SD Grantmakers Update
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November 2007 |
"Method is much, technique is much, but inspiration is even more.”-- Benjamin Cardozo |
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In This Issue
Update on Philanthropic Response to Fires
On November 27, SDG held a special program "San Diego Fires 2007: A Coordinated Philanthropic Response" to share information, discuss the region's needs, and help coordinate giving. Click here for the meeting notes and click here for a handout including a list of funds created in reponse to the fires. Also, click here for the SDG Fire Response webpage, which includes information about SDG members' responses as well as many links to related resources.
We are in the process of determining what SDG should do to be of the most help going forward. This will likely be a combination of approaches, including a member survey about fire interest areas to help organize fire recovery sub-groups and a more overarching strategy to address both the short and long term needs for fire/disaster. Please continue to update SDG with your fire related giving; we will add it to our master spreadsheet and share on our website.
Annual Conference a Success
The 2007 San Diego Grantmakers Annual Conference, Strategic Grantmaking: Inspiration to Implementation, was held on November 8 with a record number of attendees (over 160). Initial responses have been very positive--if you attended the conference but have not yet completed an evaluation, we'd still love to hear your feedback: please click here to complete our online conference evaluation form.
We will use your responses to help us improve next year's conference.
Additionally, most conference materials are available on the SDG website (member login required, contact us if you need your login information). A few additional materials will be added soon.
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.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy featured several local philanthropists in its November 1 issue, including an article on Audrey S. Geisel's gift to the Old Globe of the stage-production rights to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, an article on Donald and Darlene Shiley, and an article about philanthropic support for journalism ventures featuring The Girard Foundation, The Parker Foundation, and The San Diego Foundation.
Casey Family Programs and American Humane have announced a three-year partnership designed to improve safety and risk assessments in the child welfare system. Click here for more information.
The Hitachi Foundation is one of the supporters of this new blog: Corporate Citizen '07 is a collaborative blog developed to discuss the State of Corporate Citizenship Survey 2007.
The Jacobs family of Jacobs Family Foundation and The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation was named to Barron's list of "10 donors who epitomize thoughtful and effective giving." Click here for more information.
The Oceanside Charitable Foundation has been established through the San Diego Foundation, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The organization hopes to establish a $5 million endowment by 2012.
SANDAN & The Daily Transcript have published a special report "San Diego Nonprofits: Serving and Celebrating Our Communities."
Mariano Diaz, The San Diego Foundation's Senior Vice President, Community Partnerships, will be leaving the Foundation as of December 14 to pursue an opportunity with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as Vice President, Western Region. Congratulations, Mariano!
The San Diego Foundation received San Diego Magazine's Social Consciousness Award in "The Art of Giving" 2007 Awards.
The San Diego Foundation for Change has changed its name to
"Foundation for Change" and announced a new phrasing of its mission: "We support emerging leaders and organizations working for progressive social change in the San Diego-Tijuana region." The Foundation for Change has also received a grant of $96,000 from the The California Endowment to pursue a 15-month program of strategic planning, aimed at strengthening core operations and improving strategic focus.
During the Grantmakers in Aging conference (in San Diego from October 31-November 2), Deborah Szekely of the Szekely Family Foundation spoke at a closing plenary session that was moderated by SDG's Nancy Jamison, and The San Diego Foundation hosted a reception.
SDG was highlighted in a North County Times article about philanthropic reponses to the fires.
Washington Report
Scrutiny of Donor-Advised Funds
From PND: Governance problems at small donor-advised funds are raising concerns at the Internal Revenue Service and on Capitol Hill about tax-free rollovers from IRAs into charitable investments, Investment News reports. Click here for the PND report, and here for the original article.
House Approves Tax Relief Bill; Senate to Consider the Legislation After Thanksgiving
From COF: On November 9, the House of Representatives passed the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007 (H.R.3996). The $82.5 billion package includes a one-year extension of the IRA charitable rollover and deductions for contributions of food inventories. It also provides a one-year extension, known as a “patch,” for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). In addition, the tax package includes a provision to allow pension plans, universities, and other tax-exempt entities to invest directly in domestic hedge funds without being subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT).
Representative Klein Introduces New IRA Charitable Rollover Bill
From COF: On November 6, Representative Ron Klein (D-FL) introduced a new IRA charitable rollover bill, the Healthy Families and Dedicated Teachers Tax Relief Act of 2007 (H.R.4086). The proposed bill amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow families to deduct state and local sales taxes from their federal income taxes. The bill also aims to make permanent tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans for charitable purposes. (The bill seeks to extend both these provisions that will expire at the end of 2007.) Representative Klein’s proposed legislation gives families who would like to support charitable causes more flexibility by allowing them to donate from their IRAs, without incurring a tax penalty. In addition, the bill includes a provision that would allow teachers to deduct expenses that result from their professional development activities. Read Representative Klein’s press release on the Tax Relief Act
To sign up for the COF Legislative Network and receive updates on the news from Washington, click here.
Guiding Principles Update
Earlier this year, we invited you to join other San Diego Grantmakers members in launching the Guiding Principles Task Force at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (Downtown). Many of you participated in that kickoff program as well as at the task force’s two subsequent meetings, held at AMN Healthcare on May 31 and July 23. The task force, under Tim McCarthy’s leadership, is now ready to share a draft of the Guiding Principles for your review and comment. Subject to approval by SDG’s board of directors, these Guiding Principles will be adopted and in place in 2008. We’d like to call out three important points:
- There was broad consensus among task force members to adopt the Northern California Grantmakers’ Statement of Ethical Principles. With NCG’s consent, the attached Guiding Principles has been prepared, reflecting only very minor editing.
- There also was broad consensus among task force members to have a longer-term objective that the three major regional associations of grantmakers in California adopt a common set of principles for the field in our state. At this time, however, Southern California Grantmakers has indicated that they are not in a position to amend their statement of principles.
- While the task force recommends adopting NCG’s eight principles and their supporting rationales, they have omitted the “Illustrative Practice” examples that NCG provides its members. At the final task force meeting, it was clear that some members felt SDG could provide better examples of practices – especially to note differences in the implementation of these principles by different types of grantmakers (e.g., a small family foundation, a public foundation, a community foundation, or a corporate grantmaker).
In the last few years, there has been an increased focus on the misdeeds of a few foundations and other funders by the media and government. Although the Guiding Principles were developed in this era of increased scrutiny, they are not a direct response to it. Rather, they are reflective of the commitment that all of us have to self-reflection and professional development. The Guiding Principles were created both to reflect our members’ innovation and leadership and to provide a guideline for best practices in accountability and good governance. Please accept our appreciation in advance for your thoughts on the document. Feel free to share your comments!
Related Information:
The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector has proposed 33 governing principles (pdf) that charities and foundations can use to monitor compliance and accountability. However, The Philanthropy Roundtable has announced that it will not support this effort because it could be used as a blueprint for lawmakers to create new regulations for nonprofits. Click here for the Chronicle of Philanthropy article.
Click here for Rick Cohen's editorial on cleaning up foundations (and a link to his Nonprofit Quarterly story revisiting foundation accountability scandals exposed by the Boston Globe).
Accountability Self-Assessment: On July 19, 2007, family foundation, community foundation and corporate giving program representatives came together at an SDG program to learn and share on issues relating to best practices for accountability and transparency. The group explored the Accountability Self-Assessment Tool--a comprehensive tool created to assess their practices relating to: governance, communications/disclosure; grantmaking; finance; administration; personnel; public policy; mission & strategy and evaluation. (While the tool was primarily designed for private foundations, the information is relevant to corporate, community foundation and public funders.) Do you want to learn how your organization is performing? You can access the Self-Assessment tool and the other pertinent program materials, by visiting the members-only section of the SDG website (member login required, contact us if you need your login information).
More Philanthropic Headlines
How Companies Dig Deep: Top corporate givers such as IBM and Oracle have learned how to make their philanthropy pay
Business Week reports on the results of their survey of corporate givers.
New York Times Annual "Giving" Section
The NYT "Giving" section, published on November 12, includes a series of articles related to nonprofits and philanthropy. One article reports that foundations are being urged to spend more than the mandatory payout rate of 5 percent. Click here for a related PND article.
Giving to Largest Charities Increased 4.3 Percent in 2006, More for Arts Institutions
The largest charitable organizations in the country reported a modest 4.3 percent increase in donations during fiscal year 2006, raising a total of $67.5 billion, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. According to its annual Philanthropy 400 survey, the increase was much smaller than the double-digit increases of the past two years, when the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina resulted in billions in donations to charitable organizations. If the $2.1 billion in contributions to the American Red Cross were excluded from the 2005 total, donations to organizations in the survey 400 would have increased by just 0.9 percent.
'Philanthropy Project' Launches with $10 Million Grant to Promote Generosity in America: American Film Institute Joins Effort to Create New Genre of 'Filmanthropic' Entertainment
Using modern entertainment, the Philanthropy Project is out to transform every American man, woman and child into a philanthropist. With a $10 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the project is working with the American Film Institute to launch a multimedia campaign that entertains and educates viewers even as it mobilizes them to become not just charitable, but philanthropic.
Major Foundation Plans to Speed Up Grant Process
From The Chronicle: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, in Owings Mills, Md., plans to introduce a program that will significantly streamline and hasten the grant-making process for nonprofit groups in Maryland, reports The Baltimore Sun. The Maryland Small Grants Program will allow nonprofit groups that provide direct services to poor people to apply for up to $100,000 each over two years and get a response within 50 days on whether they received a grant. The Weinberg foundation normally takes about 90 days to process grant applications.
Washington Post Giving Articles
On November 18, The Post featured a series of philanthropy-related articles (registration may be required), including one on private foundations, one on choosing charities for donations, one on donating securities instead of cash, and one on the changes to the Combined Federal Campaign.
Resources
Grantmaking Teleconferences
The Forum of Regional Associations has announced a series of teleconferences for 2008 (all occurring at 11:00am Pacific Time). Sign-up information will be sent when available--save the dates! Some of the earlier ones include:
- From Insight to Action: New Directions in Foundation Evaluation, February 28
- How to Survive an IRS Audit, March 13
- 990-PF Review for Foundation Leaders, March 18
- Introduction to Conflict of Interest, March 25
IRS Compliance Guide for Private Foundations
A new compliance guide issued by the IRS for private foundations is designed to provide an overview of activities that could jeopardize an organization’s tax-exempt status. The guide also details information on recordkeeping, reporting and disclosure requirements. Click here (pdf) for the guide.
Foundation Center Report:
More Than Grantmaking: A First Look at Foundations' Direct Charitable Activities
This report presents the findings of a study that tracks the growing role of operating programs — or direct charitable activities — at philanthropic foundations in the United States. Click here.
Helping Foundations Go Green
Building on the Environmental Grantmakers Association's Philanthropy as Stewardship manual, Green Beyond Grants offers simple guidelines and specific steps to help foundations achieve environmental sustainability at their offices and sponsored events.
Upcoming
SDG Programs
Click here for a complete listing of SDG Programs.
Year-End SDG Member Reception with County Supervisors Ron Roberts and Greg Cox
Charting Our Course: Planning for the Future of San Diego County
December 3, 2007
5:30-7:30pm
Location: Junior Achievement BizTown, 4756 Mission Gorge Place, SD, CA
San Diego Neighborhood Funders
December 7, 2007
12:00-2:00pm
Location: Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation
Prisoner Reentry Working Group
December 11, 2007
1:00-4:00pm
Location: The California Endowment, 600 West Broadway, Suite 1250, SD, CA 92101
San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative
December 12, 2007
9:00-10:30am
Location: Biocom, 4510 Executive Drive, SD, CA 92121
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
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
Communications for Community Involvement Managers
December 5-7, 2007
Beverly Hills, CA
4th Annual USD Institute for Nonprofit Governance
January 11-12, 2008
San Diego, CA
PRI CONFERENCE 2008
January 29-31, 2008
New Orleans, LA
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Leveraging Corporate-Community Partnerships
February 6-8, 2008
San Diego, California
Foundations on the Hill 2008
March 4-5, 2008
Washington, DC
2008 International Corporate Citizenship Conference
April 6-8, 2008
InterContinental Boston
COF: Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit
May 4-7, 2008
Washington, DC Region
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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