Trustees' column: Where does responsibility lie?

In his column in the April issue of Alliance, Rien van Gendt writes: ‘The main point I want to make is that Boards should realize that governance is not restricted to a foundation’s spending but also includes its investments.’ I couldn’t agree with him more. Under US law, foundation trustees owe a fiduciary duty to the institutions they lead. This duty requires a trustee to manage the foundation’s business with care and diligence to a ‘reasonably prudent person’ standard. The meaning of reasonable care is appropriately the subject of growing attention.