Posts Tagged 'foundations'

Seven Things Foundations Can Do to Shape Public Debate in the NYC Election Season

Published February 21, 2012 Thought Leaders 1 Comment
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By Laura Wolff, Senior Program Officer, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation

The upcoming New York City campaign season is the first one in more than a decade—and only the second since 1973—where there is no incumbent candidate for Mayor. In addition, at least 20 of the 52 Council seats will be open due to term limits on their incumbents. The race for Mayor has already drawn several candidates, including the current Public Advocate and City Comptroller. As a result, we can expect a particularly lively season with meaningfully contested races between strong candidates for all the City-wide positions and many Council seats. These campaigns provide a valuable opportunity to focus public attention on critical issues of concern to funders, our grantees, and all New Yorkers; and to inform the thinking of those who will be leading our City over the next four or more years.

Here are a few ways to help ensure that our priorities receive the attention they deserve:
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These Days Everyone Can Be A Communicator…But Is That Enough?

Published January 12, 2012 Thought Leaders Leave a Comment
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By Bruce Trachtenberg, Executive Director, The Communications Network and Michael Hamill Remaley, Vice President of Communications & Public Policy, Philanthropy New York

(This post originally appeared on PhilanTopic, the Philanthropy News Digest blog, on January 6, 2012 and is reprinted with permission.)

These days, everyone is a communicator. After all, how hard is it to send a tweet, post to a blog, or even shoot and upload a video?

Many people in charge of foundation and nonprofit communications have taken advantage of this trend by encouraging others in their organizations to develop and share content through online social networks.

Indeed, as they increasingly see that their messaging can be amplified by many voices, both on staff and off, one can imagine foundations asking: Do we still need professional communicators on staff? Why can’t we all just say what we have to say? In a world of decentralized distribution of news and ideas, do we even need a communications department? Continue reading…

Beyond the IRS: Communicating Your Foundation’s 990-PF

Published December 21, 2011 Program Recaps , Thought Leaders 1 Comment
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By Gail Fuller, Director of Communications, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Long ago, foundations were in what I call “The Lone Ranger” mode: they hid behind masks, addressed societal needs, and for the most part never revealed who they were or told their stories or that of their grantees. By the 1980s, that began to change. The late Frank Karel, who created what is today considered foundation communications, concluded that a sound communications strategy is guided by the relentless pursuit of answers to three deceptively simple questions: 1) What do you want to accomplish?, 2) Who has to think or act differently for that to happen?, and 3) What would prompt them to do it?

Those are the same questions that also drive good grantmaking. And with that simple way of thinking, foundations began to be strategic about their communications and tell their stories, both externally with annual reports (and eventually websites), and with internal communications to trustees and staff.
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Learning in Place

Published July 14, 2011 Thought Leaders 1 Comment
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By Maria Mottola, Executive Director, New York Foundation

I am an ambivalent traveler. I get anxious about leaving things that are familiar—it’s disorienting. But once I arrive someplace new, I feel exhilarated; finding yourself in strange surroundings can be jarring, but in a good way.

Just over a year ago, the New York Foundation’s board of trustees allowed me to spend some time on a “sabbatical” of sorts, during which I worked as an executive-on-loan to Gladys Carrión, the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS). On top of all my other responsibilities, why take this on now? In the way travel can invigorate you, I was excited by the idea of exploring another sector. I was also unsure whether the skills I had honed over 16 years were useful for navigating any place outside philanthropy. And being a generalist, I wasn’t sure I had the capacity anymore to digest one issue in depth.

Also, I was tired of hearing myself talk about foundations being more proactive as advocates in the public arena, with only a vague idea of what that might look like. It’s easy to pontificate about a hypothetical scenario. It’s harder to advocate for and carry out a realistic approach once you know the landscape.
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The Business of Philanthropy: “Exit Interviews” with Former and Departing Foundation CEOs

Published June 30, 2011 Program Recaps , Thought Leaders Leave a Comment
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By Richard Smith, President, The Pinkerton Foundation

How has the increasing influence of the tools and techniques of business affected the world of philanthropy? That was just one of the themes of a panel I had the privilege of moderating recently at Philanthropy New York. Entitled “Exit Interviews,” the panel included three genuine leaders in the field: Susan Berresford, the former head of the Ford Foundation, and two current CEOs, Lance Lindblom of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and Chris DeVita of The Wallace Foundation, both of whom have announced plans to step down later in the year. As a recent migrant from the land of commerce myself, I’ve been especially curious about the similarities—and differences—between business and philanthropy. The panel helped clarify the picture—although I hasten to add that the views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect a consensus of all the panelists.
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A Weak Foundation

Published March 9, 2011 Thought Leaders 4 Comments
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By Ilene Mack

I have spent more than three decades in the world of philanthropy, as a program officer at a major national private foundation. I entered with little or no knowledge about my new profession, but what I knew for sure was that it was worlds away from the for-profit, corporate sector that I had known for the prior ten years. I believed it was a sector that existed on a higher plain, which did its work with honor, respect, and integrity. There was no bottom line to be concerned with; we were in the business of doing good—of caring, and being compassionate—and good we did. We were idealistic, believing that with enough people of good will working together and as a community, positive social change could be achieved. Poverty would be alleviated, if not eradicated; education would be reformed; healthcare would become equitable; and discourse would be civil. We were in a partnership with our grantees. There would be accountability and transparency, leading to effectiveness and efficiency. The playing field would be leveled. We didn’t need a bulldozer—fairness, and the notion that we were all in this together, would do the job. I was, in short, part of a field that intended to be a “foundation” for change and betterment.

I treated my grantees as I treated my friends, relatives, business associates, and colleagues—with respect and humility. Just because I worked for an institution that gave out money did not make me superior to my grantees. Now that I am retired, my perspective, often from the other side of the desk, has altered. I am afraid that much of the field and some of my colleagues have forgotten the meaning of their positions at the foundations they work for and the roles that they play.
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Random Reflections By A New Author

Published May 24, 2010 Thought Leaders Leave a Comment
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By Jeffrey R. Solomon
President, The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies

I recently heard the esteemed Israeli author, Amos Oz, remind us that when we dream we dream of perfection—whether of a person, an experience, or a country. Reality never gives us that same perfection. Since Charles Bronfman and I wrote The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan, we’ve been in a dozen states talking to numerous audiences, professional and lay, with serious interest in philanthropy. The give and take with these audiences provides a wonderful mirror to reflect upon some of the issues and challenges of the field. As with so many aspects of life, I am blessed from what I learn from these encounters and how these lessons inform my practice.
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Payout Redux

Published April 9, 2010 Thought Leaders 1 Comment
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Charles Hamilton

By Charles H. Hamilton
Senior Fellow, Philanthropy New York

In recent years, much has been made of payout rates. On the one hand, many writers have favored increasing the 5 percent minimum required of foundations because it “reaffirms some of the basic principles of effective grantmaking, such as mission clarity, focus and impact” (Beyond Five Percent: The New Foundation Payout Menu). But it does no such thing; payout does not determine mission or effectiveness. Calling for higher payout requirements seems more related to political agendas or the unquestioned conceit that giving now is always better than later. On the other hand, much of the statistical research clusters around 5 percent as the minimum that allows foundations to be enduring institutions: taking into consideration market cycles, expenses, excise taxes, and inflation. But the minimum has become the unquestioned ceiling for most foundations because foundation officials and boards are cautious (or lazy) and fail to align budget and mission. This may be a good time to revisit the payout question.
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The Spend-Out Presumption And The Value Of Enduring Institutions

Published February 26, 2010 Thought Leaders 1 Comment
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Charles Hamilton

By Charles H. Hamilton
Senior Fellow, Philanthropy New York

Foundations should explicitly consider their lifespan options. However, in my last contribution, I wrote that focusing simply on foundation perpetuity or spending out was, per se, a distraction from: (1) attending to mission and effectiveness first and foremost, and (2) considering other forms of foundation “existence,” such as foundation mergers. I remain distracted by two things: (1) much of the discussion about foundation lifespan tends to skew in favor of spend-out, and (2) the value of enduring, independent philanthropic institutions to civil society is unfortunately ignored.
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The Spend-Out/Perpetuity Distraction…and the Merger Option

Published February 8, 2010 Thought Leaders 2 Comments
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Charles Hamilton

By Charles H. Hamilton
Senior Fellow, Philanthropy New York

There is renewed interest in the issue of lifespan for foundations (spend-out versus perpetuity). Nonetheless, these discussions seem like a distraction to me, for two reasons: 1) the perpetuity versus spend-out debate isn’t relevant by itself and distracts from questions of mission and impact, and 2) it diverts us from looking at other options for foundations.
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