ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND Annual Report 1999 ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND Annual Report 1999 ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND, INC. Madison Avenue New York, New York - Telephone: .. Facsimile: .. E-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: www.rbf.org POCANTICO CONFERENCE CENTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND Lake Road Pocantico Hills, New York - Telephone: .. Facsimile: .. E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © , Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc. Design: H Plus Incorporated Printing: Finlay Printing Printed on Recycled Paper Contents 5 A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR 9 PRESIDENT’S REPORT ABOUT THE ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND 13 The Rockefeller Brothers Fund 14 Grantmaking Programs 16 Other Programs 17 How to Apply for a Grant 19 Asian Cultural Council ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND PROGRAMS 23 Sustainable Resource Use 37 Global Security 47 Nonprofit Sector 57 Education 63 New York City 71 South Africa 77 Arts and Culture 83 Health 89 Pocantico Programs 101 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation 105 Grants Paid in 1999 MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS 129 Executive Vice President’s Report 131 Financial Report 148 Trustees, Officers, and Staff 151 INDEX A Message from the Chair At the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, will be remembered first and foremost as the year of the merger with the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation (CECF). In the reflections on the year that follow, attention focuses on this development and on the process of program review at the RBF, which has intensified with the merger. In addition, this space includes a brief account of Colin Campbell’s presidency, since was his last full year at the Fund. On August , , he assumed the responsibilities of president of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. After a year of careful planning, the merger of the RBF and the Culpeper Foundation became official on July , . It was agreed that the merged Steven C. Rockefeller foundations would operate under the name of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Four CECF trustees, Hunter Lewis, James Moltz, John Morning, and Dr. Tadataka Yamada, were elected to the RBF board of trustees. In addition, four CECF staff members joined the RBF. Linda Jacobs was appointed vice president of the Fund, and Boris Wessely became the Fund’s new treasurer. At the time of the merger, the RBF endowment was million, and the Culpeper endowment was million. Under the guidance of the RBF Finance Committee, the portfolios of the two foundations have been fully integrated. By year’s end, the RBF endowment had grown to $ million. With substantial new financial resources in hand and the need to integrate the RBF and CECF grant programs, the RBF trustees created a Strategic Review Committee charged with systematically evaluating the RBF and CECF grant programs and making recommendations for the future. The trustees have approached the review process with a concern for continuity with the past as well as with openness to change and innovation. The larger goals and purposes of RBF grantmaking and the geographical focus of the Fund’s international work will be carefully studied. The RBF’s mission statement will be revised to reflect new challenges and developments. It is anticipated that the review process will take roughly two years to complete and should conclude by the end of . The Strategic Review Committee turned its attention first to the education programs of the RBF and former Culpeper Foundation. By December a consensus had been reached that the RBF should resume its very successful program of Fellowships for Minority Undergraduates Entering the Teaching Profession, further develop its programs in early childhood education with a primary emphasis on New York City, and provide support to selected educational institutions with programs that complement these MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR • 5 concerns. A decision was made to phase out the existing programs in undergraduate higher education that have focused primarily on foreign language teaching, environmental studies, and the use of technology in teaching and research. Program review is an ongoing activity at the RBF. During the years and , the Fund undertook a lengthy study of how best to promote global security in a post-Cold War world, leading to the design of a new Global Security program. The trustees formally launched the new program in the spring of . Following a year-long review in , they also adopted early in a revised set of guidelines for the Fund’s South Africa program in early childhood development and basic education. During the Fund commissioned an outside analysis and evaluation of grants totaling $. million made between and in support of the conservation of marine biological resources in the United States. The study found that RBF grantmaking, coupled with RBF staff leadership in the field, had effectively promoted significant reform in fisheries management. In accord with the recommendations of the study report, the trustees voted to continue grantmaking in this critical area for at least another two to three years. After a decade of grantmaking designed to promote a rebirth of civil society and sustainable development in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, the Fund began an assessment of its accomplishments and of future challenges in the region. In this connection, in December the trustees approved a special million grant payable over five years to the German Marshall Fund of the United States as the RBF contribution to the newly established Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. William S. Moody, an RBF program officer, played the leading role in conceiving and organizing the new Trust. It is anticipated that the Trust, which has been designed as a $ million, ten- year fund, will consolidate the progress made in developing a strong nonprofit sector in Central and Eastern Europe and help to advance ongoing efforts to promote the growth of civil society. The Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, C.S. Mott Foundation, and German Marshall Fund are among those collaborating with the RBF on this project. The trustees continue to follow closely the ongoing development of the program at the RBF Pocantico Conference Center that opened in . The Center has proven to be a very valuable resource that has significantly enhanced the Fund’s capacity to promote dialogue, collaboration, and strategic social change. From to , there was approximately a percent increase in the number of conferences hosted by the Center, which for the first time operated at close to its full capacity in . During the year, , men and women from dozens of countries participated in conferences. Roughly a third of these conferences were funded by the RBF, and percent were convened by RBF staff. Colin Campbell’s departure from the RBF after years as president provides an opportunity to reflect on a remarkable chapter in the history of the Fund. At Colin’s last board meeting in June , the trustees formally recognized and expressed their deep appreciation for his exceptional leadership and many outstanding contributions. What follows is largely adapted from a tribute that was read on that occasion. • • • After having served as the president of Wesleyan University for years, Colin G. Campbell was appointed the president and a trustee of the RBF in . The years of Colin’s presidency have been a period of extraordinary growth and development at the Fund. The RBF has been transformed from a relatively small foundation with an endowment of million into a complex organization that by mid- had an $ million endowment and embraced within its framework a historic property, an international conference center, and three other funds (the Asian Cultural Council, Rockefeller Family Fund, and DR Fund). The annual program budget in was . million; by mid- it had risen to over million. 6 • ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND 1999 ANNUAL REPORT RBF Trustees Front row (left to right): Neva Goodwin, Steven Rockefeller, Colin Campbell, Abby O’Neill, David Rockefeller, Jr. Back Row (left to right): James Moltz, Hunter Lewis, Tadataka Yamada, Catherine Broderick, Richard Chasin, William Luers (Advisory Trustee), John Morning, Richard Parsons, Joseph Pierson, Peggy Dulany, David Callard, Jessica Einhorn. Not present: Robert Oxnam, Edmond Villani, Frank Wisner. Recognizing that we live in an increasingly interdependent world, Colin has been an articulate proponent of collaboration and the building of partnerships among organizations and across all boundaries of discipline, culture, nationality, and region. At the RBF he has implemented this philosophy with foresight and creative imagination. Not only has he actively pursued partnerships with other foundations in order to leverage the Fund’s grantmaking, he has also linked the RBF with other Rockefeller family-related institutions. During his first year, Colin worked out an arrangement whereby the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) became affiliated with the RBF. This provided ACC with a much-needed secure base of support that enabled it to continue its programs, increase its fundraising, and build its capacity as an institution. The new link between the RBF and ACC marked a return of the Fund to the field of the arts after almost twenty years. The most dramatic achievement of Colin’s early years at the RBF was the negotiation of an agreement involving David Rockefeller, Laurance Rockefeller, the National Trust for Historical Preservation, and the RBF concerning the Rockefeller family Pocantico Estate and Historic Area in Westchester County, outside New York City. This agreement, reached in , brought to a happy conclusion over a decade of efforts to find a way to realize Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s wish to preserve Kykuit, the Pocantico home of John D. Rockefeller Senior and Junior as well as the Governor, and make it available to the public. It made possible the creation of the RBF Pocantico Conference Center, which has significantly strengthened the Fund’s convening power. The agreement also established a relationship among the Rockefeller family, the National Trust, and the RBF that has made possible the future preservation of the entire Pocantico Estate in a way that will benefit the public and further enhance the resources available to the Pocantico Conference Center.