FN&C Now
Volume 6, Number 34 – October 11, 2005
SPECIAL ISSUE
This special issue of FN&C Now is part of an occasional series highlighting an event or hot topic for grantmakers. This one focuses on the Fall Conference for Community Foundations, held in Seattle September 19–21.
From the Fall Conference for Community Foundations
By Allan R. Clyde
The unprecedented death and destruction caused across the Gulf Coast region by Hurricane Katrina was an ever-present theme during the Council on Foundations' 2005 Fall Conference for Community Foundations, themed Community Knowledge at Work. The conference was held September 19–21 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle.
In a show of support led by the newly elected Council President and CEO Steve Gunderson, conference chair Ben Johnson—president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation—was greeted by the 1,438 conference goers with a sustained standing ovation during the September 19 opening general session.
THE PLENARIES
Opening session speaker Andy Halper, international education director for Charthouse Learning International, helped launch the conference with an energetic and highly interactive presentation of The Fish! Philosophy for creating a satisfying work environment, as well as satisfied customers. Halper asked attendees to mull over and answer questions such as: How is culture in your foundation created? Who creates it? Who changes it? What was the worst job you ever had and why? How is "being there" essential to the kind of work you do every day? What happens when you're not there? And, can you choose your attitude?
Thomas Stewart, editor of the Harvard Business Review and author of "The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-First Century Organization," keynoted the luncheon plenary. Stewart highlighted four challenges affecting the for-profit and nonprofit sectors equally over the next five years:
- Speed ("Business at the speed of thought is what we need. The problem is when it's faster than the speed of thought.")
- Fuzzy boundaries ("Disintermediation is the elimination of the middle man. That is part of the larger phenomenon of interweaving business processes.")
- King Customer ("We can no longer arbitrage the ignorance of customers.")
- Dealing with low-cost competitors (Figure out "how to be high-value with relatively low costs," and "where you're going to add value.").
- serving as a collective voice for the field
- following through on current investments in areas such as national standards and marketing
- charting future plans using research and development.
Three additional leadership team members shared comments on future areas of work: "We can't remain isolated to communities and remain relevant," said Terri Lee Freeman, president of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Joe Lumarda, executive vice president and COO of the California Community Foundation, challenged foundations to "be what the customer wishes to buy," which included focusing across international borders, bringing in "flash donors" (such as those interested in disasters, terrorism or war) and having staffs/boards that are reflective of donors. Steve Alley, president and CEO of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, noted that "The private sector finally realized philanthropy is a business to make money on." In response to that competition, foundations will have to look at such business modeling tactics as back office consolidation, collaboration and outsourcing to "create more time for front office interaction with donors and the community to remain vital."
"Education of a Philanthropist," was the theme Bill Gates, Sr., co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, explored in his luncheon keynote address. "Community foundations know—as only neighbors can know—the needs of the people," he said. Gates also noted the pass-through versus multiplier roles of United Ways and community foundations, respectively. "Your missions may be converging," said Gates, "but convergence doesn't diminish the need for vibrant community foundations or United Ways. Increase and make known your expertise about local community needs."
As the conference drew to a close on September 21, Hurricane Rita was posing a new threat to the same already battered Gulf Coast. Council on Foundations board chair Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of The Minneapolis Foundation, made a special public service announcement that foundations who wanted to find out how they could help could contact the Southern Network for Community Philanthropy at http://www.cpreas.org. (On October 5, the Louisiana State Government and the Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco announced the appointment of Emmett Carson as interim CEO of the newly formed Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to accept donations and provide for disaster relief, recovery and betterment for the citizens of Louisiana affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Minneapolis Foundation's board of trustees approved Blanco's request to loan the services of Carson to the new foundation for a period of three months. Carson will help develop policies and plans to address this unprecedented emergency. For more information, visit http://www.louisanahelp.org.)
Avila Kilmurray, director of The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, closed the conference speaking on "Community Foundations: Mobilizing Knowledge to achieve Social Change." Kilmurray reflected on some of the "non-grantmaking roles of community foundations-community catalyst, convener, communicator and campaigner." Kilmurray implored community foundations to leverage their access to resources and knowledge to "restate old problems to formulate new quests to spark debate and discussion." Noting roles of a civil society in ensuring participative philanthropy and organizing activists, she noted changes that could be realized if "locals see their points of view reflected, versus being engaged in a discussion that avoids them that's driven by a sense of 'mission.'" In closing, Kilmurray thanked the grantmakers for inspiring her on the "other side of the Atlantic" and quoted George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself." Kilmurray concluded, "It's time for community foundations to be unreasonable."
BRING THE CONFERENCE HOME
New this year, the Council on Foundations is offering a multi-media CD-ROM that includes both the audio recordings plus the PowerPoint presentations and handouts, a complete list of exhibitors and important Council information. The CD-ROM can be played in any PC or Mac computer. The audio is captured in MP3 format. The CD-ROM is $249. Order by phone at 800/679-3646 or online at http://www.netsymposium.com/index.php?select=conference&data=153 .
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last update: 10.21.05