Charles H. Revson Foundation
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[edit] Background
The Charles H. Revson Foundation was founded in 1956 by Revlon Cosmetics president Charles Revson, who provided over US$10 million in seed money during his lifetime. The Foundation funded schools, hospitals, and service organizations serving the Jewish community, mostly located in New York. Upon his death, Revson endowed the Foundation with US$ 68 million from his estate and granted the board of directors the discretion to chart the Foundation's future course.
In 1978, the Foundation began a formal grant-making process, and since that time, has disbursed a total of US$145 million. The Foundation's endowment has grown to US$200 million, and it now disburses over US$9 million annually.
According to the Foundation's website: "With Mr. Revson's giving as a guide, the board established four program areas: in urban affairs, education, biomedical research policy, and Jewish philanthropy and education. Following extensive discussions with leading thinkers in other foundations, academia, government, science, and the arts, the board also identified as priorities four themes that would be reflected across these program areas: the future of New York City, the accountability of government, the changing role of women, and the impact of modern communications on education and other areas of life." The Foundation has been responsible for such projects as the Hebrew version of Sesame Street, known as Rechov Sumsum,and the popular documentary "Civilization and the Jews."
In 2003, after 25 years, Eli Evans stepped down as the foundation's president, handing over the reins to Lisa E. Goldberg, wife of NYU President John Sexton.
[edit] Board of Directors
Philip Leder Chairman Andrus Professor and Chairman Department of Genetics Harvard Medical School
Charles H. Revson, Jr. Secretary and Treasurer
Lisa E. Goldberg President Charles H. Revson Foundation
Red Burns Chair Interactive Telecommunications Program Tisch School of the Arts New York University
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Director W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research Harvard University
Ruth Mandel Director Eagleton Institute of Politics Rutgers University
Martha Minow Professor Harvard Law School
Louis Perlmutter Executive Managing Director Lazard Freres & Co.
Robert S. Rifkind Partner Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Harold Tanner President Tanner & Co., Inc.
[edit] Program Areas
[edit] Urban Affairs
The Foundation, based in New York City, focuses its urban program on the city's future. It seeks to enhance the capacity of individuals, organizations, and the public sector to improve New York and the lives of those who live and work there.
Developing leadership for New York is the goal of one group of foundation grants. These programs identify talented individuals, bring them together for learning, training, and the exchange of ideas, and build networks equipped to address the challenges of tomorrow. "Leaders are like dancers; they are born with talent but have to learn the steps," commented one participant. The programs build bridges across sectors, like neighborhood organizations and the business community, the school system and arts institutions, by including women and men from many fields and introducing them to players from diverse areas. They give leaders--and potential leaders--an opportunity to deepen their knowledge, gain skills, be exposed to different viewpoints and experiences, step back and reflect, learn and grow.
The transfer of responsibility for many programs from Washington to state and local government has had major implications for New York. Dramatic shifts in welfare and other programs call for particular attention to the impact of policy changes on the most disadvantaged New Yorkers, who rely on such government aid. A portion of our grantmaking supports organizations that monitor actions taken in New York City and Albany, work to shape policies that benefit the city, and see that they are carried out fairly, efficiently, and in a timely manner.
Rational approaches to planning for New York's future are also essential, and here, too, private organizations play a unique role in thinking imaginatively, developing alternatives, and opening up debate. The Foundation has supported a variety of projects to examine the possibilities for financing, delivering services, and planning the urban environment in the next century. Several of our grants have assisted projects that use technology in innovative ways--for example, a computer model of the city that allows planners, architects, and community groups to visualize the effect of proposed projects before they are approved and a website that will serve as a central source for information on public policy and civic life in New York.
[edit] Education
Making government more representative of, and more responsive to, its citizens by enhancing participation in public life is the aim of the education program.
Citizen organizations play a critical part in our democratic system, monitoring government policy and reporting the results to the public. They help make government accountable and work to ensure that public policy addresses the needs of the poor, young, and disadvantaged. Because their independence depends particularly on foundations and other private funders, we have made support for such organizations an element of our grantmaking.
Communications technology, from television to the computer to the Internet, is revolutionizing the ways that Americans get information and organizations pursue their goals--investigating issues, disseminating information, and working for change. A part of our program fosters innovative uses of technology to enhance citizens' knowledge and participation. Among the projects we have supported are an Internet site that offers voters comprehensive information on candidates and another that is a centralized resource on public policy; get-out-the vote campaigns broadcast on network television; and public television programs on government and politics. Another set of grants supports imaginative uses of technology to improve education in and out of the classroom.
Public interest legal organizations, through both representation of individuals and strategies to improve the implementation of laws, provide an important mediating link between citizens and government. To attract talented people to public interest work, the Foundation has supported programs that place law students, especially women and minorities, in summer internships at nonprofit, legal aid, and government agencies.
The representation of women in government has increased significantly since we decided, two decades ago, to make efforts to bring more women into public life a priority in our grantmaking. But with women still a clear minority in the political arenas where decisions are made, we have continued to support programs to train women policymakers through fellowship programs in Washington and Albany, to train candidates for elected office, and to study the experience and impact of women officeholders.
[edit] Biomedical Research Policy
The program in biomedical research policy is devoted to strengthening basic research through support of programs at key institutions in New York and Israel, and to fostering international cooperation on science in the Middle East.
Basic research is a complex endeavor that may take years or decades to produce results. It requires both talented, highly trained scientists and a significant, sustained commitment of funds. At a time of radical change in the US health care system and congressionally mandated fiscal constraints, however, as The New York Times noted, "Biomedical research, long considered a cornerstone of American medicine, threatens to become a silent casualty."
The Foundation's funding of postdoctoral fellowships at four outstanding New York biomedical research centers, begun in the early 1980s, represents one response to the need for sustained support. The fellowships are aimed at young scientists, enabling them to embark on research careers instead of private practice or industry, which may be more immediately lucrative. The programs also provide the institutions with a source of funds that they can apply to areas they identify as priorities for research.
In Israel, biomedical science contributes not only to the advance of medicine worldwide but also to an increasingly important science-based Israeli industry. Following severe cutbacks in Israeli research funding, the Foundation in 1987 made a challenge grant that led to substantial government and private contributions and the establishment, in 1993, of the Israel National Science Foundation, to provide a steady source of funding and an efficient mechanism for competitively awarding research grants. To further stimulate innovation, the Foundation in this grant period helped launch an initiative to support research in promising fields that are new or have been neglected in Israel.
Cooperation on scientific issues facing Israel and its neighbors can help to further, as well as benefit from, greater stability in the region. Since the 1980s the Foundation has contributed to efforts to bring together scientists to discuss issues of mutual concern. As the possibility of peace in the Middle East emerged in the early 1990s, these initiatives involved participants from Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, and the Palestinians, who came together to identify and investigate areas where they could work together.
[edit] Jewish Philanthropy and Education
Increasing knowledge and understanding of the Jewish heritage is the goal of this program. Through the innovative use of media, policy research, and leadership training, it endeavors to enhance awareness of Jewish history and culture and to build bridges between people of diverse backgrounds.
A central aspect of the program builds on the power of television and film to bring the past to life, opening up new worlds and engaging viewers in new ways. In this grant period, an acclaimed interfaith series with Bill Moyers on the Book of Genesis reached unprecedented audiences, demonstrating the powerful impact of ideas, conveyed with originality and brilliance over the small screen. Two landmark series about Israel and Jewish history supported by the Foundation evolved in new directions while, for children, Rechov Sumsum (the Israeli version of Sesame Street) broke new ground with a collaborative Israeli-Palestinian production, designed to teach Israeli and Palestinian youngsters about each other. The Jewish Heritage Video Collection, a video library with extensive curricular materials, helps ensure that these and other valuable film and television programs are available for educational uses at dozens of sites around the country.
A portion of the program is devoted to projects that use telecommunications technology to create innovative educational resources. For example, Heritage: Civilization and the Jews will shortly be issued in an interactive DVD, and the Internet is the location for a unique "virtual archive" on Jewish women that will present material from sites all over the world in attractive, accessible form. A new film we have supported uses the archive of videotaped Holocaust testimonies gathered by Yale University to communicate the experience of the Holocaust in a powerful way.
In Israel the Foundation has directed its resources to policy research that is contributing thoughtful, objective information to the often-heated debate on critical issues, including a new initiative on the environment. To develop leadership for research and teaching in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere, we have continued to support graduate fellowships in Jewish studies. A final group of grants supported efforts to improve understanding between African-Americans and Jews through conferences, theatrical productions, and museum exhibitions. link title
