Foundation Annual Reports

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

Route 1 and College Road East
P.O. Box 2316
Princeton, N.J. 08543-2316
(609) 452-8701 or (888) 631-9989
http://www.rwjf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1936 by Robert Wood Johnson (1893-1968), whose father had started the Johnson & Johnson health-supplies company. The foundation’s grant-making emphasis was initially local, but became national in scope in 1972, when it received the bulk of Mr. Johnson’s estate.

As of December 31, 2002, it was the fourth-largest foundation in the United States, with assets exceeded only by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, and the Ford Foundation.

The foundation’s mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. In 2002, it awarded new grants and contracts primarily in the following program divisions: substance abuse, which received $121,402,009; access to health care, $101,283,753; health and well-being, $92,901,579; and chronic health conditions, $76,310,913.

Grants were also allocated for programs that fit under two or more of the foundation’s areas of interest, for “general philanthropy,” and for other health and health-care projects.

Substance-abuse grants support efforts to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs. The foundation supports efforts that tackle substance abuse as a major public-health problem, and its strategies include helping to change public policy, analyzing and communicating new information about substance abuse, and integrating effective prevention and treatment strategies into the legal and health-care systems.

The foundation also emphasizes efforts to prevent underage youths and young adults from experimenting with harmful substances. For example, the foundation continued its programs to combat binge drinking on college campuses and to help communities create comprehensive juvenile-justice services that provide appropriate care for young offenders involved in illicit drugs and crime.

Grants to improve access to health care seek to ensure that all Americans can receive high-quality health-care services at a “reasonable cost.” For example, in 2002 the foundation awarded $28.6-million to 34 sites as part of its Covering Kids and Families program, which helps state agencies and local coalitions provide low-cost or free health-care coverage to uninsured children. Other major programs included Hablamos Juntos, which seeks to create model programs for providing medical interpretation and translation services to Latinos with limited English-language skills.

Other health and health-care grants included awards to several hospitals, medical centers, and medical schools nationwide for a program that encourages minority physicians to pursue academic careers in biomedical research, clinical investigation, and health-services research.

The program on health and well-being promotes physical activity and good nutrition, and attempts to counter lifestyles and nutrition that contribute to obesity and ill health. For example, the Rutgers University Foundation, in New Brunswick, received a $249,998 grant to design the New Jersey Walks and Bikes Program. Grants to promote health and well-being also support projects that advocate healthful living and working conditions for low-income people, and education about the public-health system and its capacity to cope with crises such as a bioterrorist attack.

Other grants for health and well-being included $399,966 over two years to Girl Scouts of the United States of America, in New York, to develop a Girl Scout program for daughters of incarcerated mothers.

The program on chronic health conditions seeks to improve care and support services for people with arthritis, depression, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and other long-term conditions. One major national program, Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and System Strategies, encourages the duplication of successful clinical-care programs to treat depression, persuades businesses to participate in such programs, and supports leadership development among primary-care providers. The chronic-health program also focuses on end-of-life and palliative-care services; for example, the foundation sponsored a report that evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their ability to provide high-quality end-of-life care.

The foundation’s general-philanthropy program focuses on projects in New Jersey, as well as projects that do not fall under its four major program divisions. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics, in Elk Grove Village, Ill., received $100,000 to develop materials to help health-care providers assisting children who are coping with the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Steven A. Schroeder, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer, retired in 2002 after 12 years in that position. He was succeeded by Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, who had formerly served as a senior vice president of the foundation.

Application procedure: The foundation awards grants in two ways: through competitive national programs, in which it issues a call for proposals or invitational announcements, and through awards made in response to unsolicited proposals that address the foundation’s goals and interest areas.

Additional information on the foundation’s grant-making guidelines and priorities is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and chief executive officer; John R. Lumpkin, senior vice president, health care; J. Michael McGinnis, senior vice president and director, health group; Peter Goodwin, vice president, treasurer; James R. Knickman, vice president, research and evaluation; David J. Morse, vice president, communications; David L. Waldman, vice president, human resources and administration; J. Warren Wood III, vice president, general counsel, and secretary; Calvin Bland, chief of staff and special adviser to the president and chief executive officer; Russ Russell Henshaw Jr., controller; Brian S. O’Neil, chief investment officer; Janice A. Opalski, director, financial-monitoring office; Richard J. Toth, director, office of proposal management; Robert E. Campbell, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

SURDNA FOUNDATION

330 Madison Avenue, 30th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10017-5001
(212) 557-0010
http://www.surdna.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1917 by John Emory Andrus (1841-1934), a New York businessman, investor, and politician. The foundation initially focused on youth and care for orphaned children; in 1989, the third and fourth generations of the Andrus family serving on the board added programs in community revitalization and the environment. Programs in the arts and effective citizenry were added in 1994, followed by the nonprofit-sector program in 1997.

In fiscal year 2002, the foundation awarded grants in the following program areas: the environment received $9,270,000; community revitalization, $5,706,000; the arts, $4,294,000; effective citizenry, $4,245,000; and nonprofit-sector support, $4,225,000. In addition, Andrus Family Fund grants totaled $2,127,000; September 11 grants, $1,000,000; and other grants, $897,355.

Environmental grants support biological diversity, with an emphasis on forest and marine ecosystems and habitats; efforts to link government officials, business representatives, and the public in solving environmental problems; transportation and the sustainable use of urban and suburban land; and renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. For example, $75,000 went to the American Oceans Campaign, in Washington, for efforts to protect fish habitats in New England.

Other environmental grants included $100,000 to Reconnecting America, in Las Vegas, for the communications component of a campaign to fundamentally redefine Americans’ approach to intercity travel.

The community-revitalization program supports the balanced growth of cities and the maintenance of economic and racial diversity in urban populations. In what it terms “growing cities,” grants focus on increasing and preserving the overall supply of affordable housing, involving local residents and governments in planning and managing neighborhood growth and change, and developing commercial areas for a variety of businesses. In “declining cities,” grants focus on increasing real-estate values and homeownership opportunities, revitalizing and creating accessible commercial districts, and leveraging the potential of new immigrants to boost local economies.

The community-revitalization program also focuses on child care for urban families, but is currently not accepting new proposals in this area.

Grants for community revitalization in fiscal year 2002 included $125,000 to the Historic District Development Corporation, in Atlanta, to promote the development of commercial and residential properties in Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Historic District.

The arts program emphasizes arts education for youths, particularly programs through which professional artists work with teenagers to develop their creativity and programs that augment the ability of artists and arts institutions to serve youths. For example, the Andy Warhol Museum, in Pittsburgh, received a two-year, $100,000 grant for a program through which artists teach the printmaking practices used by Mr. Warhol to students from two Pittsburgh high schools.

The program on effective citizenry seeks to involve young people in solving problems in their schools and neighborhoods and in broader society.

Allocations included $50,000 to Sisters in Action for Power, in Portland, Ore., for youth-organizing programs that emphasize leadership development, community improvement, and civic participation.

Nonprofit-sector grants emphasize helping nonprofit groups improve their management, finances, and use of technology; spurring new sources of philanthropy; promoting good stewardship practices and collaboration; promoting the study of interrelated public-policy issues such as tax exemption and decreased public funding; and helping nonprofit groups communicate their missions more clearly to the American public. For example, Cause Communications, in Santa Monica, Calif., received $25,000 for a study, “When Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes,” that analyzes why some media campaigns by nonprofit groups are unsuccessful.

The foundation’s Andrus Family Fund was established in 2000 to give fifth-generation family members between the ages of 25 and 45 the opportunity to participate in organized philanthropy. It makes grants in two program areas: helping youths who are “aging out” of foster care make the transition to independent living, and promoting “restorative justice,” an approach to criminal justice that attempts to effect the healing and reconciliation of victims and wrongdoers.

Application procedure: The foundation strongly suggests that prospective applicants first submit a letter of inquiry before sending a full proposal. Upon receipt of the letter of inquiry, the foundation will issue notification of its 90-day consideration period.

The foundation generally does not award grants to individuals or for capital campaigns, building construction, or projects that are internationally based or focused.

Additional information, including detailed guidelines on submitting a letter of inquiry, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Edward Skloot, executive director; Marc de Venoge, chief financial and administrative officer; Hooper L. Brooks, program director for environment; Ellen B. Rudolph, program director for arts; Camilla Seth, program officer for environment; Robert Sherman, program director for effective citizenry; Carey Shea, program director for community revitalization; Vincent Stehle, program officer for nonprofit-sector support; Jonathan Goldberg, grants administrator and information specialist; Elizabeth H. Andrus, chairperson of the Board of Directors; John E. Andrus III, chairman emeritus.

METLIFE FOUNDATION

1 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10010-3690
(212) 578-6272
http://www.metlife.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1976 by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, commonly known as MetLife. Its grant making is national in scope.

In 2002, the foundation awarded $24,991,068, and MetLife awarded an additional $4,644,896, primarily in the following program areas: civic affairs, which received $7,123,400; health, $6,852,142; education, $5,158,936; culture, $4,092,900; United Ways, $1,900,230; and public broadcasting, $1,587,500.

Within those program areas, grant making in 2002 centered on three themes: youth development, parental engagement, and building healthy communities.

The civic-affairs program emphasizes projects to invigorate low- and moderate-income communities. Grants focus on affordable housing, after-school activities for youths, community safety, diversity, and economic development.

Under the civic-affairs program, for example, the foundation continued a $2-million partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America that creates learning centers at local clubs where disadvantaged children can engage in productive, supervised after-school activities. By the end of 2002, 18 of 30 centers planned under this partnership had opened.

Health grants support programs that educate young people, parents, older adults, teachers, and others about substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, health and fitness, and healthy aging. Also under its health program, the foundation supports research on Alzheimer’s disease.

The education program makes grants to improve teaching, encourage parental involvement, promote literacy and after-school programs, and support higher education, with a focus on community colleges and vocational training.

Culture grants support arts education, national tours of dance companies and art exhibitions, community outreach, and cultural programs for families.

In 2002, the foundation created the $2.3-million Music for Life Initiative, a national program to use music to enrich the lives of people of all ages.

Public-broadcasting awards support the nationwide television and radio broadcast of cultural events, such as concerts featuring jazz or classical music.

Application procedure: Applications are accepted and reviewed throughout the year. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Sibyl Jacobson, president and chief executive officer; Timothy L. Schmidt, treasurer; Catherine A. Rein, chairman of the Board of Directors; Robert H. Benmosche, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, MetLife and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.