Foundation Annual Reports

RICHARD AND RHODA GOLDMAN FUND
1 Lombard Street, Suite 303
San Francisco, Calif. 94111
(415) 788-1090
http://www.goldmanfund.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was established in 1951 by Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda, a descendant of Levi Strauss, founder of the apparel company. Current grant-making priorities include Jewish affairs, the environment, population, violence prevention, children and youths, the elderly, and civil society. The fund’s geographic focus is the San Francisco Bay Area; however, some grants are made to domestic organizations that support projects in Israel and to national and international environment and population projects.

In 2000 the fund allocated grants totaling $32,540,477. Environment-related grants received the largest percentage of any category: $17,430,587, or 54 percent of grant dollars. Awards included $450,000 over three years to the Health Care Without Harm Coalition, in Falls Church, Va., for its work in California to phase out medical products that involve toxic materials in their manufacture, use, or disposal, and $450,000 over three years to the Indian Law Resource Center, in Helena, Mont., for its efforts to protect the environmental and human rights of indigenous people in the Americas.

The Goldman Environmental Prize was created in 1990; it awards $125,000 annually to each of six grass-roots environmental activists from each of the world’s inhabited continents. The fund does not accept applications or nominations for the prize.

In the population category, the fund awarded $100,000 to EngenderHealth (then called AVSC International) in New York, for a pilot program using a curriculum designed to enhance the ability of public-health professionals to address men’s reproductive-health issues.

Jewish-affairs grants included $1.1-million over three years to the Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco, Marin County and the Peninsula, to provide professional training to people working with and providing programs for Jewish teenagers.

Grants to benefit children and youths included $100,000 to Mt. Zion Health Systems, in San Francisco, for a coalition that promotes the immunization of children before the age of 2.

Civil-society grants included $35,000 to the Chinese American Voters Education Project, in San Francisco, to increase electoral participation among local Asian-Americans.

Other grants included $5-million to KQED, in San Francisco, to support digital conversion at the television and radio stations of this public-broadcasting channel.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should first review the fund’s current priorities, limitations, and application guidelines. To apply for a grant, submit a letter of inquiry of no more than two pages, preferably double-sided on recycled paper and without plastic folders or other unnecessary presentation materials. The letter of inquiry must include a one-paragraph executive summary and the amount requested; a project description; and the name, title, and full contact information of the primary contact person. A one-page itemized project budget and a list of other sources of secured and potential financing for the project should be attached, along with a copy of the IRS tax-determination letter for the applicant or its fiscal sponsor. If the fund is interested in receiving a full proposal, the applicant will be asked to submit additional information. The fund does not accept faxed or electronically transferred submissions.

Key officials: Robert Gamble, executive director; Amy Lyons, deputy director; Brenda Jackson Drake, associate director; Bonnie Boxer, Israel program representative; Beverly Becker, director of communications; Alison De Jung, grants manager; Richard N. Goldman, president of the Board of Directors.

GREATER CINCINNATI FOUNDATION

200 West Fourth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
(513) 241-2880
http://www.greatercincinnatifdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: Formed in 1963, this community foundation makes direct, field-of-interest, designated, and donor-advised grants to benefit residents of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. That region comprises eight contiguous counties in three states: Ohio’s Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren Counties; Indiana’s Dearborn County; and Kentucky’s Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties.

In 2000, the foundation approved 5,532 grants totaling $23,922,882. Of that, grants from donor-advised funds accounted for $15.4-million; grants from restricted funds, $4.8-million; and grants from unrestricted and field-of-interest funds, $3.7-million.

Unrestricted and field-of-interest grants — which the foundation terms “responsive” grants — focused on six program areas: arts and culture, “community progress,” education, the environment, health, and human services.

The community-progress program received $1,324,341, the largest amount awarded to any program area. Grants focused on neighborhood revitalization, low-cost housing and homeownership, employment and job training, crime prevention, small-business development, and leadership development and nonprofit management. Awards included $40,000 to Neighborhood Housing Service of Cincinnati for its capital campaign and $25,000 to Cincinnati 2012 to develop an Olympic-bid submission package.

Seventeen grants totaling $604,500 were made in the health category, including awards for maternal and child health, mental-health treatment, and substance-abuse prevention. Recipients included AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati, which received $50,000 to renovate and relocate its offices, and $75,000 to the Children’s Hospital for a school-based health center.

Grants in other areas included $50,000 to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to upgrade its theatrical-lighting system, and $150,000 to WCET-TV to convert to digital broadcasting technology.

The Anthem Foundation of Ohio, a supporting organization established in 1999, made its first grants in August 2000, eight awards totaling more than $1.1-million for preventive oral health care.

Application procedure: Applicants must be organizations located in or serving metropolitan Cincinnati that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Potential applicants should call the foundation to discuss the organization and its proposed project or need, as there are some limitations on the activities the foundation can support. A member of the foundation’s program staff will provide additional information about proposal guidelines.

Key officials: Kathryn E. Merchant, president and chief executive officer; Amy L. Cheney, vice president for advancement; Lawrence D. Graziani, vice president for operations; E. Miles Wilson, vice president for grants and programs; Michael A. Cheney, chief financial officer; Elizabeth Bower Reiter, communications director; Kaki K. McGeary and Kristina Newman Moster, program officers; Karen L. Bond, grants manager; John S. Stith, chairman of the Governing Board.

RICHARD KING MELLON FOUNDATION

1 Mellon Bank Center
500 Grant Street, Suite 4106
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219
(412) 392-2800
http://www.fdncenter.org/grantmaker/rkmellon

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: Richard King Mellon, former chairman of the board of the Mellon National Bank and Trust Company, established the foundation in 1947. Mr. Mellon died in 1970; his wife, Constance, served as chairman of the board until her death in 1980.

In 2000 the foundation implemented new grant-making priorities, approved by the board during a comprehensive review in 1999. Changes included the introduction of a new program area called System Reform, which focuses on efforts to redesign and enhance human-services delivery in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Grant making emphasizes two major areas: programs to benefit residents of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, and efforts nationwide to protect key tracts of land from urban sprawl and destructive development. In 2000, the foundation awarded grants totaling $88.7-million in the following program areas: conservation, which received $52.7-million; regional economic development, $22.2-million; education, $8.5-million; families, youth, and child development, $7.0-million; and system reform, $2.4-million.

Conservation grants emphasize preserving natural resources, purchasing land and easements to preserve open space, cleaning streams, and containing urban sprawl.

The American Land Conservation Program, initiated in 1988, represents the foundation’s largest grant-making priority. In 2000 the foundation spent $43.6-million to purchase tracts of endangered land nationwide. The properties included 430 acres of the Lewis and Clark Historical Trail, in Nebraska, which the foundation donated to Ponca State Park. The land contains more than a mile of riverfront along the Missouri National Recreational River and habitat for migrating waterfowl and songbirds.

Other conservation awards included $3-million to the Ruffed Grouse Society, in Coraopolis, Pa., for its efforts to conserve wildlife habitat for ruffed grouse, American woodcock, and other forest wildlife.

Regional economic development awards focus on promoting redevelopment in downtown Pittsburgh, supporting new industries, strengthening the recruitment and retention of young professionals, and marketing the region’s cultural and recreational attractions. Grants included $3-million to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, in Pittsburgh, to increase its desirability as a regional tourist destination.

Education grants support charter, parochial, and private schools; institutions that provide work-force training; and projects that “promote global competitiveness” among the region’s higher-education institutions.

Grants for families, youths, and child development emphasize broad impact and concrete outcomes for projects concerning early childhood development, effective child rearing, and expanding and strengthening youth programs.

System-reform grants seek to strengthen leadership in nonprofit organizations, establish standards and best practices for youth programs, and encourage collaboration among human-service providers. For example, a $400,000 grant went to Robert Morris College, in Moon Township, Pa., for its Center for Nonprofit Management’s work with local charities.

Application procedure: Proposals should include a completed application form, obtainable from the foundation, and should be addressed to Michael Watson, vice president. The foundation also accepts the “Common Grant Application Format.” In addition to the application form, applicants must include a copy of the latest Internal Revenue Service letter indicating tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3); a cover letter co-signed by the board president or chairperson and the executive director; an executive summary providing an overview of the organization, the proposed project, how it will benefit the community, and the organization’s capacity and plan to operate the project; a description of the plan for documenting the project’s progress and results; the project budget; the organization’s history, including its goals, current programs and activities, and accomplishments; a list of board members and officers, with their affiliations, addresses, and telephone numbers; audited financial statements for the last two years, with corresponding operating budgets; and other sources of funding and a financial plan for sustaining the project. The foundation does not make grants to individuals or to organizations outside the United States and does not normally consider grants to conduit organizations.

Key officials: Seward Prosser Mellon, president and chairman of the Executive Committee; Michael Watson and Arthur D. Miltenberger, vice presidents; Scott D. Izzo, associate director; Ann Marie Helms, program officer; John J. Turcik, controller; Richard P. Mellon, chairman of the Board of Trustees.