Recent Foundation Guideline Changes (click here for a PDF version of this article)

This newsletter focuses on three foundations that currently are undergoing or recently have implemented changes to their guidelines. For more guideline information, use the link provided to access the foundations’ websites.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Although specific strategies and priorities for the Moore Foundation have not been formalized, the foundation has identified four program areas of interest in which it has begun making grants. Three of the foundation’s program areas are relevant to UCLA: the environment, higher education and scientific research. In all of its awards, the Foundation emphasizes outcomes that impact future generations.

The environment program has identified two major initiatives – activities that help secure an adequate forest cover for the Amazon Basin and the eastern slopes of the Andes and the long-term sustainability of wild salmon ecosystems.

The foundation's science program encourages scientific research in all fields, especially initiatives that are not usually funded by government sources. The education program focuses on funding projects at the university and graduate level, emphasizing science and technology that will add to the improvement of the quality of life. The foundation is especially interested in programs that will expand and increase the participation of women and minorities in the sciences.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

For the past three years, the foundation has made larger grants to fewer organizations. Between 1999 and 2001, the number of grants declined by 38 percent while the average grant size increased 70 percent, to $370,000, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Foundation programs in human and community development, global security and sustainability, and the general program each select a set of issues on which to focus grantmaking strategies. Revised guidelines were posted to the foundation’s website in June 2002. Among the changes for the coming year was the general program’s decision to phase out gun violence prevention grants in 2003 and the foundation’s decision to create an invitation-only science, technology and security initiative within the global security and sustainability program.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Three of seven foundation programs are undergoing major change. The education program is not accepting inquiries or proposals for 2002. New guidelines for the program will be posted by mid-November of this year. The environment program aims to complete and publish its new guidelines by December 2002. The foundation expects that the program will be built around protecting the ecosystems of the West and promoting clean energy, emphasizing efficiency and renewable sources. In a September 2002 letter, Paul Brest the foundation’s president, described the changes to the conflict resolution program: “… the Conflict Resolution Program should devote the next three years to consolidating its gains, evaluating the impact of the Foundation’s grantmaking on the field of conflict resolution, and focusing its grantmaking on building a sustainable infrastructure for the field. The budget for the program will be significantly reduced, with the 2003 budget at somewhere between a third and a half of current levels.”

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