Threshold 2007 Annual Report

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Letter from the President

This past year has been an electriying time or Threshold Foundation. There was a major

reorganization o our grants committees last year and this year was the time to see i the ruits

o our labors would be realized. Had we listened long and hard enough to what direction thecommunity was trying to take us? Was all the hard work and due diligence o the previous year

going to pay o?

Al Gore met with us at a Threshold conerence two years ago, beore he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

His message was clear at that time: a sustainable planet and the democracy to allow it to happen

are where the world needs us to ocus our time and energy. He conrmed what we already knew.

This past year Bill McKibben, Harvey Wasserman and Mark Ritchie spoke to us at our June

conerence. Again we heard how important sustainability and democracy are to our uture and the

planets uture.Our community was convinced. Last year we brought one o the largest grants pools in recent

history to the table. Our two core grant committees, Sustainable Planet and Democracy were able to

make some o the most signicant and substantial grants in their areas o ocus. Sustainable Planet

targeted work that addresses Community-based Solutions, Ecological Hotspots and Averting Mass

Extinction. They also accelerated two timely grants in 2007 to support work on Climate Change,

which the committee has taken on as a new area o ocus or 2008. The Democracy Committee

unded eorts to: ensure integrity in election processes and voting equipment; empower marginalized

communities to register, vote and challenge barriers to voting access; and limit the infuence o big

money special interests in governmental processes, especially elections and legislation.

A spectacular one-two punch.

This was all done in the midst o also generously unding our new Funding Circle initiatives;

Restorative Justice, International Microcredit, and Gul South Allied Funders. Funding Circles were

our response to the varied and specic interests that we see in our donor community that fuctuate

with time and the current state o aairs globally. We wanted to harness this energy and bring it

back into the Threshold old or everyones benet.

Restorative Justice sought to promote alternatives to the modus operandio the American criminal

justice system. International Microcredit provided unding or indigenous micronance institutions


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(MFIs) and critically needed capital or local entrepreneurs in developing regions throughout the

world. Gul South Allied Funders is a donor initiative ormed in response to the devastation by

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was also a way or us to build ties between donor communities withwhom GSAF is in collaboration to strengthen our ability to work together and und strategically.

While still in its inancy, Funding Circles look like a homerun. Initially there was concern that this

initiative might aect our core committees capacity to give. How could we und both o these areas

in a meaningul way? Would we be competing with ourselves?

The answer was a resounding no. Not only did we increase our grants pool giving, we exponentially

expanded our capacity to give as a community in all o our initiatives. There was a 15.7% increase in

the number o people giving and a whopping 56% increase in dollar amount given to all initiatives

rom last year. A great lessonIn my own lie I reer to it Act as i or aith with due diligence. Weacted as iwe had the capacity to hold all o these wonderul initiatives, did our homework and

watched it maniest itsel. Thank you.

Looking into 2008 we are riding a wonderul wave o momentum. There is increased vigor in our

two core grantmaking committees and an increase in the number o unding circles rom three to

ve. The three unding circles returning or their second year are Restorative Justice, International

Microcredit and Gul South Allied Funders. The two new unding circles are Complementary

Currency and Arts or Social Change.

Will we be able to sustain our capacity to give? I think sowith aith and the perseverance to do our

homework, I believe we are nowhere near our limit to maniest what we seek!

With love and gratitude,

Michele Grennon


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Following a two-year process o change

and development, Threshold launched a

newly re-designed Grants Program in 2007.

We established two new Core Committees:

Democracy and Sustainable Planet, and

introduced a new philanthropic orm or

Threshold: Funding Circles.

The Democracy and Sustainable Planet

Committees are the more permanent,

institutional fxtures in Thresholdsphilanthropic constellation. Funding Circles

are authorized in a yearly charter process and

remain in the oundations orbit or a more

limited scope o work or length o time.

For more inormation about current

Core Committee and Funding Circle

guidelines and unding criteria, please visit

the Threshold Foundation website at

www.thresholdoundation.org

Threshold Foundation007 Grants List


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Democracy Unlimited of HumboltCounty / California Center forCommunity Democracy

Educating citizens regarding the corporate seizure o

our government, DUHC has a demonstrated history osuccessully designing and implementing innovative

grassroots strategies that exercise democratic power

over corporations. Building rom its own sucesses, its

Community Rights Project will produce tools to assist

other communities interested in passing ordinances to

orbid corporate political contributions.

$30,000 Community Rights ProjectEureka, CAwww.duhc.org

Families United for Racial andEconomic Equality

A multiracial, woman led membership organization

made up o low-income and no-income workers,

FUREE organizes to aect the welare system so

that all peoples work is valued and all people have

the right to choose their own destinies and earn

the economic means to live them out. The Electoral

Engagement or Power Project uses political

education, leadership development and grassroots

mobilization to increase voter engagement andturnout o low-income amilies in New York City.

$30,000 Electoral Engagement or PowerBrooklyn, NYwww.uree.org

Latina Initiative

A non-partisan voter outreach and civic engagement

organization whose mission is to cultivate, support

and maintain the civic involvement o Latinas in

Colorado. Latina Initiative is the premier nonprot

increasing civic engagement o the Latina community.

$30,000 General SupportDenver, COwww.latinainitiative.org

League of Independent Voters

Organizes 1735 year olds to build a progressive

governing majority in their lietime. It develops

leaders and builds political power to ght or public

policies which refect their core values and seeks to

build a progressive governing majority in our lietime.

The Leagues Unlock the Vote project in PA ocuses on

increasing voter turnout and awareness about voting

generally among ex-oenders in the Pittsburgh area

(Allegheny County) .

$30,000 Pennsylvania Leagues Unlock the VoteProjectBrooklyn, NYwww.indyvoter.org

MAPLight.org

A groundbreaking public database, MAPlight.org

illuminates the connection between campaign

donations and legislative votes in unprecedented

ways. Elected ocials collect large sums o money

to run their campaigns, and have been suspected

o paying back campaign contributors with special

access and avorable laws. MAPLight.org makes

money/vote connections transparent, to help citizens

hold their legislators accountable.

$30,000 OutreachBerkeley, CAwww.maplight.org

Velvet Revolution

Dedicated to clean, transparent, and accountable

government. Its Election Protection Strike orce or2008 will work with partners and whistleblowers to

investigate and expose election raud issues in order

to educate the public and ocials beore the next

election.

$25,000 Election Protection Strike Force 2008Washington, DCwww.velvetrevolution.us

Voter Action / InternationalHumanities Center

Provides nancial, legal, research and logistical

support or grassroots eorts with the goal o

ensuring the integrity o elections in the United

States. A lawsuit was led in state court on January

14, 2005. The primary purpose o this action is

to obtain a permanent injunction against use o

the voting machines that have been linked to the

problems in the 2004 general election.

$55,000 General SupportSeattle, WAwww.voteraction.org


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Sustainable Planet Committee

Alliance for Sustainable Colorado

Works to achieve environmental, economic and social

sustainability in Colorado through building broad

support among individuals, nonprot organizations,

businesses and government. The Alliance acilitatesrelationships and common goals and agendas among

individuals, nonprot organizations, businesses and

government to uniy support behind jointly backed

policy initiatives that consider long-term impacts. It

provides the nucleus or a statewide sustainability

movement or Colorado and a model or sustainability

movements in other states.

$25,000 General SupportDenver, COwww.allianceorcolorado.org

Business Alliance for Local LivingEconomies

A rapidly growing alliance o 35 local business

networks comprising over 12,000 entrepreneurs and

small company owners rom across the U.S. and

Canada who are collaborating to build diversied local

economies that support community lie and natural

systems. It is its mission to catalyze, strengthen, and

connect these local networks.

$20,000 General SupportSan Francisco, CAwww.livingeconomies.org

California Academy of Sciences

Enables scientists to conduct vital research around

the Bay Area, across the United States, and in the

worlds hotspots o biodiversity. It plays an important

role in empowering teachers across the state with

resources and training, and providing education

outreach programs directly to underserved youth.

Steinhart Aquarium and world-class exhibits are

one example. As a project o Caliornia Academy

o Sciences, the mission o Center or BiodiversityResearch and Inormation (CBRI) is to oster and

disseminate integrative, multidisciplinary research

based on the biodiversity data residing in CAS

specimen collections. CBRI applies a wide range o

geospatial tools and analysis to museum biodiversity

data to understand and communicate changing

patterns o species distributions.

$35,000 Center or Biodiversity Research andInormationSan Francisco, CAwww.calacademy.org

2007 grants$352,000

To ace these questions, we must transorm both human culture and technology to live within the physical

limits o the local and global ecosystems. Most urgently, this implies protecting threatened ecosystems to

preserve biodiversity and prevent extinction. This in turn will require addressing global ecological issues suchas climate change, empowering local and indigenous communities and deploying new clean technologies.

In 2007, this committee unded in three areas o ocus: Community-based Solutions, Ecological Hotspots, and

Averting Mass Extinction.

How do we meet the needs of people now without compromising theneedsoffuture generat ions?How do we bring all human act ivitiesinto harmony with nature for the beneftof all beings?


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Energy Action Coalition / EarthIsland Institute

A coalition o more than 40 organizations rom across the

US and Canada, ounded and led by youth to help support

and strengthen the student and youth clean energymovement in North America. Funding supports the

Lobby Day and Rally components o Power Shit 2007.

$25,000 Power Shit 2007Washington, DCwww.powershit07.org

Environmental Law AllianceWorldwide

Gives public interest lawyers and scientists around

the world the skills and resources they need to

protect the environment through law. Its advocates

serve low-income communities around the world,

helping citizens strengthen and enorce laws to

protect themselves and their communities rom toxic

pollution and environmental degradation. Its advocates

are building a sustainable uture by helping citizens

participate in policy decisions about the environment.

By giving grassroots advocates access to critical legal

and scientic resources, E-LAW strengthens these

advocates to challenge environmental abuses and

pursue environmental justice.

$25,000 General SupportEugene, ORwww.elaw.org

Friends of Calakmul

Works to conserve 350,000 acres o prime jaguar

habitat in the southwest Buer Zone o the Calakmul

Biosphere Reserve, by providing local owners with

economic benets derived rom conservation o their

land. To date, FOC has signed landmark agreements

with more than 200 amilies that permanently protect

more than 250,000 acres o rainorest.

$25,000 General SupportTahoe City, CAwww.calakmul.org

Global Cooling / Planetwork

An inormal group o collaborating scientists rom the

US and UK examining an idea or creating a controlled

global cooling to balance global warming resulting

rom burning ossil uel. Its Cloud Seeding to AvertCatastrophic Global Warming project will assess and

develop a scheme or mitigating global warming via

low lying maritime clouds.

$25,000 Cloud Seeding to Avert CatastrophicGlobal WarmingBoulder, COhttp://planetwork.net/climate/cooling

Global Response

Empowers people o all ages, cultures, and nationalities

to protect the environment by creating partnerships oreective citizen action. At the request o indigenous

peoples and grassroots organizations, Global Response

organizes urgent international letter campaigns to help

communities prevent many kinds o environmental

destruction. Global Response involves young people as

well as adults in these campaigns to develop in them

the values and skills or global citizen cooperation and

earth stewardship.

$30,000 General Support

Boulder, COwww.globalresponse.org

Green Empowerment

Promotes community-based renewable energy,

potable water delivery and related watershed

restoration internationally to generate social and

environmental progress. It emphasizes local leadership,

community participation, and long-term economic and

environmental sustainability.

$20,000 General Support

Portland, ORwww.greenempowerment.org

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National Council of Churches

For 25 years the NCC has worked through its 100,000

local churches and 45 million members to mobilize the

aith community around such issues as global warming,

energy, water conservation, toxics, and sustainability. Its

Faithul Stewardship campaign will mobilize Americas

aith community around the global extinction crisis.

$25,000 Faithul Stewardships Project to MobilizeAmericas Faith Community on the Global Extinction CrisisNew York, NYwww.nccecojustice.org

Red de Permacultura en el Peru

An NGO o permaculture experts skilled in Amazon

sustainability projects. The Rainorest Protection-

Achual Sustainable Harvests Project supports the

Achuales, a native people o the Peruvian Amazon, who

wish to protect their 4,000 acres o native rainorest

land through stabilization o their native community,

permanent agriculture and reorestation.

$14,500 Rainorest Protection-Achual SustainableHarvests ProjectPucallpa, Peruwebsite not available

The Regeneration Project

Seeks to deepen the connection between aith and

ecology. TRP educates and encourages aith leaders

and their communities, across all religions and

denominations, about their responsibility to be good

stewards o Creation.

$25,000 Interaith Power and Light CampaignSan Francisco, CAwww.theregenerationproject.org

Species Alliance

Works to raise public awareness o the impending mass

extinction and the threat to Earths lie support systems

due to this loss o biodiversity. Through lms and other

media, its website, and outreach, it seeks to ignite a

new sense o community empowerment and purpose,

in order to stimulate creative and eective changes in

public policies and human behavior that will assure a

healthy uture or all lie on Earth.

$37,500 General SupportEmeryville, CAwww.speciesalliance.org

Sustainable ConnectionsWorks with local, independently owned businesses

that have the autonomy to make any transormational

change in their business that they can imagine to

reexamine where we buy goods and services, how we

consume energy, grow and distribute our ood, build

homes, and even, how we dene success in business.

$20,000 General SupportBellingham, WAwww.sconnect.org


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Mission

Gulf South Allied Funders2007 grants$177,000

Gul South Allied Funders (GSAF) is a donor initiative ormed in response to the devastation by

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Its objectives include:

Generating at least three years o steady nancial support rom individual donors, donorcommunities and oundations, or equitable rebuilding o the Gul South.

Discussing the ongoing human rights violations in the region, and the ways in which the verypersonal tragedies o the people in the area have national implications.

Building the ties between donor communities in order to strengthen our ability to worktogether strategically.

Raising the capacity and visibility o the Twenty-First Century Foundation (21CF) - one othe ew national and publicly endowed Black oundations in the United States.

Facilitating positive changes in public policy.

Twenty-First Century Foundation

The destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita changed the lives o thousands o

individuals and amilies along the Gul Coast. 21CF responded within days o the disaster, by

establishing the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Fund, with a mission to provide targeted support

to rebuild the lives o black and low-income people and communities directly impacted by

the hurricanes. This special initiative involves collaborating with partner organizations in the

aected regions and mobilizing individuals and organizational allies rom dierent parts o

the country to ensure that resources get to the people who need them most. Its priority is

to make strategic grants or relie, recovery, and advocacy eorts that provide a voice or all

people in the rebuilding plans or the region, and that promote long-term equitable solutions.$177,000 Hurricane Katrina Recovery FundNew York, NYwww.21c.org

2007 Funding Circle


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Mission

Restorative Justice2007 grants$146,000

The mission o the Restorative Justice Funding Circle is to promote humane alternatives to

the current modus operandi o American criminal justice. It supports eorts to (1) prevent

imprisonment, particularly lengthy, Draconian sentences; (2) transorm imprisonment roma period o suering and debilitation into a period o healing, growth and empowerment,

including victim-oender dialogue and reconciliation, spiritual and emotional healing, and

vocational endowment; (3) diagnose and treat prisoners with mental health and/or substance

abuse problems; (4) support prisoners amilies during and ater incarceration; and (5) steward

and mentor prisoners when they return home. In 2007, the Funding Circle ocused on endeavors

to transorm, heal, motivate, and empower prisoners, all with the principal goal o reducing

recidivism and upliting the communities to which ex-prisoners return.

Freedom ProjectSupports the transormation o prisoners into

peacemakers. It oers trainings in concrete skills o

Nonviolent Communication and mindulness leading to

reconciliation with ourselves, our loved ones and the

community. Its work addresses the healing o relationships

ruptured by violence and the orging o community

ounded on genuine saety through connection.

$23,500 General SupportSeattle, WAwww.reedom-project.org

Insight Prison Project

A community organization that believes community

members need to play an active role in the prisons sur-

rounding a community. IPP is dedicated to creating and

conducting eective programs or inmate rehabilitation

and to support the reinstatement o rehabilitation as a

core operating principle within the penal system.

$28,500 General SupportSan Raael, CAwww.insightprisonproject.org

Manalive Violence PreventionPrograms

Conducts direct services, training, and community

action activities designed to impact the cycle o

violence that devastates the San Francisco community.

Its mission is to end violence, especially mens violence

against women and its programs support this.

$20,500 General SupportSan Francisco, CAwww.manaliveinternational.org

Mediation WorksEmpowers individuals and organizations to resolve their

dierences peaceully. It teaches confict resolution

skills and provides mediation services, thereby building

understanding and respect in its diverse community.

$13,000 Empowering Incarcerated YouthMedord, ORwww.mediation-works.org

2007 Funding Circle

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Stop Prisoner Rape

A national human rights organization seeking to end sexual

violence against women, men and youth in all orms o detention.

It works to advocate or policies that ensure institutional

accountability, to change societys attitudes toward prisoner

rape, and to promote access to resources or survivors o sexual

assault behind bars.

$25,500 Survivor Connections ProjectLos Angeles, CAwww.spr.org

The Treatment Advocacy Center

Dedicated to eliminating legal and clinical barriers to timely andhumane treatment or Americans with severe brain disorders

who are not receiving appropriate medical care. Focusing on

schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder),

it works to prevent the devastating consequences o non-

treatment: homelessness, suicide, victimization, worsening o

symptoms, violence, and incarceration.

$15,500 Manual or Implementing Assisted OutpatientTreatmentArlington, VAwww.treatmentadvocacycenter.org

Urban Justice Center

Engages in legal services and grassroots and systemic

advocacy or members o marginalized populations. Its Rights

or Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disorders is the only

grassroots, sel-governing, direct-action organizing group in the

country that is ghting to reverse current trends and end the

criminalization o mental illness.

$19,500 Rights or Imprisoned People with PsychiatricDisabilities

New York, NY

www.urbanjustice.org

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Mission

International Microcredit2007 grants$148,000

The International Microcredit Funding Circle unds microlending institutions in regions o

the world where people are living in poverty. It directs unds through existing micronance

institutions that primarily lend to women, and that provide training in business practices,and i necessary, technical assistance. The unding circle seeks opportunities in which the

money gets recycled into a lending pool and becomes a permanent endowment or change.

Microlending empowers people with an arm and a leg up to sustainable sel-suciency; it

preserves their dignity and promotes sel-esteem in the process, rather than providing a

handout, which can be disempowering.

Friendship Bridge

Provides small business loans to women in Guatemala

and Vietnam who have the energy and oresight toemerge rom the shadows o war and long-standing

poverty. In addition, Friendship Bridge helps organize

and support village-based health projects while it also

provides educational scholarships to over 700 rural

school age children.

$34,000 Credit and Education program in GuatemalaEvergreen, COwww.riendshipbridge.org

Kiva.org

The rst online platorm or retail micronancelending, Kiva.org allows individuals to lend as

little as $25 to specic micro-businesses in the

developing world. It works with a network o

micronance institutions (MFIs) who use its website

as a marketplace to attract debt or their clients. Its

mission is to connect people through lending or the

sake o alleviating poverty.

$25,000 Web and Cell based MicronanceSan Francisco, CAwww.kiva.org

NamasteDirect / NamasteFoundation

Dedicated to providing loan unds or rural rst-timewomen borrowers in Central America who have no

other source o credit. NamasteDirect links donors

with borrowers through providing donors with

inormation on the loan cycle and the community

where their unds were distributed as microcredit

loans.

$34,000 Las Mujeres Rurales 100+ GroupSan Francisco, CAwww.namaste-direct.org

Permacultura America LatinaWorks to teach and preserve permaculture and

create models o sustainable agriculture, appropriate

housing and alternative technology in Central and

South America. The organizations mission is directed

towards indigenous communities, ethnic minorities,

womens groups and armers.

$25,000 Permabanco projectSanta Fe, NMwww.permacultura.org

2007 Funding Circle

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Small Enterprise Foundation

A developmental micronance institution with the

goal o working towards the elimination o povertyand unemployment in a sustainable manner by

providing credit or sel employment, combined

with savings mobilization and a methodology

that substantially increases the poors chances o

successul sel-employment.

$30,000 Microloans programLimpopo Province, South Aricawww.se.co.za

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Informal Funding

Inormal Funding occurs at Threshold meetings and raises unds or organizations presented by members to members.

These are closed unding cycles and as such do not accept unsolicited letters o inquiry.

2007 grants$248,126

1+1+1=ONE$8,600 We Got Issues! Art and Civic ParticipationProjectBrooklyn, NY www.somosarte.com/Web/WGI

The 0% League / Zing Foundation$4,850 General SupportArlington, MA www.50percentleague.org

Advancement Project$12,550 General SupportLos Angeles, CA http://www.advanceproj.org

Art in Action Youth LeadershipProgram / Youth for EnvironmentalSanity$11,400 ScholarshipsOakland, CA http://www.artinactioncamp.org

Bill Oliver Productions / ClassicalMusic Consortium of Austin$6,550 Mother Earth Festival at the Springs:Interactive Arts and NatureAustin, TX www.mrhabitat.net

George Washington CarverCommunity Center / CarverFoundation of Norwalk$7,720 Youth Development ProgramNorwalk, CT http://carvercenterct.org

Code Pink / EnvironmentalismThrough Inspiration and Non

Violent Action$53,900 Code Pinks Occupation ProjectVenice, CA www.codepinkalert.org

Comunicacion Indigena S. C.$33,050 Indigenous Media ProjectsOaxaca, Mexico www.clacpi.org

Deep Streams Institute

$13,400 Coming Home ProjectSan Francisco, CA www.cominghomeproject.net

Fund for Reconciliation &Development$25,750 Peter Yarrow Perormance and AdvocacyTour o VietnamDobbs Ferry, NY www.rd.org

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One Water Project / HygeiaFoundation$13,600 One Water Project in BoliviaNew York, NY www.hygeia.org

Non-GMO Project / Ecology Center$8,000 Outreach and EducationBerkeley, CA www.nongmoproject.org

Nonviolent Peaceforce$26,300 Emergency Rapid Response Team toGuatemalaMinneapolis, MN www.nonviolentpeaceorce.org

Peter M. Goodrich MemorialFoundation$10,000 Greenhouse Project in the Wardak regiono AghanistanBennington, VT www.goodrichoundation.org

Planetwork$16,500 Conserving Lie: Averting Mass Extinctiono SpeciesNicasio, CA www.planetwork.net

Reuniting America / MediatorsFoundation$16,100 General SupportSt. Louis Park, MN www.reunitingamerica.org

Sharon House Garden Project /Waterbury Baptist Ministries$10,220 General Support

Waterbury, CT

Soldiers Heart / InternationalHumanities Center$18,350 General SupportAlbany, NY www.mentorthesoul.com/soldiersheart

The New World Foundation$16,250 Arts or Justice ProgramNew York, NY www.neww.org

TransparentDemocracy.org$21,650 Develop its technology platorm or use inthe 2008 electoral cycleLos Altos Hills, CA www.TransparentDemocracy.org

PeaceKeeper Fund / TriskelesFoundation$10,300 Ja and the Pattaya Home or Street ChildrenGlenmoore, PA www.triskeles.org

True Story Theater$11,700 Theatre or Dialogue and ReconciliationProjectArlington, MA www.truestorytheater.org

Urban Word NYC / Bowery Arts &Science$22,800 General SupportNew York, NY www.urbanwordnyc.org

urbanPEACE / Wind Beneath MyWings$12,300 PeaceWELL GREEN Renovation ProjectEmeryville, CA www.urbanpeace.org

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Discretionary Grants

Alliance for Sustainable Colorado$10,000 General SupportDenver, CO www.allianceorcolorado.org

Climate Trust$2,180 General SupportPortland, OR www.climatetrust.org

CODEPINK Action Fund$100,000 Dont Buy Bushs War and OccupationProjectVenice, CA www.codepinkaction.org

Sustainable Energy and EconomicDevelopment Coalition / TexasFund for Energy and Environmental

Education$2,008 TXU Action CampAustin, TX www.seedcoalition.org

2007 grants$114,188

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Grants Process

The annual grant cycle begins in September

with the submission o Letters o Inquiry (LOI)

by organizations interested in seeking grants

rom Threshold Foundation. Threshold members

may sponsor organizations with a letter o

recommendation or organizations may submit an

unsolicited LOI. Threshold Foundation does notmatch organizations with Threshold members or

sponsorship into the grantmaking process, but

all LOIs are given an initial review. From the LOIs

the grant committees select a limited number

o organizations to which are sent a Request or

Proposal (RFP). Ater reviewing the proposals, the

grant committees select a subset o organizations

or a site-visit and evaluation. Once the site-visit

and evaluations are complete evaluations are

reviewed and grant committees nalize their grantrecommendations to the Circle (Board o Directors)

in June. Grant agreement and unds are disbursed at

the end o July.

Grant Types and Sizes

Threshold Foundation provides grants or general

operating expenses as well as special projects.

Grants are primarily single year though occasionally

grants may be or two to three years. We do not give

emergency or discretionary grants outside o the

annual grant cycle.

Grant amounts typically range rom $5,000 to

$25,000.

Organizations seeking grants must have 501(c)(3)

tax-exempt status or 501(c) (4) lobbying statusrom the IRS or must be exclusively organized or

charitable or educational purposes, inside or outside

the United States.

Applying for a Grant

The rst step in applying to the annual grant cycle

is to submit an online Letter o Inquiry through our

website at www.thresholdoundation.org. Note that

guidelines or applying to the annual grant cycle

oten change, as we are continually trying to improve

our process based on eedback rom grantees and

committee members. Thereore, we recommend that

grantseekers visit the Threshold Foundations website

in August or the most up-to-date inormation

regarding the deadline and application process or the

ollowing years cycle.

Information for Grantseekers

Threshold Foundations annual grants program includes two Core Grantmaking Committees the Democracy

Committee and the Sustainable Planet Committee and a number o unding circles, which change on an annual

basis. For current inormation about Core Committee and Funding Circle guidelines and unding criteria, pleasevisit the Threshold Foundation website at www.thresholdoundation.org.


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Program Related Investment Loan Amount

Accion International $55,000Boston, MAwww.accion.org

Chicago Community Loan Fund $25,000Chicago, ILwww.cclchicago.org

Community Bank o the Bay $25,000Oakland, CAwww.communitybankbay.com

Cooperatie Fund o New England $20,000Amherst, MAwww.cooperativeund.org

E&Co $50,000Bloomfeld, NJwww.eandco.net

Enterprise Corporation o the Delta $35,000Jackson, MSwww.ecd.org

Human/Economic Appalachian Deelopment $20,000Community Loan FundBerea, KYwww.headcorp.org

Institute or Community Economics $50,000Springfeld, MAwww.iceclt.org

Endowment Investment Report

The endowment investment

principles o Threshold

Foundation complement

its philanthropic goals.

The entire portolio has

a social investment ocus

with positive and negative

screens: seventy percent is

in socially screened stock,

bonds, and cash with Boston

Common Asset Management,

Calvert, Miller/Howard

Investments, and Trillium

Asset Management; twenty

percent is in Program Related

Investments, primarily

Community Development

Loan Funds that are listed

here; the remaining ten

percent has been designated

or high growth, venture-

type investments.

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National Federation o Community $50,000Deelopment CUNew York, NYwww.nated.org

New Meico Community Deelopment $30,000Loan FundPO Box 705Albuquerque, NM 87103-0705

Opportunity Finance Network $100,000

Philadelphia, PAwww.opportunityfnance.net

Root Capital $20,000Cambridge, MAwww.rootcapital.org

Sel-Help Credit Union $25,000Durham, NCwww.sel-help.org

Sel-Help Enterprises $45,000Visalia, CAwww.selhelpenterprises.com

Shared Interest $35,000New York, NYwww.sharedinterest.org

ShoreBank Enterprise Pacifc $50,000Ilwaco, WAwww.eco-bank.com

Endowment Gifts

You can make an endowment

git to Threshold Foundation

through a charitable trust, real

estate git, or by means o a

bequest in your will. Because

grantee organizations, grantee

needs and other conditions

change over the years, it will

oten avoid legal complications i

simple unrestricted language like

the ollowing is used in wills:

I hereby give and bequest ___ __

______ to Threshold Foundation,

a not-or-proft tax-exempt

public charity ounded under the

laws o the State o New York,

having as its principal address

PO Box 29903, San Francisco,

Caliornia 94129-0903, or the

general purposes o Threshold

Foundation.

I you want to discuss the

language o your bequest, or

i you want more inormation

on planned giving possibilities

(including real estate gits),

the sta or Circle (Board o

Directors) would be happy to

meet with you. To schedule a

meeting contact the Foundation

Manager at 415-561-6400.

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Independent Auditors Report

Board o Directors

Threshold Foundation

We have audited the accompanying statement o nancial position o Threshold Foundation (the

Foundation) as o December 31, 2006, and the related statements o activities and cash fows or the

year then ended. These nancial statements are the responsibility o the Foundations management. Our

responsibility is to express an opinion on these nancial statements based on our audit. The prior year

summarized comparative inormation has been derived rom the Foundations 2005 nancial statements

and, in our report dated July 28, 2006, we expressed an unqualied opinion on those statements.

We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States o

America. Those standards require that we plan and perorm the audit to obtain reasonable assurance aboutwhether the nancial statements are ree o material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis,

evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the nancial statements. An audit also includes assessing

the accounting principles used and signicant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the

overall nancial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis or our opinion.

In our opinion, the nancial statements reerred to above present airly, in all material respects, the

nancial position o Threshold Foundation as o December 31, 2006, and the changes in net assets and

its cash fows or the year then ended, in conormity with accounting principles generally accepted in the

United States o America.

Signed

Fontanello, Dufeld & Otake, LLP

Certied Public Accountants

44 Montgomery Street, Suite 2019

San Francisco, CA 94104

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Statements of Financial PositionYE AR S ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20 06 AN D 20 05 2006 2005

Assets

Cash and cash equivalents $ 349,900 $ 319,851

Pledges receivable 11,349 13,845

Deposits 121,900 84,552

Other current assets 13,059 8,225

Total current assets 496,208 426,473

Program related investments 535,000 535,000

Investments 2,553,970 2,482,300

Total inestments 3,088,970 3,017,300

Total assets 3,585,178 3,443,773

Liabilities

Grants payable $ 6,525 $ 10,000

Accounts payable 13,771 28,399

Reundable deposits 7,845 7,000

Total liabilities 28,141 45,399

Net AssetsUnrestricted net assets

General operations 325,998 303,312

Designated or grantmaking pool 207,295 299,302

Designated or endowment purposes 2,797,629 2,698,680

Total unrestricted net assets 3,330,922 3,301,294

Temporarily restricted net assets 226,116 97,080

Total net assets 3,557,037 3,398,374

Total liabilities and net assets $ 3,585,178 $ 3,443,773

Balance Sheet

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Statements of Activities Temporarily 2006 2005YE AR S ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20 06 AN D 20 05 Unrestricted Restricted Total Total

Support and Revenue

Grants and contributions $ 1,146,507 $ 226,116 $ 1,372,623 $ 1,008,770

Conerence revenues 144,100 144,100 94,412

Investment income 251,135 251,135 102,601

1,541,742 226,116 1,767,858 1,205,783

Net assets released rom restriction 97,080 (97,080)

Total support and reenue 1,638,822 129,036 1,767,858 1,205,783

Expenses

Program serices

Grants 1,137,425 1,137,425 866,735

Conerence expenses 67,659 67,659 46,870

Network communications 185,194 185,194 101,293

Total program serices 1,390,278 1,390,278 1,014,898

Supporting serices

Grantmaking support 91,903 91,903 85,450

Board/corporate support 127,014 127,014 122,362

Total supporting serices 218,917 218,917 207,812

Total epenses 1,609,195 1,609,195 1,222,710

Change in Net Assets 29,627 129,036 158,663 (16,927)

Net assets at beginning o year 3,301,294 97,080 3,398,374 3,415,301

Net assets at end o year 3,330,921 226,116 3,557,037 3,398,374

Income and Expense

2006 REvENUE

Investmentincome 16%

Conerencerevenues 9%

2006 ExPENSE

Board/corporatesupport 8%

Grantmakingsupport 6%

Networkcommunications 11%

Conerenceexpenses 4%

Grants andcontributions

75%Grants71%


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Statements of Cash FlowsYE AR S ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20 06 AN D 20 05 2006 2005

Cash ows from operating activities

Increase (decrease) in net assets $158,663 $ (16,927)

Adjustments to reconcile change in net assets tocash used in operating activities:

Net investment return (251,135) (102,601)

Contibuted stock (146,070) (119,354)

Decrease (increase) in

Pledges receivable 2,496 (3,955)

Deposits (37,348) (26,552)

Other current assets (4,835) (646)

Increase (decrease) inGrants payable (3,475) (5,000)

Accounts payable (14,628) (297)

Reundable deposits 845 (28,475)

Net cash used in operating actiities (295,487) (303,807)

Cash ows from investing activities

Purchase o investments (505,857) (470,291)

Proceeds rom sale o investments 817,324 601,168

Return o program related investments 75,000Distributions rom partnerships 14,069 122,901

Net cash proided by inesting actiities 325,536 328,778

Net change in cash and cash equivalents 30,049 24,971

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning o year 319,851 294,880

Cash and cash equivalents at end o year $349,900 $319,851

Cash Flows


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Jane Van Dusen, a long time member o Threshold,

died December 10, 2006 at age 82. She suered a

massive stroke ater eeling unwell or a couple o

months and being diagnosed with an aortic embolism.

In 2001 Jane attended the rst session o the

Threshold Leadership Institute (created by Grant

Abert and Marian Moore) with Lillie Allen. Jane

expressed great concern or three o her grandchildren who lived in an

unhealthy environment. She elt helpless and worried about their uture.

She was encouraged by the group to take action, which resulted in her

taking the three (then aged 154) into her New Jersey summer home andbecoming their guardian. She made many sacrices as a result, including

having to live where the state o New Jersey allowed her to live. She

missed Threshold meetings and riends a great deal, but had only rare

times she could leave the children. She gave up her reedom including

to travel and have much o a social lie to provide a healthy, loving,

stable home or her grandchildren.

Jane suered many losses in her lie, most painully the death o her

daughter, Janie, but kept on living her best. Jane loved her shore home in

Ocean County, NJ, and was beloved in her home community o Simsbury,

CT. She was a practitioner o bioenergetic analysis. Jane was the epitome

o maternal love and sacrice, giving up her reedom in her last years to

nurture her grandchildren while encouraging what relationship they might

have with their mother. She was a wise woman, always seeking to learn,

a loyal riend with a charming sense o humor, and a loving mother and

grandmother.

Written by Molly Stranahan, January 2007

In Memory of


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Documents

Threshold 2007 Annual Report