The Foundation's next Distribution Committee meeting is scheduled for March 28, 2012. All of the proposals for the March meeting have been requested. Letters of Inquiry received on or before March 16, 2012 and accepted for submission of a full proposal will be considered at the meeting now scheduled for May 23, 2012. Agencies submitting Letters of Inquiry for the May 2012 meeting and received in the two weeks prior to the deadline date may have less time to complete a proposal if a proposal is requested by the Foundation.

On January 25, 2012 the Foundation’s Distribution Committee approved $2,190,194 of grants to 17 organizations. These grants included $1,145,194 awarded to agencies participating in the Foundation’s Precious Minds, New Connection Initiative and an additional $65,000 also in the area of prevention of child abuse; $825,000 related to illnesses; $75,000 for arts activities; $50,000 for animal cruelty prevention; $25,000 related to mental illness; and, $5,000 for a nonprofit organization salary survey. The details on these and other grants by the Foundation may be found in the Awarded section of this Website. In addition, the latest news release, that does not include the January 2012 grants, can be found in the About the Foundation section of this website.

Due to the unprecedented financial crisis affecting world economies and the resulting decline in investment values, the Foundation’s investment portfolio has also declined significantly. The Foundation is suspending the awarding of capital grants, except in very rare circumstances, until our portfolio has regained its value. Our emphasis will instead be on program operations grants in light of expected funding shortfalls that will affect many of our regularly funded grantees. Based on the current outlook, we expect this policy to be in effect for all of 2012.

The Foundation publishes an Evaluation Summary prepared by Foundation staff based on evaluation reports and data submitted to the Foundation by Grantees. Each summary is prepared after all of the required evaluation reports are received in connection with each grant. The summaries, which are prepared for our Distribution Committee, are circulated to our grantees for comment before being published on this Website in the Evaluation section.

For many years, the Foundation has prepared Research briefs designed to provide background data and information in areas funded by the Foundation. The Research Briefs are published on this Website in the Research section. As new grant proposals are received in the areas covered by the Research Briefs, the Briefs are updated for use by our staff and Distribution Committee. We welcome comments and suggestions on the contents of the Research Briefs.