Family Foundation

Under Marian Godfrey's direction, GIA held a pre-conference immediately before its 2005 conference called "New Directions in Cultural Policy Research." As part of that meeting, four well-respected individuals were asked to assess the impact and importance of research in the arts. They were asked to specify the big ideas currently in play and to speculate about the future of those ideas. Predictably perhaps, the four argued for the importance of research to the cultural sector. More surprisingly, they agreed that the platform for cultural research needs serious re-planking.

2005, 48 pages. The Potlatch Fund, 801 Second Avenue, Suite 304, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-624-6076.

Based on a series of talking circles of tribal leaders and funders, this handsome report reviews the history of Native peoples and the role of art in tribal culture, examines the program priorities of funders, and identifies strategies for supporting Native arts and artists. The extensive bibliography is also a valuable tool for grantmakers.

2005, 18 pages. Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617-495-1480.

Download pdf: www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/pubs/pub_161.htm

2005, 40 pages. New York State Council on the Arts, 175 Varick Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10014-4604, 212-627-4455.

PDF available for download on website.

2005, 22 pages. Grantcraft, a project of the Ford Foundation, 320 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017, 212-573-5288.

PDF Download: www.grantcraft.org/dl_pdf/personalstrategy.pdf.

This fifteenth guide in the Grantcraft series promotes thedevelopment of personal strategies for grantmakers to better manage the ambiguous "soft" part of their work. Other guides are also available on this web site.

2004, 283 pages. Lexington Books Lanham, MD, 20706

Based on a study of thirty multi-generational Canadian and U.S. family foundations, this book looks at "stages and transitions" in the lives of these foundations. It puts them into historical context, illustrates foundation development and transition, and focuses primarily on topics of governance, continuity, and how families organize themselves to reach their goals. Academic in tone, it is more an overview of how family foundations have evolved over time than a practical guide.

2005, 24 pages. Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, 1413 K Street, NW, 2nd floor, Washington, DC, 20005

Download pdf: Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

This report examines current topics in philanthropic evaluation and showcases innovative approaches to evaluation being used by grantmakers, both large and small. Through three essays and concise, informative case studies, evaluation is shown to be an opportunity to learn about one's grantmaking and to increase its effectiveness.

April 2005, 6 pages. Wallace Foundation, Two Park Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York, NY, 10016, 212-251-9700

PDF available for download at the Wallace Foundation website.

Wallace President M. Christine DeVita discusses the Foundation's experiences and early lessons in measuring its own effectiveness, as presented at the 2005 Council on Foundations annual conference. This straightforward approach and simple set of questions provides a useful resource for the small or family foundation wanting to address the question, "How are we doing?"

2005, 43 pages. Foundation Strategy Group , LLC, 20 Park Plaza, Suite 320, Boston, MA, 02116, 617-357-4000.

On March 1, 2005, the first convening to share the findings of Deep Focus: A Report on the Future of Independent Media was held in San Francisco, the geographic community studied for this project1.