Foundation Annual Reports

HAROLD K.L. CASTLE FOUNDATION
146 Hekili Street, Suite 203A
Kailua, Hawaii 96734
(808) 262-9413
http://castlefoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: Harold Kainalu Long Castle, owner of the Kaneohe Ranch on the island of Oahu, established this foundation in 1962. Upon Mr. Castle’s death in 1967, the foundation received a portion of his real-estate assets.

Traditionally, the fund’s priorities have focused on arts and culture, private education, and health and human services, with an emphasis on Windward Oahu — the edge of the island just north of Honolulu that includes the cities of Kailua and Lanikai.

Over the past three years, the foundation has shaped three additional grant-making categories to augment its traditional program areas, in keeping with its broad purpose of benefiting Hawaii residents.

In 1999, those three new program areas received the lion’s share of grants awarded, as follows: community infrastructure, $3,686,000; community building and economic sustainability, $1,868,000; and opportunities for youth, $184,000.

The community-infrastructure program provides capital support to non-profit groups throughout Hawaii. Awards included $1-million over three years to the Contemporary Museum, in Honolulu, and $250,000 to the Maui Academy of Performing Arts, in Wailuku, for their capital campaigns.

The largest grant in the community-building and economic-development program was a $1-million allocation to endow the salaries of the University of Hawaii’s reproductive- and developmental-biology research department, which the foundation regards as a cornerstone of a burgeoning biotechnology industry in the state.

This year, the foundation is exploring two additional grant-making areas: public-education reform, and non-profit-sector development.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants to non-profit organizations that primarily serve the people of Hawaii. The foundation asks groups interested in submitting a proposal to telephone first to discuss the project and to clarify whether or not it falls within the foundation’s priorities and geographic focus.

Key officials: Katherine F. Braden, executive director, vice president, and treasurer; Randolph G. Moore, executive vice president; Christine Plunkett, grants and executive assistant; James C. McIntosh, president of the Board of Directors.

CHICAGO COMMUNITY TRUST
222 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1400
Chicago 60601-1009
(312) 372-3356
http://www.cct.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 1999.

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 1998-99 the trust allocated grants totaling $36,929,708 in five program areas: social services, which received 34.3 percent of grant dollars; civic affairs, 22.4 percent; arts and humanities, 19.8 percent; health, 14.4 percent; and education, 9.1 percent.

The trust awarded 53 percent of those grants through discretionary funds, 43.9 percent through donor-advised funds, and 3.1 percent through designated funds. Those percentages represent a big change from the previous fiscal year, when 80.2 percent of grants were awarded through donor-advised funds.

In January 1999, the trust’s Executive Committee approved grants totaling $4.7-million through the Children, Youth, and Families Initiative, culminating that 10-year, $30-million effort. The program sought to foster collaborative approaches to delivering human services in seven of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods, including Cabrini-Green and the Southwest Side.

The civic-affairs program area focused on projects that promote “smart growth” — the desirable balance between economic development and conservation — as well as on environmental education. For example, the Chicago Public Library received $300,000 over four years for NatureConnections, its natural-history program for youngsters.

Grants in the arts and humanities reflected an increased commitment to small theater companies that draw many audience members in their 20’s and 30’s. Recipients included the Apple Tree Theatre, the Black Ensemble Theatre, the Lookingglass Theatre Company, and Roadworks Productions.

Application procedure: Contact the trust or visit its Web site for a copy of grant guidelines. The Executive Committee approves grants at meetings in January, May, and September. As the trust receives proposals, it assigns them for review at those executive-committee meetings on a first-come, first-served basis.

Key officials: Donald M. Stewart, president and chief executive officer; Anne Blanton, assistant director; Carol Y. Crenshaw, chief financial officer; Sandy Chears, grants manager; Susan M. Herr, director of the Children, Youth, and Families initiative; Robert F. Reusche, senior adviser and acting director of external relations; 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), and Sarah Solotaroff (arts and humanities).

ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION
140 East 62nd Street
New York 10021
(212) 838-8400
http://www.mellon.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created 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 1941 by her brother, Paul Mellon.

In 1999, the foundation allocated grants totaling $155.8-million in six program areas: higher education and scholarship, which received $99.0-million; conservation and the environment, $17.1-million; performing arts, $15.0-million; population, $13.3-million; and museums and art conservation, and public affairs, $5.7-million each.

Grants in higher education stressed the liberal arts, minority education, libraries, foreign scholars, faculty development, and the use of technology to enhance and disseminate scholarly research.

The foundation made several large grants to apply information technology to higher education, the arts, and other fields. Those awards included $3-million to Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., to create a digital archive of cave art from Dunhuang, China, and $2-million to the Modern Language Association of America, in New York, to post a vast collection of modern-language and literature journals on the Internet.

Other higher-education grants included $300,000 to Princeton University to study the precollege and college experiences of Hispanic students nationwide.

Environmental grants emphasized ecological research and training, and the study of coastal habitats. One organization, the Trust for Public Land, in San Francisco, received $1.8-million for general support.

The population category focused on policy activities and research geared to contraception and women’s reproductive health. For example, the Medical College of Hampton Roads, in Norfolk, Va., received $3-million for its CONRAD (Contraceptive Research and Development) program, with half of that amount marked for collaborations between U.S. reproductive-biology centers and similar institutions in developing countries.

While the foundation’s support leaned mostly toward U.S. institutions, it maintained an international visibility that included grants for educational and environmental projects in South Africa, and awards for computer technology in London and Eastern Europe.

Application procedure: Grant proposals are reviewed throughout the year, and no special forms are required. In most cases, a short letter describing the nature and amount of the request and the justification for it — along with evidence of tax-exempt designation from the I.R.S. and any supplementary exhibits the applicant may wish to include — is sufficient to permit consideration by staff members. Only rarely is a grant made in response to an unsolicited proposal outside the foundation’s defined areas of interest. The foundation does not make grants to individuals or to organizations that are primarily local.

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 and assistant secretary; Hanna H. Gray, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Danielle D. Carr, Lydia L. English, Saul Fisher, Carolyn Makinson, Joseph S. Meisel, Thomas I. Nygren, William Robertson IV, James Shulman, Donald J. Waters, and Catherine Wichterman.