Foundation Annual Reports

THE FREEDOM FORUM
1101 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Va. 22209
(703) 528-0800
World-Wide Web: http://www.freedomforum.org
Period covered: Year ending May 31, 1997.

Note: Financial data are for the Freedom Forum Inc., the Freedom Forum Newseum, and the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center.

Purpose and areas of support: The Freedom Forum was created in 1991 as the successor to the Gannett Foundation; it is an international foundation that supports journalism education, media studies, protecting the First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of the press, the professional development of journalists, and the advancement of women and minorities in journalism. It pursues those priorities through conferences, educational activities, publications, research, training, on-line services, partnerships and exchanges, and fellowships.

The foundation maintains four operating programs: the Media Studies Center, in New York; the First Amendment Center, at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville; the Pacific Coast Center, in San Francisco; and the Newseum, at the Freedom Forum’s headquarters, in Arlington, Va.

The foundation maintains six offices in the United States and one each in Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, and London. The Freedom Forum African Center in Johannesburg is the newest office; it opened last November.

The Newseum, which features exhibits and interactive activities on news and the news media, opened in April 1997. The complex comprises theaters, galleries, studios, a memorial to journalists worldwide who have been killed while on assignment, the Newseum Education Center for student visits, and other facilities. Plans are in the works to take some of the museum’s programs on the road, through expandable trailers that will transport exhibits and interactive workstations to schools and public events nationwide.

The international division administers the fund’s foreign programs, which include international forums on global media issues; developing and managing news and journalism libraries — 10 in Europe, two in Asia, and one each in Africa and South America; and work-study and training programs for journalists.

The foundation initiated the ”Free Press/Fair Press” project, which will analyze public concerns about the way journalists carry out their jobs and will develop forums to explore the roles and responsibilities of the news media.

The Freedom Forum also established a new partnership with the American Press Institute designed to help newspaper executives more fully understand and promote First Amendment guarantees.

Application procedure: The Freedom Forum supports only its own programs and related partnerships; unsolicited grant requests and proposals are not accepted.

Key officials: Charles L. Overby, chairman and chief executive officer; Peter S. Prichard, president; Robert H. Giles, senior vice-president and executive director of the Media Studies Center; Felix F. Gutierrez, senior vice-president and executive director of the Pacific Coast Center; Kenneth A. Paulson, senior vice-president and executive director of the First Amendment Center; Joe Urschel, senior vice-president and executive director of the Newseum; Chris Wells, senior vice-president-international; Harvey S. Cotter, vice-president for finance and treasurer; Pamela Galloway-Tabb, vice-president for general services; Jack Hurley, vice-president for broadcasting; Adam Clayton Powell III, vice-president for technology and programs; Tracy A. Quinn, vice-president-New York Newseum; Nate Ruffin, vice-president for human resources; Rod Sandeen, vice-president for publications.

McKNIGHT FOUNDATION
600 TCF Tower
121 South Eighth Street
Minneapolis 55402
(612) 333-4220
World-Wide Web: http://www.mckfdn.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1953 by William L. McKnight, a founder and president of the 3M Company, and his wife, Maude.

In 1997, it paid 746 grants totaling $76.2-million, an increase of 11.6 per cent over the amount paid in 1996. The breakdown by program area was as follows: the McKnight Initiatives received 27.5 per cent of grant dollars; human services, 18.1 per cent; housing, 15.9 per cent; the arts, 9.1 per cent; research and applied science, 7.8 per cent; community improvement, 7.5 per cent; public affairs, 7.2 per cent; the environment, 4.3 per cent; international, 1.8 per cent; and other, 0.8 per cent.

Approximately 84 per cent of grants went to Minnesota organizations. Grants in the arts are made strictly to Minnesota organizations, as are nearly all grants in community improvement, housing, human services, and public affairs. Environmental grants are made primarily for activities to safeguard the Mississippi River within the 10 states that border the river.

The foundation currently operates seven special Minnesota Initiatives human-services programs, including the Welfare Reform Initiative, a two-year, $20-million commitment to help Minnesota families move from welfare to work, and six Minnesota Initiative Funds, which serve discrete geographic regions of the state.

Grants in the general human-services program emphasize projects in child-abuse prevention, child care, emergency assistance, employment, family support, legal services, transitional housing, and youth development. For example, $40,000 went to the Listening House of St. Paul for a daytime shelter for homeless individuals.

The foundation evaluated its environmental-grants program, committing nearly $28-million over five years to environmental organizations, primarily in the Midwest.

The foundation committed $2-million to continue its research program on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders; grants are also awarded for neuroscience research into the mechanisms of memory and disorders affecting memory and research to improve critical food crops in developing countries.

International grants focus on three program areas: improving economic opportunities for women and their families in Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe; strengthening health and human services for people in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; and conflict-resolution activities worldwide.

Application procedures: Applicants should contact the foundation by telephone or by e-mail at info@mckfdn.org and request its “Guidelines for Grant Applications” or program guidelines for arts and environmental grants. Grants are made only to organizations that are classified by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt, non-profit organizations and that are not private foundations. A two- to four-page letter of inquiry should precede submission of a full proposal, and discussions with program officers are encouraged prior to any submission. Requests for support from the research and applied-science programs are accepted only upon invitation or special announcement.

Key officials: Cynthia Bing- er Boynton, president; Michael O’Keefe, executive vice-president; Marilyn Pidany, vice-president for administration and secretary; Carol Berde, vice-president for program; Nancy Latimer, senior program officer; Sylvia Paine, communications officer; Christine Ganzlin, grants manager; Virginia M. Binger, honorary chair of the Board of Directors.

Program officers: Jocelyn Ancheta, Daniel M. Bartholomay, Neal I. Cuthbert (arts), Louis Hohlfeld, and Daniel Ray (environment).

TRIANGLE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
100 Park Offices, Suite 209
P.O. Box 12843
Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27709
(919) 549-9840
World-Wide Web: http://www.trianglecf.org
Period covered: Year ending June 30, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1983; it makes both unrestricted and donor-advised grants through approximately 270 funds to benefit residents of North Carolina’s Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties.

Discretionary grants focused on child abuse and neglect, strengthening at-risk families, employment and training, housing and homelessness, health, children and youths, the arts, and education. For example, $10,000 went to the Passage Home Community Development Corporation, in Raleigh, for its transitional-housing and support program for female ex-offenders and their children.

Grants in other areas included $6,900 to the Raleigh Rescue Mission to hire a teacher for its learning and computer center for homeless and low-income people.

The foundation also awarded scholarships totaling nearly $62,000 to area residents and continued the Catalyst Project, an effort to triple regional philanthropic resources from $1-billion to $3-billion over the next 20 years.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should contact the foundation to request grant-application materials or to be placed on its mailing list; grant-application information is also available on the foundation’s World-Wide Web site or by e-mail to jan@trianglecf.org. The foundation awards two major rounds of grants; the deadline for the spring cycle is February 1, and the deadline for the fall cycle is August 1. Grant applications are mailed approximately eight weeks before the deadline to organizations on the mailing list. Informational sessions for prospective applicants are offered twice a year, approximately six weeks before each deadline; the dates and locations of those sessions are provided in the grant-application packages.

Key officials: Shannon E. St. John, executive director; Fred S. Stang, associate director; Steven R. Michalak, finance director; Anthony F. Pipa, director of philanthropic services; Polly Connor Guthrie, program officer; Ellen F. Grissett, public-relations manager; R. Peyton Woodson III, president of the Board of Directors.