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Ford Foundation Annual Report 1983







Special Program Actions

Program-Related Investments.

For the past fifteen years, the Foundation has used a portion of its capital funds to invest in enterprises that advance philanthropic purposes. These funds, called program-related investments (see listing, page 79), support projects in such fields as community development, low-income housing, education, and the arts. Most pris take the form of low-interest loans, and they generally support projects for which commercial financing is not available. They enable recipients to accumulate assets, develop business discipline, and develop responsible management.

pris are often combined with funds from banks and insurance companies, industrial corporations, and federal and state governments that also invest on a concessional basis in projects serving social purposes.

Since 1968 the Foundation has made 125 pris totaling approximately $84 million. In 1983 some $8.5 million was committed. Recipients included the Famicos Foundation, which is building an apartment complex in a black neighborhood in Cleveland (see page 3); Coastal Enterprises, Inc., which is investing in small businesses in Maine (see photo essay, page 76); the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, which is helping lower-income families in eastern Kentucky purchase housing (see page 27); the National Association of College and University Business Officers, which operates a loan program for community

GRANTS AND PROJECTS Approvals (Reductions) Payments (Refunds)
Special Program Actions
Reductions and refunds
Net miscellaneous reductions and refunds of less than $10,000 each and approvals and payments of $1,000 or less. $ (24,094) $ (37,185)
Council on Foundations (Washington, D.C.)
Annual dues 20,000 20,000
Committee for International Grantmakers 25,000 25,000
Communications Assistance Program 103,000 53,000
Development of a special program fund 250,000 50,000
Delegated-authority projects
Small program actions, field office operations [$2,150,000—1982] 301,694 449,137
United Way of Tri-State 9,094 9,094
Planning and technical assistance for program-related investments [$300,000—1982] (29,725)
Detroit Association of Black Organizations
Administrative and development costs [$77,000—1982] 38,500
Foundation Center (New York)
General support 280,000 140,000
Foundation for Management Education and Development (Indonesia)
Training in small business management [$210,000—1982] 76,530
Fund for the City of New York
Improving the performance of municipal agencies [$2,500,000—1982] 1,250,000
Japan Center for International Exchange
Staff costs for Asian philanthropic trust [$20,000—1982] 10,000
New York City Commission for the United Nations and Consular Corps
United Nations Plaza Project 3,500 3,500
United Foundation (Detroit)
1982 Torch Drive 100,000 75,000
TOTAL, SPECIAL PROGRAM ACTIONS $ 1,038,469 $ 2,162,576
TOTAL, 1982 AND 1983 GRANTS AND PROJECTS $101,847,169 $88,372,875

based colleges (see page 49); and the Public Interest Law Center, which is renovating office space in New York City for four legal defense funds (see page 40).

Grants were made this year to several philanthropic/service organizations with which the Foundation has long been associated. The Council on Foundations, a membership organization of private foundations, received $250,000 toward an expanded program of outreach, training, and service to members; and $103,000 to establish a new service to assist members in the preparation of such materials as annual reports and newsletters.

The Foundation Center, the principal repository of information on private foundations, was granted $280,000 for its data collection and dissemination activities; and the United Foundation of Detroit received $100,000 for its annual Torch Drive, which funds community agencies in metropolitan Detroit.