Foundation Annual Reports

THE COLORADO TRUST
1600 Sherman Street
Denver 80203-1604
(303) 837-1200
World-Wide Web: http://www.coltrust.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The trust was established and endowed in 1985 with proceeds from the sale of Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center to American Medical International. It supports projects, develops services, conducts studies, and provides education to improve the health and well-being of Colorado residents in two major areas: promoting accessible and affordable health care and strengthening families.

In 1997, grant making totaled $13,528,974 and supported the work of 15 major initiatives, one special project, and several other distributions.

The fund committed a total of $860,700 to three new projects: The Coalition for the Medically Underserved received $85,700 for its work to improve access to quality health-care services for rural, low-income, and other underserved people; the three-year Colorado Healthy Steps Initiative, a partnership with the Commonwealth Fund of New York to create a new approach to health care for children younger than 3, received $675,000; and the Educare Colorado Initiative, a collaborative effort with various business leaders, grant makers, children’s agencies, and others to insure that disadvantaged children from birth through age 8 have access to high-quality child care and education provided by properly trained staff members, received $100,000.

The trust also appropriated $1,599,491 to its eight-year, $8.8-million Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative, which helps communities plan and adopt projects that take up local health needs. Twenty-eight communities statewide are now involved in the program.

Projects to strengthen Colorado families include the four-year, $6.3-million Colorado Violence Prevention Initiative, which includes grants for violence-prevention projects, a project to study the prevention of youth handgun violence, and a statewide public-education campaign.

The fund’s five-year, $7.5-million Teen Pregnancy Prevention 2000 Initiative works to reduce the pregnancy rate among Colorado teen-agers and to provide adequate case-management services for those teen-agers who do become pregnant so that they will have healthy babies and avoid repeat pregnancies.

The $10-million Assets for Community Youth Initiative was initiated in 1996 and continues through 2002; last year, approximately $1.8-million went to support projects in six communities designed to provide at-risk youths with the education, health services, and other “assets” they need to become healthy and responsible adults.

Application procedure: The trust awards grants through a “request for proposals” process and does not accept unsolicited proposals for consideration. New programs and grant opportunities are announced in trust publications and through press releases and special mailings to organizations and individuals statewide. To be added to the mailing list, call the trust at (303) 837-1200 or send an e- mail message to chasell@coltrust.org.

Key officials: John R. Moran, Jr., president; Peter A. Konrad, vice-president for administration and chief financial officer; Jean D. Merrick, vice-president for programs and public information; Doug Easterling, director for research and evaluation; Sharon T. Mentzer, senior program officer; Sally Beatty, Carol Breslau, and Susan Downs-Karkos, program officers; Meg A. Ryan, public-information and education officer; the Rev. Kady Cone, chair of the Board of Trustees.

JESSIE BALL duPONT FUND
225 Water Street, Suite 1200
Jacksonville, Fla. 32202-5176
(904) 353-0890
World-Wide Web: http://www.dupontfund.org
Period covered: Year ending October 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was created in 1970 through the will of Jessie Ball duPont, widow of the industrialist Alfred I. duPont. Its grant making is divided into two categories: grants that meet societal needs and grants that meet the capital and technical needs of particular institutions.

The fund’s grant making is limited to a “defined universe” of organizations; only those groups that received a personal contribution from Mrs. duPont between January 1960 and December 1964 are eligible to receive grants. Approximately 350 organizations meet that criterion. In accordance with Mrs. duPont’s interests, the foundation has a special — though not exclusive — interest in projects in the South.

In 1996-97, the fund awarded 359 grants totaling $14,951,984 to 218 institutions. The institutions eligible for support from the fund generally fall into six categories: arts and culture, education, health, historic preservation, human services, and religion.

The fund allocated 112 competitive grants totaling $12,531,850. Over the past decade or so, the fund has increased its commitment to community-organizing, economic-development, neighborhood-revitalization, and violence-prevention programs. For example, $100,000 went to the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio in Cincinnati for a partnership with the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks.

The fund awarded a total of $2,065,104 under its four institutional-needs programs. The Religion Initiative supports members of the clergy, selected dioceses, church grants for needy people, and the repair and restoration of selected churches. The Nonprofit Agencies Initiative provides funds for discretionary support, technical assistance, and leadership development. The Small Liberal Arts Colleges Initiative supports 37 eligible private colleges that enroll fewer than 2,900 students each. The new Independent Schools Initiative will provide a total of $15,000 to each of the 18 private schools on the fund’s list of eligible organizations.

Application procedure: Eligible organizations interested in receiving competitive grants should contact the fund’s program staff to discuss the proposed program, to determine its relative merits, and to receive application instructions. Preliminary proposals must be no longer than five pages, including a cover letter and brief description of the need or opportunity to be taken up, the organization’s ability to carry out the proposed program, specific program objectives, specific program activities, plans for evaluation of the program, and a one-page program budget. In addition, the fund has a separate and simplified application process for organizations eligible for grants for Clergy Enrichment, Feasibility Studies, Nonprofit Agencies Technical Assistance, People-in-Need Requests, and the Repair and Restoration of Churches. The fund accepts applications throughout the year; final decisions are made at board meetings held in November, January, March, May, July, and September.

Key officials: Sherry P. Magill, executive director; Jo Ann P. Bennett, executive secretary and director of administration; Sally L. Douglass and Edward King, Jr., program officers; the Rev. George C. Bedell, chair of the Board of Trustees.

ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
420 Fifth Avenue
New York 10018-2702
(212) 869-8500
World-Wide Web: http://www.rockfound.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1913 by the industrialist John D. Rockefeller. In 1997, grants, fellowships, and program-related investments totaling $103,960,068 were made in these areas: equal opportunity, which received $18,495,365; agricultural sciences, $17,181,330; population sciences, $16,888,659; global environment, $13,147,000; arts and humanities, $12,547,500; health sciences, $11,659,020; African programs, $5,389,940; special- interest programs, $2,925,230; building democracy, $2,526,150; international security, $2,099,874; and miscellaneous, $1,100,000.

The equal-opportunity program focuses on high-poverty U.S. urban areas; grant making emphasizes support for programs to increase employment opportunities, build community support, reform urban school systems, and insure basic civil rights and freedom from discrimination.

The agricultural-sciences program works to increase the crop yields of small farmers in developing countries in ways that are profitable without degrading natural resources.

The population-sciences program works to insure the widespread availability of adequate reproductive-health and family-planning services and counseling worldwide. Emphasis is placed on promoting policy dialogue and research, creating new contraceptive products, and finding new ways to reach the approximately 800 million teen-agers who will reach child-bearing age by 2005.

The global-environment program focuses on two areas: training future leaders capable of carrying out innovative sustainable-development strategies, and developing a new “energy paradigm” that reduces dependence on fossil fuels and incorporates renewable energy sources and increased energy efficiency.

Arts and humanities grants are made for international and U.S. projects designed to create an understanding of diversity and to promote exchanges across ethnic and racial divides. For example, $300,000 went to the Arts Alive International Festival in Johannesburg to develop a pan-African arts and culture festival and exposition.

The health-sciences division is evaluating its work and assessing future challenges to increasing equity in health-care services worldwide. Those challenges include slowing the spread of fatal childhood infections and confronting the increase in chronic conditions associated with aging populations and changing lifestyles.

The African program works to develop leaders who are well-versed in technology and economic and social development, while also closing the gender gap in school enrollment and achievement.

In the area of “building democracy,” the foundation is focusing on community building, leadership development, and race relations. The international-security area explores ways to insure that weapons of mass destruction are not developed or deployed.

In early 1997, Peter C. Goldmark, Jr., president of the foundation since 1988, announced that he planned to leave at year’s end to pursue other interests. He was succeeded in April by Gordon Conway, an agricultural ecologist and vice-chancellor of the U. of Sussex in England.

Application procedure: The foundation stresses that it tends to seek out opportunities that will help further its long-term goals, rather than reacting to unsolicited proposals. Specific program guidelines may be obtained by writing or calling the foundation or by visiting its World-Wide Web site. The foundation recommends that potential applicants review the relevant program guidelines before submitting any unsolicited proposal. Among the factors considered in evaluating grant proposals are the project’s relevance to foundation programs and strategies, the applicant’s qualifications and record of achievement, and the applicant’s ability to secure additional financial support from other sources.

Key officials: Gordon Conway, president; Angela Glover Blackwell, senior vice-president; Lincoln C. Chen, vice-president; Denise A. Gray-Felder, director for communications; Sally Ferris, director for administration and budget; Rosalie J. Wolf, treasurer and chief investment officer; Joseph R. Bookmyer, manager of the Fellowship Office; Joyce L. Moock, associate vice-president for African initiatives; Alice Stone Ilchman, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program directors: Dayna Cunningham (associate director for building democracy), Timothy Evans (team director for health sciences), Thomas W. Graham (associate director for special international initiatives), Robert W. Herdt (agricultural sciences and acting director for global environment), Julia I. Lopez (equal opportunity), Pasquale Pesce (Bellagio Study and Conference Center), Mikki Shepard (arts and humanities), Steven W. Sinding (population sciences).