911:  Family Philanthropy Responds

By Deborah Brody Hamilton

This paper has been compiled to share stories about how family philanthropies have responded to the events of September 11.  We welcome your reactions and insights as well as additional stories and experiences (see below for information on how to share these with us).

With flexible guidelines and small staffs, families are often in a position to react quickly to tragedies and respond to immediate needs more rapidly than other types of organizations.  When delivered promptly, even grants of a few thousand dollars can make a big difference in the wake of a disaster and there is usually some kind of a family tie to the grant.  This article is a compilation of examples of how family philanthropy has responded to the needs created by the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Washington, DC-based Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation gave $20,000 to The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund.  (The Tuckers liked the fact that the Times picked up expenses associated with administering the Fund).  The Tucker Board earmarked the grant for rescue workers and their families.  However, at the behest of one of their consultants, Anne Morgan, who happens to be from Oklahoma City and is also on the board of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, they gave the Fund the discretion to use the grant for other purposes “if and when the rescue workers and their families are provided for.”  According to Morgan, “We learned in Oklahoma City is that it is difficult to predict how dollars will need to be spent, so restricted grants are not ideal.”

A Family Business Pitches In

The family-owned Welch Allyn Corporation in upstate New York donated the medical equipment it makes (e.g., blood pressure units, laryngoscopes, stethoscopes, and vital signs monitors) to area hospitals in New York City.  Another of the Allyn’s businesses makes video inspection equipment (to help people see into places that may not be safe to enter).   The family faxed an offer of free use of this inspection equipment to the New York and Federal Emergency Management Agencies.  Within hours, New York City sent a police vehicle to Welch Allyn to collect and deliver the equipment to Ground Zero.  Five coworkers also volunteered to go along and then stayed in New York City to assist with rescue efforts.  The Welch Allyn family businesses are also matching employees’ gifts ($2 to $1) to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, the New York Firefighters and Police Officers Widows and Orphans Relief Fund, and the Salvation Army.  The Allyn’s family foundation also made a large cash gift to one of the relief funds.

Deborah Bussel of South Florida Promotion of Philanthropy Initiative is also a board member of her family’s foundation, which funds a scholarship program at Syracuse University, her grandmother’s alma mater.  The family is planning to add money to the scholarship fund and to award additional scholarships to children of the victims of the September 11 attacks. 

The J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Philanthropic Collaborative, and a number of other family foundations in New York City have provided office space with telephone and Internet access to displaced nonprofits.  Kaplan has also donated $50,000 to fund organizations that may have gotten overlooked in the rush to fund disaster organizations. 

Many philanthropic families have close ties to local chapters of organizations that provide disaster relief such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.  The Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation in Honolulu, Hawaii could not be located farther from the disaster sites on the East Coast.  However, within hours of hearing of the attacks, executive director Al Castle located all of the trustees (two in Honolulu, one in San Francisco, one in San Diego, and one in Alaska) and organized a conference call.

Al opened the call by saying “My grandfather asked me to make this call.”  Indeed, his grandfather had founded the local chapter of the American Red Cross.  The next day Al visited the Honolulu Chapter of the Red Cross and had $10,000 wired to the National Office.  He drew the funds from the foundation’s checking account because the stock market was closed, and he could not access the foundation’s grantmaking funds.

Even family philanthropies as far away as Colorado and Texas sprung into action.  The Serimus Foundation of Fort Collins, Colorado matched funds raised by a local corporation for a combined gift of $22,000 to the Red Cross.  The Stryker Foundation, also in Fort Collins, matched community-raised money for a gift to the September 11 Fund.  The Meadows Foundation of Dallas made a grant of almost $200,000 from the president’s discretionary grants fund to the American Red Cross, Dallas Area Chapter.  According the foundation’s grant summary,

After the disastrous events of September 11, 2001, the national Red Cross designated the Dallas Red Cross Chapter as the national call center to respond to family welfare inquiries from across the country.  The Dallas Chapter was also charged with setting up a national crisis counseling hotline for all airline employees who are fearful of flying.  The Red Cross is using crisis counselors from the Dallas area, as well as professionals and volunteers from across the country.  One of the primary considerations for selecting the Dallas Chapter to assume these critical responsibilities was their new and upgraded facility constructed in 1999 (Meadows Foundation grant of $850,000 in 1997).  It is one of the better-equipped Red Cross facilities in the country and houses the Meadows Disaster Command Center.

The Siragusa Foundation of Chicago quickly made a $10,000 grant to the September 11 Fund, a fund administered by the New York Community Trust and the United Way.  Irene Phelps, the foundation’s executive director and a family member, had received an e-mail from the Philanthropy Roundtable and a fax from the Council on Foundations within hours of the attacks that provided information on the September 11 Fund.  She and her uncle, the foundation chair, made a discretionary grant right away.  According to Irene, “Although we normally fund only in the Chicago area, we were able to quickly send money to New York because the two national groups we belong to kept us informed.”

Families Give Through Community Foundations

Families have also been actively giving through their donor advised funds in community foundations.  According to Helmer Ekstrom, a consultant to community foundations, and the former president of the New Haven (Connecticut) Community Foundation, “Folks at both the New York Community Trust and the Community Foundation for the National Capitol Region have told me that donor advised funds in community foundations across the country are being used to contribute significant dollars to the September 11 Fund.”

Another community foundation, the New Hampshire Charitable Fund, received an anonymous gift of $330,000 to set up a fund for New Hampshire-related survivors to the September 11 attacks.   “The donor asked [that the funds] also be used for relief in the event of future attacks,” said Lew Feldstein, president of the Foundation. The donor also requested that the foundation spend all of it within ten years and asked the money be used for direct services that will benefit families affected by the attack; to help out the victims of future terrorist attacks; and to reduce cultural differences in New Hampshire communities in order to prevent similar events in the future.  Also, a number of New Hampshire Charitable Fund donors made gifts to the New York City September 11 fund through their advised funds.  Most of these gifts were in the $500 -$1,000 range.

Many family philanthropists also have realized that in responding to emergencies, they must not forget to support grantees that are performing basic services, which are not crisis-related.  In this vein, Charles Hamilton, executive director of The Clark Foundation of New York City sent a letter to its grantees reassuring them that it will stay the course:

We are writing to assure you that The Clark Foundation remains deeply committed to the organizations we support.  Our biggest contribution to the continued vitality of the nonprofit sector, to the people you serve, and to the long-term relief of New York City is to try to conduct business as usual.  We have no plans to divert funds from our current grantmaking philosophy and priorities.

In the same vein, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, also based in Manhattan, responded to the September 11^th tragedy immediately, while reassuring other nonprofits that grantmaking would continue as usual.  According to executive director Alexandra Herzan:

All of our board members live in Manhattan.  Therefore, it was very easy to respond quickly and immediately as we all felt the urgent need to do something.  We chose the New York Times Fund because we felt that it would be the least bureaucratic, and it supports well-known, established organizations that act quickly.  Now our task is to maintain our giving to other New York City organizations in the arts and social services that do not do disaster relief. 

Families Look to the Future

Some family philanthropies also continue to be concerned about the hostility that may be directed toward Muslim-Americans as a result of the September 11 terrorist acts.  Jill Shatz of the Stryker Foundation posed the question, “ We want to be ready for backlash discrimination or racism.  What organizations are doing that work?  The Anti-Defamation League is one.  We are looking for others.”  While the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation of Menlo Park, California, quickly made a discretionary grant to the United Way of New York City, its longer-term grantmaking strategies include making grants to organizations that are helping to deal with such backlash.

Bill Graustein of the William Caspar Graustein Fund feels the September 11 crisis has helped his family to get a sense of renewed importance about the work they have been doing all along.  The Fund’s mission is to further education for Connecticut’s children.  One of the Graustein Fund’s long-term projects is to make grants to organizations in Connecticut that will bring people to talk about issues confronting children in Connecticut and to think creatively about ways to educate children about difficult issues such as racial and ethnic tensions. 

The New York City-based Surdna Foundation earmarked $1,000,000 from its endowment to fund relief and restoration efforts.  The foundation chose to use it principal instead of depleting its regular grants budget and harming its ongoing grants programs.

Another philanthropic family took a very practical approach as the Thanksgiving Holiday approached.  “We gave 100 turkeys to firemen and their families in our area.  We thought that this gesture would be a token of thanks for all they have done for our city, something our grandchildren could see us do and appreciate the meaning of.”

Thus, it seems family philanthropy and the events of September 11 are inexorably intertwined.  One touching example of this comes from the report from the Theodore Edison Parker Foundation in Lowell, Massachusetts:

John Ogonowski was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 . . . . John [also] farmed 150 acres of land in Dracut, Massachusetts . . . .  In the spring of 1999, the Parker Foundation received a request to fund the Dracut site of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.  This is an effort to provide training and small-scale farming opportunities for new immigrants, many of whom come from agricultural backgrounds.  The fledgling project had begun to serve Cambodian grower families on acreage leased by the Ogonowski family.  On John’s land, they grew Chinese water spinach and other vegetables,  A few weeks later, he wrote to the foundation, detailing the extent of his caring and involvement with the farmers and encouraging the foundation’s support.  The foundation responded with a startup grant of $35,000.

Please Send Us Your Story
Philanthropic families—whether through their foundations, family businesses, donor-advised funds in community foundations, or personal giving—are often in a position to respond to tragedies and immediate needs more quickly than other funders. Please share with us stories about how you and families you know have responded to the events of September 11.  We get many requests from families wanting to help and looking to join with other family philanthropies or to adapt their models and ideas. We will continue to make this information available on our web site and in other ways. Please email Deborah Brody Hamilton at deborah@ncfp.org or call her at 202.293.3424.

Deborah Brody Hamilton is senior program director for the National Center for Family Philanthropy.