Council on Foundations: FN&C Now

	FN&C Now
	Volume 6, Number 6 – February 25, 2005 IN THIS ISSUE NEWS COVERAGE: Despite declines in giving, several issues gain increased support; two groups merge to form largest-ever arts advocacy group JUST PUBLISHED: Foundation leaders on effectiveness; first study of Washington, DC-area nonprofit sector finds potent economic force AT THE COUNCIL: Mónica Lozano to be keynote speaker for 2005 Annual Conference; sign up for Breaking News ACT NOW: Come to Foundations on the Hill; sign up for teleconference on preparing new generations of charitable leaders; register for briefing on e-mail newsletter marketing ON THE MOVE: Lori Fisher (Albertson); H. Joe Nelson, III; David L. Nelson and Sheryl L. Johns, et al. (Houston Endowment); Shannon E. St. John (Triangle); Carter S. Roberts and Kathryn S. Fuller (World Wildlife); Kathleen Hallahan Zeifang and Anne Allen (Cafritz); Randall Miller (Tides); Vuyiswa Sidzumo, Sharifa Bala and Vera Dakova, et al. (Mott); Sammye Pokryfki (Rasmuson); Lizette Corro (America's Promise) NEWS COVERAGE INCREASED SUPPORT: According to Foundation Giving Trends: An Update on Funding Priorities, a Foundation Center study, overall giving by the largest private and community foundations decreased 10 percent between 2002 and 2003, with reductions in funding across most major fields. Yet certain areas—such as voter education, disaster preparedness, national security and arms control—realized substantial funding increases. In addition, operating support reached a new record-high share of foundation giving. Read more or download the report: http://fdncenter.org/media/news/pr_0501c.html . ARTS MERGER: Americans for the Arts and the Arts & Business Council will merge their operations, forming the largest-ever arts advocacy group. The merger's goal is to increase support for the arts from individuals, corporations and foundations through innovative programming and the recruitment of national partners. Read more: http://ww3.artsusa.org/information_resources/press/2005/2005_02_17.asp . JUST PUBLISHED WHAT'S EFFECTIVE? Foundation Effectiveness: Definitions and Challenges, an Urban Institute report by Senior Research Associate Francie Ostrower, draws on interviews with 61 foundation leaders. The study discusses foundation leaders' understanding of effectiveness, methods they use to judge it and how they say their foundations have changed or need to change to become more effective. Read more or download the report: http://www.urban.org/Template.cfm?Section=ByAuthor&NavMenuID=63 &template=/TaggedContent/ViewPublication.cfm&PublicationID=9131 . POTENT SECTOR: The nonprofit sector is a powerful force in the Washington, DC region's economy, according to a study from Johns Hopkins University's Center for Civil Society Studies and the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. The Business of Doing Good: How the Nonprofit Sector Contributes to the Region's Economy found that Washington-area nonprofits employed 218,344 workers in the second quarter of 2003, nearly two-thirds as many workers as the federal government employed in the region; and nonprofit employment grew nearly twice as fast as other business employment from 1995 to 2003. The study was commissioned by the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and funded by the Meyer Foundation and America Online. Read more or download the report: http://www.nonprofitroundtable.org/news_and_events/index.aspx?PressReleaseID=10 . AT THE COUNCIL CONFERENCE ON VALUES: "Generosity and Integrity: Values for Leadership in Philanthropy," the Council on Foundations 2005 Annual Conference, will be held April 10–12, 2005, in San Diego. Preconference activities begin on April 8. The keynote speaker will be Mónica Lozano, publisher and CEO of La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States. She will share her thoughts on the social, economic and political influence of Hispanics and Latinos. Other plenary speakers include IRS Commissioner Mark Everson and Jeremy Rifkin, futurist and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends. Register or read more: http://int2.cof.org/conferences/AC2005/index.htm . FREE NEWS SERVICE: Breaking News is a free, daily e-mail newsletter summarizing the top articles—mostly from national and regional newspapers—about philanthropy. Breaking News is available to Council members only. Subscribe by e-mailing your name, title and foundation name to media@cof.org. ACT NOW FOUNDATIONS ON THE HILL: With Congress poised to consider significant reforms to the regulation of the nonprofit sector, foundation trustees and staff need to tell their stories of cooperation, innovation and results to congressional members now more than ever. Join your foundation colleagues in Washington, DC, March 8–9, 2005, for Foundations on the Hill, co-sponsored by the Council on Foundations and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. Find out more: http://www.foundationsonthehill.org . INSPIRING GENERATIONS: The National Center for Family Philanthropy hosts a teleconference, "Successful Succession: Inspiring and Preparing New Generations of Charitable Leaders," March 16, 2005, noon to 1 p.m. Center President Ginny Esposito will present a range of practical strategies and methods for engaging the next generation and lead a frank discussion on the issues for both trustees and their advisors to consider. Register or find out more: http://www.ncfp.org/program-teleconferences.htm . E-MAIL BRIEFING: The Gilbert Center will present a series of online briefings on e-mail newsletter marketing, March 15, 16 and 17, 2005, from noon to 1:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time. Targeted to nonprofit communications professionals, the workshops will be based on the center's research and writing on the subject. Briefing topics include: "The E-mail Newsletter Marketing Model," "Common Flaws of Nonprofit Newsletters and How to Fix Them" and "Creating Effective Content for E-mail Newsletters." One-on-one coaching is also being offered. Register or find out more: http://gilbert.forms.soceco.org/85142/ . ON THE MOVE LORI FISHER was named executive director of the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation. Read more: http://www.cof.org/Content/PressRelease/Display.cfm?pressReleaseID=2387 . The Houston Endowment's board accepted the resignations of H. JOE NELSON, III, president and director, and DAVID L. NELSON, vice president and grant director, and named Chief Financial Officer SHERYL L. JOHNS interim president and Grant Officer ANNA LEAL interim grant director. GIORGIO BORLENGHI, YVONNE CORMIER, SHAWN GROSS, JAY JONES, DAVID MENDEZ and PAUL MURPHY were elected to one-year terms on the foundation's new advisory board. Read more: http://www.houstonendowment.org . Triangle Community Foundation President SHANNON E. ST. JOHN will step down this summer, after the board names a successor. St. John will become senior consultant. Read more: http://www.trianglecf.org/content/view_article.xpl?article_id=102 . The World Wildlife Fund named CARTER S. ROBERTS president, effective July 1, 2005. He will succeed KATHRYN S. FULLER, who is stepping down after 16 years. Read more: http://www.worldwildlife.org/about/new_president.cfm . KATHLEEN HALLAHAN ZEIFANG was appointed acting executive director of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. She replaces ANNE ALLEN, who is retiring after 16 years. Read more: http://www.cafritzfoundation.org/About/spotlight.asp . RANDALL MILLER is now associate director of philanthropic services at Tides Foundation. Read more: http://www.tidesfoundation.org/press_rel_10.cfm . The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation hired VUYISWA SIDZUMO as associate program officer and SHARIFA BALA as secretary in its South African office. VERA DAKOVA is program officer in the Central/Eastern Europe and Russia program area, based in the London office, and J. ANNE CASEY is part-time secretary in the Cork, Ireland, office. Read more: http://www.mott.org/news/pr-detail.asp?newsid=35 . SAMMYE POKRYFKI was appointed program officer at the Rasmuson Foundation. Read more: http://www.rasmuson.org/PressRelease/index.php?switch=view_pressrelease&iReleaseID=54 . America's Promise named LIZETTE CORRO senior vice president of resource development. SUBSCRIBE FN&C Now is published by the Council on Foundations to keep you in the loop by sharing news between bimonthly editions of Foundation News & Commentary magazine (FN&C Now Web archive: http://www.foundationnews.org/now/index.htm ). Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and colleagues who might enjoy it. To subscribe (it's free) to FN&C Now, send an e-mail to fncnow@cof.org . Questions or comments about FN&C Now? Contact Paula J. Kelly at 202/467-0261. To contribute a news item for consideration, please e-mail fncnow@cof.org . To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to leave-fncnow-4832R@int1.cof.org . To subscribe to Foundation News & Commentary, an award-winning magazine, please send an e-mail to fncsubs@cof.org , or visit our website at http://www.icnfull.com/cgi-bin/cobolscript.exe?cof/cofmain.cbl . Council on Foundations 1828 L Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 202/466-6512 webmaster@cof.org last update: 3.25.05