Foundation management

Typically when businesses decide to support the arts they do so through a grant-giving mechanism or through a program that places employees as volunteers and consultants in arts organizations. But, I've noticed a different kind of interaction between the profit-making and not-for-profit art worlds in recent years. Some business people have set up foundations dedicated to improving the ethical and cultural context in which their own professions practice.

In June 1998 the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers held a forum on "Conflicting Visions of Philanthropy" and I was invited to place the recent criticism of the field of philanthropy in historical perspective. [See page 44 for a short report on the session as a whole.] My objective at the forum, and in this revision of those remarks, is to put the problem in bold historical relief and to provide a context for understanding the long tradition of criticism of foundations and philanthropy. In doing so, I want to make five basic points.

1.

2006, 277 pages. Routledge, 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Operating outside governments and markets, able to take risks and accept failure, free to cross sectors and redefine professional boundaries

At the close of its May 2006 meeting, GIA board members and staff participated in a forum discussing some of the dynamics of power and grantmaking. Board member Dudley Cocke (trustee, the Bush Foundation and director, Roadside Theater) led a story circle in which participants shared their personal experiences. Peter Pennekamp (former GIA board member and executive director, Humboldt Area Foundation) and Craig McGarvey (philanthropic consultant), were each asked to make provocative opening comments that would "stir the pot" for the story circle and discussion that followed.

The past year has brought forward several thoughtful investigations into the future of nonprofit leadership. Among other commentaries, Investing in Leadership by Betsy Hubbard (Volume 1) and Kathleen P. Enright (Volume 2) — published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations — and Daring to Lead, 2006, by Jeanne Bell, Richard Moyers, and Timothy Wolfred — published by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation — are thoughtful and meaty.

"I believe that if we can keep our values close, our imaginations open, and our stories fierce, we can and will win." - Thenmozhi Soundararajan

Introduction

2006, 36 pages. The Meyer Foundation, 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 360, Washington, DC 20036, 202-483-8294, meyer@meyerfdn.org

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   Daring to Lead 2006 (643Kb)

Steve Gunderson is the new president and CEO of the Council on Foundations. After serving three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature, Gunderson served sixteen years in the U.S. Congress, where he focused on agriculture, education, employment policy, health care, and human rights. After not seeking re-election in 1996, he served as senior consultant and managing director for the Washington office of the Greystone Group, a Michigan-based strategic management and communications consulting firm.

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.

2005, 12 pages. U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20220, 202-622-2000, www.treasury.gov.

Download pdf: www.treasury.gov/offices/enforcement/key-issues/protecting/docs/guidelines_charities.pdf

These voluntary guidelines are intended to "assist charities in developing a risk-based approach to guard against the threat of diversion of funds by use by terrorists and their support networks."