SD Grantmakers Update
"Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”
--Albert Camus
In This Issue
Join Us: Next Week's Education Funders Workshop
Education Funders Workshop II
August 8, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location and Partner: The San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, SD, CA
We will hold a simple but powerful "Sharing to Learn" Dialogue where each funder will have the floor for a specified time period (depending on the number of attendees) to talk about the nature of their education grantmaking. We have found in some of our other funder working groups that this exercise is hugely helpful -- learning and coordinating with each other is a core reason to bring fellow funders together. Also, by that time we will be able to announce dates for upcoming information meetings with nationally renowned speakers. Finally, at the end of the meeting we will discuss best next steps for our Education Funders group- and get your input on the topics to address together on our "learning agenda" going forward.
RSVP today! Questions? Call Phyllis at 619/744.2180.
Third Thursday Update
Make sure to RSVP now for August's Third Thursday event:
Snapshot San Diego: Changing Demographic Trends
August 16, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location: The San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92106
Facilitator: Beth Jarosz, Research Analyst, San Diego Association of Governments
Did you know that one of the biggest issues in San Diego is the number of people migrating out of the county? Beth will present this and other current demographic trends in San Diego, and respond to such questions as:
- How is San Diego County changing in terms of race/ethnicity, age and geographic distribution?
- How do demographics impact charitable contributions and volunteerism?
- How can you best use demographic information in your grantmaking strategies?
Register today!
Save the Date: SDG Annual Conference on November 8
Mark your calendars: the 2007 SDG Annual Conference will be held on Thursday, November 8. Don't miss our most popular event of the year! This year’s conference, “Strategic Grantmaking: Inspiration to Implementation,” will be held at NTC Promenade and will feature inspiring and educational plenary and workshop sessions highlighting best practices, innovation, and collaboration.
Among our expert speakers are Peter Hero, Senior Advisor and former President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Albert Ruesga, Vice President of The Meyer Foundation and chair of Hispanics in Philanthropy (and philanthropy blogger). Confirmed session speakers include: Torie Osborn, Special Philanthropic Liaison to the Mayor of Los Angeles; Dr. Sandra Hernandez, President, San Francisco Foundation; Judy Belk, Senior Advisor, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors; Steve Gunderson, President, Council on Foundations; Andrew Schulz, Deputy General Counsel, Council on Foundations; Martha S. Campbell, Vice President for Programs, The James Irvine Foundation; Fatima Angeles, Director of Evaluation and Organizational Learning, The California Wellness Foundation; and Mark Kramer, Founder and Managing Director, FSG Social Impact Advisors.
Sponsorships are now available: sponsors already signed on include QUALCOMM Inc., Washington Mutual, Sempra Energy, BetterWorld Together Foundation, The Legler Benbough Foundation, WebMD Health Foundation, Fieldstone Foundation, McCarthy Family Foundation, San Diego National Bank,
Union Bank of California, Szekely Family Foundation, Jacobs Family Foundation, and the Sorkin Family Fund.
Click here (pdf) to download a sponsorship form.
Co-Chairs Janine Mason and Charlene Seidle and the members of the Annual Conference committee are hard at work planning an inspiring and informative day--click here for more details!
Member & Community Partner News
YOUR ORGANIZATION COULD BE FEATURED HERE! Don't forget to let SDG know what's new with you, from grantmaking to awards, events, and more. We want to share the good news about all of our members. To submit an item for the newsletter, email nancy@sdgrantmakers.org.
Julie Fry has left The San Diego Foundation in order to join the Performing Arts Program of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as a program officer. All of us at SDG wish to congratulate Julie and to thank her for her board service.
The Alex Smith Foundation was featured in the Union-Tribune for funding the SDSU Guardian Scholars Program.
Lynn Allen-Biros of Amylin Pharmaceuticals will be a Distinguished Speaker at The Bio/Pharmaceutical Corporate Social Responsibility Leadership Forum, taking place October 1-2 in Philadelphia.
The Howard Charitable Foundation gave Scripps Health $30 million grant to jump-start its plan to build a $430 million cardiovascular institute, expected to become the largest heart program in California.
The Jewish Community Foundation will offer one of the first philanthropy camps in the nation this summer -- a one-week day camp for high school students from Monday, July 30 through Sunday, August 5, 2007. Tikkun Olam Camp will provide students with opportunities to learn about Jewish values related to giving, to participate in site visits to local non-profits, and to allocate funds to community programs and organizations.
Lisa Parker of the Lawrence Welk Family Foundation is moving to the Bay Area, but will remain the Foundation's Executive Director and will also continue her work with YouthGive, a youth philanthropy platform that seeks to lower the age and wealth barriers to philanthropy so that kids can become givers.
Northern Trust was featured in San Diego Magazine for its sponsorship of The California Literary & Prologue Society and an annual high school writing contest.
The San Diego Foundation has released the summer issue (pdf) of its quarterly journal, featuring a report from the annual meeting (including the announcement of local affiliate charitable foundations in Escondido, Carlsbad, the Ranch Communities and Oceanside) and news about foundation grants. Bob Kelly's work with the Foundation was also profiled recently in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
U.S. Bank is collecting school supplies for children of military families (in support of Operation Homefront) through all of its San Diego County locations now through Aug. 8. Click here for more information.
Reports from SDG Event on Aging
Turning Silver to Gold in San Diego: The Impact of Aging was the focus of our Third Thursday Breakfast program on June 21, 2007. Here are some program highlights:
- Aging impacts each and every one of us. According to GIA, “Today, one in eight Americans is 65 or older. By 2020 that number will be one in six.”
- Due to the diversity of the senior population, there is a need to develop a comprehensive continuum of care program to support different segments (i.e., the elderly-refugee population; the frail, poor and sick elderly; or healthy and active seniors.)
- Grantmakers have the opportunity to help support the development of needed innovative and progressive programs to serve seniors throughout our communities. Examples cited included an intergenerational program, fall prevention program, and elder abuse and neglect initiatives.
- Program Handouts: GIA Briefing Papers (overview of various subject matters on aging).
- GIA’s Annual Conference which will be held in San Diego on October 31-November 2, 2007.
Click here to link to the materials from this session.
Charitable Giving Reached $295 Billion in 2006
Giving USA 2007, a report from the Giving USA Foundation that is researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, finds that U.S. charitable giving reached an estimated $295 billion in 2006--a 4.2% increase (1% after inflation) over the 2005 estimate of $283 billion. Giving by individuals (75.6% of all giving) increased 4.4%, while foundation grantmaking rose 12.6%. However, corporate giving decreased 7.6%. Click here for more information.
New Data on Volunteering
The Corporation for National and Community Service has produced the first report that takes a detailed look at volunteering habits and trends in America’s largest cities. Volunteering in America: 2007 City Trends and Rankings ranks and includes profiles for 50 of the largest cities. The report also finds that there are four key drivers of volunteering: community attachment; commuting times, high school graduation levels and poverty; and the prevalence of nonprofits and their capacity to retain volunteers from year to year.
According to the report, San Diego had an average volunteer rate of 29.2% between 2004 and 2006, compared with 25.5% in California. On average, San Diego had approximately 653,000
volunteers, who served 88.4 million hours per year between 2004 and 2006. Most San Diego volunteers work with either religious or educational/youth service organizations. 32.2% of San Diego women volunteer, and 25.8% of San Diego men volunteer. The highest rates of volunteerism were found for people ages 65-74 (38.9%). Click here for the full profile.
Independent Sector Annual Conference in Los Angeles
San Diego Grantmakers is pleased to partner with Independent Sector in welcoming the leaders of the nation’s charities, foundations and corporate philanthropy programs to Los Angeles this fall for the IS Annual Conference "Opportunity and Responsibility," from October 21-23. Join 900 CEOs and senior-level executives as we strengthen the nonprofit community’s ability to improve lives. Members of San Diego Grantmakers qualify to register at the Independent Sector member rate. Simply enter your partner code, “SDG,” in the online registration system. Click here for conference details and to register.
Are you planning to attend? Let us know--Nancy will be there and we may organize an informal get-together for dinner if there is interest among the SDG delegation!
Washington Report
On July 24, the House Ways and Means Oversight Committee held a hearing regarding the charitable sector's governance, accountability, and response to current tax rules. Individuals providing testimony at the hearing included (click names for full testimony): Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations (COF); Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector; Steven T. Miller, IRS commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division; Stanley J. Czerwinski, director of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Intergovernmental Relations, Strategic Issues; and Gregory D. Kutz, GAO’s managing director of Forensic Audits and Special Investigations.
Gunderson (who will speak at SDG's Annual Conference on November 8) asked Congress to expand the use of IRA charitable rollovers to include gifts made to donor-advised funds, supporting organizations and private foundations, gifts of more than $100,000 and planned gifts. He also recommended permanently extending the rollover provision, which will expire at the end of this year unless Congress passes the Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 2007 (H.R. 1419). Aviv would like Independent Sector and the IRS to work together on developing an implementation schedule for the revised Form 990. She also encouraged Congress to create a Small Nonprofit Administration, an agency similar to the Small Business Administration that would train charity leaders on issues such as planning, finances, and management.
The tone of the hearing seemed to be that members of Congress believe in the need to support the vast majority of nonprofits doing good work with integrity, while zeroing in on problems needing attention. The GAO, for example, has noted that at least 55,000 nonprofit groups have failed to pay taxes (click here and here for more information on compliance problems).
More Philanthropic Headlines
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Insider Deals and Charity Boards
At least 20 percent of nonprofit groups make insider deals with board members and more than 70 percent have not adopted policies to insure that such deals could be easily identified as posing a conflict of interest, a new Urban Institute study of 5,100 nonprofit organizations finds. The study also found that many groups are failing to attract ethnically diverse leaders to guide their decision making. Half the boards examined in the study had only white members.
Business Week: Private Foundations Should Consider PR
This article argues that philanthropic organizations increasingly are adopting public relations programs to achieve their goals, and that more foundations should.
Hedge Fund Controversy
Bloomberg News and other sources have reported that The Robin Hood Foundation is facing Congressional scrutiny for its investments in hedge funds run by donors and board members (who receive "the standard industry fee of 2 percent of assets and 20 percent of profits for managing the funds"). Legislators are concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest, and are at the same time considering legislation that would tighten regulation and raise taxes on hedge funds and private-equity firms.
Endowment Giving Increasingly Popular in San Diego
San Diegans are increasingly considering gifts for endowment among their philanthropic choices, a new report from the San Diego Foundation finds. The report builds on a 2005 study of the giving habits of affluent San Diegans ages 60 and older. That survey found that 21 percent of respondents considered endowment an attractive choice for charitable giving. The 2007 update, which used the same research methods as the previous study, found 36 percent of respondents held a favorable opinion of giving for endowment. In addition, the 2007 survey found that the percentage of San Diegans who give charitably had increased to 47 percent from 40 percent in 2005.
Resources
For Your Grantees
LEAD San Diego is seeking project proposals from community-based organizations serving low- or moderate-income / traditionally underserved communities in San Diego County. Do you know of a community-based organization with a project that could be initiated and completed between November 2007 and April 2008, but lacks the human resources to accomplish it? If so, please review the Guidelines and Proposal Form and return to LEAD San Diego by August 24.
ALSO: USD's Nonprofit Leadership & Management Master's Degree students are also sometimes in search of short-term consulting projects at local nonprofit organizations.
Reports & Books
From Insight to Action: New Directions in Foundation Evaluation
This report from FSG Social Impact Advisors
discusses emerging approaches to evaluation in the field of philanthropy that can increase the effectiveness of both foundations and their grantees in achieving greater social impact. Note: Mark Kramer of FSG will speak at SDG's Annual Conference on November 8!
Passing the Torch: A Summary of the 2006 Philanthropy Summit
The 2006 Philanthropy Summit brought together a select group of speakers, leaders, and potential leaders from key nonprofit organizations and foundations to candidly discuss challenges and strategies for successful leadership transition.
The World We Want
In this book,
Peter Karoff presents a collective vision of an ideal world. The book weaves together multi-sector, multidiscipline strategies, but in large part it is about the power of human connection, reinforced by personal stories of motivation and the human capacity for caring. Without ignoring the institutional and cultural obstacles, and the courage needed to face down the dark side of human behavior, Karoff shows how citizen engagement and open source solutions could tip the scale toward a better world.
Taking Philanthropy Seriously
In this collection edited by William Damon and Susan Verducci, contributors argue that many acts of charitable giving fail in their stated goals and some are actually harmful. They explain why this happens and outline strategies to promote effective and ethical philanthropic conduct.
Websites
California Nonprofits Career Center
The California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) has launched a new online resource designed to help organizations recruit qualified California nonprofit professionals and connect employees with quality jobs in the California nonprofit sector.
Council on Foundations Policy Action Center
The center’s goal is to help mobilize and expand a philanthropic grassroots network by connecting grantmakers to legislators and to legislative and advocacy information.
Advocacy Evaluation
The inaugural issue of Advocacy Evaluation Update, a new resource for those interested in nonprofit advocacy work, is currently available from Innovation Network, Inc.
Upcoming
SDG Programs
Click here for a complete listing of SDG Programs.
Corporate Giving that Matters: Achieving Strategic Impact
July 31, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location: Time Warner Cable, 10450 Pacific Center Court, SD, CA
Capacity Building Workshop: From Concept to Practice
August 3, 2007
10:00am-1:00pm
Location: The California Endowment, 600 W. Broadway, Suite 1250, SD, CA
Guest Speaker: Barbara Webster Hawkins, Senior Program Officer, The California Endowment
Education Funders Workshop II
August 8, 2007
8:30-10:30am
Location: The San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, SD, CA
Homelessness Working Group
August 13, 2007
9:30am-12:00pm
Location: Alliance Healthcare Foundation, 9325 Sky Park Court, Suite 350, San Diego, CA
Guest Speaker: San Diego City Councilmember Toni Atkins
Third Thursdays Breakfast Series (Nosh, Network, Knowledge)
Aug 16, Sept 20, Oct 18, Nov 15
8:30-10:30am
Location:
The San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, SD, CA
Aug 16 Topic: Snapshot San Diego: Changing Demographic Trends
Webinar: When Disaster Strikes: Strategies for Corporate Involvement
August 29, 2007
10-11:30am
Nonprofit Leadership Transitions: How Funders Can Help
August 29, 2007
2:00-4:00pm
Location: Northern Trust, 4370 La Jolla Village Drive, SD, CA
Lunchtime Chat with Kathleen Enright, Executive Director, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)
September 13, 2007
12:00-2:00pm
Location: Alliance Healthcare Foundation, 9325 Sky Park Court, Suite 350, SD, CA
SDG 2007 Annual Conference
Strategic Grantmaking: Inspiration to Implementation
November 8, 2007
9:30am-4:30pm
Location: NTC Promenade, 2875 Dewey Road, SD, CA
Save the date! Among our expert speakers are Peter Hero, Senior Advisor and former President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Albert Ruesga, Vice President of The Meyer Foundation and chair of Hispanics in Philanthropy. Click here for more information and click here (pdf) to download a sponsorship form.
Click here for more information about all of these SDG programs. All programs are free for SDG members except where indicated.
To RSVP, please call (619) 744-2180 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org.
Other Events of Interest
COF Seminar: Establishing a New Foundation
September 16, 2007
San Francisco, CA
The California Wellness Foundation Conference on Border Health
September 18, 2007
San Diego, CA
SSIR and AFP Nonprofit Management Institute 2007
September 25-26, 2007
Stanford University, CA
BoardSource Leadership Forum: Shaping the Next Generation of Governance
October 12-13, 2007
San Francisco, CA
Grantmakers for Education Conference
October 17-19
Tamaya, NM
SCG Fundamentals of Effective Grantmaking
October 19, 26, and November 9, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Independent Sector Annual Conference
October 21-23, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) Conference
October 24-25, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Grantmakers in Aging Annual Conference
October 31-November 2, 2007
San Diego, CA
Foundations on the Hill 2008
March 4-5, 2008
Washington, DC
Today, the role of philanthropy is expanding and so are its
responsibilities. This online SDGrantmakers Update is published
by San Diego Grantmakers to help SDG members meet the challenge. Our mission is to connect, educate, develop, and inspire a diverse
group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective
philanthropy in the San Diego region. For more information,
visit www.SDGrantmakers.org. Copies
of past editions are archived here. Contact Nancy Jamison, 619/744.2180 or nancy@SDGrantmakers.org to suggest article ideas or submit news items, or if you no longer wish to receive these updates.
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