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, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was established and endowed in 1974 through the will of Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, the daughter of William and Almira Rockefeller.

In 1998, 371 grants totaling $17.2-million were allocated in five program areas: education, which received $5.5-million; critical issues, $5.2-million; the arts, $3.5-million; animal welfare, $1.8-million; and local projects in Morris County, N.J., $1.2-million.

Education grant making focuses on elevating the teaching profession and on improving public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Particular emphasis is placed on the early training and continuing professional development of teachers, the role of school principals and superintendents as educational leaders, systemic changes in schools, increased access to high-quality education for disadvantaged students, and the creation of model curricula, instructional materials and techniques, and assessments that have the potential for duplication. Although the majority of education grants go to programs in the Northeast, the foundation supports selected projects elsewhere that will ultimately have practical application in New Jersey.

The critical-issues program was formerly known as the public-issues program. Grant making continues to emphasize projects in New Jersey and the Northeast that deal with sustainable development — specifically, ecosystem preservation, effective environmental policies, the “environmental renewal” of major New Jersey cities, model pregnancy-prevention programs for teen-agers, and public education on the connections between population, reproductive issues, overconsumption, and environmental damage.

The arts program focuses on New Jersey’s cultural institutions and on national organizations that benefit New Jersey artists or that advance the arts in the state. Allocations included $100,000 to Thirteen/WNET, in New York, to produce Paul Robeson: Here I Stand, a two-hour television biography of the renowned singer, actor, and political activist, who was born in Princeton in 1898.

Animal-welfare grants go to projects nationwide that encourage the humane treatment of both wild and companion animals.

Projects to benefit Morris County residents emphasize community development, family services, the environment, the arts, education, and leadership development.

Application procedure: A one-page letter of inquiry is encouraged in order to determine if a proposed project falls within the foundation’s guidelines. Grant proposals should be written clearly and concisely, should be in 12-point type or larger, and should include a one-page summary followed by a fuller description no longer than six pages. The proposal should describe the project and the need for it, the qualifications and past accomplishments of the organization, how the project is to proceed and who is to carry it out, a time frame and budget, the benefits to be gained and who will benefit, and plans for evaluating and financing the project in the future. Proposals must be submitted on the letterhead of the sponsoring organization — which must be a public entity or tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code — and must also include a recent audited financial statement, the names and occupations of the organization’s trustees, and a copy of the Internal Revenue Service letter confirming the organization’s tax-exempt status. The foundation also accepts the “New York Area Common Application” form. Proposals should be presented in an environmentally sensitive manner, and submitted to the foundation’s executive director and postmarked no later than the following deadlines: the arts, March 1; critical issues and animal welfare, June 1; and education, November 15. Projects in Morris County are reviewed throughout the year; check the foundation’s Web site. Proposals sent by fax or electronic mail are not accepted.

Key officials: David Grant, executive director; John Yingling, chief administrative and financial officer; Alexandra Christy, senior program officer; Robert T. Perry and Janet D. Rodriguez, program officers; Cynthia Sherwood Evans, grants manager; Robert H. B. Baldwin, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Robert LeBuhn, president of the board; Scott McVay, founding executive director.

DUKE ENDOWMENT

100 North Tryon Street, Suite 3500
Charlotte, N.C. 28202-4012
(704) 376-0291
http://www.dukeendowment.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1998.

Purpose and areas of support:

The foundation was endowed in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke, who built a fortune based on electric power, textiles, and tobacco. Mr. Duke stipulated in the indenture that the endowment’s grant making be restricted to non-profit hospital and health-care organizations in North and South Carolina; non-profit children’s homes and agencies; United Methodist churches and related organizations in rural North Carolina; retired ministers who served at least five years with the United Methodist Church in North Carolina, and their surviving dependents; and four educational institutions: Davidson College, Duke University, Furman University, and Johnson C. Smith University.

In 1998, grant dollars totaling $71,034,019 were allocated in the following manner: programs in higher education received $33,735,691; health care, $25,183,105; rural churches, $5,380,819; child care and families, $3,971,007; and endowment-wide programs, $2,763,397. These figures were consistent with the previous year’s grants allocations.

Duke University received the lion’s share of money awarded to the four higher-education institutions: $26.6-million. Two grants of $8,774,500 each were made for the university library and for financial aid for undergraduate students.

Health-care grants focus on access to primary-care services, child health, capital projects, hospital-community partnerships, and health promotion and education. The endowment also provides eligible hospitals with one dollar for each day of charity care they provide to indigent and uninsured patients.

Child-care allocations emphasize capital and general operating support, family preservation, and training and education. Awards included $10,000 to Thornwell Home for Children, in Clinton, S.C., for salary support of a family-services specialist.

Endowment-wide grants are made as joint efforts of some or all of the endowment’s program divisions. For example, $44,000 went to MDC in Chapel Hill, N.C., to commission a study on economic and social progress in the Carolinas, in anticipation of the endowment’s 75th anniversary this year.

Application procedure: Applicants who believe that they are eligible under the fund’s guidelines should send a letter describing the proposed project to the attention of the president. Eligible requests will be referred to the appropriate program officer, who may request a full proposal, including a project description, budget, financial sources, board members, and other pertinent information.

Key officials: Elizabeth H. Locke, president and director of the education division; Eugene W. Cochrane, Jr., vice-president and director of the health-care division; W. Joseph Mann, director of the rural-church division; Rhett N. Mabry, director of the child-care division; Janice C. Walker, chief financial officer and treasurer; John G. Mebane, Jr., chief investment officer; David H. Roberson, director of communications; Mary D. B. T. Semans, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

CORPORATIONS

SARA LEE CORPORATION and SARA LEE FOUNDATION
Three First National Plaza
Chicago 60602-4260
(312) 558-8448
http://www.saraleefoundation.org

Period covered: Two years ending June 30, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support:

Charitable giving by Sara Lee — both through its corporate-giving program and its foundation — emphasizes the arts, women, and hungry, homeless, and otherwise disadvantaged people.

In 2000, 52 works from Sara Lee’s corporate art collection will be donated to the permanent collections of 40 museums worldwide. Among the works: Woman of Venice IX, a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti that will be given to the North Carolina Museum of Art, in Raleigh.

In 1998, the Sara Lee Corporation was awarded the National Medal of Arts, one of only seven corporations ever to receive this distinction.

The Sara Lee Foundation administers three award programs that recognize outstanding efforts to further the progress of women and of people who face economic, physical, or social adversity: the Chicago Spirit Award, the Leadership Awards, and the Sara Lee Frontrunner Awards.

The Frontrunner Awards each year honor one woman from each of four fields — the arts, the humanities, government, and business — who has inspired others by her example. The 1998 recipients were Isabel Allende, the Chilean-born novelist; Elaine R. Jones, president and director-counsel of the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Education Fund; Donna Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and Muriel Siebert, the Wall Street investor and first female member of the New York Stock Exchange.

Through the Sara Lee Foundation Matching Grants Program, approximately $2.7-million went to match employee contributions to more than 950 cultural, education, and social-services groups.

Application procedure: Not described in report.

Key officials: Robin S. Tryloff, executive director, Sara Lee Foundation; Patrick M. Sheahan, deputy director; Ho Yan J. Ng, supervisor for administration and budget; Timothy M. Russell, supervisor for the Disadvantaged Program; Therese L. Thorson, grants coordinator; Michael E. Murphy, president of the Board of Directors; John H. Bryan, chairman and chief executive officer, Sara Lee Corporation.