The period covered by this 2002-2003 biennial report marks the end of our first decade of active grant making on the part of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. We’re excited about the accomplishments of the Foundation during this first decade. We’re also eager to use our experience to further enhance our capabilities as a Board and to improve the impact of the Foundation’s work. As a Board we’ve learned a great deal about the art of philanthropy and how we, as a medium sized foundation working at a national level, can best address enduring societal problems. As a family, we’ve learned the importance of family unity and the steps we can take to build the Foundation as “a center of support to the community of family members” for future generations.
As we enter our second decade, we remain fortunate to have received critical guidance from our First Generation leaders—Burton Tremaine Jr., who died in April of 2002, and Dee Tremaine Hildt who became Emeritus Director in 2003. The cornerstones laid during their service to the Foundation continue to serve as a compelling framework for the governance and philanthropic activities of the Foundation. It’s also important to acknowledge the many contributions made by Tony Tremaine, who served as the first Second Generation Chairman of the Board from 2001-2004. We thank Tony for his leadership, during a time of generational transition as well as his graciousness in assisting our new Chair, Janet Tremaine Stanley, who assumed this position in 2004.
At the same time we are benefiting from the enhanced skills and increased contributions from our younger generation, the G3s, and applaud their grant making efforts and participation at Board meetings.
The past two years have marked several significant challenges for the foundation. Among the most prominent was the decline in the value of our endowment, a fate that many foundations experienced during this period. Fortunately, from a low of $73 million in late 2002, we’re pleased to report that the endowment recovered to over $85 million by the end of 2003. The recovery has been due to a more nimble approach to investment planning, and manager selection, as well as tightening our belts, particularly the painful but necessary decisions that allowed us to reduce our administrative expenses by 30% from 2002 to 2003. Most important, however, is the fact that we met all of our grant commitments during these difficult times, and moved positively forward in our three grant areas.
We put that same nimbleness, refinement, and strategic thinking to use by redefining our approach to environmental grant making and adding a new element to our grant making in the arts. For the contemporary arts program this resulted in the development of a program entitled Marketplace Empowerment for Artists, an approach that seeks to empower visual artists with strategic planning and other critical skills they need to succeed in their profession. Thus far, the program has been well received by artists, arts organizations and the funding community. While we have decided to focus on the professional development needs of artists, we have not forgotten our commitment to curators as well. As such we have increased the award amount of the Emily Hall Tremaine Exhibition Awards and have provided additional funds for the winning shows to travel to other venues.
The Foundation’s environment program has flourished over the past two years under the new focus, which includes reducing the loss of open space, and promoting initiatives that address global warming. While using Connecticut as a model, the Foundation has shown that action on global warming at the local level can influence state and may influence federal policies on this issue. The achievements of our grantees and others during this period have been striking, and the foundation is now poised to bring the Connecticut experience to other states and regions throughout the nation. Our open space grantmaking has provided us with the opportunity to learn more about how communities can become more involved in protecting the landscapes that are of greatest value to them, especially as these areas are rapidly disappearing across America.
In our learning disabilities grant making, the challenge involved taking a hard look at a successful program, with over $20 million in previous grant making, and determining how best to invest our grant making dollars over the next decade. In 2003 we began to review learning disabilities program and determined that we should move from promoting public awareness of the learning disabilities, and the importance of early intervention, to a more targeted support for efforts that would ensure that America’s classrooms are ready for all learning styles, including those with learning disabilities.
When we look back at 2002-2003 we note the challenges that we’ve faced as a foundation. We’ve relied upon the belief that success lies not in avoiding challenges, but instead in how you address them. We feel stronger as an organization, more clearly focused in all our areas, and are confident that we are well poised for the future.
We invite you to learn more about our work these past two years as outlined in the rest of this Biennial Report.
As always, we feel privileged to be part of the philanthropic community and acknowledge the dedication of our grantees, the contributions of our fellow foundations, and the talents of our very able staff.
Return to the 2002-2003 Biennial Report Table of Contents.
