Vol. 6, Issue 44
   October 24, 2000

Foundations Boost Funding for Study of Religion

According to the Times, a long-standing academic bias against religion had caused social researchers to overlook its role in American life. Now, however, the subject is increasingly the focus of study within departments of sociology, political science, and international relations. Interest in the study of religion is being driven by a number of factors, the Times reports, including renewed interest in spirituality on the part of aging baby boomers and recent political support for faith-based initiatives.

As part of this trend, a growing number of mainstream foundations are providing money for religious research. The Ford Foundation (http://www.fordfound.org/), one of America's largest foundations, has awarded roughly 50 grants totaling $10.5 million over the past several years through a religious program created in 1997. Other major funders include the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment and the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.pewtrusts.com/programs/rel/relindex.cfm), which is funding a multimillion-dollar initiative to create 10 academic "Centers of Excellence" to study the intersection between religion and a range of contemporary issues.

"Religion was often seen as soft, too ephemeral to be included in serious scholarship," said Kimon Sargeant, a Pew program officer. "We want to help provide a broader public understanding that religion can be a remarkable force for common good."

FCnote: The Ford Foundation (NY) had assets of $11,938,709,000 and made grants totaling $511,825,000 in the fiscal year ending 9/30/99.

FCnote: The Lilly Endowment Inc. (IN) had assets of $10,418,127,226 and made grants totaling $558,287,507 in the year ending 12/31/99.

FCnote: The Pew Charitable Trusts (PA) had assets of $4,894,417,637 and made grants totaling $211,053,071 in the year ending 12/31/99.

Watanabe, Teresa. "The New Gospel of Academia." Los Angeles Times 10/18/2000.

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Lilly Endowment Awards Grants to Explore Role of Faith in Career

"We usually tend to associate 'calling' with the clergy, but calling can be understood theologically to apply to all of us," said Dr. Elaine Nocks, a Furman psychology professor who will serve as a co-director of the new center. "Any of us who consider ourselves people of faith need to consider what living that faith in the world may mean for the choices and decisions we make. This generous grant from [the] Lilly Endowment will allow us to further explore such questions of vocation."

Furman is one of 20 colleges and universities in the U.S. to receive grants totaling $39.7 million from the Endowment to "encourage young people to consider the ministry as a career or consider their faith commitments in whatever career they choose." Among the other institutions that have received grants are Baylor University, Boston College, Davidson College, Earlham College, Loyola University of Chicago, the University of Notre Dame, and Valparaiso University. The Endowment’s board of directors also approved a $50 million commitment for a second round of grants to be awarded through the invitation-only initiative.

FCnote: The Lilly Endowment Inc. (IN) had assets of $10,418,127,226 and made grants totaling $558,287,507 in the year ending 12/31/99.

"Furman University Wins $2 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment to Establish Center for Theological Study of Vocation." Furman University News Release 10/23/2000.

"Baylor Receives $2 Million Grant From Lilly Endowment for Theological Vocation Initiative." Baylor College News Release 10/4/2000.

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Gay Rights Advocates Express Concern Over Case Donation to School

In a letter to Mr. Case, Elizabeth Birch, the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian advocacy organization, expressed concern over the school's affiliation with a church that seeks to "cure" homosexuality. The school, which is Jean Case's alma mater, was founded by Presbyterian television evangelist Rev. D. James Kennedy, whose Coral Ridge Ministries advocates the conversion of gays to a heterosexual lifestyle.

Mrs. Case said in a statement that the gift was intended to support "underserved youth in the Fort Lauderdale area" and for campus improvements. She emphasized that the gift was not intended to benefit Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church or its programs and that, "In no way was the gift intended to send a message of intolerance. Steve and I strongly oppose discrimination in any form."

Spokespersons for the Cases said the donation came from private funds and not from the Case Foundation, which supports programs for poor and disadvantaged youth.

FCnote: The Case Foundation (VA) had assets of $92,702,947 and made grants totaling $3,238,336 in the year ending 12/31/98.

Marquis, Christopher. "$8 Million Gift by AOL's Case Draws Protest." New York Times 10/21/2000. (Free registration may be required.)

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RealNetworks Creates Charitable Foundation

"This was always something we wanted to do," Glaser said in an interview with AP. "From day one, and I recommend this to any entrepreneur starting out, we wanted to set something aside and do good things with it."

The RealNetworks Foundation will fund support of free speech and freedom of communications throughout the world; will assist poor people in gaining access to technology; and will work to improve the quality of life in communities where its employees live. The Seattle-based company will continue to fund the foundation by donating 5 percent of its profits each quarter.

According to Glaser, the foundation's focus on free speech was suggested by the use of streaming media to circumvent media censorship under Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. When Milosevic shut down Free B92, the only independent radio station in Belgrade, the station turned to the Internet and used streaming media to make its programs available to local and international audiences.

"That was amazing to see," said Glaser. "It was a great example of how the work we're doing could really make an impact."

Martinez, Michael J. "RealNetworks Donates Profits." Associated Press Business 10/18/2000.

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Digital Divide Volunteer Groups Grow in Popularity

Twenty-seven-year-old Ethan Zuckerman, who became independently wealthy when his Internet company Tripod was bought by Lycos in 1998, started Geekcorps to help make a wider range of information available to the citizens of poor and developing countries. The idea came to Zuckerman while studying in Ghana on a Fulbright Scholarship. Noticing that the university library in which he was studying lacked up-to-date materials, Zuckerman had an epiphany of sorts: A connection to the Internet could double the library's holdings overnight.

Working with $350,000 donated by Zuckerman and friends from Tripod, the North Adams, Massachusetts-based Geekcorps sent a six-person pilot team to Ghana to train a local software company in Java and Unix, which in turn attracted the attention of Denis Gilhooly, the director of information and communications technology for the United Nations Development Program.

"The key to information infrastructure," notes Gilhooly, "is a dual approach of bottom-up development, exemplified by Geekcorps, and top-down efforts, which would be exemplified by the UNDP Global Network Readiness and Resource Initiative."

Geekcorps is not alone in its efforts. Groups such as the Global Technology Corps, Net Corps America, and the Peace Corps have begun to send volunteers to developing countries equipped with information technology tools, teaching methods, and strategies. And in almost every instance, the goal of these efforts is the same: to help community-based groups in developing countries leverage the Internet to improve the medical, educational, and economic infrastructure in their communities.

Dewan, Shaila. "Geeks, Proud of the Name, Start a Volunteer Corps." New York Times (Late Edition, East Coast) 10/19/2000.

See also: The Peace Corps and America Online Announce Unique International Digital Divide Campaign." AOL Foundation News Release 10/18/2000.

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Gates Says Access to Technology Not Priority for World's Poorest

"Do people have any concept of what it means to live on less than a dollar a day?" the world's richest man asked an audience of executives and senior officials from developing countries and the private and nonprofit sectors. "There's no electricity. Do they have PCs that don't use electricity?"

Gates named health care and literacy as the most important needs of developing countries and said that, while access to technology could develop in parallel with improvements in these areas, it was of secondary importance. "[I]f somebody's interested in equity, you'd only spend about 20 percent of your time talking about PCs before you get back to talking about health and literacy." Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made improving the health of women and children, particularly in the developing world, a priority, pointed out that an estimated eight million children die each year because they do not have access to vaccinations or medical care.

The Digital Dividends conference, a project of the World Resources Institute, brought together 300 private and public sector leaders for discussions on the ways the Internet and wireless communications could introduce and foster new patterns of development in the developing world.

Frishberg, Manny. "Gates: Poor Need Meds, Not PCs." Wired News 10/19/2000.

Frishberg, Manny. "On Creating Digital Dividends." Wired News 10/16/2000.

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Computer Game Puts Philanthropic Skills to the Test

The CD-ROM game puts the player in the position of a foundation president with a $500 million endowment to manage. In this role, the player must decide how much to give to art projects, arts education, cultural facilities and programming, and marketing, with the way in which the money is spent over forty years affecting the overall well-being and quality of life in the Valley.

Harry Saal, board president of Cultural Initiatives, hopes the game will stimulate conversation about the complexities of supporting cultural initiatives in the area. "Do we want Silicon Valley to be a great place?" he asks, emphasizing the importance of active planning. "It's not fated that this will be a great place."

Gillmor, Dan. "Philanthropy's a Game to be Taken Seriously in Valley." San Jose Mercury News 10/20/2000.

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San Francisco's Arts Community Sees Both Sides of Boom Economy

The San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Symphony, the American Conservatory Theater, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are all reporting booming membership and attendance rates, as well as increases in funding. But the new high tech wealth that is fueling their success is also responsible for driving up rents and the cost of living in the city, thereby forcing out cutting-edge and experimental arts groups and causing San Francisco cultural leaders to express concern over the growing "arts gap."

"It's a delicate ecosystem," said SFB executive director Arthur Jacobus. "The strength and health of the majors have an impact on all the arts institutions, and vice versa."

While staff members at the large institutions often provide assistance to small groups by serving on their boards and speaking on their behalf in public forums, they are also obliged to look to the well-being and growth of their own organizations, which are not immune to market down-turns. "It wasn't so many years ago," points out Jacobus, "that the Ballet itself was in a very fragile position."

Winn, Steve. "Big Arts Organizations Thriving." San Francisco Chronicle 10/19/2000.

See also: Hamlin, Jesse. "Creative Use of Space: Chicago, Seattle Take Tentative Steps to Find Places For Artists." San Francisco Chronicle 10/19/2000.

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Boston Housing Fund Helps Poor Residents Cope With Rising Rents

"JP" homeowners who have made a profit selling their homes in the recent wave of buying are encouraged to donate a portion of the proceeds to the city's Affordable Housing Fund. The fund has collected about $35,000 since it was established last year, and has already helped pay for tenants' legal battles, as well as security deposits and rent. The fund also plans to support the hiring of an employee to help tenants fight unfair rent increases and evictions.

"I haven't heard of anything like that," commented Sheila Crowley, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Low Income Housing Coalition. "It sounds like an interesting answer to the problem of gentrification."

"In Boston, Some Home-Sellers Share Profits With Poorer Neighbors." Associated Press in Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune 10/21/2000.

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Corporate Mergers Have Nonprofits Concerned Over Funding Cuts

The proposed merger of oil giants Chevron and Texaco could mean less funding for New York cultural causes and for a range of nonprofits worldwide, the New York Post reports. According to the Post, the companies plan to slash $1 billion in costs as part of the merger, and charitable contributions could be cut in the effort. While Chevron does much of its funding in California and Texaco focuses on the East Coast, charities in more than 100 countries around the world rely on the two companies for contributions to a range of causes. A spokesman for Chevron said that community involvement would remain a "high priority" for the merged company.

In Minnesota, charitable leaders are expressing concern over the merger of Honeywell International and General Electric Co. As part of the deal with GE, Honeywell chairman and chief executive officer Michael Bonsignore will become a member of the GE board of directors. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reports that many nonprofit leaders in the state link the company's strong support for local charitable causes to the involvement of Bonsignore and are concerned by his re-assignment. For the time being, Honeywell executives have said that the company will match in 2000 the amount it contributed to state organizations in 1999, roughly $7.1. million.

Tharp, Paul. "Charities May Lose Key Source of Funds." New York Post 10/17/2000.

"GE Acquisition of Honeywell Leaves Minnesota Jobs, Charitable Contributions Uncertain." Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune 10/23/2000.

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Horizon Foundation Focuses on Community Health

The Horizon Foundation grew out of a deal made by the leaders of nonprofit Howard County General Hospital in 1998 after they realized their organization would need millions of dollars to remain competitive. The hospital merged with Johns Hopkins Medicine, and nearly $40 million of the transaction was earmarked for a new foundation. Later, reserves held in escrow to handle outstanding debt and the hospital's cash were transferred to the foundation, bringing its endowment to $74 million.

The foundation is one of the nearly 134 "health conversion" foundations created in the U.S. between 1973 and 1999. (Federal law requires that assets from the sale of a nonprofit hospital, health plan, or system to a for- profit entity must go to charity.) According to Washington, D.C.-based Grantmakers in Health, health conversion foundations, most less than a decade old, already control assets of more than $15 billion and distribute roughly $664 million annually — a sizable percentage of all philanthropic dollars devoted to health care.

For its part, the Horizon Foundation, while a middleweight among its peers, has already had a significant impact on health care at the county level. This week, it announced a new round of grants totaling $725,000 — most of it to Howard County organizations working on issues of substance abuse and health issues involving adolescents and the elderly — and it expects to award approximately $3 million to $4 million annually. "I don't believe any of us truly understand the impact Horizon will have on our community," commented Howard County General board chair Al Scavo.

DeFord, Susan. "Health Charity Called 'Gift to the Community;' " $70 Million Agency Builds on Foundation of Giving." Washington Post 10/19/2000.

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Correction in Generosity Index Moves Minnesota From 41st to 15th Place

Tom Lowe, a Minnesota resident who does statistics for a local philanthropy club, was surprised at Minnesota's low ranking and decided to double-check the report's data. Lowe located the error in the section of the Index that listed the state's average adjusted gross income at $56,625 per tax return — higher than both California and New York's.

Lowe contacted the National Center for Charitable Statistics, and Center personnel discovered that their spreadsheet contained a typographical error listing the state's total adjusted gross income as $130.1 billion instead of the correct average of $103.1 billion.

"It [the error] is pretty depressing," said NCCS director Linda Lampkin, "and you know how often we proofread these reports — at least three times — and we still missed it."

"Minnesota's Ranking for Charitable Giving Restored by Vigilant Citizen." Associated Press Statewire 10/23/2000.

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The Foundation Center