Foundation Annual Reports

BALTIMORE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
2 East Read Street
Baltimore, Md. 21202
(410) 332-4171
http://www.bcf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: Created in 1972, this community foundation comprises more than 300 charitable funds. The foundation experienced significant growth starting in 1989, when it affiliated with the Morris Goldseker Foundation, a Baltimore-based private foundation that provided office space, operating funds, and a shared chief executive officer for several years and that continues to provide some financial and in-kind support. The community foundation’s assets grew from just over $13-million at the end of 1988 to $95.4-million at the end of 2001.

Grant making is limited to metropolitan Baltimore, and focuses on three major programs: arts and culture, children and families, and community development. The foundation also makes some grants in the areas of aging, basic human needs, education, the environment, mental health, and neighborhoods.

In 2001, the foundation received 1,248 contributions totaling $15.7-million and approved 2,516 grants totaling $15.9-million. Sixty percent of grant dollars were allocated through donor-advised funds.

Arts and culture grants emphasize after-school programs, cultural tourism, and regional cultural festivals. Grants made in 2001 through this program included $20,000 to the Maryland Public Broadcasting Foundation, in Owings Mills, for a new television series entitled ArtWorks that covers local arts and culture.

Grants for children and families support advocacy, education, and out-of-school programs for middle-school youths. For example, the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, in Baltimore, received $64,219 for its Safe at Home project, which provides pregnant women and mothers with information and resources on preventing lead poisoning among children.

Community-development grants support building projects, leadership development, and projects in selected “opportunity neighborhoods” in Baltimore. For example, the Carroll Improvement Association received $1,605 to provide lighting, plants, and signs for a community garden.

Other grants included $10,000 to the Maryland Center for Veterans’ Education and Training, in Baltimore, for its work with homeless veterans, who make up an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the state’s homeless population.

In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the foundation raised $310,000 from local residents to donate to the September 11th Fund, in New York, for relief efforts.

Application procedure: Organizations in metropolitan Baltimore that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible to apply. After reviewing the foundation’s guidelines, potential applicants should submit a two-page letter of inquiry that provides background on the organization, an overview of the proposed project and the need it will meet, and the amount requested. If there is a match between the project and one of the foundation’s grant-making programs, a program officer will request a full proposal. Letters of inquiry are accepted year-round. Proposal deadlines are March 1, June 1, and December 1, and grant decisions are made within three months of those deadlines.

The foundation does not provide support for annual-fund or capital campaigns, general operations, religious or sectarian purposes, individuals, or event sponsorship. More information is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Thomas E. Wilcox, president; Cheryl A. Casciani, director of programs; Charles E. Cross, director of finance and administration; Donna Fisher-Parker, director of development; Melissa McC. Warlow, director of special projects; Gigi Casey Wirtz, director of communications; Laurie Baker Crosley, director of donor services; Walter D. Pinkard Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees.

W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION

1 Michigan Avenue East
Battle Creek, Mich. 49017-4058
(269) 968-1611
http://www.wkkf.org

Period covered: Year ending August 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1930 by Will Keith (W.K.) Kellogg, founder of the eponymous breakfast-cereal company, who gave it more than $66-million in Kellogg Company stock and other investments over his lifetime. The foundation receives its income primarily from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust, also established by Mr. Kellogg.

Geographically, the foundation supports programs in the United States, which received 83 percent of grant dollars during fiscal year 2002; Latin America and the Caribbean, which received 10 percent; and the southern African nations of Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, which collectively received 7 percent.

During fiscal year 2002, the foundation awarded grants totaling $223,123,701 to 961 of its 2,012 active projects. Grant making emphasizes four main program areas: youth and education, which received $39,676,827, or 19 percent of grant dollars; health, $36,001,857, or 16 percent; food systems and rural development, $30,851,847, or 14 percent; and philanthropy and volunteerism, $16,642,004, or 7 percent. The foundation’s programs in each of those four main areas are tailored to meet the specific needs of each geographic region.

The remaining 44 percent of grant dollars focused on other program activities and special opportunities, “recurring grants,” and programs with a geographic focus on Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the metropolitan Battle Creek area.

Youth and education grants support infant, child, and youth development from preschool through college. Program goals include mobilizing families and community members to inform policies that can improve education for at-risk children and youths, and forging partnerships between educational institutions and communities focusing on learning, academic performance, and work-force preparation. For example, the National Center on Homelessness and Poverty, in Washington, received $200,000 to increase the number of homeless children attending school regularly and to ensure the enforcement of the legal right of homeless children to educational opportunities.

Health grants aim to increase access to integrated, comprehensive health-care systems organized around public health, prevention, and primary health care. Health-related grant making also emphasizes integrating information technology, fostering leadership development, contributing to public policy, and training diverse, well-prepared health-care workers. The Boston Public Health Commission, for example, received $370,000 to demonstrate effective ways to provide access to primary health and human services and improve the health of poor men not eligible for public health insurance.

Grants for food systems and rural development focus on creating adequate and sustainable supplies of safe, wholesome food while ensuring that food production and food-related businesses are economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially responsible. Rural-development grants promote social and economic opportunities that lead to higher standards of living in rural areas. Allocations included $55,086 to the White Earth Land Recovery Project, in Ponsford, Minn., to increase the production and distribution of traditional American Indian foods to people living on the White Earth Reservation.

The philanthropy and volunteerism program focuses on encouraging new donors, fostering new forms of giving, and advancing the overall effectiveness of nonprofit organizations. Awards included $100,000 to the Foundation for the Mid South, in Jackson, Miss., to help establish the National Office on Philanthropy and the Black Church as an indepedent nonprofit group.

The foundation began making grants in Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 1940s. Grants made during fiscal year 2002 included $200,000 to Centro de Trabalho e Cultura, in Recife, Brazil, to promote youth development and offer job training to youths in this metropolitan region.

Application procedure: The foundation encourages grant applicants to submit their requests electronically, using the online application available at the foundation’s Web site. Those applying by mail should send a preliminary letter, up to five pages in length, containing the following information: contact name, organization’s legal name, street and mailing addresses, phone number, and e-mail address; a grant-purpose statement of no more than 50 words; the total dollar amount requested; project activities, objectives, target audiences, operational procedures, and duration; anticipated impact or outcomes; and personnel or financial resources available and needed. The letter should be submitted to the supervisor of proposal processing. More-detailed information and grant-making guidelines for each program are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: William C. Richardson, president and chief executive officer; Gregory A. Lyman, senior vice president and corporate secretary; Anne C. Petersen, senior vice president for programs; Richard M. Foster, Marguerite M. Johnson, Robert F. Long, and Gail D. McClure, vice presidents for programs; Paul J. Lawler, vice president and chief investment officer; La June Montgomery-Talley, vice president for finance and treasurer; Wenda Weekes Moore, chair of the Board of Trustees.

ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND

437 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10022-7001
(212) 812-4200
http://www.rbf.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2001.

Purpose and areas of support: The fund was created in 1940 to coordinate charitable giving by the daughter and five sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The foundation received a major donation from Mr. Rockefeller in 1951 and a large bequest following his death in 1960.

The Charles E. Culpeper Foundation, of Stamford, Conn., merged with the fund in July 1999, and the Board of Trustees subsequently conducted an evaluation of all Rockefeller Brothers and former Culpeper grant programs. Following this evaluation, the fund reduced its primary programs from eight to the following four, effective January 1, 2003: democratic practice, human advancement, peace and security, and sustainable development.

Democratic-practice grants seek to encourage civic engagement and foster effective governance in the United States; to foster effective participation in transnational organizations by individuals, nonprofit organizations, and governments; and to ensure transparency and accountability at transnational institutions.

Human-advancement grants focus on the following areas: the arts and culture in New York City, as well as in Serbia and Montenegro; the visual and performing-arts exchanges between the United States and Asia; education in New York City and South Africa; increased diversity among U.S. teachers; leadership in Asia through the Ramon Magsaysay Awards; and health in South Africa and the United States.

Peace and security grants promote the understanding of global interdependence among the American people and policymakers, and the amelioration of strained relationships between Muslim and Western societies.

Sustainable-development grants seek to combat global warming and conserve biodiversity and ecosystems in the United States, British Columbia, East Asia, and the Russian Far East.

A fifth program allows the fund to make a number of grants in what it deems “pivotal places” — countries or regions that have special importance with regard to the fund’s concerns and that have a “disproportionate significance” for regional or global stability. Currently, those areas include New York City, Serbia and Montenegro, and South Africa.

In 2001, the fund paid out grants totaling $25,630,842 under its former program areas: sustainable resource use, which received $7,599,210; global security, $3,144,000; health, $2,686,401; nonprofit organizations, $2,383,300; arts and culture, $2,230,910; New York City, $2,164,500; education, $1,577,021; special initiatives, $1,300,000; South Africa, $1,051,500; the Balkans, $533,500; September 11 grantmaking fund, $515,000; Ramon Magsaysay Awards, $245,500; and the Asian Cultural Council, $200,000.

The fund administers the RBF Fellowship Program for Students of Color Entering the Teaching Profession and the related Program for Educational Leadership. It also maintains preservation and public-visitation programs at the Pocantico Historic Area, in Westchester County, N.Y. The Asian Cultural Council is a publicly supported operating foundation affiliated with the fund.

In February 2001, Stephen B. Heintz became president of the fund, succeeding Colin G. Campbell, who left in 2000 after 12 years to become president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Mr. Heintz is founder and former chief executive officer of Demos: a Network for Ideas and Action, in New York.

Application procedure: Applicants should be organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or foreign organizations that would probably be tax-exempt if based in the United States. Brief initial letters of inquiry are recommended, and should include the following: a description of the project or organization for which support is being sought; its relationship to the fund’s program; information about the principal staff members involved; a budget; and an indication of the amount requested from the fund. Inquiry letters should be sent to Benjamin R. Shute Jr., Secretary, at the above address. Review of grant inquiries is continual throughout the year, with the exception of the Charles E. Culpeper Scholarships in Medical Science and the New York City Human Advancement Program. The fund’s Web site provides additional information about its program guidelines.

Key officials: Stephen B. Heintz, president; William F. McCalpin, executive vice president and chief operating officer; Benjamin R. Shute Jr., secretary and program officer; Boris A. Wessely, treasurer; Nancy L. Muirhead, assistant secretary and program officer; Priscilla Lewis, William S. Moody, Michael F. Northrop, Peter W. Riggs, Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, program officers; A. Heather Masters, grants manager; Steven C. Rockefeller, chairman of the Board of Trustees.