Arca Foundation

The Arca Foundation "was established in 1952 as the Nancy Reynolds Bagley Foundation." Their website goes on to add that "From the beginning, Arca’s grantmaking has focused on empowering citizens to help shape public policy. Also, the foundation’s work has had an international as well as domestic dimension. Arca’s first grants supported groups working on population policy and women’s rights, issues of great importance to Mrs. Reynolds. As second-and third-generation family members joined the Board of Directors, its grantmaking changed to reflect new concerns: environmental issues in the 1970s, US foreign policy toward Central America and Cuba in the 1980s and ’90s, and the urgent need to curb corporate domination of our politics through genuine campaign reform.

"The foundation’s grantmaking has expanded from $100,000 in 1952 to more than $3 million in 2005." 


 * Ellsworth Culver was formerly their Vice President.

Featured Grantee Jan 2007
"...Common Cause Education Fund and 22 other national, state and local organizations have formed a diverse coalition effort devoted to developing media policies that serve the public interest...

"Common Cause Education Fund and its partners launched a “Bill of Media Rights” in May 2005 to mark the start of their joint efforts, and to provide a centerpiece for both media reform advocacy in Washington and for grassroots organizing to engage the American public on these issues. The Arca Foundation is pleased to be able to support this coalition as part of our Media and Democracy program this year, and we join them in looking forward to a future in which our media system is indeed by, for and of the people.

"Coalition partners include: Alliance for Community Media * Benton Foundation * Center for Creative Voices in Media * Center for Digital Democracy * Center for International Media Action * Common Cause Education Fund * Consumer Federation of America * Consumers Union * Free Press * Future of Music Coalition * Institute for Public Representation * Media Access Project * Media Alliance * Media Democracy Chicago * Media Tank * National Hispanic Media Coalition * New America Foundation * New Media Alliance * Newspaper Guild CWA * Prometheus Radio Project * Office of Communication and Media Empowerment Project, United Church of Christ * Reclaim the Media * US Conference of Catholic Bishops * Youth Media Council." 

Other Interesting Grantees
In 2003 they provided $20,000 to the Cuban Committee for Democracy,

In 2004, they gave $30,000 to the Advocacy Project, and $10,000 to Mercy Corps. 

In 2005 they gave $50,000 to Human Rights First, $125,000 to Mercy Corps, and $25,000 to Vital Voices Global Partnership. 

Staff
Accessed April 2010:


 * Anna Lefer Kuhn, Executive Director
 * Emily Casteel, Program Associate
 * Beverly Halton, Administrator

Staff (2007)

 * Donna F. Edwards, executive director
 * Beverly Halton, administrator
 * Michael Trister, general counsel
 * Apryl M. Walker, program associate

Board
Accessed April 2010:


 * Nancy R. Bagley, President
 * Nicole Bagley, Vice President - Celebrity Service International
 * Mary E. King, Secretary - Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University for Peace, an affiliate of the UN. Distinguished Scholar, The American University Center for Global Peace, Washington, DC. Rothermere American Institute Fellow, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
 * Joseph Eldridge - Chaplain, American University Kay Spiritual Life Center
 * Mike Lux - Progressive Strategies, LLC
 * Janet Shenk - Panta Rhea Foundation
 * Margery Tabankin - Tabankin & Associates
 * Smith Bagley, In Memoriam
 * Michael B. Trister, Esq., Legal Counsel

Board of Directors (2007)
Source
 * Smith Bagley, president
 * Nancy Bagley, vice president
 * Nicole Bagley
 * Mary King, secretary
 * Mike Lux
 * William Maynes (maybe Charles William Maynes)
 * Janet Shenk
 * Eric Sklar, treasurer
 * Margery Tabankin
 * DeWayne Wickham

Contact

 * Web: http://www.arcafoundation.org