SSTI Digest

The Foundation Center is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1956 with the mission to “foster public understanding of the foundation field by collecting, organizing, analyzing, and disseminating information on foundations, corporate giving, and related subjects.” Audiences include grant seekers, grant makers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.

The Foundation Center's extensive online library of the country’s largest 10,000 philanthropic organizations is available by monthly subscription. A CD Rom directory of 50,000 philanthropies, as well as several other directory and guides, are also offered. The Center provides several additional publications, grant writing workshops, and research tools for prospective grant recipients.

The Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA) currently has three positions available: Investment Officer, Consulting Coordinator, and Director of Research & Training. 

CDVCA is an association of community development venture capital funds that provide equity financing to businesses in inner-cities and economically distressed rural areas throughout the United States and around the world. They promote use of the tools of venture capital to create jobs, entrepreneurial capacity, and wealth to advance the livelihoods of low-income people and the economies of distressed communities.

Descriptions of all three positions may be viewed on the CDVCA website (http://www.cdvca.org) or the SSTI Jobs Corner webpage.

Most of New York’s science and technology initiatives have been consolidated into the New York Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR), which has received an annual budget of $130.6 million as a result of the Jobs 2000 Plan or “J2K” signed by Governor George Pataki in mid-November.

The new office incorporates the programs, functions, and staff of the NY State Science & Technology Foundation. The foundation, established in 1961, was one of the oldest continuously running state S&T programs. The Foundation had been part of Empire State Development Corp. since 1995; NYSTAR will be a separate entity.

With a total price tag of $522 million, J2K provides funding for projects ranging from NYSTAR and public venture capital to local water development projects.

The Markle Foundation has announced plans to give away $100 million -- more than half of the Foundation's current endowment -- over the next five years for projects and programs to improve public benefit from the Internet. Recipients will include non-profit organizations as well as for-profit companies. Awards are concentrated in four areas: Public Engagement through Interactive Technology -- "supports research, applications, and experimentation that encourage the use of communications technology for active engagement in the pursuit of knowledge and for effective participation in democratic society."

Policy for a Networked Society -- "works to enhance the public voice in the consideration and resolution of domestic and international policies that are surfacing in this new communications environment."

Joseph Magno, the executive director of the New York State Science and Technology Foundation, has resigned his position. He has accepted a position with the State University of New York Research Foundation.

New York Governor George Pataki amended his proposed FY 1997-98 budget to restore funding for the state's technology programs. Pataki's revised budget calls for more than $20 million for technology programs, almost twice what was originally submitted to the legislature in January.

The new request calls for more than $16 million for university-industry projects, including Centers for Advanced Technology (CATs). Funding was also restored for the Industrial Technology Extension Service (ITES) and the Technology Development Organizations (TDOs) which operate New York's Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP). ITES and the TDOs had been eliminated from the Governor's Executive Budget.