In this issue:
AGF Member Exchange is designed to provide timely information to AGF members about important topics of interest to grantmakers. It is also intended to provide a forum for AGF members to share ideas and learn more about each other. We welcome member contributions and hope that we hear from you.
Foundations on the Hill
On March 5, approximately 300 foundation representatives from 40 states ascended Capital Hill for the 11th annual Foundations on the Hill (FOTH) event. Turnout was down a bit from 2007, in part because the COF Family Foundation Conference was not scheduled to coincide with FOTH this year. Arizona foundations participated for the second time and were represented well by Bob King from the Arizona Community Foundation, Ed Portnoy from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Gerry Hills from Taser Foundation and Marissa Theisen of AGF.
Click here to read the full article.
Member Q & A
Foundation Faces
This AGF Member enjoys stamp collecting! Who is it? Click here to find out.
Upcoming Events
Sustainability in Arizona
April 24th, 2008
11:30am - 1:30pm
Morrison Institute and ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability recently published a new report, Sustainability for Arizona: The Issue of Our Age, which describes sustainability as a defining issue and organizing principle for the 21st century. At this program, Nancy Welch (co-author of the report) will share insights on critical questions about sustainability. She will also help funders to better understand what their role might be in ensuring a sustainable future for Arizona. Click Here to
register.
Arizona Community Foundation
2201 E. Camelback Road, Suite 202
Upcoming Teleconferences
Click on the links to learn more.
April 8 - Common Self-Dealing Issues and Scenarios
April 22 - What Preparers Need to Know for the 990-PF
May 13 - Private Foundation Compensation
National Events
May 2-3: Native Americans in Philanthropy: Native Philanthropy National Gathering
May 4-7: Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit
Join a gathering of philanthropic leaders unlike any the world has seen before, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Whether you’re brand new to philanthropy or have years of experience, from a small family foundation or a large corporate giving program, from a rural area or a big city—you’re a part of the vision and we need to hear your voice. Registration is now open!
June 18-20: Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees: 2008 National Convening
AGF News
Welcome to AGF's newest members!
Arizona Christian Foundation: The Foundation's principle mission is to enable faithful stewards to give wisely to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. Visit their website at www.gaccf.org.
AGF recently completed a report on Youth Grantmaking in Arizona, sponsored by Chase Bank. A copy of the report can be found at our website in our youth resources section: click here.
AGF is proud to announce the completion of the Arizona Business Giving Workbook! It is a valuable resource designed to assist business owners, managers, and employees in establishing effective giving programs that can help strengthen Arizona communities. To download a free copy of this report, click here.
Member News
Barness Family Foundation Announces Matching Grant Recipients
The Daron and Ron Barness Family Foundation is pleased to announce its winter 2008 matching grant recipients. Five nonprofit organizations have been awarded matching and challenge grants, designed not only to provide organizational support, but also to encourage organizations to seek new and additional contributions for the projects that they have designed. Visit www.barnessfoundation.com to learn more.
Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Awards $2.4 Million
The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has announced grants totaling almost $2.4 million to twenty Arizona nonprofits. The trust, which divides its grantmaking evenly between organizations in Phoenix and Indianapolis, awarded grants to nonprofits working in the areas of human services, animal welfare, and community enrichment.
Job Opportunities
Community Impact Manager
Valley of the Sun United Way has an open position for a Community Impact Manager, reporting to the Director of Learning Initiatives in the Community Impact department. Major responsibilities include; provide leadership for the further development, implementation, integration and evaluation of Community Impact based strategies; overall Community Impact project management including project planning, budget monitoring, contract management, convening, leading and managing VSUW’s Collaborative Partnership.
For complete details on position profile, skills and requirements, how best to get your resume/cover letter to us and to learn more about our organization, please visit www.vsuw.org. Once there, click on About Us, then Career Opportunities.
Public Policy Update
California AB 624, which recently was passed by the State Assembly and is now before the Senate, would require foundations with $250 million in assets to annually collect and report data on the racial and ethnic composition of their boards and staff and on the racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation of their grantees, the populations the grantees serve and of the businesses with which they do business. While this bill may not ultimately be signed into law in California, the pressure to increase foundation support of minority led organizations is not likely to recede. The major proponent of the California legislation, The Greenlining Institute, is committed to generating public pressure on foundations to explicitly consider racial, ethnic and gender diversity in their governance, staffing and grantmaking. They plan to push for similar legislation in New York and Illinois and possibly aim for national legislation.
While it’s perhaps unlikely that the Arizona legislature would consider such a piece legislation, the threat of national legislation is more real. The Council on Foundations opposes all legislative mandates that attempt to influence the grantmaking decisions relating to diversity, but does believe foundations can and should do more to promote diversity and inclusive practices. COF encourages its members to explore what they can do to address diversity issues and had posted a number of resources at their website addressing this issue.
News Important to Grantmakers
Foundations Shift Investing Strategy to Weather Bad Economy
Baltimore Business Journal by Rachel Sams Staff
Just over a year ago, the Horizon Foundation in Columbia had virtually no alternative investments -- holdings like hedge funds that aim to profit in all kinds of markets. Today, the Horizon Foundation has about 15 percent of its portfolio in alternative investments, said CEO Richard Krieg. The health and wellness foundation's board includes bankers and investment specialists who began last year to try to brace the portfolio for a stock market downturn, Krieg said. The Horizon Foundation is making other changes
in its assets, such as shifting money into investments in developing countries, he said. "This is probably the biggest challenge we've faced in our 10 years in existence," Krieg said of the investment environment. The Horizon Foundation had nearly $92 million in assets for fiscal year 2007, roughly flat from a year ago, according to Baltimore Business Journal research. Click here to read the
full article.
Foundation Giving Grows Across All Program Areas
The nation's largest foundations increased funding for all major subject areas in 2006, with a record number of exceptionally large grants helping to drive this growth. According to Foundation Giving Trends (2008 Edition), released recently by the Foundation Center, six out of 10 fields posted double-digit rates of growth in the latest year, led by the field of international affairs/development/peace, which grew 72.5 percent. The continued growth of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had a significant influence
on the direction of foundation giving in the latest year: most notably, health surpassed education based on the share of grant dollars received, for the first time on record. "We are starting to see the impact of Warren Buffett's unprecedented $31 billion commitment," said Josie Atienza, assistant director of research and the report's principal author. "This has enabled the Gates Foundation to dramatically increase its giving for global health and expand into international development." Click
here to read the full article.
Corporate Giving Continues to Rise
Charitable contributions by major corporations and their foundations increased to $10.2 billion in 2006, with pharmaceutical companies the top givers and health services the top beneficiary, a new study says. Contributions at home and abroad from 189 major corporations and corporate foundations were up from $9.8 billion in 2005, says the Conference Board's annual survey of corporate giving. Click here to read
the full article and view the report.
Fidelity Grants at Record High
The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the largest donor-advised fund in the U.S., awarded a record-high $1.17 billion in grants in 2007. That's up 24 percent over 2006 and represents the third consecutive year of record giving, bringing to $7.7 billion the total outlay over the fund's 15-year grantmaking history. Gifts to the fund also spiked in 2007, up 45 percent from 2006 to $1.85 billion. Click here for the full
article.
Red campaign raises $22 Million
The Red campaign, founded by activist-rock star Bono in 2006, has raised more than $22 million to fight H.I.V. and AIDS in Rwanda simply by promoting iPods, watches, cologne and now laptops, The New York Times reported Feb. 6. Yet some are criticizing the consumer-driven campaign's lack of transparency. Click here for the full report.
Model Corporate Citizens
By Matthew Kirdahy 2/26/2008
What makes for a winning corporate philanthropy program? Anyone who wants to know would do well to study Moody's (nyse: MCO - news - people ) and PNC Financial Services Group (nyse: PNC - news - people ), which were recognized Monday by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy as practicing the best social responsibility programs in 2007. Moody's won in the small company category for its "Mega Math Challenge," an Internet-based, applied math contest aimed at encouraging high school school students to
pursue math-related studies and careers. Click here for the full article.
Useful Resources
What Drives Foundation Expenses & Compensation? Results of a Three-Year Study
This report is a joint effort of the Urban Institute, Foundation Center and Guidestar. It is the first large-scale, long-term systematic study of independent, corporate, and community foundations’ expense and compensation patterns and the factors behind them. To obtain a free copy of the report click here.
Corporations Seek Profit by Doing Good
Corporate social responsibility is no longer driven only by philanthropy and regulations, but by profit, a new study says. Click here for fulll article.
New Report on Global Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Communications
Transparency in communications is a key indicator of a socially responsible company - more important than philanthropy or NGO partnerships - according to a new corporate responsibility and sustainability communications report. Read more.
GLN Launches Online CSR Strategic Planning Tool
The GLN OpenAccess tool is an interactive self-assessment and planning platform to support Global Compact signatories, World Bank International Finance Corporation clients, and the wider private sector with the implementation of responsible business practices into their business models. Read more.
HUD Releases Guidebook On Affordable Housing Task Forces
Regulatory barriers to development can increase the cost of housing by anywhere from 10 to 35 percent, and are thus a significant factor affecting efforts to develop affordable housing. In response to this dilemma, HUD has released a guidebook that encourages communities to form a task force whose goal is to build consensus around reducing regulatory barriers. The guidebook offers practical information on how to establish a task force, how to include various stakeholders in the process, and how to move towards
the implementation of the task force’s recommendations. The guidebook can be downloaded at http://www.huduser.org/rbc/nca/doc/HUDsGuideToCreatingTaskForce.pdf.
Community College Role In Alleviating Poverty
A formula for preparing the next workforce and reducing poverty may be found in the practices of community colleges. This according to a MDRC working paper sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Noting that work alone fails to prevent poverty, the research suggests that increased earning power can be realized when predominately the female, single-parent population accesses education coupled with student support services and performance-based scholarships. Read the working paper at www.mdrc.org/publications/472/abstract.html.
Mission-Related Investing
The emerging practice of mission-related investing, or investing assets to achieve social as well as financial returns, is the focus of a new guide published by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. In addition to outlining policies and procedures to be used by foundation trustees, "Philanthropy's New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing" includes case studies from funders like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation and F.B. Heron Foundation.
"Foundations in the United Sates have $600 billion in their endowments and can unleash more of their resources to positively change societies today," Doug Bauer, senior vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and co-author of the guide, says in a statement. "As a result, mission-related investing is an idea whose time has come." The guide provides information on a variety of topics for foundations, including structuring a policy discussion among board members; integrating mission-related investing
into existing programs; selecting investment consultants; and monitoring portfolios. Click here for the PDF version of this guide.
Maximizing Foundation Effectiveness
A new report published by TCC Group outlines the four goals noted in the title and provides step-by-step information on how foundations can donate money and operate programs “to create a wider ripple effect and amplify their impact.” The report also answers frequently asked questions like “How reactive or proactive should grantmaking be?” and “What other activities beyond grantmaking can a foundation pursue to help achieve its goals?” Click
here for more information.
If you have comments or questions regarding Member Exchange, please contact Marissa Theisen (602-977-2756 or mtheisen@azgrantmakers.org). Feel free to comment, suggest article ideas or submit news items. We're always happy to hear from you.