 
CEP’s 2009 conference, Aligning for Impact: Connecting the Dots, has reached capacity.
For conference attendees:
If you will be at the Beverly Hilton on Monday, March 30th, we invite you to join us that night for our Welcome Reception from 5:30-7:00pm at the Stardust Terrace. Before arriving at the reception, please check in for the conference at the Executive Registration Center.
If you will be checking in on Tuesday, March 31st, the registration booth will be in the Santa Monica Suite, beginning at 7:30am.
Agenda
March 31- April 1, 2009
Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles
Monday, March 30 (pre-conference seminar for CEP's assessment tool subscribers)
Tuesday, March 31
Wednesday, April 1
Tuesday, March 31 (Day One)
8:00 am — 10:00 am
Registration
Outside the Beverly Hills Ballroom
A continental breakfast will
be available.
10:00 am — 10:20 am
Welcoming Remarks
Edmund J. Cain, Vice President-Grant Programs, The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Sushma Raman, President, Southern California Grantmakers
10:20 am — 11:45 am
Opening Plenary: "Findings from the Field: The Essential Elements of Foundation Effectiveness"
What does foundation effectiveness look like? How do foundations best deploy all their resources to maximize their impact and achieve their goals? This session will draw on CEP's experience conducting research and providing assessment tools to foundations, spotlighting CEP's latest research.
Speakers: Phil Buchanan, President, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Lisa R. Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President — Research, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
12:15 pm — 1:45 pm
Lunch Plenary: "Business Thinking and Philanthropy: Help or Hindrance?"
The past decade has seen a rise in the influence of business thinking on philanthropy — what some have dubbed “philanthrocapitalism.” From “venture philanthropy” to “social entrepreneurship,” the language of philanthropy increasingly borrows the terminology of business. Some argue that the growing influence of “business” approaches in philanthropy is positive — leading to a greater focus on results and better management. Others see it is a cause for concern — because the analogies and approaches may not work — leading to less effective organizations and perhaps even threatening the distinctively positive attributes of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. In this debate, panelists will argue this issue and then open the discussion to the audience.
Speakers: Matthew Bishop, Chief Business Writer/US Business Editor, The Economist
Mike Edwards, former Director of the Governance and Civil Society Program, Ford Foundation
Carla Javits, President, REDF
Gara LaMarche, President and CEO, Atlantic Philanthropies
Moderator: Stephen Heintz, President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
2:00 pm — 3:30 pm
Concurrent break-out sessions
"Assessing Overall Foundation Performance"
Assessing foundation performance is notoriously difficult. This session focuses on the challenge of marshaling and presenting data to assess overall foundation effectiveness, exploring a number of questions. What does a foundation-level performance assessment system look like? What questions should foundation leaders ask in order to assess organizational health? What are the key choices and presentation challenges — and human dynamics — that drive the ways data are used to assess foundation effectiveness? How can boards, CEOs, and staff benefit from the candid performance assessments of the foundation's organizational and programmatic effectiveness? How should risk assessment be incorporated into a performance assessment system? Panelists will discuss these questions, drawing on their experiences developing foundation-wide performance frameworks.
Speakers: Jim Canales, President and CEO, The James Irvine Foundation
David C. Colby, Vice President — Research and Evaluation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Moderator: Crystal Hayling, President and CEO, Blue Shield of California Foundation
"Assistance Beyond the Grant: What Works, What Doesn't"
New CEP research explores the questions of how foundations approach — and how grantees experience — the provision of assistance beyond the grant. How do foundations decide what to do and for whom? What do grantees actually value? What are the characteristics of more- and less-successful approaches to the provision of nonmonetary assistance? This interactive session will begin with a presentation of CEP's findings and then segue into an interactive workshop in which participants can learn from each other.
Speakers: Ellie Buteau, Ph.D., Director of Research, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Patty Maddox, President and CEO, Winter Park Health Foundation
Ed Pauly, Director of Research and Evaluation, The Wallace Foundation
Moderator: Romero Hayman, Manager, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
"Learning from Constituent Voice"
Foundations are increasingly listening to their grantees and declined applicants — as well as other stakeholders. But what about those whose lives a foundation or nonprofit seeks to affect? What voice do they have? This session will spotlight several creative approaches to giving voice to those who foundations and nonprofits seek to help — asking to participants to reflect on what they might learn from listening to constituent voice.
Speakers: David Bonbright, Founder and CEO, Keystone
Perla Ni, Founder and CEO, GreatNonprofits
Fay Twersky, Director of Impact Planning and Improvement, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Moderator: Valerie Threlfall, Director — West Coast Office, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
"Strategy Workshop"
This interactive workshop will allow conference participants to reflect on results of a strategy self- assessment that all conference registrants received prior to the conference. This workshop will serve as an opportunity for participants to explore their results with foundation peers and colleagues, considering questions such as: How strategic am I in my approach to foundation work? What gets in the way of being strategic in my role? What supports my use of strategy? How might I become more strategic? What are the costs and benefits of doing so? Space is limited and will be accommodated on a first-come, first-serve basis. This workshop is designed for foundation CEOs and program staff only. Participants will also be asked to provide feedback on this pilot self-assessment.
Speakers: Kevin Bolduc, Vice President – Assessment Tools, Center for Effective Philanthropy
Lisa R. Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President – Research, Center for Effective Philanthropy
"Unleashing the Board"
Getting the most out of a board requires well-designed and well-run meetings However, CEP research suggests that board meetings are often over-designed and over-orchestrated, with excessive time spent on issues for which the outcome is largely predetermined. This limits the board's engagement in the issues that trustees see as most connected to board effectiveness: strategy and assessment. This workshop will present tactical steps for improving the quality of board meetings, drawing on CEP's extensive research, our work with individual foundation boards, and the best thinking on nonprofit governance more broadly.
Speakers: Phil Buchanan, President, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
3:45 pm — 5:15 pm
Afternoon Plenary: "Promises and Pitfalls of Going to Scale"
Two grantee-funder pairs will explain the benefits and challenges of either dramatically growing a successful organization or refusing to do so — and the rationale and implications of their respective programmatic and funding decisions.
Speakers: Father Gregory Boyle, Founder, Homeboy Industries
Bob Hill, Chair, Board of Directors, Nurse Family Partnership
Nancy Roob, President, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Bob Ross, President and CEO, California Endowment
Moderator: Ralph Smith, Executive Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation
6:00 pm — 7:00 pm
Reception
7:00pm — 9:00pm
Dinner and Featured Speaker
Participant Media believes that a good story well told can truly make a difference in how one sees the world. Participant's films and documentaries, including An Inconvenient Truth, Fast Food Nation, Syriana, The Kite Runner, and Charlie Wilson's War generate interest in social causes and inspire individuals to take action. It also creates specific social action campaigns for each film and documentary designed to give a voice to issues that resonate in the films. Teaming with social sector organizations, nonprofits, and corporations, Participant creates an open forum for discussion and education and offers specific ways for audience members to get involved. CEO Jim Berk will share Participant Media's story and discuss the importance of investing in — and the impact of — social media.
Speaker: Jim Berk, Chief Executive Officer, Participant Media
Introduction: Vince Stehle, Program Director for the Nonprofit Sector, The Surdna Foundation
Wednesday, April 1 (Day Two)
7:00am
Registration
Beverly Hills Foyer
7:00 am — 8:00 am
Breakfast Buffet and Participant-Led Breakfast Roundtables
8:15 am — 10:30 am
Keynote Session: Jim Collins: "Good to Great and the Social Sectors"
Introduction by Alexa Cortes Culwell, CEO , Stupski Foundation
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, and Built to Last, will apply the lessons from his research on highly successful businesses and his “language of greatness” to grantmaking and philanthropy. Participants will have the opportunity for small group discussions and question-and-answer with Collins.
11:00 am — 12:30 pm
Concurrent break-out sessions
"Bringing Data to the Diversity Debate"
The recent debate in California and elsewhere about diversity and philanthropy has been held in an environment characterized by a paucity of solid data. This session taps data from The Center for Effective Philanthropy and others that is relevant to how foundations should take on this issue. What do we know today about racial diversity and foundation philanthropy? How does this data inform the current debate?
Speakers: Renee Branch, Director of Diversity Programs, Council on Foundations
Lisa Jackson, Ph.D., Vice President — Research, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Lawrence T. McGill, Senior Vice President for Research, Foundation Center
Karen McNeil-Miller, President, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
"Making Big Bets: Collaborating with Peers"
Every foundation wants impact, but what approach to funding best ensures it? This session will highlight a novel approach to collaborative, big-ticket foundation funding being facilitated by Nonprofit Finance Fund Capital Partners.
Speakers: Greg Baldwin, President, Volunteer Match
George Overholser, Founder and Managing Director, Nonprofit Finance Fund Capital Partners
Moderator: Vince Stehle, Program Director for the Nonprofit Sector Support Program, Surdna Foundation
"From Data to Insight: Using CEP's Assessment Tools to Create Change" Foundation leaders have few resources to help them assess—and improve—their foundations' performance. This session offers an opportunity to understand how CEP's assessment tools can be used to take stock of strengths and weaknesses and chart a path of improvement.
Speakers: Kevin Bolduc, Vice President — Assessment Tools, The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Judy Jolley Mohraz, Ph.D., President and CEO, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
Carleen K. Rhodes, President, St. Paul Foundation
"Foundations and Information: When to Share What You Know"
How open should foundations be? About what? Do foundations have an obligation to share what they know about the successes — and failures — of their strategies? About the performance of the grantees they fund? Or the diversity of their grantees, staff, and boards? Beyond sharing information, what obligation do foundations have to develop the nonprofit sector's information infrastructure? Panelists from inside and outside organized philanthropy will debate these and related questions about foundations and information.
Speakers: Bill McCalpin, Independent Consultant and former Executive Vice President and COO, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Mark Sedway, Director, Philanthropy Awareness Initiative
Sean Stannard-Stockton, Principal and Director of Tactical Philanthropy, Ensemble Capital Management
Moderator: Teri Behrens, Editor-in-Chief, The Foundation Review
"Exploring Individual Performance and Foundation Effectiveness"
Individual performance planning processes are vital for foundations looking to strengthen their effectiveness in creating social change. This workshop will include an example of one foundation’s approach to performance planning as participants discuss the conditions required for foundations to evaluate individual performance – from trustees to CEOs to program staff – in a meaningful way. Participants will also explore the tools and processes that can help foundations assess their own performance systems and what can be done to strengthen them.
Speakers: Alexa Cortes Culwell, CEO, Stupski Foundation
Saul Macias, Director of Human Resources, Stupski Foundation
Moderator: Phil Buchanan, President, Center for Effective Philanthropy
12:45 pm — 2:15 pm
Closing Plenary: "Aligning for Impact"
This session will feature CEOs of four very different foundations that share a commitment to high-performance in pursuit of maximum positive impact. Panelists will address the tough questions they face. In a time of reduced resources, how can foundations align for maximum impact? How should they approach the question of determining payout when endowment values are down substantially? What gets in the way of greater foundation impact? What are the success stories from which we can—and should—learn?
Speakers:Stephen Heintz, President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Dan Katzir, Managing Director, The Broad Foundation
Carol Larson, President and CEO, David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Kathryn E. Merchant, President and CEO, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Moderator: Phil Buchanan, President, Center for Effective Philanthropy
Monday, March 30 (Pre-Conference Seminar)
This is an intensive one-day pre-conference seminar tailored
to CEOs, trustees, and senior executives of the 174
foundations that have commissioned CEP's assessment tools.
10:30 am – 10:45 am
Welcoming remarks from Phil Buchanan
10:45 am –12:00 pm
Aiming for Excellence: Wallace Foundation Case Discussion (Part I)
Discussion Leaders: Phil Buchanan & Travis Manzione
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch and small group discussions
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm
Sharing Insights from Lunch Discussions
1:45 pm – 2:15 pm
Wallace Case Discussion (2008 GPR Results)
2:15 pm—3:30 pm
Wallace Case Discussion (Part III)
Speakers: Chris DeVita & Ed Pauly, The Wallace Foundation
3:45 pm—5:00 pm
Open forum discussions (4 breakout rooms)
5:00 pm—5:30 pm
Update from CEP: New Tools and Planned Initiatives
5:30 pm — 7:00 pm
Welcome Reception on the Stardust Terrace, 8th Floor
Open to all Aligning for Impact attendees
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