Foundation Annual Reports

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, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was incorporated in 1974 through the will of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, the daughter of William and Almira Rockefeller. In that document, Mrs. Dodge suggested three grant-making areas — animal welfare, the arts, and local projects in Morris County, N.J. Those areas were subsequently adopted, along with two additional areas — education and critical issues.

Education-related giving focuses on elevating the profession of teaching and on fostering the continuous improvement of public education at the primary and secondary levels. Allocations included $150,000 to the New Jersey Institute for School Innovation, in Newark, to evaluate instructional practices in New Jersey school districts.

As of 2000, the foundation’s critical-issues program is focusing on land use and the preservation of open space in New Jersey. The foundation’s board is currently reviewing other critical-issues areas, including environmental degradation, family planning and population, overconsumption of natural resources, and reproductive-health issues.

Arts grants focus on New Jersey cultural institutions and on national groups that serve New Jersey artists or advance the arts in New Jersey. Animal-welfare grants are national in scope and advocate the humane treatment of both companion and wild animals.

Grants to benefit Morris County residents focus on the arts, education, the environment, families and communities, and leadership. The foundation is also in the initial stages of developing an early childhood program in the county.

In 2000, the fund’s trustees introduced the new Strategic Partnership grants program. These multiyear awards, for which organizations cannot apply, are given to major New Jersey institutions to reward their current work and their innovative strategic planning. The inaugural Strategic Partnership grants, each totaling $1-million over three years, went to the Newark Museum and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Approximately 13,000 people attended the 2000 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, a four-day, biennial event supported by the foundation that takes place at New Jersey’s historic Waterloo Village.

Application procedure: Potential applicants are advised to submit a one-page letter to determine if the proposed project falls within the foundation’s guidelines. If a project has received a grant from the foundation in the past, a letter of inquiry is not necessary. Letters of inquiry may be submitted throughout the year, but should be received at least two weeks prior to the corresponding proposal-submission deadline. Letters may be e-mailed, without attachments, to info@grdodge.org or sent by standard mail. Applicants will be informed whether to submit a full proposal. Due dates for proposals are as follows: the arts, March 1; animal welfare, critical issues, and Morris County, June 1; and education, November 1. The applicant organization must either be a public entity 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; Alexandra Christy, senior program officer; Laura Aden, Ross Danis, Lisa Garrison, Elliott Lee, Robert T. Perry, and Janet D. Rodriguez, program officers; Laurie Glenn, grants coordinator; Robert LeBuhn, chairman and chief executive officer of the Board of Trustees; Christopher J. Elliman, president of the board.

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

P.O. Box 23350
Seattle, Wash. 98102
(206) 709-3140
info@gatesfoundation.org
http://www.gatesfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in January 2000, through the merger of two foundations endowed by Bill Gates, chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, and his wife, Melinda French Gates: the Gates Learning Foundation, which sought to expand access to technology through public libraries, and the William H. Gates Foundation, which sought to improve global health.

The couple made three donations to the foundation totaling $16-billion in 1999, followed by gifts of $5-billion and $2-billion in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The foundation is the largest in the United States, with assets of $23.3-billion as of December 31, 2001 — more than twice the assets of the next-largest foundation.

The Gates Foundation awards grants in four program areas: global health, education, libraries and public access to information, and community giving in the Pacific Northwest.

The primary goal of the global-health program, which received 56 percent of 2000 grant dollars paid, is to reduce the “unconscionable disparity” between the health status of residents of industrialized countries and those of developing countries. Grant making currently focuses on reproductive and child health and the prevention of infectious diseases. Priority areas include stemming the spread of HIV, developing vaccines, eradicating polio, and combating diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria, that take heavy tolls in underdeveloped areas.

Awards included $25-million over five years to the Medicines for Malaria Venture, in Geneva, to promote the discovery and development of antimalarial drugs, and $7-million over three years to the Health Systems Trust, in Durban, South Africa, for the LoveLife Healthy Adolescents HIV/AIDS Campaign.

The education program emphasizes the creation of model schools and districts; professional-development opportunities for teachers, principals, and superintendents; and financial aid that enables qualified minority and other students to attend college. For example, a five-year, $3,178,000 award went to Aspire Public Schools, in San Carlos, Calif., to design and open five small charter schools.

Through its libraries and information program, the foundation collaborates with public libraries to expand access to computers and the Internet in low-income U.S. communities, makes grants to libraries in foreign countries for the same purpose, and supports models that expand public access to computers and technology.

Giving in the Pacific Northwest — home to both the foundation and to Microsoft — focuses on Washington State and Oregon. Grants primarily support the capital campaigns and programs of nonprofit groups addressing equitable technology and the needs of vulnerable families and their children.

Application procedure: The foundation will consider letters of inquiry from tax-exempt, charitable organizations whose requests fall within the program guidelines summarized on its Web site. Potential applicants should review the detailed program guidelines for each giving area before submitting a request. The foundation neither encourages nor generally considers unsolicited proposals. In keeping with its charter, the foundation does not accept proposals that benefit specific individuals or that serve exclusively religious purposes.

Key officials: William (Bill) H. Gates III and Melinda French Gates, co-founders; William H. Gates Sr., co-chair and chief executive officer; Patty Stonesifer, co-chair and president; Richard Akeroyd, executive director, libraries and public access to information; William H. Foege, senior health adviser; Allan C. Golston, chief financial and administrative officer; Terrence Meersman, senior program officer; Gordon W. Perkin, director, global health program; Tom Vander Ark, executive director, education.

SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION

225 Bush Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, Calif. 94104-4224
(415) 733-8500
http://www.sff.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Created in 1948, this community foundation makes grants to benefit the San Francisco Bay area, encompassing California’s Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties. According to the report, at the time of publication the foundation was the fifth-largest community foundation in the country with regard to assets and the second-largest with regard to grant making.

During its 2001 fiscal year, the foundation awarded grants to 4,561 groups. Competitive grants were made in nine program areas: community health, which received 20 percent of discretionary grant dollars; education, 18 percent; the environment, 17 percent; social justice, 13 percent; neighborhood and community development, 10 percent; special initiatives, 8 percent; arts and culture, 6 percent; awards and scholarships, 4 percent; and philanthropy and nonprofit groups, 4 percent.

The community-health program seeks to expand access to high-quality health and mental-health services and to ensure the safety and well-being of families and individuals in their communities and homes. Grants included $20,000 to the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic, in Oakland, to provide complementary alternative therapies to low-income women with cancer, and $20,000 to At the Crossroads, in San Francisco, to deliver street-based outreach and case-management services to homeless youths and young adults.

Education-related grants support projects to help children and youths succeed academically, to engage adults in life-long learning, and to ensure that families and communities support young people in becoming “confident, caring, and contributing” adults.

The environment program focuses on promoting environmentally sustainable development, preserving the natural environment of the San Francisco Bay area, and guaranteeing that residents live in healthful, sustainable environments. Allocations included a two-year, $40,000 grant to the National Audubon Society, in San Rafael, for the XCEL Academy, an environmental-education charter school.

The neighborhood and community development program emphasizes affordable, safe housing; support services that help people meet basic needs and prevent homelessness; secure jobs that pay a livable wage; the leadership skills of individuals and groups working in the neighborhood-development field; and sustainable economic-development efforts.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations located in the five California counties listed above. Potential applicants should submit a letter of intent of three pages or less that contains the following information: a brief description of the organization’s mission and constituency or beneficiaries, recent achievements, and structure; a concise statement of the needs, problems, and opportunities to be addressed by the proposed project; specific information about proposed approaches, planned activities, and expected results; a description of how support from the foundation would help the organization achieve its goals; and the amount of the grant request and the organizational and project budgets. The next deadlines for letters of intent are September 9, 2002, and March 17, 2003. Letters should be sent to Derek Aspacher, Grant Management, at the address above; sent by e-mail up to midnight on the deadline date to lois@sff.org; or sent by fax up to 5 p.m. on the deadline date to (415) 477-2598. Foundation staff members will review and act upon all letters of intent within six weeks of submission.

Key officials: Sandra Hernández, chief executive officer; Ann Barden, director of fund development; Sara Ying Kelley, director of public affairs; Christine Searson, chief financial officer; Derek Aspacher, grants manager; Cedric Brown, awards and scholarships coordinator; F. Warren Hellman, chair of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Diane E. Aranda, community health; Carol Lamont, neighborhood and community development; Jane Rogers, environment; Ronald M. Rowell, social justice; Geol Leonard Weirs, arts and culture.