Foundation Annual Reports

BURROUGHS WELLCOME FUND
4709 Creekstone Drive, Suite 100
Durham, N.C. 27703
(919) 991-5100
e-mail: info@bwfund.org
World-Wide Web: http://www.bwfund.org
Period covered: Year ending August 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was created in 1955; it makes awards to help young scientists in the United States and Canada develop as independent investigators and to advance fields in the basic medical sciences that are “undervalued or underfunded.”

Historically, the fund was supported by the Burroughs Wellcome pharmaceutical company. In 1995, the pharmaceutical firm Glaxo acquired all of the Wellcome commercial holdings. Prior to that sale, the London-based Wellcome Trust — the foundation of the British parent company, Wellcome Foundation Ltd. — allocated $400-million to be paid over five years to the fund, which became completely independent on August 31, 1995.

In 1996-97, grants totaling $39.5-million were appropriated, a substantial increase from the $27.1-million approved the previous fiscal year. The awards were distributed as follows: career-development programs for scientists received $12.7-million; “interfaces” between the biological sciences and the physical, chemical, and computational sciences, $10-million; emerging infectious diseases, $7.0-million; pharmacological sciences, toxicology, and experimental therapeutics, $3.6-million; improving the “environment for science,” $2.3-million; reproductive science, $2.0-million; and science education, $1.9-million.

Career-development awards support four major programs: Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences, Hitchings-Elion Fellowships, Life Sciences Research Fellowships, and Wellcome Research Travel Grants.

The fund made four inaugural grants totaling $10-million through its “Interfaces” program, which seeks to bridge the gap between the physical and biological sciences. For example, $2.5-million went to Rockefeller University in New York for an interdisciplinary graduate and postdoctoral training program in biology, chemistry, and physics.

The program on emerging infectious diseases supports research on molecular parasitology, malaria, and fungal pathogens.

Science-education grants support activities for middle- and high-school students in North Carolina, and visiting professorships in the basic medical sciences and microbiology.

The fund made its first career awards in reproductive science, which studies such issues as the immunology of pregnancy and endocrine regulation.

Application procedure: The fund makes approximately 90 per cent of its grants through competitive award programs. Most of its award programs are open to scientists who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States and Canada; a few programs are restricted to U.S. scientists. Most awards are made to degree-granting institutions in behalf of individual researchers, who must be nominated by their institutions. All institutions receiving awards must be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Government agencies are not eligible for awards. Guidelines and deadlines for competitive award programs are available on request. Information can be obtained by sending an e-mail message to mailback@bwfund.org; type the word “menu” on the subject line for a list of programs. To request a specific program brochure to be delivered by regular mail, send a message to info@bwfund.org. Program information is also available on the fund’s World-Wide Web site.

Key officials: Enriqueta C. Bond, president; Scott G. Schoedler, vice-president for finance; Martha G. Peck, vice-president for programs; D. Carr Agyapong, senior program and communications officer; Martin Ionescu-Pioggia, Victoria P. McGovern, and Nancy S. Sung, program officers; Samuel L. Katz, chair of the Board of Directors.

CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
606 South Olive Street, Suite 2400
Los Angeles 90014
(213) 242-7489
World-Wide Web: http://www.calfund.org
Period covered: Year ending June 30, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1915. It makes direct and donor-advised grants through more than 600 constituent funds to non-profit groups throughout Los Angeles County.

In 1996-97, the fund allocated grants totaling $32.1-million. Discretionary grants focused on the foundation’s new Nurturing Neighborhoods/Building Community Initiative, which was started in January 1997. This five-year, $25-million program emphasizes early-childhood education, employment and training, public health, preventive health care, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and overcoming the lack of child care and other barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.

The foundation made the final round of grants through its Community Bridges Initiative, a four-year, $1-million program to improve relations among ethnic and racial groups in Los Angeles.

The fund continued to participate in two national grant-making programs: the Los Angeles Community AIDS Partnership and the Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Community Fund. Awards included $35,000 to El Proyecto del Barrio in Arleta to provide one-on-one street-outreach counseling to 400 youths and to train them to reduce behavior that puts them at risk for contracting HIV.

With financial support from the California Wellness Foundation, the fund awarded more than $2-million to free and community-based health-care clinics in Los Angeles. For example, $127,074 went to the Pediatric and Family Medical Center to provide dental services to poor children living in central Los Angeles.

The foundation’s Affordable Housing Loan Fund provided approximately $1-million in revolving loans to be used to construct more than 1,000 units of low-cost housing in Los Angeles County.

Other special programs include the Brody Arts Fund and the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should call the foundation for a copy of its grant guidelines and application form or download the forms from the foundation’s World-Wide Web site. Applications are accepted year round, and the foundation acknowledges all applications, which should not be sent by fax. All eligible applications are reviewed by a program officer, and recommendations are made to the board quarterly.

Key officials: Jack Shakely, president; Joe Lumarda, executive vice-president for external affairs; Judy Spiegel, senior vice-president for programs; Allan Parachini, vice-president for communications; Ken Gregorio, senior program officer; David A. Peters, chair of the Board of Governors.

CORPORATIONS

ALCOA FOUNDATION
3002 Alcoa Building
425 Sixth Avenue
Pittsburgh 15219-1850
(412) 553-2348
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1996.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1952 by the Aluminum Company of America; it makes grants for projects in education, health and human services, culture and the arts, and civic and community affairs. Priority is given to projects and organizations in or near U.S. and foreign communities where Alcoa operates facilities.

In 1996, 2,262 grants totaling nearly $12.9-million were paid. Of that total, $5.7-million or 44 per cent went for education programs. Recipients included the Pittsburgh Public Schools for the New American Schools Development Corporation Initiative and the University of Washington in Seattle for scholarships and for the annual conference of Women in Science and Engineering.

A total of $540,000 was appropriated through the Alcoa Sons and Daughters Scholarship Program, and the foundation gave $1.6-million to match donations to colleges and universities by Alcoa employees, retirees, and directors at a 2-to-1 ratio.

Health and human-services grants received $3.0-million or 24 per cent of grants paid. Projects focused on hunger and homelessness, elderly and disabled people, child-abuse and violence prevention, health-care services for children and low-income people, and employment and substance-abuse-prevention services for at-risk youths.

Application procedure: There is no special form for grant applications. The foundation prefers to receive initial letters of inquiry along with proposals; they should not be sent separately. Grant requests should be tailored to a specific project or need and should be sent in letter form with the following information attached or included: a description of the project; its objective; an itemized budget for the project, including income and expenses; the amount of money requested; a list of other corporate and foundation donors; audited financial statements; and a copy of the group’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt ruling. Applications are accepted year round.

Key officials: F. Worth Hobbs, president and treasurer; Kathleen W. Buechel, vice-president and secretary.