The Year In Review

This year marked the retirement of Director Sol Price, effective June 30, 1997. Mr. Price was a founding Director of the Foundation and has had a profound impact on our grantmaking and asset investment since the Foundation's inception. An insightful personal friend of Ben Weingart, Mr. Price has been a preeminent force in assuring that the Foundation furthers the abiding commitment Mr. Weingart made during his lifetime, to improving the quality of life in Southern California, particularly for those people and children in need. His wise counsel and advice will be greatly missed.

Replacing Mr. Price on the Board of Directors, we are pleased to welcome Murray Galinson, Chairman of San Diego National Bank. He has a broad range of business and non-profit organization experience and will be of great Benefit in the work of the Foundation.

This year represented the tenth anniversary of the Weingart Student Loan Program. In 1987, the Foundation began making $28 million of interest-free loans to 14 independent colleges in Southern California. The colleges were then encouraged to match these funds by raising $56 million, at which time the Foundation would forgive its original loans and contribute an additional $28 million to the colleges. The colleges have "met the match" and now have $112 million in funds with which to make no-interest loans to students. During the past ten years, 13,166 students have Benefitted from the loan program and currently 93% of the loans have been repaid, thereby keeping this resource available for thousands more students in the future. This Beneficial student loan program is commented on in further detail later in this Annual Report.

During the past year, the Board continued the Major Grants Program initiative that it began last year. This initiative seeks to increase the impact of the Foundation by making larger grants to more significantly address the resolution of some of the long-standing social issues confronting our Southern California community.

During this past year, two Major Grants were approved and both are expanded upon later in this report:

Under the leadership of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP) and the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN), a $4.8 million grant has been awarded to LAAMP to enable the development of the "Parents as Learning Partners" program. This program seeks to significantly increase parent involvement in the Lincoln and Polytechnic families of schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District and in the Polytechnic family in the Long Beach Unified School District. After a three-year pilot period, this program is expected to be gradually extended to all schools in both districts and to be funded by the respective districts. This grant augments the Foundation's $8.2 million commitment to LAAMP and LEARN, made last year to the same families of K-12 schools, for the development of a new Professional Development program to better prepare teacher candidates and new and veteran teachers for service in urban schools.

A second $10.7 million Major Grant was awarded to a coalition of the oldest and largest youth-serving agencies in Los Angeles to greatly expand character-building leisure time opportunities for youth in the Fremont Cluster of schools in South Central Los Angeles. Entitled the Fremont Youth Collaborative, the Los Angeles Area Boy Scout Council, Challengers Boys and Girls Club, Salvation Army, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department Jeopardy Program will work together to involve more than 10,000 youth in a variety of sports, club, camping and tutorial programs.

All told, the Weingart Foundation awarded $40.4 million in grants during the 1996-97 fiscal year. Among the grants awarded were:

  • $5.1 million for crisis intervention programs and shelters
  • $9.8 million for neighborhood youth organizations
  • $9.8 million for educational facilities and programs
  • $2.9 million for art and cultural programs
  • $5.7 million for health care programs, hospitals and clinics
  • $7.1 million to support the tenth year of the student loan program
Commencing on page 20, this report includes the names of all organizations receiving grants of $25,000 or more during the past year, together with a brief description of the purpose of the grant. As will be noted, these grants represent a broad range of services to children and adults in need and help to illustrate the wonderful work being done by human service organizations, educational and health institutions, and cultural centers throughout Southern California.

The Foundation's assets at the end of the June 30, 1997 fiscal year totaled $706,801,870 up 17% from the figure reported one year earlier. Financial statements appear on page 30.

Also retiring from the Foundation this year were two very valued members of our staff, Delores Lukoff and Carol Ashley-Simmons, who served the Foundation with great distinction for 23 and 19 years, respectively. We thank Mrs. Lukoff and Mrs. Ashley-Simmons for their efforts on behalf of the Foundation and wish them well.

We would be greatly remiss if we did not recognize the excellent efforts of the staff in furthering the objectives of the Foundation. They have performed magnificently.


Roy A. Anderson Chairman
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