The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

This year, we awarded $16.4 million in grants to *407 nonprofit organizations, and of that number, 24 were new programs.

*430 individual grants were awarded to 407 nonprofits, which includes board member contributions matched by the Cafritz Foundation.

With a weak economy, home prices depressed and unemployment over 9 percent, nonprofits have been hit by a combination of growing community needs and reduced contributions. Many state and local governments are struggling to balance their budgets, and foundations, corporations and individuals do not have the funds to match previous giving levels. In this environment, educating leaders and the public about the importance of nonprofit work is vital. The Foundation continues to help sustain the sector and to support outstanding nonprofits in the region.

With a repeat grant to the Nonprofit Roundtable, we helped support the second year of the Think Twice Before You Slice campaign, which encourages local, regional and state officials to avoid a “cuts only” approach to their budgeting process and helps save substantial funding for human services and area nonprofits. Similarly, the Foundation’s grant to the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development included funds for an advocacy initiative: the Continuum of Housing. This campaign unites affordable housing and community development organizations to educate DC government leaders on the importance of providing a range of home-ownership programs and advises officials on procedural issues that impede the production and preservation of affordable housing.

In addition, the Foundation awarded a grant to Pew Charitable Trusts to support the DC Cultural Data Project, which is free to nonprofits and allows them to generate application materials and reliable reports for multiple grantmakers. Funders, in turn, gain access to a storehouse of information that documents the strengths and needs of their nonprofit partners, as well as the positive impact of the arts in the region.

Our two-year grant to the University of the District of Columbia Community College (UDCCC) is helping this recently created community college to conduct research and improve its services to students enrolled in associate degree, workforce development and continuing education courses. One of 160 schools, nationwide, selected to participate in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative, UDCCC is engaged in improving outcomes, especially for low-income students and students of color.

Several other large grants in the past year demonstrate the breadth of the Foundation’s commitment to education and lifelong learning. Our two-year grant to the Washington Area Women’s Foundation helps support the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative. This group of funders — understanding that 85 percent of brain development occurs in the first five years of life — invests philanthropic resources in programs for young children from low-income families. The Foundation also awarded funds to Bounce DC to assist with the construction of Educare DC, a state-of-the-art early childhood education facility in the Kenilworth-Parkside neighborhood. This community in Ward 7 is part of the federally funded Promise Neighborhood Initiative, which mandates lifelong educational services: Educare will provide key components of this continuum.

The Foundation’s two-year grant to the Alice Ferguson Foundation is helping to build the Potomac Watershed Study Center in Accokeek, Maryland. Upon completion, the multi-phase project will include: a new Day Use Education Building, which will house weekday and summer education programs and teacher trainings; an ADA-compliant boardwalk for studying the nearby wetlands; and a new Overnight Lodge and additional sleeping spaces for use by teachers or students. The new facilities will be among the first “living buildings” in the United States, with net zero energy, net zero water and zero waste, and are designed to exceed LEED environmental standards.

Arts groups such as Joe’s Movement Emporium and the Sitar Arts Center are providing young people with transferrable skills for the workplace. In Prince George’s County, where Joe’s is located, 74 percent of youth, ages 16-19, are unemployed, according to a 2010 statistic. In response to this need, Joe’s is now training interns to work in the technical aspects of theater. The Sitar Arts Center’s Emerging Arts Leaders program provides a certificate for teen participants who are interested in the field of arts administration.

For decades, cultural nonprofits have helped bring educational programs and other resources to youth and schools. The Phillips Collection uses works by artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Jacob Lawrence to link with other core curricular areas such as science and social studies. The National Gallery of Art encourages critical thinking skills while furthering student understanding of particular works of art. Through these lessons, youth become more appreciative of cultural offerings and the museum experience, often returning with their families to tour the galleries. Washington Performing Arts Society’s Capital Music Initiative brings artistic instruction back into the DC Public Schools. Students wishing to study voice, jazz or string instruments are provided instruction at no cost.

Another large grant to Artspace Projects, Inc., demonstrates the intersection between the arts and community development. This challenge grant will help to support the renovation of Dance Place, which has long been a home for dance performance and education in the region. The project is part of a larger initiative in the Brookland neighborhood that will include live/work space for artists, studio and commercial space, and the upgraded facilities for Dance Place.

An increasing number of older adults, particularly baby-boomers, are likely to remain in our region as they age. The Census Bureau has estimated that there will be 88.5 million Americans aged 65 and over in 2050, which is more than double the 38.7 million individuals of that age in 2008. Given these demographic shifts, it is not surprising that, across the various areas of our funding, there are more intersections with aging, including arts programs for older adults, legal services for seniors, and health services. For example, the Foundation’s grant to Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind helped the organization acquire an Eye Wellness Mobile Unit, which will provide critical vision care for underserved populations in DC, especially those living with diabetes and age-related macular degeneration.

In addition to our longstanding support of many senior centers and service organizations, we are seeing an increase in aging-in-place programs. This past year, we helped fund two new villages that assist low- or middle-income neighbors — Dupont Circle Village, Inc. and Pennsylvania Avenue Village East, Inc. These villages are similar to the Boston-based Beacon Hill model, in which seniors pay for certain services that make it feasible to stay in their homes for more years. In the modified village program in the DC area, participants pay a smaller membership fee and volunteers provide most of the work.

This past year, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation sought feedback from its grantees to assess and strengthen its own performance. In summer 2010, The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) surveyed 387 grantees of the Foundation, and 309 (that is, 80 percent) responded. CEP kept the grantees’ responses confidential, while collecting and providing much valuable information to us.

Compared to other funders that CEP has surveyed, the Foundation was given high ratings for its impact on and understanding of grantees’ fields, overall grantee satisfaction, and the quality of its relationships with grantees. CEP summarizes that “Grantees describe Cafritz and its staff as ‘very strong and accessible,’ ‘extremely responsive,’ and consider the Foundation ‘a premier foundation in every way.’” Although the Foundation was rated as typical in the clarity of its communications, we will be looking for ways to improve our performance in this area.

In addition, the CEP report notes that Cafritz awards tend to be smaller amounts and include a lower proportion of multi-year grants, but that the Foundation provides more general operating support than is typical. Grantees indicated an interest in having an online option for submitting materials and would welcome more staff involvement in helping to strengthen their organizations.

The Foundation staff has been developing responses to these grantee suggestions and requests. We appreciate the excellent work of CEP and the candid participation of so many of our nonprofit partners. In the coming year, we will share updates on our progress through our website and other communications.

I am most grateful to the members of our Board of Directors and Advisory Board for their dedicated service and invaluable advice throughout the year. In addition, I would like to thank our outstanding staff for their hard work and commitment.

Calvin Cafritz
Chairman