The Markle Foundation will spend $100 million during the next three to five years to make sure Web sites that promote the public good don't get lost in the Internet's rapid commercialization, the New York Times reports.

Zöe Baird, the foundation's president and one-time U.S. Attorney General nominee, says the foundation wants to use current communications technology to benefit the public.

Grants will be awarded to agencies working in such fields as governmental policy, health care and children's media in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

Markle's first grant will go to Oxygen Media, a young Internet company developing women-oriented programming. The two groups will spend $8.5 million over the next three years to research women's informational needs.

The New York-based foundation was established in 1927 by John and Mary Markle, whose families were in the coal mining and finance businesses. The foundation's mission is to advance knowledge and the "good of mankind."

The $100 million the foundation is spending on this project is more than half of its total endowment, currently $187 million.

Free registration may be required to view the full text of this article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/
biztech/articles/26zoe.html