FN&C Now

Volume 6, Number 28 – August 12, 2005 IN THIS ISSUE NEWS COVERAGE: Foundation leaders named to Power and Influence Top 50; Denver Foundation receives Ford Foundation grant to increase diversity; McKnight Foundation names distinguished artist JUST PUBLISHED: Paper says foundation payout should be aligned with mission; report on learning through evaluation AT THE COUNCIL: Grantmakers' salary tables available; financial leadership seminars coming up; sign up for Breaking News NOW ONLINE: Transcript of discussion on safeguarding charity in the war on terror ACT NOW: Register for teleconference on participation in family philanthropy; submit a nomination for citizen activist award ON THE MOVE: Don Michael Randel and William G. Bowen (Mellon); David D. O'Neill and Steven J. Birenbaum (California HealthCare); Kevin Malinger and Lynette Malinger (Albert J. Speh, Jr. and Claire R. Speh); Richard Fahey (Skoll) NEWS COVERAGE TOP 50 LIST: The Nonprofit Times released its annual Power and Influence Top 50 list, selected from more than 200 nominees by Nonprofit Times staff and members of the nonprofit community. Among those on this year's list: Susan Berresford, president, Ford Foundation; Paul Brest, president, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Emmett Carson, president and CEO, The Minneapolis Foundation (board chair of the Council on Foundations); Rick Cohen, executive director, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; Carla Dearing, president and CEO, Community Foundations of America; Sara L. Engelhardt, president, The Foundation Center; Bill Gates, co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Robert K. Goodwin, president and CEO, Points of Light Foundation; Valerie S. Lies, president and CEO, Donors Forum of Chicago; Adam Meyerson, president, Philanthropy Roundtable; Dorothy S. Ridings, president and CEO, Council on Foundations; and Lorie Slutsky, president, New York Community Trust. Download the list (PDF): http://www.nptimes.com/Aug05/Aug05_NPT_Top50.pdf . EXPANDING DIVERSITY: The Denver Foundation's Expanding Nonprofit Inclusiveness Initiative (ENII) received a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to help Denver-area nonprofits become more diverse and inclusive of people of color. The foundation also began disseminating Inclusiveness at Work: How to Build Inclusive Nonprofit Organizations, a workbook to help organizations write their own inclusiveness plans, written by Katherine Pease and members of the ENII staff and steering committee. "When we started ENII, we thought we'd find an existing resource on building diversity and inclusiveness and disseminate it here in Metro Denver," says Lauren Casteel, the foundation's vice president of philanthropic partnerships. "But we found a surprising lack of comprehensive resources that applied to nonprofits. So, we decided to write our own book." Read more (PDF): http://www.denverfoundation.org/images/ENII_Ford_IAW_Release_Final.pdf . DISTINGUISHED ARTIST: The McKnight Foundation announced that sculptor Judy Onofrio is the winner of its 2005 Distinguished Artist Award. Each year, the foundation presents the $40,000 award to a working artist whose long career has had a significant impact on the arts in Minnesota and beyond. Onofrio, who has been telling stories through her art for more than 30 years, uses found treasures, such as buttons, bottle caps and beads, to create large, intricate sculptures. This fall, the foundation will publish a commemorative volume of Onofrio's work and present the 2005 award at a private reception. Read more: http://www.mcknight.org/newsandviews/news_detail.aspx?itemID=3070&catID=2440&typeID=2 . JUST PUBLISHED FOUNDATION PAYOUT: A new working paper from the Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund suggests foundations take a more intentional approach to establishing payout rates. Thomas J. Billitteri's Money, Mission, and the Payout Rule: In Search of a Strategic Approach to Foundation Spending says foundations should match their payout rate to their missions through a process that engages donors, board members and foundation executives, and decide whether their mission would best be served by spending money now versus spending it later. The paper also provides a legislative history of payout rules, a summary of research on the payout rate, a listing of critical issues for future research and a discussion of possible policy changes affecting payout. It also includes examples of foundation leaders who are strategically addressing payout. Download the report (PDF): http://www.nonprofitresearch.org/usr_doc/FullReport721.pdf . EVALUATION=LEARNING: Evaluation as a Pathway to Learning helps grantmakers demonstrate the impact of their grantees and support their learning. Released by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, the report was shaped by the 2005 Evaluation Roundtable, a meeting that included the evaluation directors from some of the largest foundations in the United States. The report includes information on evaluation techniques and explores concepts such as evaluation's link to knowledge management. It also offers tips on incorporating a results orientation into foundation work without making a large investment and showcases the evaluation approaches of several large and small grantmakers. Download the report (PDF): http://www.geofunders.org/_uploads/ documents/live/GEOEvalRndTableReport05%20FINAL.pdf . AT THE COUNCIL SALARY REPORT: The salary tables from the 2005 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report have been placed on the Council on Foundations' website. There are four sets of tables: community; corporate; private (family and independent); and public. Each set is organized by position and asset size, or for corporate grantmakers, by grant group. In addition to data on base salaries by position, each set includes tables showing the percent and number of grantmakers providing a salary increase, 2003-2005, median increase as a percent of salary, 2003-2005, and median salaries by region and position, all grantmaker types, 2005. The full survey report will be available in December 2005 or January 2006; Council members who are survey respondents will receive a complimentary copy in CD-ROM format. Also, access to the online tables is restricted to Council members. View the tables (PDF): http://www.cof.org/index.cfm?containerid=39&menuContainerName=&navID=0&orglink=58 . FINANCIAL SEMINARS: The last two in a series of conference call seminars on finance and investment management leadership for executives and board members of foundations that are Council members will be held this fall. Topics and dates are: Unwinding Troublesome Investments, October 11, and The Search for Administration Costs Benchmarks, November 8. Both seminars will be held from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., ET. Seminar leaders are Tom Raffa, managing partner and founder of Raffa and Associates, and Andrew Schulz, deputy general counsel, Council on Foundations. The free seminars are supported by the Council's Building Strong and Ethical Foundations: Doing it Right Initiative. Read more or register: http://www.cof.org/index.cfm?containerid=258&menuContainerName=&navID=0&orglink=52 . Council members may access speaker presentations, handouts and resources from the May 24 conference call, Investment Leadership: Taking Back Control, at http://www.cof.org/Content/General/Display.cfm?contentID=2683 . Council members may request a free audio recording of the call from leaders@cof.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. NOW ONLINE SAFEGUARDING CHARITY: On June 14, the Georgetown Public Policy Institute's Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership (CPNL) held a panel discussion on the post-9/11 regulatory environment in the United States and its impact on foundations and nonprofits. Safeguarding Charity in the War on Terror highlighted the ineffective and burdensome impact of anti-terrorist regulatory procedures, as well as the climate of fear and confusion they have fostered. Nancy Billica, political advisor to the Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, said current policies have a disproportionate effect on small organizations with few resources and organizations engaged in international work. Other panelists included David Cole, professor of law, Georgetown University Law Center; Laila Al-Marayati, chairperson, KinderUSA; Daniel Mitchell, McKenna Senior Fellow in Political Economy, Heritage Foundation; and Teresa Odendahl, Waldemar A. Nielsen Chair in Philanthropy, CPNL. Read the transcript (PDF): http://cpnl.georgetown.edu/doc_pool/Charity061405.pdf . ACT NOW FAMILY GUIDELINES: The National Center for Family Philanthropy will hold a teleconference, Defining Family: Guidelines for Participation, August 10, from noon to 1:30 p.m., ET. Frank W. Merrick, president of Foundation Management, Inc., and vice president of The Merrick Foundation, will explore how philanthropic families can handle changing family composition and circumstances. Topics will include anticipating and addressing difficult situations before they come to pass, determining eligibility for service within family philanthropy, finding opportunities besides board memberships, involving non-family members and developing written guidelines for participation. Register or find out more: http://www.ncfp.org/program-teleconferences.htm . ACTIVIST AWARD: The Gleitsman Foundation's 2006 Citizen Activist Award will honor individuals who have made exceptional achievements in initiating positive social change in the United States and whose vision and courage inspire others to join them in challenging social injustice. Honorees will share $100,000 and will each receive a specially commissioned Maya Lin sculpture. Nomination forms and supporting materials must be mailed and postmarked no later than November 4, 2005. (Fax or e-mail submissions will not be accepted.) Award winners will be announced in the spring of 2006. Find out more or make a nomination: http://www.gleitsman.org/citForm.html . ON THE MOVE DON MICHAEL RANDEL will become president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation July 1, 2006. He will succeed WILLIAM G. BOWEN, who has been president since 1988. Read more: http://www.mellon.org/MellonAnnouncements.htm . The California HealthCare Foundation appointed DAVID D. O'NEILL senior program officer in the Hospitals and Nursing Homes program and STEVEN J. BIRENBAUM communications officer. Read more: http://www.chcf.org/press/view.cfm?itemID=113259 . On August 31, 2005, KEVIN MALINGER will succeed LYNETTE MALINGER as executive director of the Albert J. Speh, Jr. and Claire R. Speh Foundation. The Skoll Foundation named RICHARD FAHEY chief operating 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: 10.14.05