Council on Foundations: FN&C Now – Volume 7, Number 26

	FN&C Now
	Volume 7, Number 26 – June 20, 2006 IN THIS ISSUE JUST PUBLISHED: Disaster giving rose to record level in 2005, study shows; average annual return for foundation endowments dipped in 2005, report finds; in-depth look at American volunteering available NEWS COVERAGE: Carnegie makes grants for anonymous donor; Joyce Foundation initiative to boost skills of Midwestern workforce AWARDS ROUNDUP: The California Wellness Foundation announces champions of diversity; philanthropy awards to be televised AT THE COUNCIL: Come to the 2006 Fall Conference for Community Foundations; sign up for Breaking News NOW ONLINE: Listen to podcasts on social innovation ON THE MOVE: Carol Casaday (California Endowment); J. Michael Pate, Suzanna Valdez and Julie Tarr, et al. (Knight); Mary Jo Waits (Pew) JUST PUBLISHED RECORD GIVING: Despite fears of donor fatigue due to multiple natural disasters, giving for disaster relief rose to an unprecedented $7.37 billion in 2005. According to Giving USA, Americans gave estimated total contributions of $260.28 billion during 2005, 6.1 percent (2.7 percent adjusted for inflation) more than in the previous year. Individual giving, which is always the largest single source of donations, rose by 6.4 percent (2.9 percent adjusted for inflation) to an estimated $199.07 billion. It accounted for 76.5 percent of giving in 2005. Foundation grantmaking, which is reported by the Foundation Center, rose 5.6 percent (2.1 percent adjusted for inflation) to $30 billion. Foundation giving represented 11.5 percent of estimated charitable giving in 2005. Corporate donations grew by an unprecedented 22.5 percent (18.5 percent adjusted for inflation), to an estimated $13.77 billion, or 5.3 percent of the total estimate for charitable gifts. Giving USA is published by the Giving USA Foundation and researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Order a copy of the report: http://www.aafrc.org . RETURNS DIP: Endowments of U.S. foundations earned an average annual return of 8.1 percent in 2005, compared to 11.4 percent in 2004 and 17.8 percent in 2003, according to a report from the Commonfund Institute. The Commonfund Benchmarks Study: Foundations and Operating Charities 2006 found that the average return for all foundations ranged from 7.4 percent to 8.4 percent, with benchmark leaders reporting an annual return of 15.5 percent. The average reported return assumption for the next three to five years was 8.0 percent. The survey also found that more foundations are rebalancing their portfolios, from 78 percent in 2004 to 87 percent in 2005. "Foundation investment performance was better than expected given the challenging, low-growth environment last year," said John S. Griswold Jr., executive director of the institute. The report was based on a survey of 334 independent/private, community and operating foundations whose fiscal years ended December 31, 2005. Read more: http://www.commonfund.org/ Commonfund/Archive/CF+Institute/CBS_Foundation06_press_release.htm . VOLUNTEERS IN AMERICA: According to Volunteering in America: State Trends and Rankings 2002–2005, by the Corporation for National and Community Service, nearly 29 percent (65.4 million) of adult Americans volunteered in 2005, giving a median of 50 service hours. The report is the first to take a wide-ranging, in-depth look at volunteering at the national, regional and state levels. The typical American volunteer is a white female who gives 50 hours per year volunteering through a religious organization as a tutor, mentor, coach or referee. The study also reveals that the top five states for volunteering are Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Alaska. The report was based on an annual survey of 60,000 households begun in 2002 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The corporation is calling for 10 million new volunteers to be mobilized by 2010. Read more or download the report (PDF): http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/volunteering/index.asp . NEWS COVERAGE ANONYMOUS GIVING: For the fifth consecutive year, Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded grants through the generosity of an anonymous donor to New York City arts and social service institutions in all five boroughs. In choosing the 518 institutions that received grants totaling more than $30 million, Vartan Gregorian, Carnegie's president, said he sought to reflect the donor's wishes to reach out to a mix of neighborhood organizations that touch the artistic life of the city and help to meet the myriad social needs of its citizens. The corporation also fulfilled its obligation to the donor's intent by making the grants without charging administrative overhead and distributing the total gift to community groups. Since 2001, Carnegie has been able to grant a total of $85 million to New York City–based institutions through the anonymous donor's largesse. Read more: http://www.carnegie.org/sub/news/breakingnews.html . WORKFORCE BOOST: The Joyce Foundation launched "Shifting Gears," a three-year, $10 million initiative to improve the education and skills of the workforce in the Midwest and promote regional economic growth. As part of the initiative, the foundation issued a request for proposals from Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) for efforts that build stronger links between the often-fragmented systems of education and job training, so that workers get postsecondary credentials qualifying them for jobs in today's economy. The funded projects will be announced in December 2006. Read more: http://www.joycefdn.org . AWARDS ROUNDUP PHILANTHROPY TELEVISION: The Golden Karma Awards, created in 2005 to honor philanthropic actions of celebrities, will have its inaugural national telecast on major cable outlets December 2, 2006. According to Annette Marino, founder of the awards program and founder and executive director of Success For Good, a nonprofit organization working to strengthen the sector, "Stars who are known to most people worldwide, such as Angelina Jolie, or a beloved longtime leading man, such as Robert Redford, can have a profound influence by the examples they set. We want to round all of these examples up into an event that prompts people to consider how they can weave volunteerism and philanthropy into their own personal lives." The program will have two categories: Celebrity Philanthropy will recognize contributions national celebrities have made to a variety of issues and Community Philanthropy will recognize high-profile community leaders for their contributions locally. Find out more: http://www.goldenkarmaawards.org/index.html . HEALTH DIVERSITY AWARDEES: The California Wellness Foundation named its 2006 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award winners: José A. Arévalo, M.D., medical director, Sutter Independent Physicians in Greater Sacramento; Rolland C. Lowe, M.D., private practitioner in San Francisco's Chinatown and founder and chairman of the Lawrence Choy Lowe Memorial Fund; and Patricia Pratt, director of academic enrichment and outreach, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "This year's awardees are among California's pioneers working to create a more diverse cadre of physicians that reflect the demographic realities of our state," said Gary L. Yates, the foundation's president and CEO. Each winner received a $25,000 grant in acknowledgment of their commitment to increasing diversity in the health professions at a ceremony in San Francisco June 12. Read more: http://www.tcwf.org/leadership_awards/champions_award/2006 . AT THE COUNCIL FALL CONFERENCE: Registration is now open for the 2006 Fall Conference for Community Foundations, to be held September 18–20, in Boston (preconference activities begin September 14 with the Community Foundation Fundamentals course). With this year's conference theme of "Revolutionary Ideas," we acknowledge that today's world is in constant, and often rapid, flux. We also recognize that foundations must be prepared to deal with the impact of those changes on our communities and foundations, and employ creative solutions to complex problems. Speakers include Mathew Gross, former director of Internet communications for the Howard Dean presidential campaign and launcher of the first presidential campaign blog. Register by August 4 and save $150. Find out more: http://www.cof.org/Network/content.cfm?ItemNumber=4050&navItemNumber=4051 . 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. NOW ONLINE INNOVATION TALK: The Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Pittsburgh Social Enterprise Accelerator created a new podcast channel called Social Innovation Conversations. A part of the nonprofit Conversations Network and co-hosted by editors of Stanford Social Innovation Review, the free, online audio channel delivers conferences, speeches and interviews from leaders at the forefront of creating social change. Currently playing are Jed Emerson on value creation in the nonprofit sector; James Head, Peter Hero and Richard Kiy on connecting donors with communities; and David Bornstein on the global rise of social entrepreneurism. Listen to programs on your computer or MP3 player: http://www.siconversations.org . ON THE MOVE The California Endowment named CAROL CASADAY program officer at its Sacramento/North State regional office. Read more: http://www.calendow.org/news/press_releases/2006/06/061106.stm . The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation hired J. MICHAEL PATE as program director for Tallahassee and SUZANNA VALDEZ as program director for Miami. JULIE TARR, program director for Philadelphia and State College, has been named evaluation director. MATTHEW BERGHEISER joined as program director for Philadelphia and LAURA WILLIAMS joined as program director for Lexington. PAUL STEIGER, EARL W. POWELL and E. ROE STAMPS were elected to the board. Read more: http://www.knightfdn.org/default.asp?story=news_at_knight/releases/2006/index.asp . The Pew Charitable Trusts named MARY JO WAITS director of the Pew Center on the States. Read more: http://www.pewtrusts.com/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=3401&content_type_id=16&page=16&issue=47&issue_name=State%20policy&name=Pew%20Press%20Releases . SPECIAL OFFER The Council on Foundations has a special offer made possible through the Building Strong and Ethical Foundations program. New foundations can receive a half-priced non-member registration rate at any Council conference. In addition, they can also join the Council and receive half-priced membership dues. Your foundation may qualify—even if you've been grantmaking for several years. For specific eligibility information and more details, please contact the COF Membership Department at 202/467-0291. 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: 9.20.06