For Immediate Release

CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY RELEASES PUBLICATION ON "LESSONS LEARNED FROM A GATHERING OF FOUNDATION LEADERS"

Boston, MA: The Center for Effective Philanthropy has released a summary of lessons learned and questions raised during its seminar, "Assessing Foundation Performance: Current Practices, Future Possibilities" held November 14-15, 2002 in Boston. The seminar was sponsored by The Boston Foundation.

CEP's publication includes articles on talks by Joel Fleishman of Atlantic Philanthropies and Duke University; Paul Grogan, CEO of The Boston Foundation; Ricardo Millett, CEO of Woods Fund of Chicago; Anne-Marie Soulliere, CEO of the Fidelity Foundation; Lew Sandy, Executive Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and others.

In the keynote speech, entitled "The Wake-Up Call of the Corporate Governance Crisis," Fleishman, called on foundation boards to take a more active role in assessment and oversight. "I believe foundations do make a difference," said Fleishman, "but where are the data?"

Other speakers discussed their approach to assessing foundation performance and described the challenges and benefits of instituting assessment mechanisms. In presenting the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scorecard of foundation performance, Lew Sandy and Maureen Michael argued that "the perfect measure doesn't exist," but that beginning "with any measure and working to make it better over time is really worth the effort."

The November seminar was designed to advance discussion of performance assessment and build on CEP's Foundation Performance Metrics Pilot Study, which was undertaken during 2001 and 2002 and culminated in the August 2002 release of the report Indicators of Effectiveness: Understanding and Improving Foundation Performance.

To download a copy of CEP's seminar publication, click here.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY

The Center for Effective Philanthropy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the practice of philanthropy by providing management and governance tools to define, assess, and improve overall foundation performance.

Major funders of CEP include: The Atlantic Philanthropies, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.