Health care employers face a tremendous challenge: how to better find and retain skilled frontline workers while improving the quality of care—and quickly. Frontline workers are the more than five million health aides, medical assistants, laboratory technicians, and other workers who make it possible for the nation’s hospitals and clinics to operate. Solving this capacity [...]

To Denver came Council on Foundations
To build better philanthropic relations
Bringing questions and reflections
On social intersections
Of justice and change and innovations.
These themes were explored and attacked
Through three days of provocative tracks
Social justice included
No opinions excluded
With much focused on greater impact.

I think there are two distinct skill sets that folks in philanthropy work on developing over the course of their careers:
The “Hard Skillsâ€�—due diligence, research, communications, metrics, etc., and the “Harder Skillsâ€�—honest listening, quiet leadership, good citizenship, and honest engagement.

OK, gotta confess—this is my first time blogging. Ever. As I shared my angst yesterday with socialtech-savvy Perla Ni, she advised me to just pretend the blog is an e-mail to a friend. So, here we go …
I attended an awesome town hall on public-private partnerships. It had smart and interesting speakers, vibrant audience participation, [...]

Reflecting on the past three days in Denver, a personal highlight was hearing from Helmo Hernandez, president of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba. As a Cuban-American, I was particularly interested to hear about the state of—and prospects for—philanthropy in Cuba. Toward the end of his remarks, Hernandez spoke of the need to explore “alternative legal [...]

Thoughts on Chip Heath, author of “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard� and “Made to Stick,� both best-sellers.
When I woke up this morning, I switched on a light. Did you? (Don’t worry, this isn’t a post on energy conservation—I’m not judging you.)
But when I switched on that light, the switch didn’t really [...]

Yesterday, I participated in what can only be described as a thrill ride of ideas about how to help Americans get back to work and succeed in a post-recession economy. The session was titled, somewhat tamely, “Post-Recession Workforce Innovations: Smart Ideas for the Public, Private, and Philanthropic Sectors.� In reality, it was one of the [...]

The Council on Foundations has done an admirable job of incorporating social media into the annual conference. From the official RE: Philanthropy blog of the Council, to its official Twitter handle, to its support for unofficial blog teams, the Council has fully embraced the important role of social media in philanthropy.
Now it’s time for the [...]

Did philanthropy do its part in response to the economic crisis?
The verdict is still out—the crisis is far from over.
But the Foundation Center reports that $443 million in grants and program-related investments directly related to the crisis have been tracked in the last two years. That’s not bad for a sector that has “not been [...]

I applaud the Council on Foundations for having Al Gore speak on Monday.
The theme of this annual conference—Intersections: Social Change, Social Justice, Social Innovation—was a perfect match for the former vice president’s passionate words.

We wouldn’t be at this conference if we didn’t think foundations have value. I’m not talking about money (though, if you haven’t read it, Craig McGarvey’s 2001 Scrivner Award speech is a must-read on the topic). I’m talking about the roles foundations play in our communities across the country. And yet, when (and if) foundations [...]

Inspiring. That’s the word that I heard over and over again about Monday’s annual conference plenary sessions with former Vice President Al Gore and Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. They urged us to use philanthropy’s innovation to address [...]

The future of education is now—and not a moment too soon. The Denver School of Science & Technology admits all applicants based on a lottery—65 percent minority, 50 percent low-income, 50 percent first-generation college—and sends 100 percent of them on to four-year colleges and universities. 

America’s active interest in community service has skyrocketed in a time of great need, in part thanks to the Kennedy Serve America Act enacted just one year ago. Patrick Corvington, newly minted CEO of the Corporation for National Service, shared with foundation leaders attending the Council on Foundations’ annual conference in Denver that 1.5 million [...]

A year ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Mitsubishi Electric corporate headquarters in Tokyo, where I learned about our overall company Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. It was a real education, as I learned that CSR goes far beyond being a good corporate citizen through philanthropic giving. Good CSR includes developing high-quality products, implementing [...]

A session titled “Navigating the Crossroads of Global Social Justice Issues� that included the likes of Van Jones, Eboo Patel, Deepak Bhargava, Kumi Naidoo, Constance Rice, Avila Kilmurray, and Ana Paula Hernandez delivered on its promise. It was a powerful exchange of enlightening and inspiring messages that left me needing more.

“The intersection of change is present right now.�
The role for philanthropy in addressing climate change is one for which we all struggle. And it is particularly relevant for this conference’s theme of intersections. There is no other issue that embodies this concept of intersections more aptly than climate change.

Sunday’s mini-plenary session “Social Justice—From Here to 2030� of the first-ever Council on Foundations annual conference Social Justice track was a breath of fresh air for many folks who have long wanted to make social justice a more explicit part of our collegial conversation.

“What were you thinking? Were you watching ‘Dancing With the Stars’?�
Is that the question our grandchildren will be asking us in 30 or 40 years—after climate change has continued to wreak havoc across the planet? Or will they be thanking us for our foresight and commitment to long-term thinking and vision? So asked former Vice [...]

The Council on Foundations annual conference session on Sunday, “Federal Policy and Advocacy: Fixing NCLB and What Foundations Can Do About It,� focused on federal education policies and offered a host of insights into how education philanthropy is making investments that support effective policy change. For those who couldn’t join us, I offer a quick [...]

What data does a foundation board member need to gauge foundation effectiveness? That was the question we grappled with at a trustee-CEO summit session Saturday at the Council on Foundations annual conference in Denver. Our session received invaluable help from the CEO and a trustee of a foundation that has pushed more than most: the [...]

As much as I was hoping for a silver bullet to improve the health status of Americans, not surprisingly there weren’t any earth shattering strategies presented for how we can get America healthy at today’s Council on Foundations Annual Conference session on health care.  As we all know, there is a complex web of factors [...]

Social innovation: it’s not about the idea or the “aha” moment.  It’s about creating a critical mass of stakeholder champions. Surprised? So was I, but UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship chair Andy Hargadon and Rockefeller President Judith Rodin presented compelling arguments and multiple examples to make the case at the Council on Foundation’s Annual Conference [...]

So what choices will foundations make at this intersection where the federal government has extended an invitation to partner in new ways?
At today’s opening session, Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to this powerful equation for change.

Each year at our annual conference, the Council on Foundations honors outstanding leaders and philanthropic organizations for their innovative and inspiring contributions. Each is a trailblazer, finding new solutions to address some of today’s toughest challenges and serving as a model for improving people’s lives.

Take Robert Eckardt, for example. He is the 2010 recipient of [...]

Each of us has a favorite movie. And the reasons behind our choices can vary—from the types of films we prefer to the emotional chord they strike within us.

Very few things match films for their ability to inform, inspire, enlighten, motivate, and bring about change.  Philanthropy is also an inspiring and motivational cause [...]

The 2010 Council annual conference in Denver, “Intersections: Social Change, Social Justice, Social Innovation,� brings together more than 1,300 global philanthropic leaders. The conference’s robust agenda of topics and top-flight speakers aims to strengthen philanthropy’s impact to advance the public good.

The volcano ash cloud over Europe has reminded us, once again, that ‘nature bats last.’Â
Volcanoes and earthquakes are truly unavoidable natural disasters that humble even the most powerful industrial economies, but the extreme weather disasters caused by man-made climate change are an altogether different kind of catastrophe that require the full attention of philanthropy. After months [...]

The economy is showing signs of recovery but for millions of Americans unemployment and/or low wage, dead end jobs are still a reality. Companies are apprehensive about hiring, which is keeping the unemployment rate near 10 percent — and much, much higher in many communities. Yet, one thing is certain, smart investments in human capital make [...]

As I think about what I’m most looking forward to at the upcoming conference, I have to be honest and confess that somewhere towards the top of the list is the fact my Florida Marlins will also be in town to play the Rockies. I’ve never been to Coors Field and to have the opportunity [...]

As we enter the 40th year of celebrating the knowledge and expertise that make Affinity Groups such a valuable resource to the philanthropic field, we reflect on the evolution of the Affinity Group Network and its thriving relationship with the Council on Foundations.

The Council on Foundations will soon host its Annual Conference in Denver on April 24-27. One of this year’s sessions is “Protecting Your Investments: Leadership Development for Sustainability.� In this blog entry, we would like to share more about the issue of nonprofit leadership development with you.
Nonprofit and NGO organizations have had an immense economic [...]