Foundation Annual Reports

GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION
1845 Guildhall Building
45 Prospect Avenue West
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 241-3114
http://www.gundfdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1952 by George Gund, a native of Cleveland who was active in banking, real estate, ranching, and other businesses. Mr. Gund, who also served as president of the Cleveland Institute of Art, died in 1966.

In 2001, the foundation committed 401 grants and one program-related investment totaling $19,-535,441 in the following program areas: economic development and community revitalization, which received $4,450,400; human services, $3,816,707; education, $2,866,397; special projects, $2,806,500; environment, $2,585,480; arts, $2,154,857; and civic affairs, $605,100.

The program on economic development and community revitalization emphasizes job creation, asset-building opportunities, and neighborhood improvement that benefit Cleveland residents. Some grants are also made for projects to revitalize Cleveland’s downtown and adjacent suburbs, to strengthen the regional economy in northeastern Ohio, to promote high-quality urban planning and design, and to enhance regional parks and other public spaces. Allocations included $400,000 to the Shorebank Enterprise Group Cleveland for economic-development activities in the city’s East Side neighborhoods.

Human-services grants support services for poor people in metropolitan Cleveland, as well as work on local, state, and national policies designed to alleviate problems faced by poor people. For example, the Children’s Defense Fund–Columbus received $50,000 over two years for child-health and child-care projects.

Education grants support the improvement of primary and secondary schools in the Cleveland Municipal School District, national groups working to bolster education through better policy making and increased community engagement, and leadership at colleges and universities in northeastern Ohio. For example, Ursuline College, in Pepper Pike, Ohio, received $70,623 for efforts to recruit and retain increased numbers of minority students.

Special-projects grants in 2001 included support for research on retinal degenerative diseases, for a photography exhibit and publication at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and for a wide range of organizations that provide services to nonprofit or philanthropic groups. For example, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, in Washington, received $7,500 for operating support.

Environment grants seek to conserve watershed systems, forests, and other natural systems; to protect human health by eliminating environmental toxics and waste; to promote coalition building and leadership and organizational development; to advance “smart growth” principles; to improve news-media coverage of environmental issues; and to encourage environmentally sound buildings. The program supports projects in northeastern Ohio, projects that have statewide or regional implications, and limited work on national policy making.

David Bergholz, executive director of the foundation, will retire in January 2003. He will be succeeded by David T. Abbott, president of University Circle Inc., in Cleveland.

Application procedure: Proposals for grants should include a one-page cover letter with a description of the project and the amount requested. The foundation does not accept faxed proposals and asks that proposals not be submitted in notebooks, binders, or plastic folders. Deadlines for proposal submissions are December 30, March 30, June 30, and September 30. Additional information and lists of previously awarded grants are available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: David Bergholz, executive director; Robert B. Jaquay, associate director and senior program officer (civic affairs and economics); senior program officers Marcia Egbert (human services), Deena M. Epstein (arts), Jeffrey M. Glebocki (education), and Jon M. Jensen (environment); Geoffrey Gund, president and treasurer of the Board of Trustees.

JAMES IRVINE FOUNDATION
1 Market, Steuart Tower
Suite 2500
San Francisco, Calif. 94105
(415) 777-2244
http://www.irvine.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1937 by James Irvine, a California businessman who developed a 110,000-acre ranch in Orange County, Calif., that he inherited from his father. Mr. Irvine died in 1947.

The foundation maintains an office in Los Angeles in addition to its headquarters in San Francisco. In accordance with Mr. Irvine’s wishes, the foundation supports only programs and organizations that benefit California residents.

In 2001, the foundation allocated 261 grants totaling approximately $74-million. Grants are currently made in six program areas: the arts; children, youths, and families; civic culture; higher education; sustainable communities; and special projects.

Arts grants support artists directly through individual commissions and fellowships, and indirectly through arts organizations that regrant to individual artists or carry out one-time projects. For example, the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, in Richmond, received $150,000 over two years for a statewide collaboration of artists, scholars, and institutions to explore the impact of Buddhist practice on contemporary art and culture.

Grants for children, youths, and families focus on strengthening community organizations that serve children and teenagers in California, with an emphasis on out-of-school programs. Most grants are made through the Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) project, which seeks to build the capacity of youth-service groups, to engage families, and to support community networks that promote academic success.

Other grants under this program focus on research and policy making and on model programs that complement CORAL, including projects related to mentoring, tutoring, parental involvement, and technology. In addition, 10 museums received grants of $175,000 over two years each for their participation in the Museum Youth Initiative, which provides extracurricular educational and youth-development activities for students.

Civic-culture grants stress overcoming barriers to a “cohesive, democratic society” and fostering the civic participation of all California residents, including low-income people and recent immigrants to the state. The program supports faith-based efforts, cultural-heritage projects, grass-roots organizing and popular education, and innovative efforts to involve diverse groups of Californians in community problem-solving activities. The program also supports the Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship, a collaboration of civic groups that assists recent immigrants and helps engage them in civic life. For example, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fresno received $150,000 to promote increased civic participation by immigrants in eight rural counties.

Higher-education grants emphasize increased diversity at private colleges and universities in California; research and policy development concerning the education needs of ethnic minorities and low-income families, especially those living in California’s Central Valley; and efforts by higher-education leaders to recruit, prepare, and support schoolteachers. For example, the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, received $3.6-million over three years to establish the Center for American Studies and Ethnicity, designed to enhance campus diversity.

Sustainable-communities grants seek to mitigate economic, environmental, and social problems caused by rapid growth and change in California. The program supports regional collaborations between academic, business, civic, and community leaders; policy changes that promote more-sustainable land use, land conservation, and urban revitalization; and work-force development.

Allocations included $300,000 over two years to the Bay Area Council, in San Francisco, to promote sustainable regional growth patterns.

Through its special-projects grants, the foundation supports projects that are within its general mission but outside specific program guidelines. Priorities include work that increases the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations and philanthropy in California, projects that benefit youths in the state, and other, one-time opportunities.

In 2001, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer, Dennis A. Collins, retired after 16 years of service. He was succeeded by Mary G.F. Bitterman, former president and chief executive officer of KQED, in San Francisco.

Application procedure: The foundation primarily supports organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Applicants are encouraged to use the online inquiry form at the foundation’s Web site. If sent by regular mail, letters of inquiry should include the requested amount, a one-sentence summary of the proposed project, a brief description of the organization and its qualifications, a reference to the foundation program area in which the project fits, a statement of the problem or need to be addressed, and a summary of the activities and objectives of the proposed project. Applicants should not send a full proposal unless requested to do so. Detailed and regularly updated information on the foundation’s priorities and grant making is available at its Web site.

Key officials: Mary G.F. Bitterman, president and chief executive officer; James E. Canales, vice president and corporate secretary; John R. Jenks, chief investment officer and treasurer; Martha S. Campbell, director of evaluation and program director; Ann L. Clarke, director of grants administration; Thomas L. Harris, chief administrative officer and director of finance; David Shaw, director of communications and community relations; James C. Gaither, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program directors: M. Melanie Beene (arts); S. Kimberly Belshé (sustainable communities); Diane B. Frankel, (children, youths, and families); Craig E. McGarvey (civic culture); Robert M. Shireman (higher education).

HENRY LUCE FOUNDATION
111 West 50th Street
Suite 4601
New York, N.Y. 10020
(212) 489-7700
http://www.hluce.org

Period covered: Two years ending December 31, 2001. (Financial data are for year ending December 31, 2001.)

Purpose and areas of support: Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor in chief of Time Inc., created the foundation in 1936. Mr. Luce died in 1967. The foundation makes grants in five areas: American art, East Asia, higher education, public policy and the environment, and theology. It also administers several special programs, including the Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in Science and the Henry R. Luce Professorships.

Grants for American art focus on increasing awareness of and scholarship on the fine and decorative arts. The program has three emphases: the Luce Fund in American Art, an annual competition for grants to support exhibitions and publications organized by museums; dissertation fellowships and research awards for doctoral candidates; and “responsive grants” for projects other than special exhibits. Awards included $10-million to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, in New York, to reinstall an American art collection and to create the Luce Center for American Art.

The program on East Asia supports research and teaching on Asia in the humanities and social sciences, institutional development, the strengthening of scholarly resources, and policy studies and public education. Fifty-six grants totaling nearly $17-million were made during the foundation’s 2000 and 2001 fiscal years. For example, Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, received $270,000 for a Tibetan oral-history and archive project. In addition, 20 liberal-arts colleges received grants through the Luce Fund for Asian Studies, a $12-million, four-year program that ended this year.

Higher-education grants support programs on national higher-education leadership or educational activities that fall outside the guidelines of the foundation’s other programs. Grants included $200,000 to the Council of Independent Colleges, in Washington, for leadership programs for college presidents.

The program on public policy and the environment supports research, training, and policy recommendations on national and international issues. Grants over the past two years have focused on education for new members of Congress, the study of the presidency, the American judicial and tax systems, and immigration policy.

The environmental component of the public-policy program is limited to invited higher-education institutions and other organizations. It focuses on improving the quality of training and research at 50 colleges and universities that run programs in environmental studies, environmental science, and natural-resource management. The program also works with approximately 40 selected organizations nationwide that concentrate on environmental issues such as large-scale global systems, science-related public policy, sustainable development, and biological diversity and natural-resource management.

Theology grants encourage the development of religious leadership through theological education, scholarly work, and projects in churches and other institutions, primarily accredited seminaries and divinity schools in the United States.

The Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in Science is limited to designated institutions and to those colleges and universities invited to present proposals.

Henry Luce III, son of the founder, retired as chair of the Board of Directors in 2002, but continues to serve as a board member.

Application procedure: No special forms are required, although separate guidelines and deadlines exist for each program and special initiative. Letters of inquiry may be sent to the appropriate staff member to determine whether a project falls within the foundation’s guidelines.

No grants are made directly to individuals, with the exception of the Luce Scholars Program. More-detailed information is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: John W. Cook, president; Terrill E. Lautz, vice president and secretary and program director for Asia, higher education, and the Henry R. Luce Professorship Program; John P. Daley, vice president for finance and administration; Helene E. Redell, vice president and program director for the Luce Scholars Program; Suzanne W. Neuman, grants manager and special-projects director.

Program directors: Jane Z. Daniels (Clare Boothe Luce Program); Michael F. Gilligan (theology); Ellen Holtzman (arts); H. Christopher Luce (public policy and the environment); Helena Kolenda (Asia).

CORRECTION

The name of the president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was rendered inaccurately in the November 14 issue. Her name is Patty Stonesifer.