Foundation Annual Reports

ACHELIS & BODMAN FOUNDATIONS

767 Third Avenue, Fourth Floor
New York 10017
(212) 644-0322
http://www.fdncenter.org/grantmaker/achelis-bodman

Period covered: Two years ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: Created in 1940, the Achelis Foundation was endowed principally by Elisabeth Achelis, an author of five books and a founder of the World Calendar Association. The Bodman Foundation was formed in 1945 by the investment banker George M. Bodman and his wife, Louise. The two foundations are independent and legally separate entities. However, they share officers, trustees, staff members, guidelines, and contact information; for cost savings and convenience, grant seekers may send one proposal to the “Achelis and Bodman Foundations” when appealing to both funds.

The Achelis Foundation concentrates its grant making in New York City; the Bodman Foundation does as well, and occasionally awards grants in northern New Jersey. Both funds make awards in the areas of biomedical research, child welfare, drug and alcohol abuse, entrepreneurship and economic education, the environment, homelessness, hospitals and health care, major cultural institutions, rehabilitation, responsible fatherhood, social services, volunteerism, welfare reform, youths, and education, including charter schools, public-school reform, and school choice.

Special consideration is given to projects that focus on the following: consumer choice, economic empowerment, faith-based programs, leadership and character development, measurable program results and client outcomes, parental involvement, prevention and early intervention, self-help, and strengthening “the two-parent intact family.”

Grants made by the Achelis Foundation included $25,000 to Catholic Big Brothers of New York for the “Sports Buddies” mentor programs. Grants made by the Bodman Foundation included $20,000 to the Freedom Foundation of New Jersey, in West Orange, for the Newark-based “Best Friends” program, which encourages abstinence among teenaged girls.

Application procedure: Organizations in New York City that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that fall within the foundations’ priority areas are welcome to submit a proposal. For more-detailed information on grant-application guidelines, visit the foundations’ Web site.

Key officials: Joseph S. Dolan, executive director; John B. Krieger, program officer; John N. Irwin III, president and treasurer; Guy G. Rutherfurd, chairman.

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

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1952 by George Gund, a Cleveland banker who had many community affiliations, including serving as president of the Cleveland Institute of Art.

In 1999, the fund allocated 366 grants and two program-related investments totaling $17,782,209 in these program areas: human services, which received $3,983,526; economic development and community revitalization, $3,287,574; education, $3,070,565; special projects, $2,423,390; the environment, $2,343,557; the arts, $2,124,863; and civic affairs, $548,734.

Human-services grants were made both to provide direct services and to carry out policy and advocacy work related to such areas as welfare reform. For example, $7,500 went to the Cleveland Mediation Center to help prevent homelessness among Spanish-speaking Cleveland residents, and $32,500 went to the National Coalition for the Homeless, in Washington, for public-policy programs.

The foundation made two program-related investments to Cleveland institutions for economic development and community revitalization: $750,000 to the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corporation to redevelop the city’s historic Arcade, and $500,000 to the Playhouse Square Foundation to purchase properties adjacent to its current complex.

In the area of education, the foundation maintained its focus on improving education for children in the Cleveland Municipal School District. Grants included $418,061 over 27 months to the Community Renewal Society, in Chicago, to create Catalyst, a journal focused on school reform in Cleveland.

Cleveland-area environmental grants focused on urban sprawl, farmland preservation, land conservation, parks, transportation, toxic hazards, energy efficiency and air quality, and watershed and river protection. Grants in the Ohio and Great Lakes/Midwest emphasized conservation, trails and greenways, biological diversity, forest management, scenic conservation, coastline preservation, and air and water quality.

The foundation awarded $200,000 to the Cleveland Foundation for the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, the region’s first comprehensive cultural plan.

Civic-affairs grants stressed sound gun-control policies, fair housing, increased citizen participation in civic affairs, and participation in Census 2000.

Application procedure: Visit the foundation’s Web site for detailed grant-application guidelines and lists of grants in each program area. Deadlines for submitting proposals for consideration at the subsequent board meeting are December 30, March 30, June 30, and September 30. Proposals should not be submitted by fax and should not be placed in binders, notebooks, or plastic folders.

Key officials: David Bergholz, executive director; Robert B. Jaquay, associate director; Deena M. Epstein, Jeffrey M. Glebocki, and Jon M. Jensen, senior program officers; Marcia Egbert, program officer; Geoffrey Gund, president and treasurer of the Board of Trustees.

JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MacARTHUR FOUNDATION 140 South Dearborn Street
Chicago 60603
(312) 726-8000
http://www.macfound.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1999.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1978 by John D. MacArthur (1897-1978), a developer and owner of several businesses, including Bankers Life and Casualty Company, and of substantial real-estate holdings in Florida and New York. His wife, Catherine, held positions in many of those businesses and served as a director of the foundation until her death in 1981.

Grant making is subsumed under two broad, integrated areas: the Program on Global Security and Sustainability, which authorized grants totaling $68,154,639 in 1999, and the Program on Human and Community Development, which authorized grants totaling $58,344,574.

In addition, the foundation operates two special programs. The first, the General Program, supports work in several special-interest areas that complement the foundation’s two major programs, including telecommunications tools and policy, public-interest media projects, U.S. drug policy, reducing gun-related injuries, and program-related investments. The second, the MacArthur Fellows Program, awards fellowships to exceptionally creative individuals in widely varying fields. Last year those two programs authorized awards totaling $70,136,466 and $10,070,531, respectively.

The Program on Global Security and Sustainability focuses on three areas: international peace and security, ecosystems conservation and policy, and population. A fourth area, global challenges, was established recently to integrate the grant making of these former program areas: new partnerships and institutions, concepts of security and sustainability, and U.S. interests and responsibilities.

Although the foundation supports work in dozens of countries through this program, three geographic areas have special priority: Russia and the former Soviet Union, Mexico, and Africa. In the case of Africa, the foundation is preparing for greater investment there, focusing on Nigeria and Tanzania.

The Program on Human and Community Development supports national research and policy analysis in four thematic areas: access to economic opportunity, building community capacity, child and youth development, and mental health. In addition, it supports direct programmatic efforts in Chicago, where the foundation’s headquarters are located, and in Palm Beach County, Fla., where the MacArthurs had extensive land holdings.

Of the approximately $60-million awarded through the Program on Human and Community Development, some $12-million supported research with significant practical implications. For example, $100,000 went to the Center for the Child Care Workforce, in Washington, for research on child-care employment and its implications for child development and women’s economic self-sufficiency.

The community-capacity program received $20,482,674, the largest share of the four thematic areas. Awards included $300,000 to the Center for Law and Human Services, in Chicago, for outreach and public education to ensure that low-income families benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit and other public programs to which they are entitled.

In 1999, the MacArthur Fellows Program named 32 fellows, who ranged in age from 28 to 66. Recipients included Saul Friedlaender, a scholar of the Third Reich and the Holocaust who teaches at the University of California at Los Angeles, and John C. Bonifaz, founder and executive director of the National Voting Rights Institute.

Application procedure: Grant seekers should first submit a two- to three-page letter of inquiry, addressed to the Office of Grants Management. The letter should include a brief statement of purpose — two or three sentences summarizing the nature of the proposed project — and should describe the problem or issue to be dealt with and how it relates to the foundation’s interests and program goals; the ways in which the project will take up that issue; the ways in which the issue relates to the applicant organization and the reasons why the applicant is qualified to undertake the work; the country or geographic region where the work will take place; the time period for which funding is requested; the audiences that will be interested in the project and how the organization plans to communicate with them; and the amount of grant support requested from the foundation and total project cost. The letter of inquiry should be accompanied by a one-page summary that includes the following: the name of the organization requesting support; the name of the parent organization, if applicable; the name of the CEO or equivalent; full organizational address and contact information; the name and title of the principal contact person and his or her full contact information; and the organization’s Web address, if applicable. The MacArthur Fellows Program does not accept letters of inquiry or unsolicited proposals.

Key officials: Jonathan F. Fanton, president; Victor Rabinowitch, senior vice president; Lyn Hutton, vice president and chief financial officer; Paul E. Lingenfelter, vice president for the Program on Human and Community Development; Mitchel B. Wallerstein, vice president for the Program on Global Security and Sustainability; William E. Lowry, Jr., vice president for human resources and administration; Rebecca R. Riley, vice president, Office of Civic Affairs; Woodward A. Wickham, vice president for public affairs and the general program; Richard J. Kaplan, director of grants management, research, and information; John E. Corbally, chairman of the Board of Directors.

Program directors: Carmen L. Barroso (population), Kennette M. Benedict (international peace and security, former Soviet Union), Paul D. Goren (child and youth development), David A. Harris (Florida philanthropy), Susan E. Lloyd (building community capacity), Dan M. Martin (ecosystems conservation and policy), Mary R. Page (global challenges), Gregory A. Ratliff (access to economic opportunity), Elspeth A. Revere (general program), Robert M. Rose (mental-health policy and research), and Daniel J. Socolow (MacArthur Fellows).