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Family
Philanthropy Conference in San Diego January 31-February 2,2010
The 2010 COF Family Philanthropy Conference welcomed 482 individual
participants, mostly foundation board members and trustees, and allowed for
families to meet each other and explore best practices in the field. The
sessions were informative and inspirational; and included both basics and
thought provoking discussions about the future of philanthropy, role of social
media and technology, engaging the young generations, and much more. Following
are some memorable quotes from the plenary speakers:
"Philanthropy is like alchemy, turning the dross of money into the gold
of social change" said Arthur
Brooks, President of the American
Enterprise Institute and one of the opening plenary speakers as he talked
about his research on happiness and its surprising results. There is countless
evidence that giving not only makes people happier, it makes them healthier,
more successful, and wealthier. His research also echoes a recent, January 17,
2010, op-ed
by Nicholas Kristof that equates the act of giving with basic human
pleasures, such as food and sex, implicating that people are hardwired to be
altruistic because generosity feels so good. "This offers an opportunity
for symbiosis at a time of great need: so many afflicted people, and so much
benefit to us if we try to help them," writes Kristof.
Jeff
Jarvis, a journalist and author of "What
would Google Do?" closed the conference with a challenge to the
foundations to see themselves as a platform, much like Google. In this
capacity, philanthropy can work collectively to bring community change. To do
this "we need to think like Google; this means ultimately giving up
control and giving it to the people," said Jarvis. He argues that
collaboration is the key to scale and efficiency, and transparency is the new
objectivity and the world and philanthropy must move from the mindset of
"managing scarcity" to "creating abundance".
Steve
Gunderson, Council on Foundation's President, summed the conference up with
a wonderful African proverb: "To go quickly, go alone. To go far, go
together."
The following foundations were represented: Bella Vista, Bothin, William K.
Bowes, Jr., Farese Family, GGS, Kimball, Michelson Family, and Morris Stulsaft
Foundations.
Katarina Menotti
Below is a summary of the conference from two of PFS foundations' trustees,
Ellen Michelson and Laura Merriam who attended the conference:
The 2010 Council on Foundations Family Philanthropy Conference was a very
informative and well-planned program that helped us focus on what we want to
accomplish with the Michelson Family Foundation. From nuts and
bolts information on how to be an effective grant maker to inspirational
speeches about making a difference through philanthropy, all of the sessions
were worthwhile and added to our knowledge base. It was also very helpful
to meet other board trustees and understand their challenges and successes.The
off site visit to the Mexican/US border was particularly memorable.The
information shared gave us a good understanding of the problems and challenges
of the legal and illegal immigration policies between our two countries.
As a result of this conference we have a better understanding of our funding
priorities and how we can have meaningful impact in the areas about which we
care. One of the key takeaways was learning how to leverage our grant
making through collaboration with other foundations, non-profits and government
agencies. We don't have to try to "do it all" and we can have
much better outcome with strategic giving that encourages collaborative efforts
to accomplish a group goal. One of the reasons our board decided to
attend this conference was to become more impassioned about philanthropy and we
absolutely accomplished that.
Ellen Michelson and Laura
Merriam
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