Foundation Annual Reports

MARY REYNOLDS BABCOCK FOUNDATION
102 Reynolda Village
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27106-5123
(336) 748-9222
World-Wide Web: http://www.mrbf.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation makes grants for projects to benefit residents of the southeastern United States. In 1994, the foundation suspended its regular grant making for several months in order to evaluate and restructure its programs. It now makes grants through three main program areas: the Organizational Development Program, the Community Problem Solving Program, and the Grassroots Leadership Development Program.

The foundation makes approximately 20 new grants each year through the Organizational Development Program, which provides local, statewide, and regional organizations in the Southeast with funds over an 18-month period. The size of the grants — which ranged last year from $26,000 to $70,000 — depends on the goals and current budget of the organization, which drafts its own work plan. Grants are renewable for a second 18-month period following an assessment of the organization’s progress.

Recipients included El Centro Hispano, in Durham, N.C.; the Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama, in Montgomery; and the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Kentucky, in Frankfort.

Through the Community Problem Solving Program, the foundation currently supports coalitions working on local issues in 11 Southeast communities, including three new coalitions in Chattanooga, Tenn.; New Orleans; and Raleigh, N.C.

The foundation instituted the Grassroots Leadership Development Program, through which it began making grants this year. Awards are made to strengthen the ability of grassroots leaders to influence policy in their respective states and to leverage financial support for leadership-development projects.

Through its Opportunity Fund, the foundation makes non-renewable grants of up to $7,000 to respond quickly to short-term needs and opportunities.

Application procedure: Application guidelines and deadlines for each program are available from the foundation and are posted on its World-Wide Web site. There is no formal application process for the Opportunity Fund; potential applicants should contact Athan Lindsay before submitting a proposal.

Key officials: Gayle Williams, executive director; Sandra H. Mikush, assistant director; Athan Lindsay, program officer; Dee Anna Holbrook, grants manager; Mary Mountcastle, president of the Board of Directors.

GERALDINE R. DODGE FOUNDATION
163 Madison Avenue
P.O. Box 1239
Morristown, N.J. 07962-1239
(973) 540-8442
World-Wide Web: http://www.grdodge.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created and endowed in 1974 through the will of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge.

In 1997, 364 grants totaling $15.4-million were appropriated in five program areas: public issues, which received $5.0-million; education, $4.8-million; the arts, $3.4-million; animal welfare, $1.4-million; and local projects in Morris County, N.J., $800,000.

Public-issues grants emphasize projects in the Northeast and New Jersey that deal with sustainable development — specifically, ecosystem preservation, energy conservation, pollution prevention and reduction, public education on environmental issues, and population growth and family planning.

Awards included $150,000 to the New York Community Trust to found the Highland to Ocean (HO) Fund, which will coordinate various conservation efforts under way to preserve the highland and coastal areas of New Jersey and New York.

Education grants focus on the elementary and secondary levels; emphasis is placed on enhancing the teaching profession, improving school leadership, developing better teachers and educational materials, increasing access to high-quality education for underserved students, and involving children in learning experiences outside the classroom. Projects must promote systemic change and must have the potential for duplication; the majority of education grants go to programs in the Northeast.

Arts-related grants are limited primarily to projects that benefit New Jersey residents. Grants focus on improving school-based arts education, expanding public access to the arts, supporting individual artists, and developing institutional stability. For example, $80,000 went to the Newark Community School of the Arts, which provides low-cost instruction in dance, music, theater, and writing after school and on Saturdays.

Animal-welfare grants go to projects nationwide that encourage the humane treatment of animals.

The foundation allocated $400,000 to organize and stage the 1998 Dodge Poetry Festival at Waterloo Village in New Jersey; these biennial poetry events involve hundreds of New Jersey high schools, as well as students, teachers, and others from across the country.

Application procedure: A one-page letter of inquiry is encouraged in order to determine if a proposed project falls within the foundation’s guidelines. Grant proposals should include a one-page summary followed by a fuller description no longer than six pages. The proposal should describe the project and the need for it, the qualifications and past accomplishments of the organization, how the project is to proceed and who is to carry it out, a time frame and budget, the benefits to be gained and who will benefit, and a plan for evaluating and financing the project in the future. Proposals must be submitted on the letterhead of the sponsoring organization — which must be a public entity or tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code — and must also include a recent financial statement, the names and occupations of the organization’s trustees, and a copy of the Internal Revenue Service letter confirming the organization’s tax-exempt status. The foundation also accepts the “New York Area Common Application” form. Proposals should be submitted to the foundation’s executive director and postmarked no later than the following deadlines: the arts, March 10; animal welfare and local projects, June 10; public issues, September 10; and elementary and secondary education, December 10. Proposals sent by fax or electronic mail are not accepted.

Key officials: Scott McVay, executive director; John Yingling, chief administrative and financial officer; Alexandra Christy, senior program officer; Robert T. Perry, Janet D. Rodriguez, and Mark Jerome Walters, program officers; Cynthia Sherwood Evans, grants manager; Robert H. B. Baldwin, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Robert LeBuhn, president of the board.

SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION
225 Bush Street, Suite 500
San Francisco 94104
(415) 733-8500
Period covered: Year ending June 30, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was created in 1948; it makes grants to benefit residents of California’s Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties.

In 1996-97, donor-advised grants totaling $36,677,564 and competitive grants totaling $8,436,608 were made in seven program areas: the arts and humanities, community health, education, the environment, neighborhood and community development, philanthropy, and social services.

The community-health area received the largest share of competitive grants. Projects focused on AIDS, mental health, meeting the health needs of women and girls, services for the elderly, and health-care reform and access. For example, $20,000 went to Casa Vincentia, in Oakland, to provide case-management services for homeless pregnant women participating in a residential program.

Grants in other areas included $10,000 to the Museum of Children’s Art, in Oakland, for organizational planning, and $25,000 to the Rebus Institute, in Burlingame, for a career-exploration program for youths and young adults with learning disabilities and attention-deficit disorder.

The Lifeline Initiative completed its fourth year of working to improve services available to low-income families and children in the cities of Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco.

Approximately 350 congregations and religious organizations participate in the foundation’s FAITHS Initiative, which supports interfaith projects in such areas as homelessness, neighborhood revitalization, and race relations.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should contact the foundation to request a copy of its “How to Apply for a Grant” guide or to register for a workshop on the grant-application process.

Key officials: Sandra R. Hernandez, executive director; William Powers, director of finance; Janet Mandelstam, director of communications; Laura Hale, grants manager; Ted J. Saenger, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program executives: Diane Aranda (community health), Joseph Brooks (neighborhood and community development), Herbert Castillo (social services), Eleanor Clement Glass (education), John Kreidler (arts and humanities), and Jane Rogers (environment).