Foundation Annual Reports

HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE

4000 Jones Bridge Road
Chevy Chase, Md. 20815-6789
(301) 215-8500
http://www.hhmi.org

Period covered: Year ending August 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The institute was founded in 1953 by the industrialist and aviator Howard R. Hughes, who died in 1976. It is classified not as a private foundation but rather as a nonprofit medical-research organization as defined by Section 170(b) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The institute supports biomedical research at its laboratories, established through long-term agreements at medical centers, teaching hospitals, and university campuses nationwide. It currently employs some 350 investigators carrying out direct research in six broad areas: cell biology, computational biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology.

The institute also administers a complementary grants program that focuses on improving science education from preschool through postdoctoral training, enhancing the science literacy of the general public, and supporting the research of biomedical scientists in selected foreign countries.

Grants are administered through five programs: an international program that supports biomedical scientists outside the United States and provides funding for selected courses and workshops; a precollege science-education program that offers grants for educational activities to science museums, botanical and zoological gardens, and other institutions; a biomedical-research program that supports medical schools and “unique” research organizations; a graduate science-education program that provides fellowships for graduate students, medical students, and physicians, and supports special courses; and a biological-sciences education program that awards grants to selected undergraduate institutions.

Grants made in fiscal year 2001 include awards totaling $12-million to 29 museums, nature centers, aquariums, zoos, and other science-education organizations in 18 states. Other grants included $800,000 over two years to the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, in Princeton, N.J., for its summer institute for middle- and high-school biology teachers.

New fellowships were awarded to 92 predoctoral students, 56 medical students, and 23 physicians undertaking postdoctoral research.

Through the international program, grants totaling $15-million went to 46 researchers in the Baltic states, Central and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. The institute also awarded $16.3-million in new grants to 43 biomedical researchers in Canada and five Latin American countries.

Application procedure: Grants are administered by the institute’s Office of Grants and Special Programs. The institute does not make awards for either direct support of research or investigator-initiated research in the United States; it employs independent investigators at its laboratories nationwide. Grants are rarely made in response to unsolicited proposals, and the institute does not provide grant support for institutional training, conferences, or the publication of conference proceedings. The institute’s Web site includes summaries and details of its grants programs.

Key officials: Thomas R. Cech, president; Peter J. Bruns, vice president for grants and special programs; David A. Clayton, vice president and chief scientific officer; Stephen M. Cohen, vice president and chief financial officer; Joan S. Leonard, vice president and general counsel; Avice A. Meehan, vice president for communications and public affairs; Gerald M. Rubin, vice president for biomedical research; Nestor V. Santiago, vice president and chief investment officer; Hanna H. Gray, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Senior grants program officers: Stephen A. Barkanic, Jill G. Conley, and Dennis WC. Liu.

ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION

140 East 62nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10021
(212) 838-8400
http://www.mellon.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was formed in 1969 through the consolidation of the Avalon Foundation, established in 1940 by Ailsa Mellon Bruce, daughter of Andrew W. Mellon, and the Old Dominion Foundation, established in 1942 by her brother, Paul Mellon.

In 2001, the foundation approved grants totaling $183,464,074 in the following program areas: higher education and scholarship, which received $104,819,343; population, $22,203,000; conservation and the environment, $16,934,000; performing arts, $16,247,800; museums and art conservation, $12,755,931; public affairs, $1,875,000; and other grants, $8,629,000.

Over the past two years, the foundation’s higher-education and scholarship program has shifted its emphasis from graduate training in the humanities and social sciences to sustained scholarship throughout the professorial career. To that end, the foundation provides support for individuals at all stages of their academic careers in the humanities and social sciences; this support is typically awarded to the institution where the scholar’s study or fellowship will be carried out. Types of support include awards for distinguished achievement, fellowships for junior, mid-career, and senior faculty members in the humanities, and support for dissertation work in the United States and elsewhere. The program also makes grants to leading research universities in the humanities and to institutions collaborating to share their humanities resources. In addition, the foundation supports minority education, research libraries, and the use of technology to enhance and disseminate scholarly work.

For example, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor received $1,400,000 to provide postdoctoral fellowships in “the humanities and related social sciences,” and Claremont University Center, in Claremont, Calif., received $985,000 to implement a common administrative computing system for the seven Claremont colleges.

The program on population supports research, teaching, and training in reproductive biology, contraceptives, forced migration, and related issues. It also supports collaborations between research institutions in the United States and their counterparts in developing countries. Grants included $1,500,000 to the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, in Seattle, for research and technical assistance on contraceptive reproductive health, and $300,000 to the University of Colorado at Boulder for demographic research and training related to South Africa.

The program on conservation and the environment supports basic research on the ways in which natural ecosystems function. Projects are restricted to the United States, with the exception of occasional support for joint projects with institutions in Latin America and South Africa. Grants within the broad field of ecosystems research and training are awarded only for work on botany and terrestrial ecosystems.

The largest single environmental grant was $1,750,000 to the Trust for Public Land, in San Francisco, for general support. Other awards included $900,000 to the New York Botanical Garden, in the Bronx, for ecological research and training.

The performing-arts program is national in scope and provides multiyear grants to leading organizations in the disciplines of music, theater, dance, and opera. Application is by invitation only. In 2001, the largest single grant in this category, $1,250,000, went to the New York City Opera to support artistic endeavors.

The program on museums and art conservation helps institutions undertake scholarship on their permanent collections; preserve those collections and share the results of their work with scholarly and other audiences; provide advanced training for conservators; and support emerging fields such as conservation science. Awards included $24,000 to the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, for a pilot program to train Chinese museum professionals, and $75,000 to Yale University, in New Haven, Conn., for a symposium on early Italian painting.

Public-affairs grants supported scholarly work and infrastructure at research institutions. For example, $750,000 was awarded to Philanthropic Research, in Williamsburg, Va., for continued development and use of GuideStar, a comprehensive Web-based database of public charities.

Also that year, special grants were made to organizations directly affected by the September 11 attacks and to charities providing related disaster-relief services.

Application procedure: Unsolicited proposals are rarely supported. Prospective applicants are encouraged to submit a one-page letter of inquiry that describes the need, nature, and amount of their request, along with proof of their organization’s tax-exempt designation from the Internal Revenue Service. The foundation does not make grants to individuals or to organizations that work primarily locally.

Key officials: William G. Bowen, president; T. Dennis Sullivan, financial vice president; Harriet Zuckerman, senior vice president; Mary Patterson McPherson, vice president; Michele S. Warman, general counsel and secretary; Eileen M. Scott, treasurer; Hanna H. Gray, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Danielle D. Carr, Lydia L. English, Saul Fisher, Ira H. Fuchs, Krista L. House, Suzanne M. Lodato, Carolyn Makinson, Joseph S. Meisel, Thomas I. Nygren, William Robertson IV, Angelica Z. Rudenstine, Donald J. Waters, Catherine Wichterman.

CORPORATIONSMETLIFE FOUNDATION

1 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10010-3690
(212) 578-6272
http://www.metlife.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1976.

In 2001, the foundation awarded $18,228,444, and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company awarded an additional $5,285,471, primarily in the following program areas: civic affairs, which received $6,103,950; education, $3,941,961; health, $3,901,823; culture, $3,245,500; United Ways, $1,412,710; and public broadcasting, $1,405,000.

Civic-affairs grants support programs that improve housing and community services, primarily for minority groups and the economically disadvantaged. They also finance programs that promote volunteerism and that offer safe, constructive activities for young people outside of school hours.

Education-related grants seek to improve teaching, encourage parental involvement, promote literacy, and support higher education, particularly at community colleges.

Health grants support national programs that use a variety of media to educate primarily young people and their parents, minorities, older adults, and other at-risk groups about substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, youth health and fitness, and healthy aging. Support is also provided for research on Alzheimer’s disease.

Cultural grants support art education, national tours of dance companies and arts exhibitions, community outreach, and culture programs for families. Through its new Youth Arts Initiative, the foundation helps organizations increase extracurricular arts activities for middle-school students.

Public-broadcasting awards enable concert programs such as Live from Lincoln Center to be broadcast by television and radio stations nationwide.

The foundation supported various relief and recovery efforts related to September 11, including a $1-million grant to the Twin Towers Fund to aid the families of firefighters, police officers, and other rescue workers injured or killed in the attacks.

Application procedure: The foundation makes grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations. Applications are accepted and reviewed throughout the year and should include the following: a brief description of the organization, the purpose for which the grant is requested, the amount requested, a list of other sources of financial support, a copy of the organization’s most recent audited financial statement, evidence of tax-exempt status, and a copy of the organization’s most recent Form 990. Additional information is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Sibyl Jacobson, president and chief executive officer; Timothy L. Schmidt, treasurer; Catherine A. Rein, chairman of the Board of Directors; Robert H. Benmosche, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, MetLife and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.