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The Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center

There was a presentation this afternoon at the Council on Foundations Conference on knowledge management, a topic of ongoing interest to me and to many of my readers. One of the resources I'm particularly interested in studying and sharing is The Wallace Foundation's Knowledge Center. A number of years ago, the foundation made a top to bottom commitment to candor and improvement as core values and practices. Edward Pauly, their Director of Research an Evaluation speaks proudly about the power of sharing failures as much as successes. I look forward to exploring how that actually looks and I encourage you to check out their knowledge center as both a repository of lessons and as a lesson in itself. Posted: 4/30/07; 5:00:30 PM #

Council on Foundations Blogger's Banquet

If you are interested in dipping your toes into the world of philanthropic blogging (a cacouphonous phrase if I ever heard one), then you might do well by taking a look at the Council on Foundation's Blogger's Banquet. There are seven blogs listed as covering the conference (including With, my own rather wet-behind-the-ears blog) and six major blogs from grantmakers themselves. Although I've attended the Council's annual conference in past years as both a presenter and as the editor of a high circulation newsletter (Nonprofit Online News in its best known incarnation as a weekly email), I don't think I've ever been so proud to be included in any such list. Posted: 4/30/07; 4:59:45 PM #

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers

I've talked a bit recently about the conventional meaning of the word 'networks' as applied to the world of grantmaking, where it's essentially a synonym for 'association'. One of the major ways in which grantmakers associate is by geographic interest and the best place in the U.S. to acquaint yourself with that is at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. (Yes, they're an association of associations, but you can understand why they would choose the word 'forum' instead.) FRAG has a well maintained searchable database of what they call "funders networks" to peruse. Posted: 4/30/07; 2:35:57 PM #

Tapping the Power of Social Networks

Jeff Martin of the Council on Foundations suggested I speak to the folks at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. While he hunts down someone that I can meet with, I took a moment to peruse the Casey Foundation's website where I came across two reports (out of what looks like a series of five) that focus on social networks. The first of these reports is entitled Tapping the Power of Social Networks: Understanding the Role of Social Networks in Strengthening Families and Transforming Communities. It's an overview piece that defines some terms, compiles key findings from the literatures, and presents Casey’s point of view on the potential of social networks within the context of the foundation's programs. Posted: 4/30/07; 1:44:54 PM #

Council on Foundations 2007 Annual Conference

I'm pleased to be attending the 2007 Annual Conference of the Council on Foundations today and tomorrow with one question in mind: Are Grantmakers Aware of the Network Centric World? That's the lens through which I am reviewing the agenda, the plenary presentations, the concurrent workshops, and my conversations with old and new acquaintances. If you have suggestions of people to talk to or insights about the agenda that relate to the topic of foundations and networks (in the contemporary, emergent sense of the word), please send them my way! Posted: 4/30/07; 1:34:38 PM #