Foundation Annual Reports

EDNA MCCONNELL CLARK FOUNDATION

250 Park Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10177-0026
(212) 551-9100
http://www.emcf.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Edna McConnell Clark, a daughter of the founder of the Avon Products cosmetics company, created the foundation in 1950 with her husband, Van Alan Clark. The Clarks doubled the size of the foundation’s endowment in 1969 and charged their sons — Hays, Van Alan Jr., and James — with overseeing staffing and establishing giving priorities. Two grandchildren of Van Alan and Edna McConnell Clark currently serve on the foundation’s Board of Trustees.

In 2001, grants totaling approximately $32-million were awarded in the following areas: the program for children received $13,033,000; youth development and institution and field building, $12,952,000; student achievement, $2,616,497; and New York neighborhoods, $1,627,500. The foundation also allocated $398,183 to its communications program and $1,449,254 to its Venture Fund, through which it explores new areas of potential giving and supports projects that complement its program areas.

The foundation continued a substantial, multiyear revision of its grant making. Future grants will focus solely on youth development, concentrating on out-of-school programs for youths from low-income families in the Northeast corridor, stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C.

Grants made under the children’s program focused primarily on establishing local systems to protect children from abuse and neglect in four states — Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri — and on state and national advocacy, research, and evaluation and dissemination of work on child protection.

The foundation took a major step toward phasing out its program for children at the end of 2001, when it awarded $11,118,000 over three years to the Center for the Study of Social Policy, in Washington. The grant established the Center for Community Partnerships in Child Welfare, which will continue the work started by the foundation in collaboration with the program’s original four sites.

The foundation formally began its new youth-development program, which incorporates “institution and field building” strategies to strengthen selected groups in the field. Strategies include helping those groups create business plans, secure support from other foundations, evaluate programs, and demonstrate their effectiveness. For example, Roca, in Chelsea, Mass., was awarded $1,500,000 to implement a business plan designed to help it reach an additional 4,100 Boston-area youths.

The student-achievement program, which is in its final phase, emphasized helping school districts in Corpus Christi, Tex., Long Beach, Calif., and San Diego increase the academic achievement of middle-school students. Also under this program, the foundation made awards to local, regional, and national organizations that are involved in efforts to revamp middle-grades education.

The program for New York neighborhoods primarily supported work to improve living conditions in central Harlem and the South Bronx. The foundation continued its cooperation with five organizations in those neighborhoods, concentrating on preparing those groups to sustain their work after the foundation ceases its New York program in 2003.

Venture Fund grants included $500,000 to Community Funds, in New York, to aid victims, families, and nonprofit organizations affected by the September 11 attacks.

Application procedure: The foundation identifies youth-serving organizations primarily through nominations by colleagues and advisers. Although unsolicited proposals are not accepted, direct-service organizations that provide services during nonschool hours for youths ages 9 through 24 may share information about their work by submitting a form available at the foundation’s Web site. No new grant applications are being accepted under the programs for student achievement and New York neighborhoods. Additional information about changes in the foundation’s work and plans for the future can be found at its Web site.

Key officials: Michael A. Bailin, president; Nancy Roob, vice president and secretary for institution and field building; Susan Bellinger, director of the Neighborhood Partners Initiative; David E.K. Hunter, director of the Office of Evaluation and Knowledge Development; M. Hayes Mizell, director, program for student achievement; Ralph Stefano, director of finance and administration; Bruce Trachtenberg, director of communications; Edward C. Schmults, chair of the Board of Trustees.

GERALDINE R. DODGE FOUNDATION

163 Madison Avenue
P.O. Box 1239
Morristown, N.J. 07962-1239
(973) 540-8442
http://www.grdodge.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1974 through the will of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, the daughter of William and Almira Rockefeller. Based on suggestions made by Mrs. Dodge, the trustees adopted animal welfare, the arts, and projects in Morris County, N.J., as program areas. Two additional programs on education and critical issues were added subsequently.

In 2001, the foundation paid grants for the following programs: education received $5,616,000; critical issues, $5,530,000; arts, $3,730,000; animal welfare, $1,618,000; grants in Morris County, N.J., $1,183,000; and poetry, $395,000. In addition, the foundation made “strategic partnerships” grants totaling $1,000,000, and September 11–related grants totaling $1,000,000.

Grants for education focus on elevating the profession of teaching and fostering the improvement of public education at the primary and secondary levels. Giving is concentrated in New Jersey, with some exceptions. Awards included $150,000 to the Alliance for Arts Education, in Trenton, N.J., for arts programs in New Jersey schools.

Critical-issues grants concentrate on preserving open space in New Jersey’s Highlands, Pinelands, and Delaware Bay Shore areas; conserving or protecting the state’s air, water, soil, and wildlife; and encouraging New Jersey municipalities to follow recommendations made in the state’s development and redevelopment plan. The critical-issues program is now known as the environment program.

The arts program is limited to New Jersey cultural institutions and to national groups that benefit artists or audiences in the state. For example, a two-year, $24,000 grant went to the Women’s Studio Workshop, in Rosendale, N.Y., for residencies for New Jersey artists.

Giving in Morris County reflects many of the foundation’s overall programs, including environment, education, and the arts, as well as efforts to strengthen families and encourage volunteerism.

Animal-welfare grants focus on animal assistance in New Jersey, veterinary medicine, and research on nonsurgical methods of pet sterilization.

Grants made in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks included $30,000 to the Program in Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, N.J., to establish a crosscultural education program serving students and teachers at 12 New Jersey high schools.

More than 13,000 people attended the foundation’s eighth annual poetry festival in 2001. Also under its poetry program, the foundation supported “mini-festivals” and poetry events at more than 100 New Jersey high schools.

Application procedure: First-time applicants should submit a one-page letter of inquiry to determine if a project falls within the foundation’s guidelines. Letters, which may be sent electronically without attachments or via standard mail, may be submitted throughout the year, but must be received at least two weeks prior to the corresponding proposal-submission deadline. Due dates for proposals are as follows: the arts, March 1; Morris County, May 1; environment and animal welfare, June 1; and education, November 1.

Applicants will be notified whether or not to submit a full proposal. Applicant organizations must either be public entities or be exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Key officials: David Grant, executive director; John Yingling, chief administrative and financial officer; Cynthia Evans, comptroller and grants manager; Laura Aden, program director, the arts; Ross Danis, program director, education; Elliott D. Lee, program director, Morris County; Robert T. Perry, program director, environment and welfare of animals; Lisa Garrison, program officer; Robert LeBuhn, chairman and chief executive officer of the Board of Trustees; Christopher J. Elliman, president of the Board.

W.M. KECK FOUNDATION

550 South Hope Street, Suite 2500
Los Angeles, Calif. 90071
(213) 680-3833
http://www.wmkeck.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1954 by William Myron Keck, founder of the Superior Oil Company.

In 2001, the foundation awarded 24 grants totaling $21,450,000 in the area of science and engineering; 8 grants totaling $15,500,000 for medical research; 17 grants totaling $6,375,000 for programs in Southern California; and two grants totaling $1,000,000 for liberal-arts education. Grant making is limited to organizations and projects within the United States.

Science, engineering, and medical-research grants go to accredited four-year colleges and universities, medical schools, and major, independent research institutions. For example, Howard University, in Washington, received $750,000 for research in nanotechnology, which involves the examination of materials too small to be seen without an electron microscope.

Also under this area of concentration, the foundation administers a program entitled Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research, which supports young scientists investigating “promising but as yet unproven” ideas in biomedical research.

Grants for Southern California concentrate on the arts and culture, civic and community service, health care, and precollegiate education, primarily for youths from disadvantaged families in the Los Angeles area. In 2001, the foundation made inaugural grants under a new five-year program that focuses on early childhood education in Los Angeles.

Grants for the liberal arts support innovative instruction and research at leading liberal-arts colleges nationwide.

In response to September 11, the foundation supported a new scholarship program at the United Negro College Fund, in Fairfax, Va., for students at historically black institutions whose college plans were affected by the terrorist attacks.

Application procedure: The foundation has a two-phase application process and awards grants twice a year, in June and December. Prospective applicants should submit a complete letter of inquiry and supporting documentation, but the foundation urges interested grant seekers to contact its staff by letter or telephone before doing so. Inquiries must be submitted by May 15 for the December grant cycle, and November 15 for the June grant cycle.

Applicants must be tax-exempt as defined by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, must not be private foundations as defined by Section 509(a), and must be able to provide current, full, certified audited financial statements. Institutions located in California must include a copy of the confirmation letter from the State of California Franchise Tax Board that states the institution is exempt from California state franchise or income tax.

From the pool of applicants submitting letters of inquiry, the foundation will invite some to submit full proposals. Unsolicited proposals and electronic applications are not accepted.

Additional information is available at the foundation’s Web site or by requesting a copy of its annual report from info@wmkeck.org.

Key officials: Robert A. Day, chairman, president and chief executive officer; Jonathan D. Jaffrey, vice president and chief administrative officer; Dorothy Fleisher, program director, Southern California; Roxanne Ford, program director, medical research; Maria Pellegrini and Mercedes Talley, program directors, science, engineering, and liberal arts.