Guide to the French American Charitable Trust (FACT) records, 1986-2011

John Hay Library
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2012

Collection Overview

Title:	French American Charitable Trust (FACT) records
Date range:	1986-2011
Creator:	French American Charitable Trust
Extent:	40 linear feet
Abstract:	The French American Charitable Trust was founded in 1990 by the Feeney family, a family with roots in France and the United States, to address fundamental inequalities and injustices in society. Their mission was to help develop and sustain networks of community-based groups in the United States and France that educate, organize, and empower people to actively participate in developing public policies that directly affect their lives. They spent all of the money in the endowment between 1990 and 2012 and closed the foundation in 2012.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library
Collection number:	MS.2012.021

Scope & content

The first series contains administrative files related to the overall management of the foundation. Thereafter, the collection contains the Docket and the files for each of the grantees that received funds organized chronologically and by fund type. FACT gave two types of grants each year. The Discretionary Grants were generally less than $5,000 for specific projects. The Support Grants, $25,000 to $150,000, were given to their core group of organizations. The Docket was presented at the bi-annual Board of Directors meetings and provides key information for each of the grantees requesting funding for that grant period. The Support Grant files provide concise and comprehensive information regarding the mission and activities of each grantee. As such, they provide insight into the philanthropic work of many different types of community organizing groups in the United States and France.

FACT chose groups that focused primarily on low-income communities and people of color that work on environmental issues, civil rights, voter empowerment, tax reform, economic and social inequality.

The collection does not contain grant files for the Spring 2003 funding period.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Community Organizing Archive (Brown University).

Subject Topics

• Civil rights
• Community development
• Community organization
• Environmental justice
• Environmental policy
• Fund raising
• Nonprofit organizations--France
• Nonprofit organizations--United States
• Nonprofit organizations--United States--Management
• Poor
• Taxation
• Voting

Arrangement

This collection follows the file arrangement established by the French American Charitable Trust. The files are arranged chronologically by year. Each year is divided between the smaller Discretionary Grants and the larger Support Grants. During 1990-1994, they gave one grant each year then they expanded to multiple granting periods each year during 1995-1997. By 1998 they settled into 2 granting periods each year - Spring and Fall. The Docket for the grant period precedes the files for that section.

Historical Note

The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) was established in 1990 by Charles “Chuck" Francis Feeney, the co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers and Founding Chair of the Atlantic Philanthropies, and Danielle J. Feeney, his then wife, with a $40 million endowment to enable their five children to learn about philanthropy. Chuck Feeney is Irish-American with dual citizenship and Danielle J. Feeney is a Fench national. Their children are Juliette M. Feeney-Timsit, Diane V. Feeney, Leslie D. Feeney-Baily, Caroleen A. Feeney, and Patrick A. Feeney. FACT was a small family foundation with all 5 of the Feeney children and their mother participating on the Board of Directors along with 6 other individuals. The goal of the foundation was to spend all the money in the endowment during the lifetime of the Feeney family - a philosophy that Mr. Feeney has called “giving while living.” Diane V. Feeney was the President of the foundation for the majority of its existence.

They began by funding organizations all over the United States. But that strategy changed in 1997 when the foundation's offices moved from Washington D.C. to California. Thereafter their funding was targeted on a few core organizations in California, the Southwest, and the South. They also began a small grant funding program in France.

FACT’s funding strategy was focused on community organizing, an underfunded sector, to empower people directly affected by social, economic and environmental injustice to speak for themselves. They choose a small number of core grantees, gave them general operating support, committed to funding them for the long term, and helped them build their strength through innovative and comprehensive capacity building programs.

FACT closed its doors in 2011 after distributing the last grants which were for 2011 and 2012 combined. More information about the history of the foundation can be found in FACT’s final report: “Giving More. Making Change. A Journey in Progressive Grant Making” (Box 1).

The website for FACT was still active as of September 2012 and can be accessed through this link French American Charitable Trust or by going to www.factservices.org.

For more information about Chuck Feeney and his philanthropic work see the website for The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	French American Charitable Trust (FACT) records, Ms. 2012.021, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Gift of the French American Charitable Trust (FACT) in 2011.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Finding aid prepared by Karen Eberhart
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit, 27 Jul 2012
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory

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