Leadership Development
A Colleague's Perspective on Generational Succession
Fundamentals
In 2013, Merede Graham of the Namaste Foundation offered her perspective about how generational succession shaped her family foundation.
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My parents started our family foundation with the intent of providing their children with opportunities to build confidence and skills to serve us both…
The Savvy CEO
Publication
The role of the foundation CEO is pivotal to the success of a foundation’s goals. Even at foundations without staff, the tasks of the CEO do not disappear, but rather are carried out by board members. In this publication, we explore some of the critical issues and challenges that foundation CEOs…
Competencies for CEOs of Private Foundations
Publication
This document codifies the job functions of private foundation CEOs and the skills and knowledge needed to perform these functions, referred to as competencies.
Relevance + Networking + Speed = Impact
It’s no accident that the Council on Foundations 2013 Family Philanthropy Conference takes place this week in Silicon Valley. This is Ground Zero for technological innovation. Ideas birthed here have changed—and continue to change—the world.
Silicon Valley has been the workshop of some brilliant…
Mission Investing for Community Foundations
I first started working in the community foundation field more than 15 years ago. It goes without saying that I’m a big fan. I believe in this democratic model of philanthropy where the collective power of many creates powerful change. I’m also a fan because most community foundations understand…
Soft Power and the New Face of Philanthropy
One of my most memorable moments from college was when I sat in a sea of more than 500 college students in PoliSci 101. From the back of the auditorium, a very small man stood up on stage speaking to all of us about the strength of the U.S. president as “soft power.” According to Joseph Nye of…
It Takes Dedicated Funding to Do Leadership Development Right
At the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, we believe strongly in the critical importance of unrestricted general operating support because it provides nonprofit leaders with the flexibility to direct spending toward strategic priorities facing their organizations. In 2011, two-thirds of the Fund’s…
Anyone Can—and Everyone Should—Make Facilitative Contributions
Many people believe facilitation is a role that only designated individuals can play in meetings or planning sessions. But just as leadership is more about how you behave than what your title is, so is facilitation about the contributions you make regardless of your role.
Break down the word…
Building Thriving Communities: Why Leadership Strategy Matters
Why do community foundation CEOs pursue “community leadership” as a key organizing strategy in their foundations?
Because there was a leadership void in our community and we realized we were uniquely positioned to step up.
Because we recognized we had important assets that could help address the…
Recognizing Visionary Leaders
In his acceptance speech for the 2012 Nicholas P. Bollman Award for leaders who inspire through values and actions, Claudio Martinez, executive director of Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force, reminded an audience of nearly 200 funders that the “journey to become visible is still too hard to travel.”…
May Day, Occupy, and Philanthropy
Today is International Workers Day, celebrated around the world as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre. Although President Grover Cleveland moved our Labor Day to September because of worries about the radical connotations of May 1, the day remains an important rallying point for labor,…
Thoughts from a First-Time Conference Attendee
Let me introduce myself: I’m a young leader and a passionate advocate for social justice. I’m well into my second year as executive director of Social Justice Fund, a regional progressive public foundation. I’m an innovator. Since starting my role, I have implemented a new model of grassroots…
Deadline for Career Pathways Program Approaching
The application deadline for the third class of the Council on Foundations’ Career Pathways Program is March 21. Individuals with diverse backgrounds seeking career advancement in the field of philanthropy are encouraged to apply.
In two short years, the Career Pathways program has established…
Foundation Demographics: Is philanthropy keeping up with our society?
The Council on Foundations (COF) recently released the 2011 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report. The sample includes 910 total foundations of which 544 are COF members. As Rick Cohen notes on his piece about the survey, the survey suffers from the limitations of self-reporting, as do most all of…
Tough Community Issues Call for Leadership
As my colleague Peter Pennekamp from the Humboldt Area Foundation says, when it comes to community leadership it’s not always the most pressing issue that you need to be working on; it’s the issue where there’s energy and heat. In a word: tension. And in our community, there’s tension around…
Family Values Influence Philanthropy
I just returned from the Council on Foundations Family Philanthropy Conference in Miami, a three-day event focused on education, the arts, impact investing, advocacy and family dynamics. Amidst all of that great discussion, I was struck again by the importance of communicating family legacy.
A…