Foundation Annual Reports

CALIFORNIA WELLNESS FOUNDATION

6320 Canoga Avenue, Suite 1700
Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367
(818) 593-6600
http://www.tcwf.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: This independent foundation makes grants to improve the health of California residents. It was endowed in 1992 when Health Net, a large health-maintenance organization in California, converted from nonprofit to for-profit status. After several subsequent mergers, Health Net is now part of Foundation Health Systems. During fiscal 2000 the California Wellness Foundation sold its investment in FHS and today no longer holds stock in that company.

In fiscal 2000 the foundation awarded 373 grants totaling more than $36-million in its five program areas — community health, population health improvement, teenage-pregnancy prevention, violence prevention, and work and health — and to a special project fund. Within each program area, the foundation makes two types of awards: initiative grants, which generally are announced through requests for proposals, and general grants, which tend to be smaller and of briefer duration. The foundation allocates most of its funds in the form of initiative grants.

Community health grants support local health-promotion activities, including self-help groups, health education and outreach, and community-based preventive health services. For example, a two-year, $100,000 grant to the Amassi Center of South Central Los Angeles, in Inglewood, helped this group strengthen health-promotion and disease-prevention services to underserved people at high risk for H.I.V./AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Grants for population health improvement encourage the development of integrated preventive health services among public and private health systems. The foundation emphasized grants for school-linked services, screening for behavioral risk factors and early intervention, case management, and preventive health services for underserved groups. Awards included a two-year, $80,000 grant to the Friendship House Association of American Indians, in San Francisco, to provide culturally appropriate substance-abuse and H.I.V.-prevention services to at-risk American Indian youths and their families.

Allocations to reduce teenage pregnancy support efforts to promote salutary sexual development among adolescents while decreasing pregnancy rates. These grants typically support increased access to contraception, education and counseling about contraception, sexuality education, and programs that stress peer counseling and male involvement.

The goal of the violence-prevention program area is to help prevent violent deaths and injuries. Activities in this category include mentor programs for youths, community-based conflict-resolution programs, domestic-violence prevention work, peer mediation, youth education and training, and school-based programs. For example, a $50,000 grant went to Mediascope, in Studio City, to plan the development of a code of ethical standards for the media with regard to the portrayal of violence.

Grants for work and health finance activities to improve the health of unemployed and low-income workers and their families. Awards included $100,000 over two years to Organización en California de Lideres Campesinas, in Pomona, to train woman farmworkers as health advocates and to educate farmworkers about pesticide exposure, hazardous workplace conditions, and safety measures.

The foundation also maintains a special projects fund, through which it awards grants for activities that promote health and disease prevention but that do not fall within its five priority areas. Particular emphasis is placed on programs that help people affected by the devolution of federal programs to the state and local level.

Effective this spring, the foundation will shift its program emphasis to eight priority areas: diversity in the health professions, environmental health, healthy aging, mental health, teenage-pregnancy prevention, violence prevention, women’s health, and work and health.

Application procedure: With rare exception, the foundation makes grants to 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 foundation generally does not award grants for annual fund drives, building campaigns, major equipment, or biomedical research, and it does not award grants to groups whose activities exclusively benefit members of sectarian or religious organizations. Potential applicants should first submit a one- to two-page letter of interest that describes the applicant organization, its leadership, the region and populations served, the proposed activities to be supported by funding, and the amount needed. Letters of interest should be addressed to the director of grants administration. After review by foundation staff members, those encouraged to submit a full proposal will receive further guidance at that time. Because of its shift in program areas, the foundation will not accept letters of interest until July; potential applicants should consult the foundation’s Web site or call for information on new grant programs.

Key officials: Gary L. Yates, president and chief executive officer; Thomas G. David, executive vice president; Annette Drake, director of administration; Magdalena Beltrán-del Olmo, director of communications; Margaret W. Minnich, controller and director of finance; Joan C. Hurley, director of grants administration; Barbara S. Marshall, chair of the Board of Directors.

Senior program officers: Ruth Brousseau, Pauline Daniels, Ruth Holton, Frances E. Jemmott, Gary D. Nelson, and Cristina Regalado.

MORRIS GOLDSEKER FOUNDATION OF MARYLAND

2 East Read Street, Ninth Floor
Baltimore, Md. 21202
(410) 837-5100
http://www.goldsekerfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1975; it makes grants to nonprofit organizations that benefit people in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

In 2000 the foundation allocated 30 grants in four program areas: community affairs, education, human services, and neighborhood development.

Community-affairs grants included $235,500 to the Baltimore Community Foundation for its work to raise, manage, and distribute funds for charitable purposes in the greater Baltimore area.

Education-related grants included scholarship support to enable local children to attend private or parochial schools and to provide financial aid for undergraduate students. In addition, a two-year, $83,000 grant to the Midtown Academy allowed this charter school for underserved students to hire a consultant and a staff person to pursue grant-making opportunities and to coordinate volunteers.

The nine grants awarded in the human-services category supported groups that provide employment, literacy, mentor, and training services. For example, a $75,000 grant went to Eden Jobs to strengthen its Men’s Employment Network.

The foundation made 14 grants totaling approximately $1.3-million through the neighborhood-development program. Allocations included $110,000 over two years to the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation to market and plan events at Patterson Park as part of a broader effort to revitalize adjacent residential neighborhoods.

In recognition of its 25th anniversary, the foundation also made 25 special grants of $10,000 each to nonprofit groups that have particularly benefited the “economic and social health” of the Baltimore area.

From 2001 to 2003, and possibly beyond, the foundation will make grants in three new priority areas — community development, regionalism, and the nonprofit sector — in addition to its established program areas.

Application procedure: The foundation accepts proposals from organizations that are tax-exempt as defined by Section 501(c)(3) and Section 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, that conduct work principally in the metropolitan Baltimore area, and that do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, physical disability, or gender. Applicants whose proposals fall within the objectives and interests of the foundation should submit a brief letter that includes the following: evidence of tax-exempt status, background information about the applicant organization, a statement of need and objectives of the proposed project, methods for accomplishing the project’s goals, and a projected program budget and amount requested from the Goldseker Foundation. The foundation reviews applications throughout the year but formally considers proposals when its Board of Trustees meets on April 1, August 1, and December 1.

Key officials: Timothy D. Armbruster, president; Sally J. Scott, program officer; Paul C. Brophy and Carol A. Gilbert, program consultants; Sheldon Goldseker, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION

A200 Foshay Tower
821 Marquette Avenue
Minneapolis, Minn. 55402
(612) 672-3878
http://www.minneapolisfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending March 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1915 to benefit residents of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

The foundation makes grants to improve the health and well-being of children, youth, and families; opportunities for educational achievement; access to affordable housing; and economic opportunities. In fiscal 2000 the foundation awarded 3,472 grants overall in the following areas: education, which received 42 percent of dollars awarded; human services, 25 percent; public and societal benefit, 11 percent; religion, 8 percent; art, culture, and the humanities, 7 percent; health, 4 percent; environment and animal welfare, 2 percent; and international and foreign affairs, 1 percent.

The foundation awarded approximately $7-million through its competitive grants program, including $3,391,288 to its children, youth, and their families program area. These grants focused on child-care, mentor, and child-rearing programs; legal services; health and educational projects; and other programs that benefit children, youth, and families. For example, a $40,468 grant to the Greater Minneapolis Day Care Association supported that group’s efforts to educate and assist greater numbers of Latino child-care providers.

Thirty-two grants totaling $1,340,370 were allocated through the economically healthy neighborhoods program. Awards emphasized economic development, safe and low-cost housing, employment and training, and helping low-income people develop small business and financial resources.

The foundation awarded $851,897 through its community capacity-building program, which supports grass-roots efforts to improve infrastructure and services in low-income and minority communities. For example, the Lao Parents and Teachers Association received $100,000 for the Lao Cultural Center.

The public-policy program was awarded 19 grants totaling $825,000. Among this year’s recipients was the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice, in Minneapolis, which used a $10,000 grant for research and public-policy efforts in behalf of low-income people.

Application procedure: The foundation focuses on the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area but also will consider programs that help people statewide or that focus on critical needs affecting specific groups in the region. Potential applicants are encouraged to contact a program officer before submitting their application. The foundation reviews applications throughout the year. Additional information may be found at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Emmett D. Carson, president and chief executive officer; Christelle Langer, vice president for marketing and communications; Stuart Appelbaum, vice president for development; Bruce Hutchins, vice president for finance and administration; Kathryn Roberts, vice president for programs; Mary Ann Dorsher, director of special projects; Patti Marsh Cagle, grants administrator; Dianne Lev, senior program officer; Valerie Lee, Nancy Nagler, and Joanne Walz, program officers; Sue Bennett, chair of the Board of Trustees.