Foundation Annual Reports

LLOYD A. FRY FOUNDATION
120 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1950
Chicago, Ill. 60603
(312) 580-0310
http://www.fryfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending June 30, 2005.

Purpose and areas of support: Born in Texas in 1895, Lloyd A. Fry established the Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Company in 1933 on Chicago’s Southwest Side. The company grew to eventually become the world’s largest producer of asphalt roofing products, and was sold to Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corporation in 1977. The proceeds from the sale form the bulk of the endowment of the foundation, which was established as a staffed organization in 1983 following the death of its founder and namesake.

The foundation’s overarching mission is to support groups that possess “the strength and commitment to address persistent problems of urban Chicago resulting from poverty, violence, ignorance, and despair.” It allocates grants in four program areas: education, employment, health, and the arts and culture.

The education program has been a cornerstone of the foundation’s grant making since its inception. Grant making focuses on improving public education and enhancing the academic achievement of disadvantaged students in Chicago through teacher education, college-preparation programs, curricular improvements, and other strategies. Also that year, the foundation made grants totaling $1,501,241 through the High School Initiative, a multiyear effort to help six Chicago public high schools revamp their operations, including by helping teachers better assess students’ strengths and needs, improving the quality of academic instruction, and structuring ways for students to have input into their education.

The employment program — formerly called the community-services program — makes grants for projects that focus on employment-related literacy and English as a second language, vocational training tied to growing industries, and employment assistance that includes pre-employment, job-placement, and job-retention services. For example, the Chicago Jobs Council received $30,000 for Frontline Focus, a program that helps work-force-development professionals gain additional skills so that they can better serve low-income job seekers.

Health-related grant making gives priority to projects that incorporate health education, early disease detection, and treatment for such chronic diseases as asthma, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and hypertension; that enroll families in government-subsidized health-insurance programs; that involve partnerships between health systems and community-based organizations; and that focus on culturally appropriate programs for people with limited English-language skills.

Arts and culture grants emphasize providing disadvantaged young people in Chicago with arts instruction, exposure to performances and exhibitions, interaction with professional artists, and training and professional development for arts educators and classroom teachers.

Application procedure: The foundation highly recommends that new applicants and grantees who are seeking support for a new program submit a letter of inquiry before sending a full proposal. Letters of inquiry should include a brief description of the proposed project, a project budget, and other anticipated sources of support. The foundation’s Web site provides more-detailed information on application guidelines and submission dates.

Key officials: Unmi Song, executive director; Ernest Vasseur, senior program officer, health; Sharon Bush, program officer, employment; Yolanda Knight, program officer, education; Sydney R. Sidwell, program officer, arts and culture; Cornelia G. Speed, grants administrator; Diane Sotiros, controller; Howard M. McCue III, chairman of the Board of Directors.

WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION

2121 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, Calif. 94025
(650) 234-4500
http://www.hewlett.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2004.

Purpose and areas of support: “Never stifle a generous impulse” was a favorite saying of William R. Hewlett, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, who established the foundation in 1966 along with his wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their eldest son, Walter B. Hewlett. Mrs. Hewlett died in 1977 and the elder Mr. Hewlett died in January 2001, leaving much of his fortune to the foundation. The fund is entirely independent of the Hewlett-Packard Company and any of its charitable programs.

In 2004, the foundation awarded grants totaling $169,457,880 and disbursed $268,669,188 in grant payments. Its international commitments have increased over time, and that year more than one-third of its grants budget financed foreign projects. In October 2004 the Board of Directors established a new program in global development, which seeks to lessen the widening gap between wealthy and poor countries, help ensure that the benefits of growth are distributed equitably among the citizens of developing nations, and support research and education to inform the American public and policy makers about these issues. The board also decided to establish a regional grants program to expand its support for groups that serve disadvantaged residents of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The foundation’s grant making centered on six main program areas: the environment, which received $34,809,324; population, $32,871,945; education, $31,381,000; the performing arts, $13,992,000; conflict resolution, $11,213,440; and U.S.-Latin American relations, $9,162,500. The foundation also allocated grants in the areas of global affairs, which received $14,638,156; philanthropy and organizational effectiveness, $4,970,765; and neighborhood improvement, $2,598,950. It also made awards totaling $13,819,800 for special projects.

Environmental grant making emphasizes three broad goals: saving critical ecosystems and landscapes in western North America, building stronger and more-diverse constituencies for environmental protection in California, and promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy sources by reducing reliance on fossil-fuel energy systems.

The population program works to expand access to high-quality family-planning and reproductive-health information, services, and technologies; to assist women and families in choosing the number and spacing of children; to help protect against sexually transmitted infections; and to eliminate unsafe abortion practices. Although most projects focus on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, some grants are made for domestic reproductive-health programs.

Grant making for education stresses five areas: boosting student achievement by improving teaching in urban school systems and community colleges; using the Internet to expand access to free, high-quality academic content; promoting excellent, equitable education in California schools and community colleges; supporting strategies for spreading universal basic and secondary education in developing nations; and pursuing special projects whose goals fit with the other four areas.

Grants in other program areas included $750,000 to the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, in San Mateo, Calif., to help meet the needs of young people who are “aging out” of the foster-care system; $400,000 to the Synergos Institute, in New York, to strengthen community funds in Mexico; and $25,000 to Americans for Informed Democracy, in New Haven, Conn., to raise awareness among the U.S. populace about world opinions on American foreign policy.

Application procedure: Detailed guidelines are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Paul Brest, president; Susan Bell, vice president and director for philanthropy and organizational effectiveness; Laurance R. Hoagland Jr., vice president and chief investment officer; Eric Brown, director of communications; Carolyn Provost, manager, grants administration; Constance Bassett, grants administrator; Walter B. Hewlett, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program and initiative directors: Terry Amsler (conflict resolution); Moy Eng (performing arts); Hal Harvey (environment); C.R. Hibbs (program officer and managing director, Mexico); Kristina Palmer (program officer, Neighborhood Improvement Initiative); Joseph Ryan (program officer and managing director, Latin America); Sara Seims (population); Smita Singh (global development); Christine Sherry (Philanthropy Workshop West); Marshall Smith (education).

MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION

800 IDS Center
80 South Eighth Street
Minneapolis, Minn. 55402
(612) 672-3878
http://www.minneapolisfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending March 31, 2005.

Purpose and areas of support: Created in 1915, this community foundation makes grants that primarily benefit residents of Minnesota, particularly people who live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The foundation currently comprises more than 850 unrestricted, donor-advised, field-of-interest, and other types of funds.

During the foundation’s 2004-5 fiscal year, 115 charitable funds were established by individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit groups, the second-highest number of new funds created in a single year in the foundation’s history. The foundation also initiated Signature Funds, a new charitable-giving option that provides enhanced services for donor-advised funds of $1-million or more.

There are three ways through which Minnesota nonprofit groups can apply for grants: the Community Grants program, which provides support through the unrestricted funds of the foundation and its supporting organizations; the Connections Grants program, which allows groups to request project funds designated by individual donors; and occasional requests for proposals issued by the foundation.

In 2004-5, grants totaling $7,404,950 were allocated to 65 nonprofit groups through the Community Grants program. Awards stress support for affordable housing, economic opportunities, educational achievement, and the health and well-being of children, youths, and families. Eligible activities “address the root causes of social issues” and include advocacy, collaborative efforts, community organizing, and public education. Geographically, 49 percent of Community Grants benefited statewide projects, 46 percent went to projects in the Twin Cities region, and 5 percent supported projects elsewhere in Minnesota.

Economic-development and housing grants emphasize strategies to increase entrepreneurship and new businesses in economically distressed neighborhoods and regions; advocate approaches to regional growth that link transportation, jobs, housing, and education; organize and train low-income Minnesotans affected by the shortage of low-cost housing to advocate on their own behalf; promote the accountability of governmental agencies with regard to housing creation and preservation; and educate the public on the need for increased affordable housing.

Education grants focus on efforts to strengthen public schools and ensure a high-quality education for all children in Minnesota. The foundation also operates Destination 2010, a student-achievement and scholarship program that serves some 250 seventh graders attending 45 public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Community grants to benefit children, youths, and families stress projects to counter inequities in public programs and to identify and meet the needs of immigrants, refugees, and other disadvantaged groups.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should consult the foundation’s grant guidelines, entitled “Broader Reach,” which are available on the foundation’s Web site or may be obtained by calling (612) 672-3861.

Key officials: Emmett D. Carson, president and chief executive officer; Stuart Appelbaum, vice president, development; Desiree Heller, vice president, philanthropic consulting services; Bruce Hutchins, vice president, finance and administration; Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, vice president, community philanthropy; Christelle Langer, vice president, marketing and communications; Marigrace Deters, associate vice president, community philanthropy; Stephen Roszell, chair of the Board of Trustees.