Charities Praise The Skinner Foundation

When the Chicken Soup Brigade, an agency that provides meals for people with AIDS, was looking for funding last year for a renovation project, it turned to the Skinner Foundation.

The foundation not only granted $10,000, but also showed genuine interest in the agency's project and gave some welcome guidance, said Carol Sterling, Chicken Soup's executive director.

"The Skinners were the first to come out and ask us tough questions about the project," Sterling said. "They truly listen and that's a marked contrast from other foundations. To me they personify Seattle philanthropy."

It's a sentiment shared by many of the area's nonprofit organizations.

But in light of the foundation's announcement yesterday that it intends to restructure, many past grant recipients are left wondering what change will bring.

The announcement came as Alpac Corp. of Seattle, the source of more than 80 percent of the foundation's funding in the past 10 years, said it was being sold to Pepsi-Cola North America.

The Skinner Foundation, founded in 1956 by Seattle businessman and philanthropist David E. "Ned" Skinner, is supported by the Skinner family's privately held companies - Alpac, N C Machinery and the Skinner Corp.

Since its founding, it has provided $8.6 million to more than 1,300 nonprofit organizations, primarily in Washington. Recipients have included the Cornish College of the Arts, the Seattle Art Museum, Corporate Council for the Arts, Bailey-Boushay House, Children's Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Sandra Fry, director of the foundation, said current grant applications will be reviewed but no new ones will be accepted until the reorganization is complete.

"It has been a yearlong process by family members to look at and develop a strategy for what their business and philanthropical interests are," Fry said. "We hope to have the restructuring complete by the end of the year."

The foundation usually receives about 400 applications each year and funds half, Fry said. This year only 30 requests will be funded. All pledges, however, will be honored.

Carole Borgmann, the director of development for the Northwest AIDS Foundation, one of the few organizations that receive year-to-year support from the Skinner Foundation, is concerned about the changes.

"It's a little disturbing, and I hope everything works out," Borgmann said. "If the foundation were to dissolve, that would have an impact on our funding."

But others remained optimistic.

"Change is often frightening in the world of grant-writing, and having the Skinner Foundation restructure is something we need to adjust to, but I don't think we need to be frightened of it," the Chicken Soup Brigade's Sterling said. "The Skinners have provided great leadership in the past and I expect them to continue to do so."

Scott Hall, director of corporate and foundation relations for the University of Washington, is also not too worried. The foundation has already disbursed $150,000 of a $200,000 pledge gift to the UW, and has said committed to the rest.

"I don't think the nonprofit organizations in town should worry, at least not at this point - especially if you consider the history of the Skinner Foundation," Hall said.