Noyes Foundation: A Major Commitment To The Environment

A strong, though understated, hint of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation's philosophy appears on page two of its annual report: "This report is printed on 100 percent recycled paper." In a world where philanthropic organizations tend to retain the trappings of wealth--with their lavish brochures printed on thick, creamy paper, their marble foyers, their luxurious carpets--the Noyes Foundation is something of an anomaly. As one fund-raising executive said after visiting the spartan offices on East 34th St. in New York City, "Their office is most unassuming, cluttered, and slightly rundown. They are certainly not spending money on overhead." Indeed, rather than investing in a posh image, the Noyes Foundation is putting about $4.5 million a year into applied research on a wide range of environmental issues, such as protecting tropical forests and developing ecologically sensitive farming and waste management techniques. Although the foundation, with comparatively modest assets of $60 million, ranks in size way down in the second 100 among U.S. foundations, it is one of the top 10 largest funders of research involving environmental issues. The organization was established in 1947 by Charles F. Noyes, a Manhattan real estate developer during the first half of this century, as a memorial to his second wife, Jessie Smith Noyes. Her interests had been in the promotion of religious tolerance and racial equality, and the foundation's early grants reflected those concerns. From 1947 to 1959, Noyes made many gifts in the form scholarships and loans, especially to minority students. However, as increased federal support of education began to dwarf the money that the Noyes Foundation could give in those areas, the foundation looked for another focus. In the mid-1970s, it shifted its attention to "selected areas of the environment, health care (population, family planning, and adolescent pregnancy) and public school education." Then, "In order to further sharpen our focus," says foundation president Stephen Viederman, "in 1985 we conducted a review in which we addressed the questions of what kinds of irreversible damages to the natural environment are occurring." As a result of this study, the foundation now puts a larger share of its money into tropical ecology, sustainable agriculture including maintenance of genetic diversity, water resources, and population programs, particularly family planning programs in Third World countries. Certain themes reappear in the abstracts of successful applicants. First, the foundation favors proposals that encourage self-help, especially in developing nations. Noyes wants to empower organizations in underdeveloped areas to set up and carry out their own programs. "We must get away from the notion that only prestigious organizations in the U.S. or Europe can offer training," says Viederman. "Many [Third World] institutions are more capable of training than we give them credit for." Related to this strategy of helping organizations help themselves is the foundation's desire to foster collaborations among environmental groups, to nurture networks that can carry out big, significant programs that none of its little component groups could tackle alone. In fact, the Noyes Foundation itself often collaborates with other private foundations, such as the Ford Foundation and the Northwest Area Foundation, to implement a project that it, alone, could not take on. "We see ourselves in the middle of a supporting network," explains Viederman. Another hallmark of successful proposals at Noyes is the applicants' deep commitment to the projects they suggest. According to Viederman, the foundation looks have an influence that does more that merely relieve a researcher from teaching duties or to ease a lab's overhead burden. That sort of disbursement of funds, says Viederman, "is not commitment_it is accounting. "Setting up a center may be useful, but funding it adequately from the institution's own budget is an indication of real commitment. The foundation is in the business of affecting change, not simply giving money away and thus the challenge that we face is to reasonably assure that the grantees are serious about change," says Viederman. What the foundation does not favor are proposals offering technological fixes to a problem instead of preventing the problem by dealing with its source. For example, a suggestion to stave off the ozone depletion by investing in biotechnology to create plants that release more oxygen will not win approval. On the other hand, a suggestion to encourage collaborative efforts to achieve greater efficiency in fuel use might succeed. The Noyes Foundation welcomes unsolicited research proposals from scientists who share its interest in environmental issues.Prospective grantees, says Viederman, should submit a two-page letter of inquiry explaining what they hope to accomplish and how. He warns, however, that computer-generated, mass-mailed inquiries that contribute little to the foundation's goals can be spotted at a glance and are quickly rejected. Letters of inquiry (except those that have obviously missed the foundation's focus and been weeded out) are reviewed by the grants committee of the board of directors in joint meetings with the foundation staff. If a project passes this preliminary screening, the foundation requests authors to submit a detailed proposal, due within a month. These full proposals have a better than 50% chance of approval, says Viederman. He describes Noyes' review process for proposals as a "collective effort" involving a number of people, but a key person is the Noyes program officer who oversees grants in the applicant's area. "The proposal's internal program officer is its chief advocate," says Viederman. Dazzle him or her with the idea, and you have a powerful friend. A six-member board grant committee has final approval on all proposals. Viederman describes this committee, which is dominated by the family of Charles F. Noyes, as comprising "well-informed generalists." The foundation is now revising its program guidelines, which should be ready by early 1989. More attention may be given to proposals that confront waste management, says Viederman. But in keeping with the foundation's style, he says, "We would be interested in a protection strategy rather than a cleanup." Otherwise, "I don't see significant change in direction in the next three years," says Viederman. The unostentatious Noyes Foundation will just keep pitting its resources, as best it can, against the threats to the planet. "We are all environmentalists," says Viederman. "For the young to have some of the same opportunities that we have had, older generations must have the courage to act now." Anne Simon Moffat is a freelance science writer in Ithaca, New York.

Noyes Foundation: A Major Commitment To The Environment

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