Annual Report 1999

Annual Report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999

Mission Statement

Realizing the healthcare crisis in our country, the Board of Washington Square Health Foundation, Inc. recognizes that no one foundation can meet all the challenges of the healthcare environment. However, the Foundation has developed a program of grant making which is designed to be both a catalyst and guide for other foundations and grant making organizations in meeting the various needs of the Chicagoland healthcare community. The Washington Square Health Foundation, Inc. grants funds in order to promote and maintain access to adequate healthcare for all people in the Chicagoland area regardless of race, sex, creed or financial need. The Foundation meets this goal through its grants for medical and nursing education, medical research and direct healthcare services.

As a guide to other foundations and other service providers and as a part of the Board’s stewardship of charitable funds, the Washington Square Health Foundation, Inc. has developed a grant evaluation system to ensure that the objectives of various projects are carried out in the manner prescribed by the approved grant.

The Foundation wishes to impress on the philanthropic community that the careful evaluation of the outcomes of grant projects is as important as the appropriate selection of grant recipients.

President’s Message

Dr. Angelo P. Creticos

Dr. Angelo P. Creticos

Washington Square Health Foundation held a most successful 2 ½ day retreat in 1999 wherein we had an in-depth analysis of our first dozen years as a philanthropic organization concentrating on funding grants for the Chicagoland Health Community.

The purpose of the retreat was to allow our Board members uninterrupted thinking time in order to review our work and, more importantly, to have at least two respected and well-known individuals in philanthropic endeavors address our forum and critically — objectively evaluate our performance in date and help us modify our future endeavors or develop changes in our mission, if necessary.

It may come as a surprise that an excellent attendance by such a heterogeneous group of Directors, along with our three consultants, our legal counsel and Executive Director, was 100% throughout the 2 ½ days, all working diligently on the extensive agenda prepared for us — and that nobody played golf, nor tennis, nor spent the day in a spa! That you must agree is serious dedication!

What did we learn and what will be our mission for at least the next decade? We were pleasantly surprised to learn that we have an unusually focused group which has spearheaded a type of health care philanthropy that fills a serious void in the health grants field. Our function has resulted in our being an effective catalyst, to be most helpful to institutions and organizations not privy to elaborate funding by the larger bodies of philanthropy, such as government agencies or funders of basic research, to strike a comfortable balance between education, cutting edge research and community health services, and to create a unique grant program known as a program related investment wherein support monies are provided for capital improvement on a low interest loan basis, enabling struggling organizations to proceed with their health projects. A self administrated program related investment foundation activity is extremely unusual for a foundation of our size. Normally, such programs are found in much larger organizations.

Surfacing in much of our discussions was the need to continue and possibly expand our interests in programs such as our study of Emergency Room use and services and the study relating to the large death toll experienced by Chicago in the great heat wave of the summer of 1995. These projects created a large interest in the health community and the E.R. report, for example, stimulated a faster development of E.R. triage support systems by a number of hospitals that greatly reduced the inappropriate use of E.R. facilities and thereby reduced health care costs.

We concluded our retreat with a renew vigor that we have initiated a new pathway in grant giving, that it has been successful, and that we must continue to focus on that initial mission and continue to fine tune it. We have been rewarded with the thought that we have found a most comfortable and workable niche — and that we need to continue to cultivate it.

We thank all our grantees for their most successful projects which serve to support the obvious — that our mission has had an emphatic meaning to the community. We look forward with confidence as we proceed in our second decade and hope to equal or exceed our accomplishments to date.

Statement of Activities

Year ended September 30, 1999  
Operating activities:
Revenues:
Interest and dividends $1,082,725
Net realized gain on investments 3,083,244
Other 4,854
Total operating activities revenue 4,170,823
Expenses:
Grants 1,787,968*
Management and general:
Salaries 150,073
Payroll taxes 9,444
Professional fees:
Investment management and custodial 178,915
Legal and accounting 35,985
Board fees and expenses 92,846
Occupancy 32,289
Office supplies 12,151
Insurance 16,456
Depreciation 4,161
Miscellaneous 27,708
Total management and general 569,028
Provision for federal excise taxes 72,828
Total operating activities expenses 2,429,824
Excess of operating activities revenue over expenses 1,740,999
Nonoperating activities – net unrealized gain
(loss) on investments
(2,105,984)
Increase in net assets 364,985
Unrestricted net assets, beginning of year 32,329,495
Unrestricted net assets, end of year $31,964,510
*Grants do not include Program Related Investments (PRI) of $50,000 distributed during fiscal year 1997-98. Grants and PRI’s distributed for fiscal year 1998-99 total $1,837,968. The official and complete audit as certified by
KPMG Peat Marwick Download PDF.

Fiscal Year 1998-99 Grant Recipients 

AIDS Foundation of Chicago Loyola University Medical Center
AIDS Pastoral Care Network Loyola University Medical Center   Stritch School of Medicine
Alivio Medical Center Marklund Charities
Allendale Association Maryville City of Youth
Alternative Health Partners Center Medical College of Virginia Foundation
American Public Health Association Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center
American Society on Aging Near North Health Service Corporation
Asian Human Services, Inc. North Park Friendship Center
Asthmatic Children’s Aid Sylvia Golden Memorial Chapter Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Hospice Program
Bethany Hospital Northwestern University Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center
Casa Central Norwegian American Hospital
Chicago/Cook County Ambulatory Care Board, Inc. Parc Home
Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois PCC Community Wellness Center
Christ Hospital and Medial Center Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area
Clearbrook Center Rape Victim Advocates
Core Center-Hektoen Institute for Medical Research Ravenswood Hospital Medical Center
Council for Jewish Elderly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Council on Foundations Roseland Christian Health Ministries
Donors Forum of Chicago Roseland Community Hospital
Easter Seals of Metropolitan Chicago, Inc. Rush North Shore Medical Center
Esperanza Community Services Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center
Funders Concerned About AIDS Saint Xavier University-School of Nursing
Gilda’s Club Chicago Samaritan Housing Services, Inc.
Grantmakers in Aging Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine
Grantmakers In Health Shanti Project, Inc.
Greek American Nursing Home Committee Southside Health Consortium
Hemophilia Foundation of Illinois Swedish Covenant Hospital
Howard Brown Health Center The Allendale Association
Illinois Masonic Medical Center The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
Illinois Maternal & Child Healthcare Coalition The Buffalo Prairie Gang Camp
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago The Chicago Christian Industrial League
Jewish Council for Youth Services The Children’s Memorial Medical Center
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago The Clinic in Altgeld
Keshet The North Side Community Health Resource Facility
La Rabida Children’s Hospital and Research Center The Soup Kitchen, Inc.
Lake County Council Against Sexual Assault (LACASA) University of Chicago Medical Center Pritzker School of Medicine
Lawrence Hall Youth Services University of Illinois College of Nursing
Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center