Foundation Annual Reports

CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST
222 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1400
Chicago 60601-1009
(312) 372-3356

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was created in 1915 by Albert Harris, the son of Norman Wait Harris, founder of the Harris Trust and Savings Bank. It awards both direct and donor-advised grants to non-profit groups that benefit residents of Chicago and Cook County, Ill.

In 1997-98, grants totaling $55,725,295 were allocated in five broad program areas: health, which received 54.3 per cent of grant dollars; social services, 22.3 per cent; civic affairs, 11.7 per cent; education, 6.1 per cent; and the arts and humanities, 5.6 per cent.

Of that, 80.2 per cent of grants were awarded through donor-advised funds, 17.7 per cent through discretionary funds, and 2.1 per cent through designated funds.

Health grants typically make up 15 to 30 per cent of total grant commitments in any given year. The unusually high percentage in fiscal 1997-98 was due to a $25-million, 10-year award to Northwestern University, for continued support of the Searle Leadership Fund in the Life Sciences.

In September, the trust’s Executive Committee approved grants totaling $4.7-million through the Children, Youth, and Families Initiative. This 10-year, $30-million program promotes community-based services and activities in seven of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods, including Cabrini Green and Logan Square. For example, $100,000 went to the Community Youth Creative Learning Experience for the WIZ Factory, a science and mathematics program for young people living in the Cabrini Green complex.

Also through the social-services program, the foundation made multiple-year grants totaling $900,000 to establish the Jane Addams Juvenile Court Foundation, which will provide seed money for critical child-welfare and juvenile-justice efforts.

Education-related grants emphasized the comprehensive reform of Chicago’s public high schools; recipients included the Alternative Schools Network, the Big Shoulders Fund, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civic Rights Under the Law, and the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

Allocations in other program areas included $25,000 to the Chicago Latino Cinema for salary and operating support, and $30,000 to the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence for the On Target Coalition.

Special grant programs include the Management and Organizational Development Grant Program for small and mid-sized non-profit groups, and the Naomi Williams Donnelley Award for Outstanding Service to People with Developmental Disabilities.

The trust has five affiliated organizations: the Chicago Community Foundation, the Chicago Area Foundation for Legal Services, the Human Relations Foundation of Chicago, the Lavin Family Supporting Foundation, and the Protestant Foundation of Greater Chicago.

In early 1999, Bruce L. Newman announced his decision to retire at the end of the year, after leading the foundation for 27 years. He will be succeeded by Donald M. Stewart, president of the College Board, in New York.

Application procedure: Contact the trust to request a copy of its “Grant Guidelines” publication and additional information about the trust and its grant-review process. All grants are approved by the trust’s Executive Committee at its January, May, and September meetings. While the foundation sets no formal deadlines for submitting proposals, proposals are assigned for review at the board’s meetings on a first-come, first-served basis, and materials should be submitted well in advance of the anticipated need for a grant award.

Key officials: Bruce L. Newman, executive director; Anne Blanton, assistant director; Carol Y. Crenshaw, chief financial officer; Susan M. Herr, director of the Children, Youth, and Families Initiative; David R. Luckes, director of external relations; Sandy Chears, grants manager; Clarence N. Wood, president of the Human Relations Foundation of Chicago; James J. Glasser, chairman of the Executive Committee.

Senior staff associates: Margo Corona DeLey (civic affairs), Ada Mary Gugenheim (health), Michael S. Marcus (social services), Sarah Solotaroff (arts and humanities), and Maria Whelan (education and social services).

RICHARD & RHODA GOLDMAN FUND

One Lombard, Suite 303
San Francisco 94111
(415) 788-1090
http://www.goldmanfund.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

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 children and youths, education, the elderly, the environment, Jewish affairs, and population. The geographic focus is on the San Francisco Bay Area; however, some grants are made to domestic organizations that provide support to Israel and to national and international environment and population projects.

In 1998, the fund allocated grants totaling $19,414,083. Environment-related projects received the largest percentage by far: $8,326,250, or 43 per cent of grant dollars. Awards included $900,000 over three years to Amnesty International U.S.A., in New York, for its joint campaign with the Sierra Club to stop human-rights abuses perpetrated against environmentalists worldwide, and $60,000 to the Tides Center, in San Francisco, for the Abya Yala Fund, which assists Latin American indigenous organizations that are involved in environmental struggles.

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

The National Asian Women’s Health Organization, in San Francisco; the National Black Women’s Health Project, in Washington; and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, in Washington, each received $333,333 over three years for institutional development and to expand their research, education, and advocacy activities.

Jewish-affairs grants included $20,000 to the New York-based organization Seeds of Peace, for its summer camp that brings together Israeli and Arab youths.

Grants in other areas included a $288,000, two-year award to the Alameda County Library Foundation, in Fremont, Cal., for a literacy and life-skills program for prison and jail inmates.

Charles F. Greene was appointed the fund’s new executive director, succeeding Duane Silverstein, who left the fund after 18 years to pursue an interest in the marine environment. Mr. Greene was a founder of World College West, in San Francisco, and served as its administrative vice-president for nearly two decades before serving as executive director of the Volunteer Center of San Francisco.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should first review the fund’s current priorities, limitations, and application guidelines. The first step in the application process is the submission of a letter of inquiry, which should include a one-paragraph executive summary describing the project for which the organization is seeking financing, including a short descriptive project title and the total project budget; a brief description of the project; the name, title, and contact information of the primary contact person; and the total amount requested from the Goldman Fund. A one-page itemized project budget and a list of other sources of secured and potential financing for the project should be attached. If the fund is interested in receiving a full proposal, the applicant will be contacted and asked to submit additional information. The fund does not accept faxed or electronically transferred submissions, and plastic folders or other unnecessary presentation materials should not be used.

Key officials: Charles F. Greene, executive director; Robert Gamble, deputy director; Brenda Jackson Drake, associate director; Amy Lyons, program executive; Lisette Reynolds, grants coordinator; Richard N. Goldman, president of the Board of Directors.

ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS

65 Bleecker Street, Seventh Floor
New York 10012
(212) 387-7555
http://www.warholfoundation.org

Period covered: Two years ending April 30, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1987, in accordance with the terms of the will of the artist Andy Warhol. It preserves, documents, exhibits, and places his artistic works, while supporting the creation and presentation of contemporary visual art.

During the two-year period covered by the report, the foundation made grants totaling $6,258,410 to 140 organizations. The Board of Directors recently increased its budget for program grants to $4-million annually.

Grants are made to curatorial endeavors at museums, artists’ groups, and other cultural institutions to promote new scholarship and to assist in the presentation of the contemporary visual arts, including through exhibitions and catalogues.

The fund also allocates some grants for the preservation of historic properties with cultural significance, as well as for activities around freedom of expression and other issues that “affect the context in which artists work.”

For example, $25,000 went to the San Francisco Art Institute to restore the Diego Rivera Gallery, and $10,000 went to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, in San Antonio, to defray costs related to the center’s litigation with the City of San Antonio over the cancellation of municipal support for the center’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Other awards included $30,000 to the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum to exhibit experimental Chinese art works, and $30,000 to the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York, for an exhibition entitled “Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz.”

In 1994, various art works by artists other than Andy Warhol and other tangible property were distributed by Mr. Warhol’s estate to the foundation. Some items are still being appraised and their value is not reflected in the financial statements above.

In October 1998, the foundation donated more than 3,000 art works and hundreds of boxes of archival materials collectively valued at approximately $61-million to the Andy Warhol Museum, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

The foundation donated its newly restored collection of more than 100 films and 4,000 hours of video by Mr. Warhol — appraised at $6.7-million — to the Andy Warhol Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Television and Radio, and the U. of California at Los Angeles Film and Television Archive.

In May 1999, the foundation joined with 20 other grant makers to announce the formation of the Creative Capital Foundation, which will support projects by individual artists working in the visual, performing, and media arts. The Warhol Foundation has pledged $2-million, to be distributed over a five-year period.

In December 1998, the foundation agreed to adopt new financial management and reporting procedures, ending an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office into alleged mismanagement and wrongdoing (The Chronicle, December 17, 1998).

Application procedure: Proposals should be submitted in the form of a two- or three-page letter that describes the activity for which funds are being requested. Applications should also provide a budget for the project and a copy of the organization’s ruling on its tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The foundation will contact the applicant if additional information is desired. Proposals should be addressed to Pamela Clapp, Program Director, at the address above. Grant requests are reviewed twice a year; the postmark deadlines for proposals are March 15 and September 15. The foundation is unable to support projects using fiscal agents, and it does not make grants directly to individuals.

Key officials: Archibald L. Gillies, president; Pamela Clapp, program director; Kathleen C. Maurer, chief financial officer and comptroller; Rosanne Sasso, grants administrator and information-systems manager; Anthony M. Solomon, chairman of the Board of Directors; Frederick W. Hughes, chairman emeritus.