CoF Family Philanthropy Conference

Sea Change 2010, the Council on Foundations’ Family Philanthropy Conference in San Diego, drew a crowd of 500. The first of the ‘changes’ was the opening with Arthur Brooks, the controversial conservative at the helm of the American Enterprise Institute and author of Gross National Happiness. Brooks offered an amusing account of his failed attempts to disprove what he reluctantly conceded that his research has borne out: when individuals, businesses and even countries give, they end up with more income than those who don’t. Perhaps it was these remarks that contributed to a trace of optimism at the conference.

While concerns about economic instability remain, attendees none the less embraced the opportunity to explore new paradigms. One of the main themes, ‘Catalytic Philanthropy’, focused on entrepreneurial givers leveraging their resources to catalyse bold change. The concept of catalytic philanthropy inspired two plenary sessions, highlighting the successes of a small family foundation that was able to expand microfinance in the Arab world 75-fold and the collaboration of funders with Detroit public schools to stealthily crack down on systemic corruption.

Closing speaker Jeff Jarvis (author of What Would Google Do?) addressed the crowd via Skype from New York and challenged philanthropists, not particularly known to be ‘cutting edge’, to use social media as a means of being fully transparent and engaging in ‘citizen centred philanthropy’, citing the Peery Foundation’s use of Twitter to engage stakeholders in framing their giving guidelines.

Though a title like ‘Sea Change’ makes one sceptical that the ‘change’ is in moniker only, the Council should be applauded for reaching beyond their comfort zone to deliver on their word. Content was rich, and delivered in fresh formats, and it challenged attendees to innovate. As one participant said, ‘This is the best conference I’ve been to in 20 years.’

Lisa Parker is president of the Lawrence Welk Family Foundation. Email parkerwelk@mac.com

Event Family Philanthropy Conference
Date 31 January-2 February 2010
Venue San Diego
Organizer Council on Foundations

For more information
www.cof.org/events/conferences/2010Fam/index.cfm