The Year in Review

Grantmaking

In late 2008 the Foundation’s Board of Directors approved a comprehensive set of changes to our grantmaking guidelines which were implemented in early 2009. The losses in our endowment and the diminished financial conditions in the economy made this re-alignment of our work necessary. As a result of our new and, with any luck, temporary focus on “safety net” grants, we have had to reduce or eliminate funding to a number of wonderful and capable arts, environmental or historic preservation organizations – all of which contribute mightily to the quality of life in the Hudson Valley.  To these groups: we want you to know that this decision was not made easily or without regret.  We hope that we will be able to reintroduce new funding streams in the future and that we will be able to partner with you again.

The global recession constrained the Dyson Foundation’s grantmaking in 2008 as well.  As a result of significant losses in the Foundation’s endowment we had to downscale our plans for grantmaking in 2008. The Foundation made $16,051,829 in total payments on 322 separate grants to 246 different organizations during the year. The gross payout was about 41% less than the 2007 total of $27,316,126, which had represented the Foundation’s highest annual payout in its 51 years in operation. Individual grant payments made in 2008 ranged from $400 to $800,000 with a mean payment of $47,773 and a median grant payment of $20,000.  Of the 322 grants paid out during the year, 45 grants (or 14% of the total) were awarded to new grantees that we had never funded before.  The number of general operating supports grants that were awarded increased from 11% in 2007 to 20% in 2008.  We believe that general operating support is one of the most important kinds of financial assistance that we can provide to key providers during a time of financial downturn.

While we would have liked to maintain grantmaking levels in our Mid-Hudson Valley Grants program, we did in fact have to decrease our Mid-Hudson Valley grants to $9,697,069 in 2008 from the $12,069,619 paid in 2007.  The Mid-Hudson Valley grants program (which focuses on nonprofit organizations located in Dutchess County and the surrounding counties of Ulster, Orange, Columbia, Greene and Putnam) did grow to represent 60% of all Foundation giving in 2008, a 16% increase over 2007 levels. The Legacy & Family Interest program, which funds unsolicited grants awarded at the discretion of the Dyson family, represented 38% of the Foundation’s overall funding, a 10% reduction from the previous year. Legacy & Family Interest Program grants totaled $6,017,200 in 2008, representing a 54% reduction from the previous year’s giving under the program. The Foundation continued its Directors’ Discretionary and Support of Philanthropy funding programs at levels consistent with previous years’ allocations, each representing about 1% of total giving for the year.

The Mid-Hudson Valley Program accounted for 195 of the 322 grants paid out in 2008. Under this program, Dutchess County organizations and projects received 56% of the total funding provided, while 22% of the funding went to nonprofits serving two or more of Mid-Hudson Valley counties.  Of the remainder, 15% of Mid-Hudson Valley Program funding went to Ulster County nonprofits (a 9% increase over 2007 levels), 5% went to Columbia County, and 5% was shared between Greene, Orange and Putnam county grantees.

The housing crisis of 2008 dramatically increased the number of Hudson Valley homeowners facing the threat of foreclosure. In response, the Foundation awarded a two-year $220,000 grant to the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), a non-profit community development housing organization, to support a regional foreclosure counseling and prevention initiative scheduled to run from November, 2008 through October, 2010. The funding enabled RUPCO and its partners—Hudson River Housing and Legal Services of the Hudson Valley—to hire additional counselors and legal staff to provide a comprehensive program of individual counseling, group education, outreach, and litigation to address the full spectrum of needs for homeowners facing foreclosure in Ulster, Dutchess and Sullivan Counties.  The Foundation also made payments on several new or multi-year grants that helped address the increased demand for safety net services, including payments to Dutchess Outreach, Columbia Opportunities, Community Action of Greene County, and the Hunger Action Network of New York State, among others.

During 2008, the Dyson Foundation continued its significant investment in the Walkway Over the Hudson plan to transform the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge into an elevated pedestrian and cycling park. In addition to key start-up funding and plans for a multi-year capital commitment to the project, the Foundation provided staffing, administrative support, and management oversight as an in-kind donation to the Walkway effort, which commenced construction in May, 2008 and opened to the public in October, 2009. To read about the success of this project, please visit www.walkway.org.

The Foundation’s Management Assistance Program (MAP) awarded 59 grants totaling $639,700 in 2008, growing to represent 4% of all Foundation giving for the year. Of the 59 grants, 47 were mini-grants ($10,000 or less) totaling $297,700.  The remaining $342,000 supported management assistance projects designed to build capacity and increase operating efficiency in Mid-Hudson Valley nonprofit organizations. In addition, eight grants totaling $204,500 were made under the Foundation’s Strategic Restructuring Initiative (SRI) which facilitates mergers and collaborative efforts within the nonprofit community.

In 2008 the Foundation made its last grant payments to grantees of the Anne E. Dyson Community Pediatrics Training Initiative, a multi-year initiative that provided funding to 10 different pediatrics residency training programs at medical institutions throughout the United States. The institutions were chosen through a highly selective national competition mounted in 2000, and the programs funded included: the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in collaboration with Harlem Hospital Center, New York, NY; the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in collaboration with the Naval Medical Center Pediatrics, San Diego, CA; the University of Hawai’i School of Medicine, Honolulu, HI; the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA; Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN; the University of Florida Health Science Center, Jacksonville, FL; and the University of Miami, Miami, FL.  In addition, the Women’s and Children’s Health Policy Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health was funded to conduct a national cross-program evaluation of the Initiative (http://www.jhsph.edu/wchpc/projects/DINE/dine.html). The Initiative was initially managed by the Department of Community Pediatrics of Boston Children’s Hospital, and subsequently by the Division of Community-Based Initiatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics (http://www.aap.org/commpeds/cpti/cptihistory.htm).

The initiative established pediatric residency training programs which incorporated the principles of community pediatrics into their residency curricula. These programs have gone forward to implement new training curricula, develop innovative tools and resources for community pediatrics training and evaluation, and build strong partnerships with community-based organizations. The Dyson Initiative was conceived of and developed by Anne E. Dyson, the Foundation’s late President, and sister of Robert R. Dyson. Annie was a dedicated pediatrician who was deeply concerned about the plight of America’s children, many of whom grow up without adequate health care. She wanted to find ways to engage community pediatricians in caring about all the children in their communities and to become advocates for all children’s health care.

Other Foundation Activities

In an effort to become more environmentally responsible and sustainable, the Foundation took steps in 2008 to reduce its carbon footprint, particularly at its headquarters in Millbrook, NY. Following the recommendations of an energy audit, the Foundation’s office building on Halcyon Road was fitted with new thermal pane windows and additional insulation that will decrease the building’s overall energy consumption.  The Foundation is encouraging a variety of energy-saving strategies including paperless board meetings and seeking to implement a completely online grants inquiry and application process.

Governance

The board conducted five meetings in 2008, one of which included a visit to Newburgh, NY, and meetings Foundation grantees, including Gateway for Entrepreneurial Tomorrows (an organization that provides support and training for new, small entrepreneurs), Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh and Safe Harbors, an innovative program that provides housing and services to homeless and low-income people in Newburgh.

Guest speakers that made presentations to the board, included Holly A. Grason, MA, Dyson Initiative National Evaluation, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Jeffrey Kaczorowski, MD, Principal Investigator, CPTI, American Academy of Pediatrics and University of Rochester Medical Center; and Cynthia S. Minkovitz, MD, MPP, Dyson Initiative National Evaluation, Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who updated the board on the work of the Dyson Pediatrics Training Initiative.

Investments

At the end of 2008, the total market value of the Foundation’s investment portfolio was $231.5 million, which represented a decrease of $127 million over its market value at the end of 2007.

The Dyson Foundation’s approximate return, net of management fees, was –28.4% in 2008 compared to 9.6% on the same basis in 2007. At the end of the year, the Foundation’s asset mix was 41% equities, 23% fixed income, 18% hedge funds, 14% private equities, and 4% other investments.