FN&C Now

Volume 7, Number 5 – January 26, 2006 IN THIS ISSUE NEWS COVERAGE: Foundation leaders meet with President Bush to discuss Gulf Coast; Open Society Institute launches one-time Katrina Media Fellowship; foundations' use of unrestricted support to be studied; Joyce Award winners named IN MEMORIAM: Andrea M. Bronfman, supporter of Jewish causes and arts AT THE COUNCIL: Community Foundations Leadership Team gets new chair; sign up for Breaking News JUST PUBLISHED: Minnesota funders feeling optimistic NOW ONLINE: How to improve funding for women and girls; Stanford Social Innovation Review on philanthropy and the poor ACT NOW: Sign up for educational programs for small foundations ON THE MOVE: Larry R. Faulkner (Houston Endowment); Anne Binger and Robert Struyk (McKnight); Grunie Gunter, Mary Lou Jaramillo and Mark Flaherty, et al. (Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City); Kathleen Cavanaugh (Fetzer) NEWS COVERAGE WHITE HOUSE MEETING: On January 19, 2006, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush met at the White House with a group of foundation leaders to discuss Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts. Foundation leaders included Susan Berresford, Ford Foundation; Beth Ann Bryan, Laura Bush Foundation; Kelly Caffarelli, Home Depot Foundation; Jean Case, Case Foundation; Evern Cooper Epps, UPS Foundation; Bob Corcoran, GE Foundation; Lee Culpepper, Wal-Mart Foundation; Patrick Gaston, Verizon Foundation; Kevin Hall, Broad Foundation; Bob Litan; Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; John Willard "Bill" Marriott, Jr., J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation; Chris Montross, Aetna Foundation; Maria Martineau Plankinton, Tenet Healthcare Foundation; Karen Proctor, Scholastic Foundation; Mike Rizer, Wachovia Foundation; Patty Stonesifer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Laysha Lyn Ward, Target Foundation; and William S. White, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. State officials at the meeting included Norman Francis, chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority and president of Xavier University, and Leland Speed, director of the Mississippi Development Authority. Read a brief press release from the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060119-4.html . Read a Ford Foundation press release describing the meeting: http://fordfound.org/news/view_news_detail.cfm?news_index=164 . MEDIA FELLOWSHIP: The Open Society Institute (OSI) announced a one-time Katrina Media Fellowship for print and radio journalists, photographers and documentary filmmakers. OSI hopes to create a national conversation on race and class inequalities laid bare by Hurricane Katrina. OSI's U.S. Programs will award 12 to 15 fellowships in May 2006, with fellows receiving between $15,000 and $35,000. Special consideration will be given to applicants who are displaced from or are residents of the Gulf region. OSI is also providing $665,000 to eight front-line nonprofits working in the devastated region, to encourage those most affected by Katrina to get involved in shaping policy and rebuilding their communities. Read more: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/news/katrinagrants_20060124 . UNRESTRICTED SUPPORT: The Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund (NSRF) provided $275,000 in grants for research to examine the extent to which U.S. foundations award unrestricted support to nonprofits and cover their management and fundraising costs. The research is part of an NSRF initiative that addresses large gaps in knowledge about organized philanthropy. The three grant recipients are: Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University for its study, Differential Impact of Foundations' Overhead Payment Policies on Social Service Agencies and Educational Institutions, by Patrick Rooney; Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at the University of San Francisco, for The Practices and Policies of California Foundations Regarding Grants to Nonprofit Organizations for General Operating Support, by Kathleen Fletcher; and The Center for Effective Philanthropy for Unrestricted and Program-Restricted Foundation Support: The Grantee Viewpoint, by Phil Buchanan and Ellie Buteau. Read more: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=huLWJeMRKpH&b=696077&ct=1787115 . JOYCE AWARDS: The Joyce Foundation named recipients of its third annual Joyce Awards, which support Midwest cultural organizations commissioning works by artists of color. This year's recipients, awarded $50,000 grants, are the American Composers Forum, to support the commission of a new concerto for guitar and orchestra by Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate; the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation, to support the commission of 20 new works for Nick Cave: Soundsuits, a visual art exhibition/installation by African-American artist Nick Cave; DANCECleveland (Cleveland Modern Dance Association), to support the commission of a new dance by African-American choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; and the Indiana Repertory Theatre, to support the commission of a new play by African-American playwright Charles Smith. Read more: http://www.joycefdn.org/index.html . IN MEMORIAM PASSIONATE FUNDER: Andrea M. Bronfman, wife of former Seagrams chairman Charles Bronfman, and co-chairman of The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, died January 23, after being struck by a car near her home in New York City. She was 60. Mrs. Bronfman and her husband were particularly known for their support of Jewish causes and arts organizations. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mrs. Bronfman founded The Gift of New York, a nonprofit initiative which ran through 2003, to provide victims' families free admission to New York's cultural and sports venues. In 2005, Charles Bronfman established the Andrea M. Bronfman Prize for the Arts (The Andy) to honor his wife's lifelong passion for and support of the arts, and to create a showcase for Israeli decorative artists. She will be buried January 27 in Israel. Read more: http://www.acbp.net/andreabronfman.html . AT THE COUNCIL NEW CHAIR: Darcy Oman, president and CEO of the Community Foundation Serving Richmond & Central Virginia, was elected chair of the Community Foundations Leadership Team for a one-year term beginning July 1, 2006. The Leadership Team sets strategic direction and policy for the community foundation field and the work of the Council on behalf of community foundations. Oman has served on the team since it began in 2000 and has been active in leading the Council's legal and legislative work. Read more: http://www.cof.org/Content/PressRelease/Display.cfm?pressReleaseID=3359 . 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. JUST PUBLISHED OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK: A Minnesota Council on Foundations report reveals that Minnesota foundations and corporate giving programs do not expect to reduce 2006 funding for nonprofits they traditionally support, even though the funders have significantly given to disaster relief in 2005. Minnesota Grantmaking 2006 Outlook Report also found that, if current economic conditions remain the same, 84 percent of the state's foundations and corporate giving programs expect to increase their grant dollars. Growth in foundation assets is one major reason for the state's optimistic grantmaking outlook. The report is based on a December 2005 survey of Minnesota Council on Foundations members. Read more or download the report (PDF): http://www.mcf.org/MCF/about/mcfnews/outlook_060123.html . NOW ONLINE BETTER RESULTS: What could be achieved through better funding for women and girls? Find out in Women & Philanthropy's online version of its flagship publication, The Case for Better Philanthropy: The Future of Funding for Women and Girls. The report looks at issues such as globalization, the prevalence of health and wealth disparities, and changes in philanthropy and how they are influencing grants to programs serving women and girls. The report, based on meetings and focus groups in 2002 and 2003, also includes examples of how funders can use three rationales—fairness, effectiveness and human rights—to make the case for better philanthropy through focused funding on the power of women and girls. Read more or download the publication (PDF): http://www.womenphil.org/info-url_nocat3909/info-url_nocat_show.htm?doc_id=253200 . FAILING THE POOR? In "A Failure of Philanthropy" in the winter 2005 Stanford Social Innovation Review, Rob Reich writes that philanthropy shortchanges the poor and recommends tax incentives and public policy changes to ensure more money goes directly to them. The issue also includes features on reversing employee burnout and how a community foundation uses proxy voting to advance its mission. Read more or subscribe: http://www.ssireview.com/articles . ACT NOW SMALL FOUNDATIONS: The Association of Small Foundations (ASF), which serves foundations with few or no staff, will hold three days of educational programming March 26–28, 2006, in San Francisco. The programming includes Foundations 101 and Advanced Grantmaking: Assessment Tools; as well as a Next Generation Retreat and ASF's Trustee Leadership Seminar, which nearly 1,500 trustees have participated in. The event is cosponsored by Northern California Grantmakers. Register or find out more: http://www.smallfoundations.org/events_1/calendar_of_events/sanfran06 . ON THE MOVE On February 1, LARRY R. FAULKNER will become president of the Houston Endowment. Read more: http://www.houstonendowment.org . ANNE BINGER and ROBERT STRUYK were named to The McKnight Foundation's board. Read more: http://www.mcknight.org/newsandviews/news_detail.aspx?itemID=3337&catID=2440&typeID=2 . The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City appointed GURNIE GUNTER board chair, MARY LOU JARAMILLO vice chair, MARK FLAHERTY secretary and DAVID ROSS treasurer. FRED HAHN, JR. was elected board member. Read more (PDF) http://www.healthcare4kc.org/docs/Press%20Releases/HCF%20Press%20Release%20Announcing%202006%20Board%20members%20and%20Chair.pdf . KATHLEEN M. CAVANAUGH was appointed secretary of the John E. Fetzer Institute. 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