Foundation Annual Reports

FLINTRIDGE FOUNDATION
1040 Lincoln Avenue
Suite 100
Pasadena, Calif. 91103
(800) 303-2139

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: Francis Moseley, an inventor and founder of Servo Products Company, and his wife, Louisa, established the foundation in 1987. It makes grants to organizations and individuals in California, Oregon, and Washington State.

In 1999 the foundation awarded a total of $1,651,492 through four programs: conservation, which received 33 percent of grant dollars; community services, which received 29 percent; visual artists, which received 21 percent; and theater arts, which received 17 percent.

The conservation program supported groups that worked to preserve and restore ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. Grants included $20,000 to Pacific Forest Trust, in Boonville, Calif., for its Land Trust Program, and $25,000 to the Xerces Society, in Portland, Ore., for its mission to protect invertebrates.

The community-services program emphasized groups serving children and youths in Pasadena and Altadena, Calif. Grants went to shore up those groups´ operations and to enhance staff members´ fund-raising and technical skills.

Grants for theaters supported small to mid-sized organizations in which actors, playwrights, directors, designers, and dramaturges collaborate on the production of new works. Awards included $20,000 each to the Actors´ Gang, in Hollywood, Calif., and to A Traveling Jewish Theatre, in San Francisco.

The foundation operates the biennial “Awards for Visual Artists” program, which bestows $25,000 each on 12 artists who have resided in California, Oregon, or Washington for a minimum of three years and whose careers have spanned at least 20 years. In 1999 the foundation received more than 700 applications for this program. Among the winners was Harry Gamboa Jr. of Los Angeles, a Chicano artist and co-founder of the guerrilla-performance group “Asco.”

Application procedure: For eligibility criteria and application information, request the foundation´s published guidelines from Jack Goosey, communications administrator, at the address above, or send an e-mail message to jack@jlmoseleyco.com.

Key officials: Jaylene Moseley, managing director; Lori Stein, director of finance; Pam Wolkoff, director of programs for arts and conservation; La Shawn Smith, senior program officer for community services; Carrie Bronson, program officer for community services; Jack Goosey, communications administrator; Alexander Moseley, president of the Board of Directors.

HARTFORD FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC GIVING

85 Gillett Street
Hartford, Conn. 06105-9833
(860) 548-1888
http://www.hfpg.org

Period covered: Year ending September 30, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: This community foundation was established in 1925 and awards both discretionary and donor-advised grants to organizations in Hartford, Conn., and 29 surrounding towns.

In 1999 the foundation authorized grants totaling $27,437,722 in the following programs: special projects received 31 percent of grant dollars; family and social services, 24 percent; arts and humanities, 13 percent; housing and economic development, 12 percent; education, 9 percent; health, 7 percent; and miscellaneous, 4 percent.

The foundation´s special-projects program, which is intended to complement its broad-based grant making, supports long-term efforts. One such project, the five-year After-School Initiative, ended in 1999 — and was then extended through 2002. In 1999 the foundation awarded a total of $2.2-million to 11 organizations that offered after-school programs to 11- to 14-year-olds, in areas including arts, health, sports, and peer counseling.

Grants through the family and social-services program included $300,000 to the Y.M.C.A. of the Hartford Region for computer upgrades, and $15,000 to the Family-to-Family Project to provide cash and other assistance to homeless families moving to permanent housing.

The foundation continued a program it began in 1998 to sharpen the marketing and business strategies of small and mid-sized arts organizations. In 1999 the foundation allocated $150,000 each to five organizations — the Artists Collective, Chamber Music Plus, Farmington Valley Arts Center, Little Theatre of Manchester, and Real Art Ways — to finance their marketing plans.

The foundation injected $500,000 into a loan fund operated by the Greater Hartford Business Development Center for neighborhood-based enterprises, nearly doubling that fund´s size.

Application procedure: Contact the foundation at (860) 548-1888 or hfpg2@hfpg.org to request a copy of its “Guidelines for Grantseekers.” The foundation also provides application information on its Web site.

Key officials: Michael R. Bangser, executive director; Christopher H. Hall, director of program; Virgil Blondet Jr., director of finance and administration; Sandra B. Wood, director of development and communications; Hubert E. Sapp and Sara A. Sneed, senior program officers; Cheryl L. Gerrish, grants manager; Sharon O´Meara and Enid Rey, program officers; Blanche S. Goldenberg, chair of the Board of Directors.

DEWITT WALLACE–READER’S DIGEST FUND

2 Park Avenue
23rd Floor
New York 10016
(212) 251-9700
http://www.wallacefunds.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

LILA WALLACE–READER’S DIGEST FUND
2 Park Avenue
23rd Floor
New York 10016
(212) 251-9700
http://www.wallacefunds.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: These two funds were formed in 1987 by a merger of four smaller foundations established in the 1950´s and 60´s by the founders of Reader´s Digest magazine: DeWitt Wallace and his wife, Lila Acheson Wallace.

Earlier this year the foundations announced that they would combine their grant making and operate under the name Wallace–Reader´s Digest Funds (The Chronicle, January 27).

While the funds remain legally separate entities, 1999 was the final full year of their activities as separate grant-making organizations.

The DeWitt Wallace–Reader´s Digest Fund focused primarily on education and the development of youths and young adults. In 1999 it awarded 153 grants, most of them over $100,000, to higher-education institutions, youth-services organizations, and groups working to strengthen education and to enrich the lives of young people.

Grants included $1,344,958 to Middlebury College´s Bread Loaf School of English, a graduate program that operates in four locations; $900,000 to the Finance Project, in Washington, an organization seeking to improve ways of financing education and other children´s services; and $307,961 to the Peace Corps of the United States, in Washington.

The Lila Wallace–Reader´s Digest Fund emphasized the arts, specifically promoting them to the public at large. Grants went to a variety of arts organizations nationwide to support performances and exhibitions, to increase the size of audiences, and to form partnerships between arts schools and community-based organizations.

Grants included $800,000 over five years to the San Francisco Foundation for programs in three neighborhoods that bring together cultural groups, community organizations, and artists.

In addition to the arts, the Lila Wallace fund also focused on urban parks and adult-literacy programs, areas that will remain a priority under the recent restructuring.

The consolidated Wallace funds now focus on three areas: arts; communities, which encompasses support for libraries, youth services, parks, and other organizations that provide opportunities to improve learning; and education, which is currently emphasizing ways to develop effective school leaders, such as principals and superintendents.

Application procedure: The funds award grants to non-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Proposals usually are solicited from organizations identified through a screening process; unsolicited proposals are rarely supported. Nevertheless, an organization may send an initial query in the form of a one- or two-page letter — describing the project, the organization, the estimated total for the project, and the portion requiring funds — to the address above.

Key officials: M. Christine DeVita, president; Rob D. Nagel, director of investments; Lydia Davis Barret, director of communities programs; Mary Lee Fitzgerald, director of education programs; Michael Moore, director of arts programs; Lee Mitgang, director of communications; Edward Pauly, director of evaluation; Mary E. Geras, director of finance; Jack Booker, director of operations; Judith Johnson and Sheila Murphy, senior program officers; Sam Cargile, Linda Cox, Peter Kleinbard, and Rory MacPherson, program officers; George V. Grune, chairman of the Board of Directors.