40th Annual Meeting - Leadership

Advanced Foundation Governance for Board Members, Trustees and Officers
Serving on a foundation board is a rewarding and challenging experience. Are you getting the most out of it? This panel of experts will discuss the legal,ethical and operational issues that foundation board members face, help you assess your trustee role, and highlight ways to serve your foundation with the best of what you can bring. For board members, trustees and officers from all types of foundations.

A Pathway to Leadership for the Next Generation
If you are a program officer in the field for 20 years,you are neither the old guard nor the new guard, but in the middle as the field moves more towards professionalization. What will happen in the coming years as more people choose this field and equip themselves professionally to serve? How will the path to senior positions open to them? How will the current leadership reach back and create a more defined path for the next generation of professional philanthropoids? How is philanthropy and the accountability standards requiring leadership to change? Join us to discuss the transition that has happened in the field over the last 20+ years: for example, the need to move from genetic and social linkage to building professional capacity and attracting the best and the brightest to leadership in the sector. Come to share insight on how building the capacity and reaching for the sector will address the frustration of talented professionals who feel that the field does not offer them opportunity at the senior level.

Rx for Leadership in 2009: New Frames, New Lenses
Leadership research addresses challenges and strategies in terms of one of four frames of reference -- structural, human resource, political or symbolic. As leaders, we tend to view the world through our “default frame.” In this fun, interactive session, we’ll learn to increase our effectiveness by becoming aware of our own default frame while also exploring new ways of seeing the world. You’ll leave this session with a personal development infusion, as well as tools you can share with your office and your grantees. Originally designed for individuals working with corporate foundations, this session applies to this group as well as all others.

Focus on Family Foundation Leadership
Steve Turner, chairman of the James Stephen Turner Family Foundation, will share perspectives on how leadership and family philanthropy go hand in hand. Supported by his wife Judy, Steve has done an exceptional job of fostering the maturity of his daughter Laura Anne, his son Jay and his daughter-in-law Christi, as full partners in the stewardship of the family’s philanthropy. You won’t hear Steve say at a Foundation meeting, “all in favor say aye and all opposed say I resign.” Even if Steve is very high on a potential grant, it will get fully vetted by the other trustees, and it is not unprecedented that it gets voted down. He takes a very conscientious view of the responsibilities and the accountability that come with being able to give back and share leadership with all generations, for all generations.

Philanthropy Beyond the Grant – Using Limited Resources to Impact & Empower Nonprofit Organizations
Facing a high rejection rate, a declining economy and recognizing that many non-profits need to enhance their operational skills, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina implemented the Sisters of Charity Learning Academy to provide capacity building workshops to non-profits in South Carolina. Participants in this session will learn how the SOC developed and managed the learning academy and the results of a comprehensive evaluation that assessed 2008 outcomes and is governing the 2009 expansion.

Leveraging Your Voice: Helping Grantees Talk about Mergers and Partnerships
A growing trend in the nonprofit sector is the merger and acquisition of agencies. Merger can be a tough conversation, and one that foundations are often reluctant to have with grantees. When it’s clear that collaborations and mergers are in order, foundations can be a powerful influence. A recent Bridgespan report, Nonprofit Mergers and Acquisitions: More than a Tool for Tough Times, says nearly one in five charity leaders are looking at mergers and acquisitions as a potential way to ride out the turbulent economy. Come hear a great success story of the merger of two similar agencies (Family & Children First and Family Place), the circumstances that led them to the decision and the lessons learned from the process. Take away strategies that can help produce the win/win for your grantees and the community.

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