Foundation Annual Reports

JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION
Wachovia Financial Center, Suite 3300200
South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Fla. 33131
(305) 908-2600
http://www.knightfdn.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1950 by John S. and James L. Knight, who owned various newspapers across the country that eventually became part of the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain. The brothers, who died in 1981 and 1991, respectively, both made large bequests to the foundation. It is independent of Knight-Ridder or any other commercial enterprise.

The foundation currently operates three programs: the community-partners program, which makes grants in 26 cities and towns nationwide where the Knight brothers owned newspapers; the National Venture Fund; and journalism. In addition, the foundation makes a limited number of grants outside those program areas.

In 2003, the foundation allocated 349 new grants totaling $128,719,470 as follows: the community-partners program received 230 grants totaling $79,754,840; journalism, 55 grants totaling $39,115,430; the National Venture Fund, 23 grants totaling $9,254,000; and 41 other grants totaling $595,200. The cumulative dollar amount of new grants represented a large increase over 2002, when the foundation approved grants totaling $80,949,242.

As of 1998, the foundation’s community-partnership program covers those 26 cities that were eligible for grants from the foundation at the time of James Knight’s death in 1991. Allocations made through the program emphasize six areas: children and families, civic engagement, culture, economic development, education, and housing and community development. In each community, grant making concentrates on priorities identified by local advisory committees.

Twenty of the 26 communities have identified the well-being of at-risk children and families as a high priority, and new grants totaling $27,821,065 were awarded for such projects. For example, Capital Area Healthy Start Coalition, in Tallahassee, Fla., received $890,600 over four years to provide child-development and nutrition education to low-income families through a new home-visitation program.

In 2000, the foundation’s board approved a five-year, $50-million commitment to support community foundations in the 26 cities. Strategies include augmenting existing donor-advised funds and creating new ones. Awards in 2003 included $3,720,000 over three years to the Dade Community Foundation, in Miami, and $750,000 to the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, in Macon.

Journalism grants are made to U.S. and foreign organizations and focus on diversity in both the news and the newsroom; journalism education and training at high schools, colleges, and universities; freedom of the press and of information; public-interest reporting; and new media, such as the Internet, that help advance the field of journalism.

The National Venture Fund makes grants for innovative national projects that relate directly or indirectly to the foundation’s work in its 26 designated communities. Allocations included $100,000 to Project Vote Smart, in Phillipsburg, Mont., to collaborate with newspapers nationwide to push political candidates to provide more information on their stances on specific issues.

Application procedure: The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Potential applicants whose projects fall within the objectives and interests of the foundation should submit a two-page letter of inquiry. Additional information, including detailed guidelines for submitting a letter of inquiry and a list of the foundation’s 26 designated communities, is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Hodding Carter III, president and chief executive officer; Beatriz G. Clossick, vice president of accounting; Timothy J. Crowe, vice president and chief investment officer; Belinda Turner Lawrence, vice president and chief administrative officer; Michael Maidenberg, vice president and chief program officer; Larry Meyer, vice president of communications; John Bare, director of planning and evaluation; Joe Ervin, director of the community-partners program; Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives; Lisa Versaci, director of the National Venture Fund; Julie B.A. Brooks, grants administrator; W. Gerald Austen, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

LUMINA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION
30 South Meridian Street, Suite 700
Indianapolis, Ind. 46204
(317) 951-5300
http://www.luminafoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: In July 2000, the USA Group sold its assets in guarantee servicing, student-loan servicing, and secondary-market operations. The proceeds of that sale endowed the USA Group Foundation — now called the Lumina Foundation for Education — and established it as a private foundation.

In 2003, the foundation made 132 grants totaling $30,664,745 in the following program areas: access to postsecondary education, which received $14,866,690, or 48 percent of grant dollars; community colleges, $8,022,050, or 26 percent; success in postsecondary education, $3,584,225, or 12 percent; adult learning, $2,342,030, or 8 percent; and educational and related initiatives in Indiana, $1,774,300, or 6 percent.

To accomplish its objectives, the foundation provides support for research, programs, and communications, evaluation, leadership-development, and public-policy efforts. In 2003 the median dollar amount of grants was approximately $75,000, while the average amount was about $200,000.

Grants to expand access to postsecondary education seek to address various obstacles to student enrollment, including college costs, inadequate preparation, and the lack of encouragement or information.

For example, the Brookings Institution, in Washington, received $212,000 to explore how federal tax and financial-aid policies can make college more affordable and to help policy makers understand how best to assist students and their families with regard to that issue.

Also that year, the foundation initiated Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a multiple-year effort to assist the nation’s community colleges and the students they serve.

Grants to boost success in postsecondary education focus on student attainment, perserverance, and retention. For instance, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, in San Jose, Calif., received $71,000 to study the characteristics of students who borrow money toward higher-education programs that they do not complete.

Adult-learning grants stress support for nontraditional students, including those who attend school part time and intermittently. For example, a two-year, $1,026,400 grant went to the Southern Regional Education Board, in Atlanta, for a regionwide campaign designed to increase the participation of adults in postsecondary-education activities in the South.

The foundation typically sets aside 10 percent of its grant-making budget each year for projects specific to Indiana, with a special emphasis on Indianapolis. Allocations included $208,000 over two years to Ball State University, in Muncie, to improve the quality of precollegiate programs for youths in foster care and young people making the transition out of it.

In 2002, the foundation created the McCabe Fund, named in honor of its founding chairman, Edward A. McCabe. This invitational program supports groups that help students gain access to postsecondary education, with a focus on those who are disadvantaged, minority, or the first in their immediate family to attend college. In its second year, the fund made 42 grants totaling $2,837,-800.

Application procedure: After reviewing the foundation’s guidelines, potential applicants should send a letter of inquiry of three to five pages that describes the applicant organization, its mission, the proposed project, and the dollar amount requested from the foundation. Letters of inquiry should be sent to the attention of the Program Office — New Inquiry at the address above. Foundation staff members respond in writing to all written inquiries. If the foundation decides the proposed project fits its grant-making priorities, it will provide a grant-application packet and request additional materials. Inquiries and proposals are reviewed on a continuing basis year-round. More-detailed information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

The foundation awards grants only to organizations that are classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and as public charities under Section 509(a)(1, 2, or 3) of the code, or to public organizations that are designated under Section 170(c) of the code.

Key officials: Martha D. Lamkin, president and chief executive officer; Susan O. Conner, executive vice president for impact strategy; Leah Meyer Austin, senior vice president for research and programs; Robert C. Dickeson, senior vice president for policy and organizational learning; Holiday Hart McKiernan, senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary; J. David Maas, senior vice president, chief financial officer, and treasurer; Deborah G. Bonnet, vice president for evaluation; Jerry S. Davis, vice president for research; Nathan E. Fischer, vice president for investments; Samuel D. Cargile, senior program officer; Dollyne Pettingill Sherman, director of communications; Gloria Ackerson-Seats, grants-management coordinator; John M. Mutz, chairman of the Board of Directors.

WHITAKER FOUNDATION
1700 North Moore Street
Suite 2200
Arlington, Va. 22209
(703) 528-2430
http://www.whitaker.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2003.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1975 through a bequest from U.A. Whitaker, the founder and chief executive of AMP, a manufacturer of electrical connectors. When his wife, Helen, died in 1982, she also left a substantial portion of her estate to the foundation.

The fund primarily supports research and education in biomedical engineering at universities and medical schools in the United States and Canada. As suggested under the terms of Mr. Whitaker’s bequest, the foundation plans to distribute its remaining assets and cease operations by December 31, 2006.

In 2003, the foundation appropriated $60,587,488 through several competitive grant programs. The largest chunk of money, $24-million, was divided among six universities to construct buildings for their biomedical-engineering programs. The recipients were Purdue University, Rutgers University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the University of Michigan, the University of Rochester, and the University of Texas at Austin.

The foundation awarded its final round of grants for research in biomedical engineering. In all, 44 new awards totaling $10-million went to 34 U.S. colleges and universities. These 2003 grants were chosen from a pool of 334 applications, the largest number received by the foundation in a single grant cycle.

Awards included $240,000 to the University of Vermont, located in Burlington, to study the biological and mechanical responses of intervertebral discs to damage.

The foundation also made the final round of awards through its Graduate Fellowships for Biomedical Engineering Students program, which was initiated in 1992, and its “industrial internships” program, which was initiated in 1996.

The foundation conducted a survey of all its past and current fellows in order to learn how the fellowships had affected their education. The survey results showed that nearly all respondents, 96 percent, had earned or were seeking a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering. Thirty-five percent said that the fellowship had helped them enroll in an institution that they otherwise might not have been able to attend.

Application procedure: Information about the foundation’s programs and application guidelines are available on its Web site. The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals or make awards outside its program areas. Potential applicants should visit the foundation’s Web site for details on its schedule for phasing out programs.

Key officials: Peter G. Katona, president; James A. Frost, vice president for finance; John H. Linehan, vice president; Frank N. Blanchard, director of communications; Carina S. Hreib, grants manager; G. Burtt Holmes, chairman of the Foundation Governing Committee.