Posted on March 1, 2007

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Council on Foundations President Urges Foundations to Embrace Diversity

In remarks made recently to a gathering of family foundation leaders, Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations, urged foundations to increase the diversity of their grantmaking and staffs, and to advocate for legislation that promotes the growth of the charitable sector.

In his keynote speech at the Council on Foundations' 2007 Family Foundations Conference in Baltimore, Gunderson said the council is committed to supporting and promoting diversity in the sector and will hire a director of diversity programs. "For decades American philanthropy has been diverse in philosophies, in programs, and in personalities, but we have been an overwhelmingly white, Anglo-Saxon enterprise," he said. "Family foundations, by their nature, display their diversity in the form of generations with very different views of the world — and of philanthropy. We must, on your behalf, demonstrate that philanthropy sees a diverse America, rich in races and religions, and that we understand the global gifts of various nationalities and languages."

Gunderson also cited the projected $41 trillion transfer of generational wealth by the middle of this century and called on family foundations to promote the growth and legacy of philanthropy. To that end, he urged family foundations to join the council in its efforts to persuade Congress to approve new legislation designed to grow philanthropy nationwide.

"If we review demographic and economic shifts in America," Gunderson said, "we soon observe that where once philanthropy was associated primarily with those of massive wealth — the Carnegies and Rockefellers and Fords — great wealth is giving way to sufficient wealth to spur the growth of American philanthropy."

“Council on Foundations Urges Sweeping Changes in Philanthropy.” Council on Foundations Press Release 2/28/07.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): National

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