Foundation Annual Reports

AHMANSON FOUNDATION

9215 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210
(310) 278-0770

Period covered: Year ending October 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: Howard F. Ahmanson, a financier, and his wife, Dorothy, established the foundation in 1952. Robert H. Ahmanson and William H. Ahmanson, nephews of Mr. Ahmanson, augmented the foundation’s endowment in later years.

The foundation concentrates its grant making on the arts and culture, precollegiate and collegiate education, health-care services and medicine, and a broad range of human-services projects. It distributes approximately 90 percent of its grant dollars to organizations based in Los Angeles County.

In its 2000 fiscal year, the foundation allocated 480 grants totaling $45,019,905. The education program received $15,324,300, or 34 percent of grant dollars; health, $11,040,250, or 25 percent; the arts, $10,085,915, or 22 percent; and human services, $8,569,440, or 19 percent. Of those organizations receiving grants, 81 — or 19 percent — had not previously received support from the foundation.

Education grants emphasized scholarships for ethnically diverse, low-income students; capital support; computers and other technology; literacy and after-school programs; arts and recreational activities; job-readiness training; and tutoring. Awards included $1-million over two years to the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, for its Excellence in Humanities Initiative, and $300,000 over three years to California State University Los Angeles Foundation, for the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs’ Community Based Policing Training Program.

In the arts program, the foundation made two large grants to Museum Associates, in Los Angeles, to acquire paintings for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: $2,650,000 to purchase Diana and Callisto by François Lemoyne, and $2.6-million to buy 46 French oil sketches dating from the early 17th century through the late 19th century.

Grants made through the health and human-services programs stressed support for at-risk children, youths, and adults; elderly and disabled individuals; and homeless and hungry people. In the health area, grants included $668,375 to the House Ear Institute, in Los Angeles, to obtain equipment for its research into the biological origins of human hearing loss. Human-services grants included a $500,000 allocation to Para Los Niños, in Los Angeles, to purchase and renovate facilities in the Pico-Union neighborhood that will house child-development services.

Application procedure: The foundation makes grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code and are not private foundations as defined by Section 509(a) of the code. After reviewing the foundation’s guidelines, potential applicants who feel their needs are compatible with the foundation’s goals should send a brief letter of inquiry to the managing director. The letter should contain the organization’s mission statement, a brief description of its background, a direct statement of need, and other potential financial sources under consideration. The foundation screens all letters of inquiry to determine whether or not the request and mission of the applicant fall within the foundation’s current grant-making interests. In most instances the foundation will promptly send written responses to those unlikely to qualify. The foundation will ask those who may qualify to submit a full proposal for further consideration.

In general, the foundation does not approve grants for endowed chairs, fellowships, internships, exchanges, individual scholarships, annual campaigns, continuing support, deficit financing or loans, or the production of film, video, or other media. In addition, it prefers not to support the following: groups that allocate grants to others, religious organizations for sectarian or “propagation of faith” purposes, traveling exhibits, performance development, seminars, workshops, studies, surveys, general research and development, or operating support of regional and national charities.

Key officials: Robert H. Ahmanson, president; Leonard E. Walcott Jr., vice president and managing director; William H. Ahmanson, vice president; Karen A. Hoffman, secretary and program officer; Kristen K. O’Connor, treasurer; Elisa Greben Crystal, Sam Dawson, Mindy Jones, and Manya Schaff, program officers; Yvonne de Beixedon, grants administrator.

ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION

140 East 62nd Street
New York, N.Y. 10021
(212) 838-8400
http://www.mellon.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in 1969 through the amalgamation of the Avalon Foundation, established in 1940 by Alisa Mellon Bruce, daughter of Andrew W. Mellon, and the Old Dominion Foundation, established in 1941 by her brother, Paul Mellon.

In 2000 the foundation allocated grants totaling $220,127,655 in six program areas: higher education and scholarship, which received $127,403,405; population, $25,542,500; conservation and the environment, $22,626,000; museums and art conservation, $20,569,750; performing arts, $20,396,000; and public affairs, $3,590,000.

Grants for higher education and scholarship stressed the liberal arts, minority education, libraries, foreign scholars, faculty development, and the use of technology to enhance and disseminate scholarly research.

For example, the foundation awarded $2.6-million to the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, in Princeton, N.J., for fellowships for junior faculty members from groups that are underrepresented.

Other allocations included $2-million to the United Negro College Fund, in Fairfax, Va., to renew an undergraduate-fellowship program and to support administrative expenses for summer internships in ecology research.

The foundation also awarded grants to apply information technology to higher education, the arts, and other fields. For instance, a $2.8-million award to JSTOR, in New York, supported the addition of an art-history component to this nonprofit organization’s database of articles from scholarly journals.

In 2000 the foundation merged its population and refugee programs under the population program. Grants emphasized policy activities and research geared to contraception and women’s reproductive health, university-based research and training programs in the field of forced migration, cost-effective uses of information technology in research and teaching, and population issues relevant to developing countries.

For instance, several allocations were made to the New York-based International Rescue Committee, including a $150,000 grant for the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children to support research on refugee children and youths. Other grants included $100,000 to CARE, in Atlanta, to support research and training related to refugee protection and the relationships among international law, human rights, and humanitarian assistance.

Grants for conservation and the environment emphasized ecological research and training, studies on the effects of environmental regulations, and the cataloging of images for the Internet.

For example, the foundation awarded $200,000 to the Missouri Botanical Garden, in St. Louis, for a pilot program to digitize rare botanical reference works and make those images available online, and $23,000 to the Ecological Society of America, in Washington, to create an electronic version of the society’s three journals.

Grants to museums and for art conservation focused on establishing senior positions at museums, improving scholarly access to archival documents, and training for graduate students and other specialists in the field.

The largest award in this category, a $2,750,000 allocation to the Art Institute of Chicago, went to endow the position of senior conservation scientist and to create and operate a scientific laboratory.

Performing-arts awards included $1.2-million to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to support productions of American operas, and $250,000 to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, in Montgomery, for the Southern Writers’ Project.

The foundation generally supported U.S. institutions, but it also maintained an international presence that included grants for educational, environmental, and population projects in South Africa and England.

Application procedure: The foundation reviews grant proposals throughout the year, and no special forms are required. In most cases, the applicant should send a short letter describing the nature and amount of the request and the justification for it. Applicants also should send evidence of the organization’s tax-exempt designation from the Internal Revenue Service and any supplementary exhibits that may be helpful. The foundation rarely makes grants in response to unsolicited proposals outside its defined areas of interests. It does not make grants to individuals or to organizations that are primarily local.

Key officials: William G. Bowen, president; T. Dennis Sullivan, financial vice president; Harriet Zuckerman, senior vice president; Mary Patterson McPherson, vice president; Michele S. Warman, general counsel and secretary; Eileen M. Scott, treasurer and assistant secretary; Hanna H. Gray, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Program officers: Danielle D. Carr, Lydia L. English, Saul Fisher, Ira H. Fuchs, Krista L. House, Suzanne M. Lodato, Carolyn Makinson, Joseph S. Meisel, Thomas I. Nygren, William Robertson IV, Donald J. Waters, Catherine Wichterman.

CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION

Mott Foundation Building
503 South Saginaw Street,
Suite 1200
Flint, Mich. 48502-1851
(810) 238-5651
http://www.mott.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2000.

Purpose and areas of support: Charles Stewart Mott, an industrialist affiliated with General Motors and a three-term mayor of Flint, Mich., established the foundation in 1926. Over the years the foundation’s grant making has expanded from Flint and the rest of the United States to encompass Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa.

In 2000 the foundation authorized more than 600 grants totaling $152,970,798 in six programs: pathways out of poverty, which received $53.6-million, or 35 percent of grant dollars; civil society, $41.5-million, or 27.2 percent; the Flint area, $34.8-million, or 22.8 percent; the environment, $19.9-million, or 13 percent; exploratory and special projects, $1.9-million, or 1.2 percent; and employee-trustee matching grants and trustee-initiated grants, $1.2-million, or 0.8 percent.

The “pathways out of poverty” program, a six-year plan that the foundation adopted in 1999, focuses on three methods of alleviating poverty: education, economic opportunity, and community action.

For example, a five-year, $1-million allocation to the Council of Michigan Foundations, in Grand Haven, helped low-income residents statewide establish “individual development accounts” — matched savings programs that can be applied to a down payment on a house, to start a business, or to pursue education. Other awards included $800,000 to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in Denver, to inform state legislatures about recent developments in after-school and alternative-education programs.

Civil-society grants promote nonprofit-sector development, improved race and ethnic relations, and civic rights and responsibilities. Geographically, the program focuses on the United States, Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, and South Africa.

Awards included $5-million over 10 years to the German Marshall Fund of the United States, in Washington, to support the long-term development of civil-society groups in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, and $325,000 over two years to the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans, for its community-organizing and antiracism work.

Flint-area grants included a $110,000 allocation to the Greater Flint Arts Council to improve the image of downtown Flint through increased participation in existing and new festivals.

Environment grants focus on restructuring international finance and trade to include environmental concerns, the conservation of freshwater ecosystems in North America, and special programs. For example, a two-year, $220,000 grant to ActionAid, in London, assisted that group’s efforts to monitor and influence World Bank and International Monetary Fund decisions regarding environmental issues.

Application procedure: The foundation does not have an official application form. Letters of inquiry, with a brief description of the project and the range of financial support needed, are acceptable for initial contact. Proposals may be submitted at any time, but the foundation strongly encourages applicants to submit proposals during the first quarter of the year in which financial support will be needed. Letters of inquiry should be marked “grant proposal” and sent to the address above. Specific guidelines and grant-summary booklets are available free for each program; they can be requested by writing the foundation, by sending an e-mail message to infocenter@mott.org, or by calling the Publication Request Line at (414) 273-6943 or (800) 645-1766. Information also is available at the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: William S. White, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the Board of Trustees; Phillip H. Peters, vice president for the administrative group, secretary, and treasurer; Jimmy L. Krause, director of grants administration and assistant treasurer; Marilyn Stein LeFeber, vice president for communications; Robert E. Swaney Jr., vice president of investments and chief investment officer; Maureen H. Smyth, vice president for programs; Richard K. Rappleye, vice president for field services.

Program directors: Raymond P. Murphy, civil society; Lois R. DeBacker, environment; Karen B. Aldridge-Eason, Flint; Kevin F. Walker, pathways out of poverty.