Corporate Philanthropy

September 11 and Beyond
The following is excerpted from a March 2002 interview with Susan Beresford (president, Ford Foundation) that is included in September 11: Perspectives from the Field of Philanthropy, published August 2002 by the Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 212-620-4230. It is published by permission of the Foundation Center.

FC: It was common in the weeks after 9/11 to hear people say that the attacks had changed everything. Did September 11 change everything?

The theme of education in the arts can be found throughout GIA's programs. The role that the arts can play in education is one of four primary themes that will be explored at our 2002 conference, Creative Connections; and the "Bookmarks" column in this issue of the Reader concentrates on "Arts Education Resources on the Web". The following two articles take a look at recent research, specifically research that explores the connections between education in the arts and student learning in other realms.The theme of education in the arts can be found throughout GIA's programs.

First of all, it's a delight to be here this morning because I meet so many old friends, and I knew that you would be here related in some way or other to this gathering of foundations. The foundations you represent are doing what in an ideal situation, all governments would, should do. What you do with your contributions, with your interest, is help keep this world relatively sane. I say relatively for obvious reasons. What you do is feed a hunger for all the people of the world. Not simply food, clothing, shelter of course, but there is in everybody a hunger for beauty.

Last year when RAND released The Performing Arts in a New Era, (Performing Arts) the prediction that times were going to be particularly difficult for mid-sized performing arts organizations was widely quoted. It was prominent in press coverage of the report and quickly embraced as a fact by grantseekers and foundation colleagues. I was curious to return to Performing Arts and the conditions it cites for organizations in the middle, to see how they apply to readings of recent field reports for different performing arts disciplines.

We just returned from yet another community gathering where arts leaders sought the support of their business and civic counterparts by documenting the "economic impact" of arts spending and employment in their region.

2000, 77 pages. NEA, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20506-0001, 202-682-5400.

In 1999, Bill Ivey, as a part of his reevaluation of the NEA's funding strategies, convened a series of ten colloquia to discuss how arts institutions can more effectively serve their communities. Forty-one speakers participated; about half are well-known to GIA members and the other half included experts from intersecting fields such as advertising, entertainment, Internet services, and charitable gift funds.

April 28-30, 2002, Asheville, North Carolina

"The arts enrich society in so many ways.
They are a civilizing force — as essential
over time as adequate housing or a cleaner
environment or other compelling causes.
Art is surely the grandest expression of our
creativity and is our most lasting legacy.
People are transient. But art is forever.”
- John H. Bryan

If “the past is prologue” then the history of Sara Lee Corporation bears telling. It is a testament to corporate leadership over the years and the impact of Sara Lee's CEOs, past and present, not only on a company, but on the city of Chicago.

Fall 2001, $15 per year, 80 pages. Published by the MIT Press for the Society for Organizational Learning. MIT Press Journals, Five Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, 617-253-2889, journals-orders@mit.edu. Society for Organizational Learning, contact@SoLonline.org.

I rarely pick up books or journals about business management, but my trusted co-editor suggested Reflections to me on the grounds that several GIA members have forwarded intriguing articles from its pages. I decided to take the plunge.