state agencies and with a coalition of child-care and education advocates to guide the expansion of New York City’s pre-kindergarten and child-care programs for working families and their children.

Grants to cultural institutions focus on improving the use of resources by New Yorkarea arts groups, with the goal of reducing their dependence on government support. The foundation supports projects that generate income, provide technical assistance and promote resource sharing, increase membership, and build management infrastructure. To a lesser degree, cultural grants also promote artistic freedom and educate the public about the importance of the arts to a democratic society.

Application procedure: Proposals, of 15 pages or fewer, should be addressed to Margaret Ayers and should include a description of the planned project, a budget, an explanation of expected outcomes, an evaluation plan, the background of the individuals involved, and a statement of plans for future support. Proposals also should include past, current, and projected organizational budgets; audited financial statements; verification of the organization’s tax-exempt status; the names and occupations of trustees; and examples of past accomplishments. The foundation requires a one-page summary as well. Proposals are reviewed year-round.

Key officials: Margaret C. Ayers, executive director; Darcy Hector and Laura Wolff, program officers; Winthrop R. Munyan, president of the Board of Directors.

KATE B. REYNOLDS CHARITABLE TRUST

128 Reynolda Village
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27106
(336) 723-1456
http://www.kbr.org

Period covered: Year ending August 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The trust was endowed in 1947 through the will of Kate B. Reynolds, wife of William Neal Reynolds, a former chairman of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Mrs. Reynolds designated one-fourth of the trust’s income to aid poor and needy people in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, N.C., and the remainder to benefit charity patients in hospitals throughout North Carolina. In 1971 the trustees requested and received permission to expand the latter goal to include health and medical care for other needy North Carolina residents.

The trust approved grants totaling $27,088,361, including 191 awards totaling $21,571,725 through its Health Care Division and 45 grants totaling $5,516,636 through the Poor and Needy Division.

Health-care grants supported programs related to children, youth, and families; chronic and communicable diseases; dental-care services; elderly and disabled people; domestic abuse; and substance abuse. Grants emphasized rural areas, promoted prevention techniques, and supported studies to better define health-care problems statewide.

For example, a $350,000, two-year grant went to Greene County Health Care, in Snow Hill, to construct a new building that will house pediatric-care services for disadvantaged children. A $58,100 grant to Gates County Rural Health Services, in Gatesville, purchased equipment for that group’s dental clinic, which serves low-income people throughout northeastern North Carolina.

The Poor and Needy Division awards grants to improve the welfare of residents of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Grants emphasize basic needs — which the trust describes as food, clothing, shelter, and health care — but also provide funding to reduce the reliance of vulnerable people on support services and to encourage lifelong learning. Specific areas of emphasis included case-management services, criminal justice, day care, emergency assistance, education, hunger, health care, job training and placement, housing and homelessness, and transportation.

For instance, a $250,000 grant to Bethlehem Center helped expand and renovate this child-care facility that mostly serves youngsters from low-income families.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts applications from organizations that are tax-exempt as defined by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that are not private foundations as defined by Section 509(a) of the code. The trust strongly encourages potential applicants to discuss proposals with a staff member before submitting applications. The two divisions of the trust have separate schedules, advisory boards, and applications for grant requests. Applications for grants from the Health Care Division are due on March 15 and September 15, or the first day thereafter if that deadline falls on a holiday or weekend; applications for grants from the Poor and Needy Division are due on the first business day of January, May, and August. Applications and additional information are available at the foundation’s Web site or by calling or writing the foundation.

Key officials: E. Ray Cope, president; Joyce T. Adger, director, Poor and Needy Division; John H. Frank, director, Health Care Division; Sara C. Smith, program officer, Health Care Division; James H. Millis, chairman of the executive council.

SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION

225 Bush Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, Calif. 94104-4224
(415) 733-8500
http://www.sff.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1948 and awards grants that benefit the citizens of California’s Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties.

During its 2000 fiscal year, the foundation approved 3,477 donor-advised grants totaling $53,503,440 and 665 competitive grants totaling $13,472,624. Competitive grants were made in nine program areas: community health, which received 20 percent of discretionary grant dollars; environment, 20 percent; neighborhood and community development, 16 percent; economic and social justice, 13 percent; education, 9 percent; the West Oakland, Parks, and Census 2000 programs, 8 percent; arts and culture, 7 percent; philanthropy and nonprofits, 4 percent; and awards and scholarships, 3 percent.

The goals of the community-health program are to improve access to health and mental-health services for children, adults, and the elderly and to ensure people’s safety in their homes and communities. For example, a two-year, $200,000 grant went to On Lok, in San Francisco, to develop a regional system of long-term care for frail elderly patients in San Francisco and in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

Environmental grants seek to preserve the natural environment of the San Francisco Bay area for people, plants, and animals and to ensure that residents live in a healthful, sustainable environment. For instance, the Center for Third World Organizing, in Oakland, received a two-year, $65,000 grant for a community-organizing program that examines access to public transportation for low-income and minority people in the San Francisco Bay area.

Neighborhood and community development grants emphasize increasing the supply of affordable, safe housing; ensuring that unemployed and low-income people can secure jobs that pay a livable wage; and developing the leadership skills of individuals and organizations working in neighborhood improvement and planning. Allocations included $50,000 to Bridge West Oakland Housing to provide computer access and training to low-income residents of the Acorn Housing Project in West Oakland.

Economic and social-justice grants are made for projects that promote civic participation, ameliorate discrimination and inequity, and provide opportunities for residents to achieve economic prosperity in a healthful environment. For example, a $50,000, 18-month grant went to San Francisco’s Central American Resource Center to help refugees from Central America obtain legal residency under recently approved federal legislation.

Education-related grants support projects to help children and youths succeed academically and to ensure that students and their families receive the support and resources needed to achieve that success.

The foundation made 27 grants to community groups statewide for outreach activities to guarantee a more-accurate count of ethnic minorities, recent immigrants, homeless people, and children in the 2000 U.S. Census.

Arts-related grants included $30,000 to the OasisOffering Arts to Our Sisters in SoMa, in San Francisco, a center that provides cultural arts, leadership, and educational activities to young women in the South of Market District.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations located in the five California counties listed above. Potential applicants should submit a three-page letter of intent containing the following information: an introduction to the organization’s mission, constituency, recent achievements, and structure; a brief statement of the needs, problems, and opportunities to be addressed by the prospective project; specific information about proposed approaches and activities; an explanation of how support from the foundation would help the organization achieve its goals; and the amount of the grant request. The foundation accepts letters of intent throughout the year, and will request a full proposal from selected organizations.

Key officials: Sandra Hernández, chief executive officer; Eleanor Clement Glass, director of programs; Christine Searson, chief financial officer; Derek Aspacher, grants manager; Ann Barden, director of planned giving; Jeanne Friedman, director of development; F. Warren Hellman, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Diane Aranda, community health; Jane Rogers, environment; Ron Rowell, social justice; Margine Sako, neighborhood and community development; Geol Weirs, arts and culture.