Foundation Annual Reports

JOHN A. HARTFORD FOUNDATION

55 East 59th Street
New York, N.Y. 10022-1178
(212) 832-7788
http://www.jhartfound.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: Established in 1929, the foundation was endowed through the bequests of its founders, John A. Hartford and his brother George L. Hartford. Both men had been chief executives of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company.

The foundation’s overall goal is to strengthen the nation’s ability to provide affordable and effective care to its rapidly growing elderly population. Grants and foundation-administered projects focus primarily on two areas: academic geriatrics and training, and integrating and improving health-related services. In 2000, the foundation allocated 47 grants totaling $63,045,921 in those areas.

The foundation’s board approved a new five-year program designed to strengthen geriatric nursing. Grants totaling $6,652,-601 went to create Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at five universities nationwide. In addition, a five-year, $8-million award went to the American Academy of Nursing, in Washington, to coordinate the overall program and to support 35 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars.

The foundation concluded its five-year, $12.9-million Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training (GITT) program, which focused on integrating the education and training of nurses, resident physicians, social workers, and other professionals who provide health and social services to the elderly. In all, eight sites nationwide received support and a set of training models, curriculums, and various resource materials were created. In June 2000, the foundation initiated a new five-year program that will build on that work, focusing on health-service provision rather than education.

To complement its programs in nursing and medicine, the foundation supported three projects involving gerontological social work: a doctoral fellows program, a faculty scholars program, and field training for master’s-level students.

Other grants included $699,831 over five years to the University of California at Los Angeles for its center that coordinates various efforts to improve the treatment of depression among elderly people.

Application procedure: Due to its narrow focus, the foundation makes grants primarily by invitation. If, after reviewing the foundation’s program areas and guidelines, a potential applicant feels that a project falls within that focus, a letter of one to two pages may be submitted. The letter should summarize the purpose and activities of the grant, the qualifications of the applicant and institution, and an estimated cost and time frame for the project. The letter will be reviewed initially by foundation staff members and possibly by outside evaluators. Those submitting letters of inquiry will be notified of the results of the review in approximately six weeks and may be asked to supply additional information. Correspondence should not be sent via fax or e-mail, but rather to the foundation’s mailing address. Detailed information about the foundation and its programs is available at its Web site.

Key officials: Corinne H. Rieder, executive director and treasurer; Samuel R. Gische, finance director and controller; Donna I. Regenstreif and Laura A. Robbins, senior program officers; Sarajane Brittis and Christopher A. Langston, program officers; James F. O’Sullivan, grants manager; James D. Farley, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION

1 Michigan Avenue East
Battle Creek, Mich. 49017-4058
(616) 968-1611
http://www.wkkf.org

Period covered: Year ending August 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: In 1930, Will Keith (W.K.) Kellogg, founder of the eponymous breakfast-cereal company, established the current foundation’s precursor, the W.K. Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation. Several months later he broadened the focus of its charter and renamed it the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In 1934, he endowed it with more than $66-million worth of Kellogg Company stock and other investments.

During its 2001 fiscal year, the foundation committed $136,259,138 to 684 projects and paid out $196,651,171 to 1,023 active projects. Most current grants fall within four program areas: food systems and rural development, health, philanthropy and volunteerism, and youth and education. In addition, the foundation also takes into account a project’s contribution to diversity, leadership, information and communication technology, and social and economic community development.

Geographically, grant making is concentrated in the United States, which received 79 percent of grant dollars paid; Latin America and the Caribbean, which received 12 percent; and the southern African nations of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, which received 9 percent. Allocations are tailored to meet the specific needs of each geographic region and most touch on two or more of the foundation’s program areas and interests.

For example, the Arkansas Enterprise Group, in Pine Bluff, received a $200,000 grant to help alleviate chronic poverty in selected communities by supporting the job retention of low-income workers. The project integrates the foundation’s interests in health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, and diversity.

The foundation recently developed a new plan that will guide its youth and education program through 2008. The plan emphasizes the following themes: ensuring that all children enter kindergarten prepared and able to learn, meeting the academic and developmental needs of middle-school students, promoting volunteerism and civic responsibility among older adolescents and young adults, and breaking cycles of poverty.

Grants to promote philanthropy and volunteerism included $15,000 to Visionaries Inc., in Boston, to produce a public-television documentary on the work of the Global Fund for Women.

The foundation began making grants in Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 1940s. New allocations included $110,000 to Centro de Promocion de la Mujer (Center for the Advancement of Women), in El Tambo, Peru, to establish a grain-processing center that will enhance the income and nutrition status of poor families in the rural High Andes region.

Some grants are also made in the Battle Creek, Mich., area, generally for projects that align with the foundation’s broader U.S. program goals. Allocations included $200,000 to the Battle Creek Community Foundation to improve neighborhood diabetes-prevention efforts and to develop baseline data on the effects of violence and homicide on minority communities.

Application procedure: The foundation encourages grant applicants to submit their requests electronically, using the online application available at the foundation’s Web site. Those applying by mail should submit a preliminary letter, up to five pages in length, containing the following information: contact name, legal organization name, street and mailing addresses, phone number, and e-mail address; a grant-purpose statement of no more than 50 words; the total dollar amount requested; project activities, objectives, target audiences, operational procedures, and duration; anticipated impact or outcomes; and personnel or financial resources available and needed.

Do not include additional information unless requested to do so. The letter should be addressed to the supervisor of proposal processing and should be submitted on standard-size, light-colored paper, without a plastic-bound or expensively produced cover. The foundation discourages personal visits during the preliminary application process.

Key officials: William C. Richardson, president and chief executive officer; Gregory A. Lyman, senior vice president and corporate secretary; Anne C. Petersen, senior vice president for programs; Richard M. Foster, Gail D. McClure, Dan E. Moore, and Gloria R. Smith, vice presidents for programs; Paul J. Lawler, vice president and chief investment officer; La June J. Montgomery-Talley, vice president for finance and treasurer; Shirley D. Bowser, chair of the Board of Trustees.

ROCKEFELLER FAMILY FUND

437 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10022
(212) 812-4252
http://www.rffund.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was incorporated in 1967 by David, John, Laurance, Martha, and Nelson Rockefeller. Over the years, it has served as a philanthropic mechanism for the third, fourth, and fifth generations of the Rockefeller family. By 2000, fifth-generation members constituted more than half the board.

In 2000, the fund’s board and staff made 81 grants and distributed $2,566,007. In addition, 33 donor-advised grants totaling $4,425,000 were made in collaboration with colleagues and family members. The fund currently maintains five program areas: citizen participation and government accountability, economic justice for women, the environment, institutional responsiveness, and self-sufficiency. Within these areas, grant making focuses on advocacy projects of national significance that are likely to have tangible public-policy results.

The citizen participation and government accountability program supports efforts by nonpartisan groups to help citizens exercise their right to vote, advocate structural improvements in government, and otherwise expand citizens’ ability to contribute to public-policy formation. Although the fund places priority on projects related to the electoral process and the conduct of elected representatives, grants are not restricted to that topic. Awards included $25,000 to the Washington organization Women Vote 2000 for a voter-outreach campaign directed at minority women in 10 selected states.

The fund’s program for women supports projects designed to provide women with more-equitable employment opportunities and to improve their work lives. For example, $35,000 went to the Women’s Law Project, in Philadelphia, for the Women’s Access to Health Care Initiative, which deals with policies that affect confidentiality, gender-based insurance discrimination, and health care for female prisoners.

Environmental grants stress the conservation of natural resources, links between health and the environment, the enforcement of U.S. environmental laws, pollution caused by actions of the Departments of Energy and Defense, and public participation in national debates on environmental policy.

The institutional-responsiveness program contributes to nonprofit efforts to meaningfully affect the actions and policies of both public and private institutions. For instance, $25,000 went to the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest for a public-education and policy-reform campaign to curtail the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and medicine.

Grants allocated through the self-sufficiency program help advocacy groups develop their membership, court large donors, and otherwise lessen their reliance on private foundations.

The Rockefeller Family Fund administers a number of donor-advised funds that allow for more-flexible responses to the financial needs of advocacy and other timely campaigns. Awards made in 2000 included $15,000 to Friends of the Constitution, in Elmwood, Neb., and $200,000 to Physicians for Social Responsibility, in Washington.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should first submit a letter of inquiry of no more than two pages summarizing the need for and goals of the project, the strategy or plan for achieving the goals, and the amount of funds requested. Letters of inquiry may be sent at any time. The fund responds to all inquiries, and applicants should allow two to four weeks for staff members to review and reply. Those organizations that are invited to submit a full proposal will be provided with guidelines on materials that should be included. Letters of inquiry may be mailed to the foundation at the address above or send via e-mail to mmccarthy@rffund.org. Additional information on the foundation and its grants programs is provided at its Web site.

Key officials: Lee Wasserman, director; Larry Shapiro, director, Environmental Enforcement Project; Cathy Weiss, program officer; Maureen McCarthy, grants administrator; Anne Bartley, president of the Board of Trustees.