Foundation Annual Reports

LYNDE AND HARRY BRADLEY FOUNDATION

P.O. Box 510860
Milwaukee, Wis. 53203-0153
(414) 291-9915
http://www.bradleyfdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1985 with $290-million from the sale of the Milwaukee-based Allen-Bradley Company, an industrial-automation business founded in 1903 by the brothers Lynde and Harry Bradley.

In general, the foundation’s grant making emphasizes projects that share the following themes: treating “free men and women as genuinely self-governing, personally responsible citizens, not as victims or clients;” restoring the “intellectual and cultural legitimacy of citizenly common sense, the received wisdom of experience, everyday morality, and personal character;” reinvigorating and re-empowering churches, families, neighborhoods, schools, and other institutions that inculcate citizenship, morality, and character; and reverting “power and accountability away from centralized, bureaucratic, national institutions” and back to states and localities.

Within that framework, the foundation supports projects dealing with civil society, culture, economics, and politics as they relate to citizenship in the United States or abroad. It does not make awards to promote civics education or activities narrowly focused on elections and voting. Funded projects may involve demonstration models or academic, policy, or popular research and writing.

For example, $112,500 went to the New Citizenship Project, in Washington, for research for a biography of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and $285,000 went to the Hudson Institute, in Indianapolis, for its Welfare Policy Center.

The foundation also makes some grants for cultural, economic-development, educational, and health and social services in Milwaukee and elsewhere in Wisconsin, and for programs that investigate how learning occurs in gifted children and that demonstrate effective models of instruction.

Awards in those categories included $1-million to the Messmer Preparatory Catholic School, in Milwaukee, for its capital campaign, and $140,000 to the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth, in Madison, for general operating support.

Other allocations made in 2000 included $100,000 to Boston University for its Institute on Race and Social Division, and $5,894,119 to the Milwaukee School of Engineering for programs at its Rader School of Business.

The foundation also made payments on prior grants to higher-education institutions for graduate and postgraduate fellowships. Recipients included Columbia University, in New York; Georgetown University, in Washington; and Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles.

Michael S. Joyce, president since 1985, announced his retirement. Michael W. Grebe, a member of the foundation’s board and chief executive officer of a national law firm based in Milwaukee, will succeed Mr. Joyce as president this July.

Application procedure: Before submitting proposals, applicants should prepare and send a brief letter of inquiry describing the applicant organization and the intended project. If the foundation determines the project to be within its current program interests, the applicant will be invited to submit a formal proposal. Letters of inquiry should be sent to the Grants Program at the address above.

Key officials: Michael S. Joyce, president and chief executive officer; Daniel P. Schmidt, executive vice president and chief operating officer; William A. Schambra, senior director of programs; Robert N. Berkopec, chief financial officer; Dianne J. Sehler, director of academic, international, and cultural programs; Kelly Patrick Ambrose, director of community programs and public affairs; Allen M. Taylor, chairman of the Board of Directors.

FOUNDATION FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT

145 East 32nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10016-6055
(212) 213-8337
http://www.ffcd.org

Period covered: Year ending March 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: This private foundation was established as the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children in 1908. It was supported by public contributions until 1944, when substantial funds were received from the estate of the silk manufacturer Milo M. Belding in honor of his wife, Annie, who had volunteered at the association for many years. The organization changed its name to the Foundation for Child Development in 1972.

For many years, the foundation focused on disabled children and on research on genetically based disorders and fetal abnormalities. Today its grant making emphasizes support for research, policy, and other programs that seek to prevent child poverty and to promote the economic security of low-income families.

During its 2001 fiscal year, the foundation approved grants totaling $4,626,970 and paid out grants totaling $3,602,172. The largest new award was $440,000 over 10 years to Duke University, in Durham, N.C., to continue to develop, maintain, and promote the Index of Child Well-Being, which tracks key indicators of the overall status of American children.

The foundation also deepened its focus on achieving “universal prekindergarten” — voluntary educational programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds — and on full-day kindergarten classes for those children whose families desire more than a part-time program. For example, a two-year, $300,000 grant went to the Boston-based Schott Center for Public and Early Education for the Early Education for All Campaign in Massachusetts.

Over the past few years, the foundation supported policy-relevant research on low-income working families and on what they need to raise healthy children who are equipped to learn. One major conclusion of that research was that the federal poverty line should be revised upward to more accurately reflect the economic resources that working families require. Related grants made in 2000-01 included $200,988 to the Economic Policy Institute, in Washington, for the Measuring Hardships Project and the dissemination of How Much Is Enough?: Basic Family Budgets for Working Families.

Other new allocations included $20,000 to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in Washington, to produce a report on child-care advocacy and welfare restructuring in Pennsylvania.

The foundation joined with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to create the Journalism Fellowship Program in Child and Family Policy at the University of Maryland’s College of Journalism. In 2000-01, the foundation paid the second installment of a two-year, $700,000 grant to support that new journalism-education program.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should send a one- to two-page letter of inquiry describing the proposed project, its objectives, and the approximate amount of financial support required. The foundation conducts frequent reviews of proposals and will reply with an indication of whether the project fits its program interests and financial considerations. When appropriate, a full proposal will be invited. The foundation meets in June, October, and March to consider grant approvals for invited proposals.

Key officials: Ruby Takanishi, president; Fasaha M. Traylor, senior program officer; Claudia Conner, grants associate; Edith Milberger, assistant treasurer; Karen Gerard, president of the Board of Directors.

MARIN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

17 East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
Suite 200
Larkspur, Calif. 94939
(415) 461-3333
http://www.marincf.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1986 with the assets of a trust created by Leonard and Beryl H. Buck, longtime residents of Marin County, Calif. In 2001, the foundation awarded a total of 2,232 grants through discretionary funds, designated and donor-advised funds, and supporting organizations.

The foundation’s discretionary grant funds are derived primarily from the Leonard and Beryl H. Buck Trust, established to benefit residents of Marin County. Those competitive grants are distributed by the foundation’s Board of Trustees under established program guidelines. Awards are made in seven programs: human needs, which accounted for 36 percent of 2001 grants; education and training, 18 percent; community development, 16 percent; the environment, 12 percent; community outreach, 9 percent; the arts, 7 percent; and religion, ethics, and conscience, 2 percent.

Human-needs grants emphasized access to health, mental-health, and social services; independent living for elderly and disabled people; efforts to prevent conditions that place youths at risk for negative behavior; and community education that informs public policy and involves individuals in promoting their own health and well-being. For example, $60,000 went to Jewish Family and Children’s Services, in San Francisco, for the Early Childhood Mental Health Program, and $523,000 to the Marin Senior Coordinating Council, in San Rafael, for operating and program support.

Grants made in the education and training category focused on improving the academic performance of students in kindergarten through 12th grade, expanding access to higher education and vocational opportunities, and promoting literacy and lifelong learning. New allocations included $65,000 to the YWCA of San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo for YouthWorks, a youth employment and mentor program.

Discretionary awards in other program areas included $650,000 to Homeward Bound of Marin to purchase a 20-unit low-cost housing project in San Rafael, and $120,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to permanently preserve Marin County farmland through agricultural easements.

Grants are also allocated from approximately 200 advised and designated funds established by businesses, families, individuals, and nonprofit organizations. Three of the funds — the Stinson/Bolinas Community Fund, the Earth Day Every Day Fund, and the Fair, Isaac Fund — recommend grants based on a competitive process. Awards from the other funds are recommended to the foundation’s Board of Trustees based on the interests of the funds’ advisers.

The Marin Education Fund, a supporting organization of the foundation, operates scholarship programs open to residents of Marin County. Scholarship aid is available to students pursuing vocational training, college and university study, and education in the field of early-childhood education. In addition, child-care support is available to parents enrolled in such educational programs.

The foundation also runs the Beryl H. Buck Awards for Achievement, the Neighborhood Achievement Awards, and the Thanks for Caring Award.

Application procedure: To be eligible for funding from the Buck Trust, proposed projects should fall within the foundation’s program areas and either be conducted in Marin County or benefit residents of that county. Projects with a regional or multiple-county focus may be financed only in proportion to the extent that they benefit Marin County residents. Applicants should be public or nonprofit institutions as defined in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. First-time applicants and current grantees seeking support for new projects should first contact a program officer in the appropriate program area by telephone to determine if the proposed project is consistent with the foundation’s goals and interests. Applicants whose projects meet those criteria will then be advised to submit a letter of inquiry using foundation guidelines and forms. The foundation accepts letters of intent and proposals on a year-round basis.

Competitive grants are also made from funds with their own priorities and guidelines. More-detailed instructions may be found on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Thomas Peters, president and chief executive officer; Marsha Bonner, vice president for programs; Michael Groza, vice president for community outreach; Sid Hartman, vice president for finance and administration; Fred Silverman, vice president for marketing and communications; Patrick Woods, vice president for fund development; Christy Vorhis, grants manager; Charles H. Curley, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Julie Absey (religion, ethics, and conscience, and human needs), Carolyn Evans (arts), Donald Jen (education and training), Lourdes Martinez (human needs), Chantel Walker (community development), and Sallyanne Wilson (environment).