Philanthropic practice

The Vancouver Foundation, the largest community foundation in Canada, was founded in 1943. Its assets totaled approximately $515 million at the end of 1997. The Foundation supports the activities of charitable organizations throughout British Columbia (BC). Advisory committees assist with decision-making in six of the Foundation's grantmaking areas. Committee members serve for three years and have the responsibility of reviewing grantmaking goals annually.

1997, 75 pages, ARTS Action Research, P.O. Box 401082, Brooklyn, New York 11240, 718-797-3661

GIA Newsletter editors welcome reports on conferences and meetings that might be of interest to GIA members. The following report also led to a longer feature by Stanley Katz in this issue.

Conflicting Visions of Philanthropy
June 3, 1998
Presented by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers at the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundations).

Presenters: Gene Bryan Johnson, senior producer for news, WNYC New York Public Radio; Dr. Stanley Katz, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; Sandra Silverman, president, the Scherman Foundation

October 1996, 30 pages, The Aspen Institute, Nonprofit Sector Research Fund, 1333 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Suite 1070, Washington, D.C. 20036, 202-736-5800.

The full text of this article is not yet available on this site. Below is a brief excerpt.

The Cleveland Foundation, founded in 1914, is the nation's oldest community foundation. In 1998, the Foundation's assets totaled $1.5 billion and it made grants totaling $47 million.

Is it possible for money to be a conduit for love? The word philanthropy carries the meaning "love of humanity." Modern philanthropy brings together two seemingly irreconcilable concepts: love and money. But if we read through all the annual reports of all the foundations for the last ten years, I'd wager we would be hard-pressed to find the word "love" mentioned more than ten times.

What is the financial health of the nonprofit sector and how do arts organizations compare with other nonprofits? A year-long study of the financial health of Illinois state's nonprofit sector — including the arts — provides a tool to begin answering such questions.

Entrepreneurship is a concept that receives considerably favorable attention in the nonprofit press. Whether referring to mission-related income ventures, non-traditional partnerships, or a redefinition of organizational culture, the word "entrepreneur" has an undeniably positive, even buoyant, connotation in today's nonprofit parlance.

The Boston Foundation is one of the oldest community foundations in the nation. With an asset base of about $500 million, it makes grants of approximately $20 million each year in the Greater Boston area. For the past four years, the Foundation's discretionary grantmaking has been guided by its Building Family and Community Initiative. This initiative focuses on helping Boston's children and their families overcome poverty.