Foundation Annual Reports

ROBERT STERLING CLARK FOUNDATION
135 East 64th Street
New York 10021
(212) 288-8900
Period covered: Year ending October 31, 1996.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1952 by Robert Sterling Clark, an art collector and grandson of Edward Clark, a founder of the Singer Manufacturing Company.

In 1996, 76 grants were appropriated through the fund’s three main programs: insuring access to comprehensive reproductive-health information and services, which received 18 grants totaling $1,180,043; improving the performance of public institutions in New York City and State, which received 26 grants totaling $1,160,000; and strengthening cultural institutions, which received 32 grants totaling $1,105,000.

The foundation has awarded grants in the field of reproductive health since 1983; its grant making promotes the development of laws, policies, and practices that protect women’s access to comprehensive care, including sex education, contraception, and abortion services. Projects focus on litigation, research, policy analysis, public education, and national and grassroots activities. Awards included $50,000 to the National Women’s Law Center in Washington for its legal work on myriad reproductive-rights issues, including pending Federal Drug Administration approval of the abortifacient RU-486.

The foundation makes awards to improve the accountability and performance of New York governmental institutions in four areas: delivery of human services for poor people, housing and economic development, education reform, and solid-waste management. For example, $40,000 went to Environmental Advocates in Albany for its campaign to increase state financing for projects that reduce waste, promote recycling, and expand markets for recycled materials.

Grants to cultural institutions focus on improving the management and use of resources at New York-area arts groups including through staff and board training and increased fund raising, marketing, and earned income. Since 1990, the foundation has also awarded grants for projects to defend and promote artistic expression and for public education on the arts and democratic society.

Application procedure: Proposals should be addressed to Margaret C. Ayers at the address above and should include a description of the planned project, a budget for the project, precise project expectations, plans for evaluation, the background of key staff members involved, and plans for future support. Applicants should also provide information on the organization’s budgets (past, current, and projected), audited financial statements, an Internal Revenue Service letter explaining the applicant organization’s tax status, names and occupations of trustees, and examples of past organizational accomplishments. The main body of the application should not exceed 15 pages, and the inclusion of a one-page summary is also required. The board meets in January, April, July, and October; proposals are received and reviewed year-round.

Key officials: Margaret C. Ayers, executive director; Darcy Hector and Laura Wolff, program officers; Winthrop R. Munyan, president of the Board of Directors.

PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS
2005 Market Street, Suite 1700
Philadelphia 19103-7017
(215) 575-9050
World-Wide Web: http://www.pewtrusts.com
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: These seven trusts were created between 1948 and 1979 by two sons and two daughters of Joseph N. Pew, the founder of the Sun Oil Company, and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. Because the grant-making interests of the trusts overlap, a single set of guidelines has been created for grant seekers.

In 1997, 320 grants totaling $181.1-million were appropriated as follows: the Venture Fund received $41.6-million or 23 per cent of grant dollars; health and human services, $35.9-million or 20 per cent; education, $31.4-million or 17 per cent; culture, $24.4-million or 14 per cent; the environment, $22.1-million or 12 per cent; public policy, $17.0-million or 9 per cent; and religion, $8.7-million or 5 per cent.

Geographically, grants were distributed in the following manner: 72 per cent went for projects nationwide; 24 per cent for projects in the metropolitan Philadelphia area; and 4 per cent for international projects.

The Venture Fund was established in 1997 as the successor to the trusts’ interdisciplinary fund; it maintains that fund’s emphasis on collaboration among various program areas, while also providing support for “unanticipated or uniquely promising opportunities.” Awards included $900,000 over two years to National Public Radio in Washington for coverage of cultural issues, the arts, and religion, and $12.5-million over two years to the San Francisco-based Tides Center for a public-education effort on the future of the Social Security system.

The trusts are revamping the national health and human-services program to respond to major changes taking place in health care and social services. With the exception of grants for biomedical research and training, no grants are being made in that program until new guidelines are completed and issued. Philadelphia-area grants are made through the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services and the Fund for Urban Neighborhood Development.

In the area of education, the trusts adopted a new agenda that places greater emphasis on support for higher education. This new approach has three goals: encouraging colleges and universities to increase student performance while lowering costs, linking higher-education institutions with their communities and local schools, and developing a cadre of professors who are responsive to changing student and societal demographic patterns and needs.

The new Philadelphia Cultural Leadership Program provides operating funds to local arts groups that demonstrate sound finances and administration, a broad base of community support, and artistic excellence.

Public-policy grants continued to shift from projects in Central and Eastern Europe to projects in the United States. The trusts adopted a three-pronged strategy to strengthen civic engagement, improve governmental performance, and renew Americans’ confidence in elections and the democratic process.

Application procedure: Contact the foundation for a copy of its current “Program Resource Guide,” which provides guidelines, or visit the foundation’s World-Wide Web site.

Key officials: Rebecca W. Rimel, president and chief executive officer; Nadya K. Shmavonian, executive vice-president; Catherine T. Murphy, chief of staff for operations; Jill C. Schiager, chief of staff for programs; Henry B. Bernstein, deputy director of finance; David J. Morse, director of public affairs; Harrison H. Tao, interim human-resources administrator; Susan K. Urahn, director of planning and evaluation; J. Howard Pew II, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program directors: Maureen K. Byrnes (health and human services), Russell Edgerton (education), Marian A. Godfrey (culture), Paul C. Light (public policy), Luis E. Lugo (religion), Donald Kimelman (the Venture Fund), and Joshua S. Reichert (environment).

RESEARCH CORPORATION
101 North Wilmot Road, Suite 250
Tucson, Ariz. 85711-3332
(520) 571-1111
World-Wide Web: http://www.rescorp.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1996.

Purpose and areas of support: This foundation was endowed in 1912 by the scientist and inventor Frederick Gardner Cottrell, with the assistance of Charles Doolittle Walcott, then-secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. It awards grants for scientific research and experimentation.

In 1996, 180 awards totaling approximately $5-million were made through five major programs.

Eighty-six grants totaling $2,759,351 were allocated through the Cottrell College Science Awards, the foundation’s largest program. Those awards support research projects in astronomy, chemistry, and physics at predominantly undergraduate colleges.

Through the Cottrell Scholars Awards program, 18 grants totaling $900,000 were made, up from 13 awards totaling $650,000 in 1995. Faculty scientists who are beginning a third year in astronomy, chemistry, and physics departments that grant Ph.D.’s are eligible to apply for the $50,000 awards.

Six grants totaling $118,010 were made through the Research Opportunity Awards program, which allows mid-career faculty members who teach astronomy, chemistry, or physics at doctorate-granting institutions to explore new areas of experimental research.

The foundation allocated 37 new awards totaling $518,000 through the Partners in Science program, which enables high-school teachers to participate in two summers of research experience at local colleges and universities. In addition, 26 teachers received supplemental awards to bring the benefits of their summer research back to high-school classrooms.

Inaugural awards will be made in 1997 through the new Research Innovation Awards, which provide grants of up to $35,000 to assist scientists engaged in “original, innovative research” that may not find support from other financial sources.

Application procedure: Guidelines for all awards are available from the foundation’s Science Advancement Program. Information may also be obtained via e-mail at awards@rescorp.org or through the foundation’s World-Wide Web site.

Key officials: John P. Schaefer, president and chief executive officer; Michael P. Doyle, vice-president; W. Stevenson Bacon, director of communications; Mary Lynn Grayeski and Raymond Kellman, program officers.