Foundation Annual Reports

BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

P.O. Box 23350
Seattle, Wash. 98102
(206) 709-3140
http://www.gatesfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was created in January 2000 through the merger of two foundations endowed by Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of the Microsoft Corporation, and his wife, Melinda French Gates.

The couple made donations to the foundation totaling $16-billion in 1999, followed by gifts of $5-billion and $2-billion in 2000 and 2001, respectively. It is by far the wealthiest foundation in the United States, with assets of approximately $24.1-billion.

The foundation allocates grants in four major program areas: global health, which received $507.0-million in 2002; education, which received $413.1-million; the Pacific Northwest, $121.9-million; and libraries, $44.6-million. The foundation also awarded grants totaling $70.1-million for special projects outside those four areas.

The program on global health seeks to reduce health inequities in developing countries, with an emphasis on infectious disease and vaccines, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and reproductive and child health. Specific approaches focus on aiding in the development of low-cost health technologies that can help prevent or eradicate such diseases; supporting programs that have the potential for wide-scale duplication by governments and nonprofit groups; promoting financial mechanisms that encourage long-term access to health-care technologies in poor countries; and highlighting effective public-health strategies and strengthening public-health leadership in developing countries.

The foundation’s largest health-related commitment in 2002 was a 10-year, $200-million grant to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md., to establish the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, which identifies critical scientific challenges in global health and awards grants for research on diseases that kill millions of people in developing countries. The foundation also pledged $100-million to create the India AIDS Initiative, in New Delhi, which will work with other groups in the country to raise awareness and prevent the spread of HIV.

Other grants included $1-million over two years to Population Services International, in Washington, for a program to provide condoms and oral and injectable contraceptives in Afghanistan.

The education program seeks to increase the number of disadvantaged youths in the United States who finish high school and college. To help accomplish this goal, the foundation supports the creation of small high schools and the conversion of large high schools into small schools with low student-to-teacher ratios. One grant recipient under this program, Dayton School District No. 2, in Ohio, received $149,950 over three years to create a high school that incorporates state-of-the-art technology.

In Washington State, the foundation supports college scholarships for low-income students; professional development for high-school teachers, principals, and superintendents; and research on improving high-school education.

Grants to benefit Pacific Northwest residents go primarily to organizations in Oregon and Washington State that support low-income families and their children, at-risk youths, homeless people, substance-abuse prevention, and access to digital technology for disadvantaged people. The foundation’s largest regional effort, Sound Families, helps develop transitional-housing units for families in the Puget Sound area who are at high risk for becoming homeless.

Through its libraries program, the foundation collaborates with public libraries in the United States, Canada, and other countries to expand access to information and computer technology to low-income and other people who have traditionally not had it. For example, the Hualapai Education and Training Center, in Peach Springs, Ariz., received $50,336 to provide computer and Internet access to members of the Hualapai Tribe.

Application procedure: The foundation awards the majority of its grants to organizations selected by its program teams. Letters of inquiry are accepted for the global-health program, community grants under the Pacific Northwest program, and the Community Access to Technology focus under the libraries program. Potential applicants for grants in those three areas should review program guidelines before submitting a letter. The foundation will consider letters of inquiry from tax-exempt, charitable organizations whose requests fall within the program guidelines summarized on its Web site. The foundation neither encourages nor generally considers unsolicited proposals.

Proposals that benefit specific individuals or that serve exclusively religious purposes are not accepted.

Key officials: William (Bill) H. Gates and Melinda French Gates, co-founders; William H. Gates Sr., co-chair; Patty Stonesifer, co-chair and president; Sylvia Mathews, chief operating officer and executive director; Richard D. Klausner, executive director, global health; Tom Vander Ark, executive director, education.

GOLDSEKER FOUNDATION

Symphony Center
1040 Park Avenue, Suite 310
Baltimore, Md. 21201
(410) 837-5100
http://www.goldsekerfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1975 through the will of Morris Goldseker (1898-1973), a Polish immigrant who became a Baltimore real-estate owner. It supports nonprofit groups that directly benefit disadvantaged people in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

The Goldseker Foundation makes grants in four long-standing established program areas — community affairs, education, human services, and neighborhood development; and three priority grant areas — community development, the nonprofit sector, and regional initiatives. Its grant making includes a mix of foundation-initiated programs and projects submitted by grant seekers.

In 2002, the foundation awarded 18 grants totaling $2,526,400 in its established programs.

Under the community-affairs program, the Baltimore Community Foundation received $1-million over five years for general operations and for a campaign to strengthen its staff and technological infrastructure, and to raise additional discretionary grant funds. From 1989 through 2000, the Goldseker Foundation was affiliated with the Baltimore Community Foundation, during which time the two funds shared office space, operating funds, and a chief executive officer.

Education grants included $25,000 to Midtown Academy, an alternative public school in Baltimore, for salary support and a fund-raising program. Also under the education program, the foundation awarded $246,600 to the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, for a scholarship fund that provides financial aid to undergraduate students from the Baltimore metropolitan area. Last year, 12 students received scholarships through this fund.

Human-services grants included $246,600 to The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore for a fund that helps new immigrants settling in Baltimore adapt and become self-sufficient.

Grants for neighborhood development included $75,000 over two years to the Greektown Community Development Corporation, in Baltimore, to hire a community organizer who will spearhead its work to make this neighborhood cleaner and safer.

The foundation also authorized 35 priority grants totaling $1,304,775 as follows: community development received $755,325; the nonprofit sector, $283,250; and regional initiatives, $266,200. For example, under the community-development program, Baltimore Main Streets received $50,000 to support architectural services in seven Baltimore business districts undergoing revitalization efforts.

Application procedure: Potential applicants whose proposed projects fall within the stated objectives and interests of the foundation should submit a brief letter of inquiry, including a projected program budget, to the address above. Foundation staff members will review the materials and notify the applicant as to whether a fully developed proposal should be sent. Additional information is available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Timothy D. Armbruster, president and chief executive officer; Sally J. Scott, program officer; Paul C. Brophy and Carol A. Gilbert, program consultants; Sheldon Goldseker, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

CORPORATIONS

FREDDIE MAC FOUNDATION

8250 Jones Branch Drive
Mail Stop A40
McLean, Va. 22102
(703) 918-8888
http://www.freddiemacfoundation.org

Period covered: Year ending December 31, 2002.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was established in 1991 by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). It awards grants in three broad program areas: strengthening families, foster care and adoption, and youth development. It also awards some complementary grants through three signature programs: Wednesday’s Child USA, Healthy Families America, and the J.C. Nalle Elementary School, in Washington.

In 2002, the foundation awarded grants and employee-matching gifts totaling $17,609,352. Approximately 67 percent of those awards supported programs in the Washington metropolitan area, including Maryland and Virginia. The remaining 33 percent of grant dollars went to organizations that operate nationwide or in the five cities where Freddie Mac has regional offices: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York.

Grants and employee-matching gifts for the foundation’s three main programs — strengthening families, foster care and adoption, and youth development — totaled $7,269,495. Awards included $145,000 to the Arlington Community Temporary Shelter, in Virginia, to provide formerly homeless families in Arlington County with transitional housing, case-management services, and financial support for rental assistance and other needs. Another grant recipient, Adoptions Together, in Silver Spring, Md., received $50,000 to find adoptive families for sibling groups and for older, minority, and medically impaired children.

The foundation made grants totaling $1,481,822 through its Wednesday’s Child program, which seeks to find permanent adoptive homes for foster children in Washington and the five cities listed above. Grants through this program included $75,000 to the Center for Adoption Support and Education, in Silver Spring, to provide therapeutic services for children in the metropolitan Washington area who are featured on Wednesday’s Child, a television program supported by the foundation that seeks to match children with prospective adoptive parents.

Through its Healthy Families America program, the foundation awarded grants totaling $1,088,400 for efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect through home visits and other programs.

Regional grants totaled $2,310,000, and included $100,000 to Community Build, in Los Angeles, to provide disadvantaged youths and their families with college-related services, including assistance with college and financial-aid applications and training in mathematics, reading, and writing.

Other awards included $250,000 to the Latin American Youth Center, in Washington, to construct a transitional-housing and education facility for homeless girls, pregnant teenagers, and teenage mothers and their children.

Leland Brendsel, chairman of the foundation’s Board of Directors, resigned on June 13, one week after he resigned as chief executive officer of the Freddie Mac corporation amid questions about the company’s accounting practices.

Application procedure: The foundation is currently reviewing its regional grant making and is not accepting proposals from outside the Washington, D.C., area. Grant guidelines and additional program information are available on the foundation’s Web site.

Key officials: Maxine B. Baker, president and chief executive officer of the foundation and vice president, community relations, Freddie Mac; Janice Thomas, chief financial officer of the foundation and director, reporting and operations, Freddie Mac; Donna Baines, director, community relations and communications; Cheryl S. Clark, director, foundation giving; Mike Schwartz, director, corporate giving and employee involvement.