Guidelines

July 15, 2009

The Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust Fund

Guidelines for Applicants

Jessie B. Cox was noted for her philanthropy.  Her creation of the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust Fund (the Cox Trust) continues a family legacy of giving.  As a charitable lead trust, the Cox Trust has a life cycle of 35 years and will conclude its activities in 2017.

The Trust is dedicated to improving the environment and the quality of life for people living in New England. To achieve its goals, the Trust pursues initiatives in three key fields of interest: education, environment, and health.  For education, there is a special interest in promoting early learning and quality out-of-school time.  Within the field of environment, the Trust focuses on preservation of fresh and marine waters through natural habitat conservation. In the area of health, the Trust emphasizes improving access to health care.

A fourth interest, the promotion of philanthropy in New England, remains a priority.  Beginning in 2009, grants in this field of interest will be initiated by the Trust, and unsolicited requests will not be considered.

In all of these funding areas, the Trust is mindful of its special status as one of the few funders with an interest in all six of the New England states.  Applications for funding are reviewed in light of the important issues of the region.  These include economic competitiveness, social equity, changing demographics, and broad environmental concerns and changing demographics. The Trust is especially eager to promote demonstration projects offering effective models within its fields of interest.

In order to respond to special circumstances or changing conditions, the Grants Committee may periodically modify these guidelines and policies.

Areas of Priority

  • Low-income or vulnerable populations.
  • Regional or cross-boundary issues and opportunities.
  • Combinations of two of more of the Trust’s priority fields of interest.
  • Collaborative partnerships.
  • Development of local leadership.
  • Focus on prevention rather than remediation.
  • Demonstrated measurable outcomes.
  • Influence on public discourse and policy within the Trust’s priority fields of interest.
  • Promotion of economic competitiveness in the region.
  • Potential for attracting additional support and promise for continuation or impact beyond the period of Trust support.

Fields of Interest

Education
The Cox Trust seeks to prepare all children for academic success, especially those in low-income and vulnerable communities, as early as possible and in non-traditional and innovative ways.  To that end, the Trust focuses its Education grantmaking in the areas of early learning and out-of-school time.

Early Learning
The Early Learning program invests in efforts that provide broad access to early learning opportunities and improve the quality of early learning programs across the spectrum of providers.  This spectrum includes private child care centers, public school pre-kindergarten programs, Head Start agencies, and family child care homes.  Focus is placed on developing, strengthening, and expanding systems related to early education funding, quality oversight, enrollment, family engagement, community supports, and teacher development.

Areas of Priority

  • Significant expansion of innovative early learning models with demonstrated success in advancing young children’s learning, school-readiness, and long-term academic accomplishments.
  • Creation and expansion of regional infrastructure and leadership to increase early learning opportunities for young children in the New England states and across the entire region, especially through multi-partner networks or collaboration.
  • Systemic alignment and coordination of early learning, K-12 education, community support services, and family involvement efforts.
  • Development of ongoing public policy efforts, in strong partnership with families and key stakeholders in government, business, philanthropy, and nonprofit communities.
  • Use of standards and assessment methods indicating young children’s progress and development in order to improve program quality.
  • Connections between early learning and the Trust’s other interests in the fields of environment and health.

Out-of-School Time
The Out-of-School Time program will invest in efforts that provide access to out-of-school time opportunities, especially for middle and high school teens, or that improve the quality of out-of-school programs.  As one measure of quality, these programs will promote school retention and access to college.  Focus will be placed on developing, strengthening, and expanding systems to enable communities, families, K-12 school systems, higher education institutions, and governments to work together to increase the affordability, quality, and sustainability of out-of-school time programs.

Areas of Priority

  • Significant expansion of innovative out-of-school models that have demonstrated success in advancing children’s learning and long-term academic accomplishments.  Models providing year-round programming linked with schools, the business community, higher education institutions, community support services, and community resources such as museums, parks, and libraries are of special interest.
  • Creation and expansion of regional infrastructure and leadership to further increase out-of-school opportunities for children in the New England states and across the entire region.  Particular attention will be paid to efforts conducted in a multi-partner network or collaboration.
  • Systemic alignment and coordination of out-of-school time, K-12 education, community support services, and family involvement efforts.
  • Public policy efforts, in strong partnership with families and key stakeholders in government, business, philanthropy, and nonprofit communities.
  • Connections between out-of-school time and the Trust’s other interests in the fields of environment and health.

Environment
In its environmental grantmaking, the Trust works to save and protect the great ecosystems of New England through habitat conservation, concentrating on fresh and marine water protection.

Habitat Conservation
The Habitat Conservation program seeks to protect terrestrial and marine habitats and wildlife critical for the preservation of biodiversity.  The Trust focuses on protecting functioning ecosystems, including core habitats, buffer zones and wildlife corridors.

Areas of Priority

  • Significant conservation areas as identified by habitat assessments, eco-regional planning, or evidence of pervasive threats suggesting urgent conservation action.
  • Smart growth strategies.
  • Support and strengthening of citizen-based networks and alliances that collectively establish priorities and take action.
  • Science-based tools and research to aid conservation campaigns.
  • Partnerships with large-scale health, economic, education, recreation and sports, environmental, and cultural initiatives.
  • Connections  between environmental action and the Trust’s other interests in the fields of health and education.

Health
The Trust’s grantmaking in health is focused on access to health care.

Access to Health Care
The Access program is dedicated to improving access to needed health care for all New Englanders, especially low-income or otherwise disadvantaged people, through innovative and replicable health care delivery projects and public policy initiatives.  Access to health care includes consideration of supply, distribution, and means of payment in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

Areas of Priority

  • Demonstrated, replicable health care delivery projects designed to improve access to needed, culturally competent services.
  • Targeted research, convening or collaboration that identifies means of improving access to health care.
  • Research and advocacy in the areas of supply of care, distribution, and insurance coverage.
  • Connections between health and the Trust’s other interests in the fields of environment and education.

Policies

Grants Calendar and Process
The Grants Committee meets twice per year to award grants, in April and October.  The Trust has a two-step system of application, beginning with an online concept application and progressing to a full grant proposal.  Concept applications are due on March 15 and September 15.  Applicants who have submitted a concept application and been asked to submit a complete proposal must do so by July 1 (March applicants) or January 5 (September applicants).

Grant Size
With few exceptions, grant requests will be considered on the scale of $50,000 or more per year.

Challenge Grants, Funder Collaboratives and Social Entrepreneurship
Challenge grants, funder collaboratives and social entrepreneurship are viewed by the Trust as mechanisms to leverage the value of the Trust’s grantmaking by expanding the amount of new funds or human capital available to projects and ensuring the sustainability of initiatives beyond the grant period.  The Trust is also interested in fostering and seeking out innovative collaborations among nonprofit organizations in communities throughout New England that will leverage the Trust’s grantmaking.

Reporting
All grant applicants are asked to demonstrate a plan for measuring their success.  This plan should identify benchmarks against which progress towards identified goals can be measured.  Grantees must report on their progress within a year of receiving support and on project completion, with reference to the initial benchmarks.

Waiting Periods
Grantee organizations are required to wait for one year after the expenditure of their final grant installment before reapplying to the Trust unless invited to reapply by the Grants Committee.  Denied applicants may submit no more than one request per year.

Exclusions
The Cox Trust does not normally support:

  • General operating support and ongoing maintenance.
  • Buildings, equipment or land acquisition.
  • Endowments, scholarship funds, or fundraising activities.
  • Grant requests of under $50,000.
  • Projects for which the Trust is the sole or predominant source of support.
  • Programs for which the public sector normally assumes funding responsibility.
  • Core educational programs of public, private, parochial, or charter schools.
  • Requests from individuals.
  • Sectarian religious activity.

Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust
c/o GMA Foundations
77 Summer Street, 8th Floor
Boston, MA  02110-1006
Katy Fyrberg, Foundation Assistant
kfyrberg @ gmafoundations.com
617/391-3094

Grants Committee
Michael C. Hill, Chair
Leslie Hill
Thomas G. Hill