Council on Foundations: FN&C Now

	FN&C Now
	Volume 6, Number 9 – March 18, 2005 IN THIS ISSUE NEWS COVERAGE: Elizabeth Bremner to receive 2005 LEAD Award JUST PUBLISHED: Governance and accountability in healthcare conversion foundations; study says traditional journalism now competes with faster, less accurate media AT THE COUNCIL: Register for the 2005 Annual Conference or Corporate Grantmakers Summit; March/April FN&C highlights award winners; sign up for Breaking News ACT NOW: Sign up for the Jewish Funders Network’s 2005 International Conference ON THE MOVE: Robert W. Briggs and Jill Ker Conway (Knight); Rachel Garbow Monroe (Weinberg); John Fitzpatrick and Paula Peters (Communities Foundation of Texas) NEWS COVERAGE LEAD AWARD: Elizabeth (Liz) Bremner, founding president of The Foundation Incubator, will receive Women & Philanthropy’s 2005 LEAD (Leadership for Equity and Diversity) Award. The award, which includes a $10,000 gift, is given to an individual at a foundation or corporate giving program who has developed and supported creative practices that promote equity and diversity for women and girls. Among other accomplishments, Bremner is being recognized for creating the Lesbian and Gay Funding Partnership in the 1990s, when she was president of the Santa Fe Community Foundation and grantmaking related to sexual orientation was rare. The award will be presented at Women & Philanthropy’s 28th Annual Meeting, “Effective Philanthropy: Women’s Health and Healthy Communities,” on April 9, 2005, in San Diego. Read more: http://www.womenphil.org/info-url_nocat3909/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_id=267190 . JUST PUBLISHED HEALTHY FOUNDATIONS: A report from Grantmakers In Health (GIH), The Business of Giving: Governance and Asset Management in Foundations Formed from Health Care Conversions, examines issues such as board compensation, audits and discretionary grants at 174 conversion foundations. According to the study, most conversion foundations have policies in place to address major accountability issues. For example, 97 percent of the 174 foundations have explicit investment policies, with 80 percent regularly reexamining them. The publication also pinpoints areas where the foundations could improve. Download the report: http://www.gih.org/usr_doc/Conversion_Report_2005.pdf . LOSING GROUND: Faster, cheaper and less accurate forms of news are pushing traditional journalism, with its emphasis on fact-checking, out of the media marketplace, says The State of the American News Media, 2005. The report, from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, warns that traditional news groups may be tempted to compete with new media by cutting back on news gathering and modifying their standards. The study, which was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, provides an overview of the media landscape and a detailed examination of nine different press sectors. Find out more: http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/index.asp . 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 . CORPORATE SUMMIT: Join your corporate grantmaking colleagues in San Francisco, June 8–10, 2005, for the Council’s Corporate Grantmakers Summit. The conference theme is “Leverage and Leadership: Accountability in Action.” Attendees will share their own successes and struggles and hear lessons learned from colleagues who have strengthened their programs during this era of regulatory and legislative challenges. Register or find out more: http://int2.cof.org/conferences/Corp2005/index.htm . AWARD WINNERS: The March/April issue of Foundation News & Commentary highlights the Council’s 2005 award winners. Rien van Gendt, executive director of the Van Leer Group Foundation, was named 2005 recipient of the Distinguished Grantmaker Award. Nancy Latimer, senior program officer at the McKnight Foundation, won the 2005 Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking. The Maytree Foundation will receive the Paul Ylvisaker Award for Public Policy Engagement. The Council also announced the 115 winners of the Wilmer Shields Rich Awards for Excellence in Communications and the fourteen Film & Video Festival Award winners. All awards will be presented at the 56th Annual Conference in San Diego on April 11. Read the issue, which also includes an overview of principles and standards work at the Council, articles on building a more accountable sector and assisting newcomers to philanthropy and a financial checklist, at: http://www.foundationnews.org . 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 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Join the Jewish Funders Network in Baltimore, April 3–5, for its 2005 International Conference, “Investing in People: Cultivating Leaders for the Future.” Speakers will include the Honorable Rabbi Michael Melchior, Israel’s deputy education minister; Marie Wilson, feminist activist, White House Project president and former president of the Ms. Foundation for Women; Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green; Stephen Heintz, president, Rockefeller Brothers Fund; and Amy Ayalong, former head, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency. At the conference, a new strategic partnership for Israel among global funders will be announced. Register before March 28 to avoid a late fee. Register or read more: http://www.jfunders.org/special_events/special_events.htm?category_id=329 . ON THE MOVE The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation named ROBERT W. BRIGGS vice chair of its board of directors. He succeeds JILL KER CONWAY, who retired. Read more: http://www.knightfdn.org/default.asp?story=/news%5Fat%5Fknight/releases/2005/2005%5F03%5F16%5Fbriggs.html . RACHEL GARBOW MONROE is now chief operating officer at The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc. The Communities Foundation of Texas appointed JOHN FITZPATRICK executive director of the Texas High School Project (THSP). PAULA PETERS, former THSP interim executive director, is now the project’s chief operating & development officer. 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