Orville W. Forté Charitable Foundation
Special Grants Committee
May 12, 2014
At the home of Cheryl Forté
Meeting was called to order at 6:20 PM.
Members in attendance: Fred, Allison, Tyler, Don, Rob, Alexandra and Rich. Dick could not make it due to prior engagement and Luis was caught in Connecticut traffic in root to the meeting.
Fred passed out sheets reflecting last year’s grant recipients as well as the first round scorecards in the order of the greatest amounts of votes received from the 8 active committee members. While Barbara is no longer with us, all agreed that newest board members Alexandra and Mary Kate be allowed voting rights in the future. Fred mentioned that she estimated $143K would be available for distribution this year based on a rolling 3 year average.
Fred updated the committee on some of her observations on the prior year’s recipients and the proposals for the current year. Of the 33 grants last year, one recipient did not send a note of thanks ( City Stage). OWFC received 58 completed applications. 6 were not completed and rejected, an improvement over last year’s results of 35. Fred made changes last year on the website’s wording, highlighting that incomplete applications would be rejected (and undoubtedly her diligence to correct those oversights) reducing the amount of incomplete applications this year. Last year Fred communicated to those that submit future incomplete applications would receive one mulligan and that this year applications without CURRENT financial statements, would not be considered for funding. Evidently this strategy worked.
Seven of the recipients last year did not reapply this year. This was a bit surprising because some of the organizations have been a continual favorite of the committee. Those that did not resubmit are Alray Taylor Second Chance Scholarship Fund, Breakthrough Greater Boston, City Stage, Genuine Voices, Troubadour, Tutoring Plus and UU Urban Ministries.
Site visits and write-ups were assigned to top scoring 25 organizations, that is, 15 site visits and 9 write-ups. Big Sister got a buy. Two additional site visits were added due to Fred and Alexander’s interest, Discovery Roxbury and Playworks, for a total balance of 28 organizations for consideration. Hola, an out-of-state Latin American submitted by family member Mike Forte will be considered after a write-up by Don. The discussion was brief yielding to the highest vote.
Some of last year’s past recipients were passed over although well recognized as effective organizations. Rich expressed some misgivings that the top 25 organizations receive automatic assignments while those on the low end of the scale receive no consideration. Fred replied that any organization which perks the interest of the board members can be pursued in addition to those already assigned.
There seemed to be a consensus to continue the $2K contribution to the American Textile Museum in recognition of the family’s obligation to honor that legacy although Dick (last year) expressed his disfavor to the museum due to their treatment of fellow employee, Jim Coleman.
Discussion then focused on the last year’s agreed discretionary allowance of $1k per member. This would increase to $10K with the inclusion of MaryKate and Alexandra. Don immediately volunteered his allowance towards Artist for Humanity. That would leave a balance of $133K with a reserve of $9K to be assigned during the fall melon slicing.
Please see adjoining sheet for site visits and write-up assignments.
Next meeting will be finalized by email but proposed due date for submitting visits and write-ups is Friday, September 5 and the next meeting Monday, September 15. Meeting adjoined at 7:30 PM.
Thanks to Fred for the refreshments served.
Organization / Total Votes Round 1 / # Members voting for (of 8) / Site visit / Write-upHOLA (Health Outreach to Latin America) / Don
1 / Community Educational Center / 24 / 7 / Cosmo and MK
2 / Cristo Rey / 23 / 7 / Cosmo
3 / Coaching For Change / 22 / 6 / Don
4 / Our Sisters' School / 21 / 7 / Alison and Tyler
5 / EV / 20 / 7 / Tyler
6 / South St Youth Center / 20 / 6 / Fred
7 / Bellesini Academy / 17 / 6 / MK
8 / Epiphany School / 17 / 5 / Tyler
9 / MA Adoption Resource Exchange / 17 / 6 / Alexandra
10 / YOFES / 16 / 5 / Fred
11 / Apprentice Learning / 15 / 6 / Cosmo
12 / Bird Street Community Center / 15 / 3 / Don
13 / Family & Children's Service of Greater Lynn / 15 / 5 / Alexandra
14 / STRIVE / 14 / 5 / Don
15 / Waypoint Adventure / 14 / 4 / Dick
16 / Hull Lifesaving Museum / 13 / 5 / Dick
17 / Alma del Mar Foundation / 12 / 5 / Alison and Tyler
18 / Straight Ahead Ministries / 12 / 5 / Rob
19 / Wildflower Camp Foundation / 12 / 4 / Alison
20 / Higher Education Resource Center / 10 / 4 / Dick
21 / Big Sister Association of Greater Boston / 9 / 4 / Luis
22 / Boston Landmarks Orchestra / 9 / 4 / Fred
23 / America Scores / 8 / 4 / Luis
24 / Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras / 8 / 4 / Luis
25 / Southwest Boston CDC / 8 / 4 / Rob
26 / Discover Roxbury / 7 / 4 / Fred
27 / East End House / 7 / 3
28 / Playworks / 7 / 3 / Alexandra
29 / Artists for Humanity / 6 / 3
30 / Cambridge Community Television / 6 / 2
31 / IBA / 6 / 3
32 / UTEC / 6 / 3
33 / Friends of the Children Boston / 5 / 3
34 / Roca / 5 / 2
35 / Girls'LEAP / 4 / 2
36 / Housing Families / 4 / 2
37 / UMass Boston Urban Scholars / 4 / 2
38 / AGM Summer Fund / 3 / 1
39 / Dorchester Youth Collaborative / 3 / 2
40 / Lawrence CommunityWorks / 3 / 2
41 / Let's Get Ready / 3 / 2
42 / Marble Collection / 3 / 2
43 / Sociedad Latina / 3 / 2
44 / Nashoba Learning Center / 2 / 1
45 / Boston Natural Areas Network / 1 / 1
46 / Boys & Girls Clubs of Brockton / 1 / 1
47 / Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester / 1 / 1
48 / Catholic Charities North / 1 / 1
49 / Black Ministerial Alliance / 0 / 0
50 / Boston Arts Academy / 0 / 0
51 / Boston Children's Chorus / 0 / 0
52 / Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston / 0 / 0
53 / Cambridge Community Center / 0 / 0
54 / Cambridge Family & Children's Services / 0 / 0
55 / Community Rowing / 0 / 0
56 / Doc Wayne Youth Services / 0 / 0
57 / Girl Scouts of Greater Boston / 0 / 0
58 / Merrimack Valley YMCA / 0 / 0
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