FN&C Now

Volume 7, Number 4 – January 20, 2006 IN THIS ISSUE IN MEMORIAM: Philanthropic leader Marshall A. Robinson NEWS COVERAGE: Piper Trust gives $50 million to create endowed chairs for personalized medicine; Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to develop model entrepreneurship curriculum; Delaware Valley Grantmakers joins World Community Grid AT THE COUNCIL: International Dateline highlights draft Principles of Accountability in International Philanthropy; sign up for Breaking News ACT NOW: Come to Foundations on the Hill 2006 ON THE MOVE: Jean Miao (California Endowment); Gary Kebbel (Knight); Marilyn J. Klenck, Elizabeth A. Casselman and David Maas, et al. (Indiana Grantmakers Alliance) IN MEMORIAM SAGE HEAD: Former foundation leader Marshall A. Robinson, 83, died in New York City January 7, after a long illness. Following an academic career, Robinson joined the Ford Foundation in 1964 and worked there until 1979, when he became president of the Russell Sage Foundation, a position he held until 1986. Robinson headed Russell Sage following a period of upheaval in its top ranks and questions about its relevancy. As president, he oversaw the awarding of millions of grant dollars to research such issues as how the changing roles of men and women were reshaping the country's institutions. He is also noted for drawing on scholars from both conservative and liberal organizations. From 1992 until last year, Robinson served as vice president of the Daniele Agostino Foundation. Read the New York Times obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/13/nyregion/13ROBINSON.html . NEWS COVERAGE PIPER CHAIRS: The Arizona-based Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust announced a $50 million Initiative in Personalized Medical Science and Technology to create ten endowed Piper chairs over five years at research institutions in Maricopa County, Arizona. The chairs will attract leading scientists, engineers and clinicians in the field of personalized medicine, which encourages doctors to develop individual strategies for the detection, treatment and prevention of diseases based on a person's genetic makeup. The funding includes $500,000 for a Piper Prize in Personalized Medicine to recognize a Piper chair's achievements. "This initiative supports ongoing endeavors to propel Arizona's bioscience industry to national prominence," said Piper trust president and CEO Judy Jolley Mohraz. Read more: http://www.pipertrust.org/servlet/com.piper.display.ListNews?action=VIEW&article_id=100084 . ENTREPRENEURSHIP PANEL: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation formed the Kauffman Panel on Entrepreneurship Curriculum in Higher Education, a first-of-its-kind, multidisciplinary panel of distinguished scholars to provide recommendations for a comprehensive approach to teaching entrepreneurship to college students. The foundation hopes to create an educational framework that will be the gold standard. "Despite impressive gains in the numbers and quality of courses over the past 20 years, entrepreneurship education still lives mostly on the fringes of academe, not in the mainstream," said Carl Schramm, foundation president and CEO. Read more: http://www.kauffman.org/items.cfm?itemID=671 . COMPUTER POWER: Delaware Valley Grantmakers (DVG) joined World Community Grid, a partnership that harnesses the power of idle computers for scientific research. The project uses new grid technology to form many individual computers into a system with massive computational power far exceeding the power of a few supercomputers. The World Community Grid partnership includes more than 100 companies, associations, foundations and academic institutions. By making its computers available, DVG will be participating in scientific research projects that address global humanitarian issues, such as new and existing infectious disease research, genomic research and natural disasters. Read more: http://www.dvg.org/news_media/index.htm#WCG . AT THE COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL DATELINE: The first quarter 2006 International Dateline presents draft Principles of Accountability in International Philanthropy, developed by a joint working group of the European Foundation Centre and the Council on Foundations. The working group welcomes all constructive comments and suggestions to this first draft. The issue also includes an alert for international grantmakers who value donor-advised funds, and a feature on how private foundations can use "friends of" organizations, written by Victoria B. Bjorklund and Jennifer I. Reynoso of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Read the issue: http://www.cof.org/Content/General/Display.cfm?contentID=3342 . 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, as well as members and staff of our colleague organizations. Subscribe by e-mailing your name, title and foundation name to media@cof.org. ACT NOW FOUNDATIONS ON THE HILL: Come to Foundations on the Hill, March 14–15, 2006, in Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Council on Foundations and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, the event brings foundation representatives from across the country to meet with members of Congress. Foundation representatives can inform and educate Congress about philanthropy, create visibility for foundations and philanthropy, advocate on issues affecting foundations, and encourage Congress to view foundations as a resource on public policy issues. In addition to congressional meetings, participants attend training sessions and a breakfast event featuring remarks by a member of Congress. Registration for Foundations on the Hill is open to all grantmaking foundations. Register or find out more: http://www.foundationsonthehill.org . ON THE MOVE JEAN MIAO is now program officer for The California Endowment's Center for Healthy Communities. Read more: http://www.calendow.org/news/press_releases/2006/01/011206.stm . The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation hired GARY KEBBEL as program officer for Journalism Initiatives. Read more: http://www.knightfdn.org/default.asp?story=news_at_knight/releases/2006/2006_01_11_kebbel.html . The Indiana Grantmakers Alliance elected MARILYN J. KLENCK chair, ELIZABETH A. CASSELMAN vice chair, DAVID MAAS treasurer and HARRY MCFARLAND secretary. New board members are GARY BAUER, SANDI KEMMISH, MARK MILLER, COLLEEN REILLY, VERNE SEEHAUSEN and SHERRY STARK. BRAD BAUMGARDNER joined the board as an ex-officio member representing the Community Foundation Committee. Read more: http://www.indianagrantmakers.org/NewsRoom/Detail.cfm?details=291&Ref=News . 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: 3.27.06