Annual Report 2004 - Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

CIVIL SOCIETY: OVERVIEW
UNITED STATES
Efforts to strengthen the nonprofit sector
and the field of philanthropy, and also to
address racism and promote justice, are as
important in the United States as abroad.
Mott provided a one-year, $45,000
grant to the National Center for Family
Philanthropy in Washington, D.C., for its
initiative to help community foundations
work with donor families. The multipronged
educational initiative included
hosting a summit on the topic, and also
making resources available online. In
addition, the center created a toolkit geared
for community foundations that work with
donor families.
Grantmaking in the United States also
supports organizations that are seeking to
improve race relations and racial equality.
A one-year, $50,000 grant to the
Washington, D.C.-based Advancement
Project for its Democracy and Justice
Communications Network program
provided communications training for
grassroots groups and improved the
project’s outreach to national and
alternative media outlets. Strategies
included making research, surveys and
spokespeople available to the media, and
using the Internet to share information
and build an electronic advocacy group.
The Aspen Institute, also based in
Washington, D.C., used a one-year, $75,000
grant to support its Project on Race and
Community Revitalization. This included
conducting a seminar on racial equity for
leaders in the community-building field;
publishing essays on race, structural racism
and the community-building field; and
publishing a working paper on how
structural racism impacts the youth
development field.
SPECIAL INITIATIVES –
INTERNATIONAL
Mott occasionally provides funding for
projects related to the development of civil
society internationally. An example was a
one-year, $56,200 grant to the Washington,
D.C.-based German Marshall Fund of the
United States in early 2005 for its U.S.-
Europe Community Foundation
Fellowships program.
Annually, five European professionals
in the community foundations field and
five of their U.S.-based counterparts make
transatlantic visits to host sites for three
weeks, providing opportunities for
participants to exchange ideas and partner
on projects. The 10 fellows meet as a
group both before and after their
placements, first for orientation and then
for debriefing.
Since the program began in 1999, more
than 50 community foundation
professionals have been given fellowships,
and more than 80 community foundations
have participated. The project is a joint
effort between the German Marshall Fund
and the King Baudouin Foundation of
Belgium, with funding from Mott for travel,
lodging and honoraria.
2004 ANNUAL REPORT
15