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New Funds
 Alan Fox, who began the Music School now connected to the Rhode Island Philharmonic, is just the sort of person that philanthropist Herb Kaplan loves to support: energetic, creative, and committed to children. "As school departments were cutting back art education, he stepped into the breach," Herb remembers. Music School programs go into the inner city in imaginative ways, whether by offering private instruction in housing authority sites, early childhood services to moms and kids, or now the youth symphony expertise of the Philharmonic.
So with a generous contribution of their own, Herb and his wife Christine Townsend challenged other fans of Fox and the Music School to contribute to a permanent endowment benefitting the program. The result is the Alan Fox Fund for the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, one of a record 51 new endowments established last year at The Rhode Island Foundation. The 2001 endowments mirror the diversity of funds established every year since 1916. Among them are funds honoring Big Sisters of Rhode Island, a grateful student's former teachers, the memory of beloved parents, the communities of Jamestown and Woonsocket, favorite nonprofits, and much much more. "Given the stresses of 2001 - from September 11th to an underperforming economy - we are particularly grateful that Rhode Islanders kept giving to the causes and organizations that are important to them," says Carol Golden, Senior Vice President for Development. For more information about the Alan Fox Fund for the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra or the Foundation, see www.rifoundation.org. Recharge Batteries  Nancy Paull has worked to combat the ravages of drug abuse since she first volunteered at a Boston hotline at age 16. Now that her oldest child is 20, "I have dedicated my professional life toward the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. It is not a job; it is a passion and my mission."
It's a mission Paull has pursued as executive director of Stanley Street Treatment and Resources (SSTAR) for 17 years. She oversees 150 staff, wrestles with managed care, and directs capital campaigns, all so she can get to her core mission to offer programs like SStarbirth for pregnant or postpartum but drug-involved women. Nancy Paull is wonderful but not alone among the ranks of dedicated nonprofit leaders serving Rhode Island. Usually underpaid and underappreciated, but always overworked, their commitment is their fuel. Two years ago, the Foundation wanted to offer something more to them than our thanks and an occasional grant to their organization. "We wanted to give them a chance to 'recharge their batteries,' learn something new, advance their creativity," explains David Karoff, Senior Program Officer at the Foundation and Director of the Fellows program. Now in its third year, the program includes "proven leaders who represent remarkable diversity from age to experience, ethnic to linguistic, to the disciplines in which they work," says Karoff. Each Fellow receives $12,500 to fulfill a self-designed plan of professional development. The Class of 2001 was as imaginative in their projects as they are in their daily work. Umberto Crenca of AS220 continued development of a new musical instrument; Joe Garlick of the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation researched the social housing movement in Ireland. Bradley Hyson of the Apeiron Foundation continued writing a book about sustainable living. Nancy Paull studied the British system of 'shared care' substance abuse treatment. Funders Gather
 Though the winter just past was warmer than most, it was still a daily struggle for the estimated 4,421 Rhode Islanders who are homeless. Why after such a sustained period of low inflation, prosperity, and low unemployment is there still a growing number of homeless people in the richest country in the world?
A panel of wise advocates discussed this very question in the Foundation's Rhode Island Room on one of those winter days. Headlined by Senator Jack Reed and including Noreen Shawcross of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, Anne Nolan of Traveler's Aid, Deb DeBare of the Women's Resource Center, and Eric Hirsch of Providence College, the panelists unanimously pointed to the unprecedented loss of affordable housing, the shift from well-paid manufacturing to lower-compensated service economy, and state and federal budget cuts.
The panelists' comments that day were heard by a veritable 'who's who' of the state's corporate and private foundations: Hasbro, the Providence Journal, FleetBoston, Champlin, Textron, and The Rhode Island Foundation, among others.
For two years, many of the state's grantmakers have been meeting to better understand the grantmaking of their colleagues, explore opportunities for collaborating, and jointly discuss the issues impacting - and impacted by - their efforts.
"Many grantmakers work in relative isolation and benefit greatly from strong collegial relationships where ideas can be tested, experience shared, and strategic opportunties discussed and analyzed with peers," notes Susan Kostas, who coordinates the "Rhode Island Funders Project" for Associated Grant Makers, a 32-year-old professional membership association of the region's grantmakers.
The group is currently considering such boundary-busting possibilities as a common application form for grant applicants, joint programs, and, certainly, continued conversation.
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The Rhode Island Funders Project has been supported by the following Rhode Island grantmakers:
Beacon Mutual Insurance
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island
CVS
Dunn Foundation
FirstFed Charitable Foundation
FleetBoston Charitable Foundation
Hasbro Charitable Trust
Prince Charitable Trusts
Providence Journal Charitable Foundation
The Rhode Island Foundation
Sovereign Bank
Textron
Van Beuren Charitable Foundation
| Art Gallery
 It's an eclectic art gallery that can link together ice sculptures, children's drawings, an inventory of the region's abandoned factories, a celebration of a women's playwriting festival, a political statement on the natural environment, Friedrich St. Florian's proposed World War II Memorial,
and an homage to Negro Baseball League great Satchel Paige. And, oh yes, be selected as the "best gallery in which to show" by the Providence Phoenix newspaper.
The Rhode Island Foundation Gallery is conveying the full range of conversations, issues, and current events that fill the rest of the building. From the moment he saw the space, an abandoned corporate cafeteria, Foundation President Ron Gallo saw the promise. "I knew right away that we could visually represent what Rhode Islanders are thinking about," he says. "This gallery is a natural extension of our grantmaking in the arts."
Director, curator and artist Anne Rocheleau operates the Gallery more like a small contemporary art museum than a gallery. Rocheleau's directive is to infuse the gallery with social content.
"Naturally, all art comments on the world," Rocheleau acknowledges, "but here I have the ability and the responsibility to engage people in dialogue." Rocheleau has scheduled the Gallery with artist presentations, school visits, and community outreach. For an exhibit of the model of the National World War II Memorial, for example, she invited not only artists, but war veterans and their families to submit artwork and memorabilia as a "People's Memorial" in response to the events of World War II.
"It's a remarkable opportunity to see Rhode Island from a
different pespective."
| | 2001 Exhibits
Why Does the Spider Spin its Web?
Gaia Dialogues
The Making of the National WWII Memorial
Salvatore Mancini: "The Bay that Binds Us: The History and Environment of Narragansett Bay"
Robert Giard: Particular Voices:
Portraits of Gay & Lesbian Writers
Exploraciónes/Explorations
From Antiquity to Hip Hop:
The Culture of Clothing & Adornment
Carta, Exposing the Process of
the Ice Installation
Flexible Space: Mill Preservation | On the Web
 Charitable giving may start from the heart, but that doesn't avoid tax or estate planning ramifications. Terms like EGTRRA and CRUT can have a considerable impact on giving wisely. In fact, at least 45 new endowments established at the Foundation in the past three years - $14.5 million worth - involved the counsel of the donor's lawyer, estate planner, CPA, or financial planner, in addition to our own staff. Estate giving professionals need the most up-to-date information on federal tax law they can find. That's why the Foundation provides the Planned Giving Design Center (PGDC), a comprehensive on-line resource.
All information on the PGDC is written and maintained by nationally recognized legal, tax and planned giving experts. The site includes current, fully annotated discussions regarding: - Planned giving arrangements such as charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, pooled income funds, charitable gift annuities and bequests with sample gift documents;
- The suitability of prospective gift assets and the special issues that apply to their transfer; and
- The rules surrounding the deductibility and compliance for charitable contributions for income, gift and estate tax purposes.
Daily news alerts from Washington deliver the latest IRS pronouncements, court decisions and legislative developments affecting charitable taxation.
It's easy and free to sign up: www.pgdc.net/RIF/FY-index. | |
 Robert L. G. Batchelor honored with Soloveitzik Award
Robert L.G. Batchelor learned some very important lessons from his minister father who always said, "taking care of people was his job."
For Bob, that attitude has become his passion. Through a notable career as a CPA in the firm of Batchelor, Frechette, McCrory, Michael & Co. from which he recently retired, and through equally important volunteer efforts with the Episcopal Diocese, he is the second Harold B. Soloveitzik Professional Leadership Award winner.
The award is named for Westerly attorney Harold B. Soloveitzik who has demonstrated the importance of giving back to the community throughout his life and for the "tremendous leadership he has exercised through his support and promotion of philanthropy."
| New Hope for Newport
 Until last year, redidents of Newport's Miantonomi Heights looked north on 14 acres of abandoned Navy housing. Already the single largest concentration of low and moderate income families in Newport County - three-fourths of the children under age 5 live in poverty - the public and subsidized housing offer places to live for 2,500 people, but no obvious future.
The future is coming! The recent groundbreaking for a new 12-classroom Head Start center on the Ranger Road site (pictured) is just the first of three economic development projects that should transform the North End to a vibrant, mixed-income neighborhood.
The Foundation is pleased to have funded the very first study in 1994 to determine the reuse of the site, and to have made multiple grants in succeeding years.
By itself, the Head Start center is a welcome addition. Church Community Housing Corporation (CHCC), one of the state's stellar community development corporations, has formed a partnership with New Visions of Newport County to develop a model facility that will provide developmentally appropriate pre-school programs; full-day, year-round child care for infants, toddlers, and pre-school children; health, nutrition and mental health services; comprehensive social services; child and family literacy initiatives; adult education; and parenting workshops.
The second component on the site is equally exciting: a Community College of Rhode Island campus that will make low-cost education and job training easily accessible to this low-income community. With an $11 million bond referendum already approved by the state's voters, CHCC is optimistic that CCRI wil be open for classes for the Spring 2003 semester. The childcare building could be open this fall.
Last, but hardly least, a new office complex will house both government offices and private industry. The government center is already slated to house a Newtwork Rhode Island Job Development Center, the Department of Human Services, and the Office of Motor Vehicles, providing both services and new jobs for Newport County residents.
The list of collaborators in this concerted effort is equally impressive, from all six Newport County communities to the Newport Housing Authority and Newport Residents Council, to the Navy, Fleet Bank, state and federal agencies, to the Local Initiatives Support Corp., and the Congressional delegation.
In addition, the new Child Care Facilities Fund, featured in the Foundation's Spring 2002 newsletter, played a prominent role. | The Women's Fund of Rhode Island
 Despite the obvious advances for women and girls since the 1963 publication of The Feminine Mystique, Rhode Island women still earn only 76 cents to a man's dollar, and two out of five of them earn less than poverty level wages. They comprise the fastest-growing segment of the homeless. The sexual assault rate is alarming. One in six girls attempts suicide during adolescence. Teens are giving birth in alarming numbers.
"The challenges are daunting," admits Simone Joyaux, who came to the Foundation two years ago with a vision: the Women's Fund of Rhode Island. In 2001, the Foundation accepted her challenge by housing and seeding the new fund with $2.5 million, with a goal to double that amount within three years.
Joyaux became its founder and first chair, but hardly its only proponent. In just a few months, the Women's Fund of Rhode Island has recruited dozens of women in five committees (see next page), and commissioned major research on the status of women and girls in Rhode Island compared to other states.
Grantmaking will play a big role. Joyaux continues, "When we meet our first fundraising goal of $5 million, we will be able to generate approximately $250,000 annually for grants. Women's funds across the nation have been able to encourage small business training among low-income women, teach construction skills to adolescent girls, provide case management services to women with AIDS, help girls involved in the juvenile justice system, and provide legal support, counseling and advocacy to women transitioning from welfare to work," she listed. "And still have remaining funds for video documentaries, voting drives, and violence prevention."
The Women's Fund will support fresh solutions to problems that have faced women and girls for generations, while celebrating their unique role in society. | Cities Count
 Just as Rhode Island's past economic glories trace their lineage to such cities as Providence, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket, the whole of the state's economic future similarly will rise and fall on the vibrancy of its urban centers.
With that premise firmly in mind, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) and The Rhode Island Foundation have embarked on "Cities Count," a first-ever, joint three-year project to assess the strengths of ten cities, develop recommendations for city and state leaders, and catalyze community activists to establish an "urban agenda".
Foundation Board Chairman Norman E. "Sandy" McCulloch comments, "With a concerted, systematic approach to improve and sustain equitable development in our cities, we will expand their competitiveness, stabilize neighborhoods, and increase economic opportunities and jobs."
Long known for its research on public policy research, RIPEC and several agencies have already begun quantitative research on topics such as immigration and demographics, economic development programs, and community perspectives about public services and economic opportunities.
For example, Cities Count is conducting an economic analysis of Central Falls, Cranston, East Providence, Newport, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warwick, West Warwick, and Woonsocket; is surveying residents of the ten cities and towns on such issues as schools, social services, housing, transportation, job training, and safety, and is developing a series of socio-demographic profiles for the ten municipalities.
"Our immediate goal is to translate the statistics and findings into a set of questions and political options for the gubernatorial race in the fall, and into action steps for the next administration," said RIPEC Executive Director Gary Sasse. "A key element of Cities Count's work will be to integrate neighborhood, business, philanthropic, and political interests in the development of the urban agenda." |
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