Higher education leader Claire L. Gaudiani and former Boston Foundation president Anna Faith Jones will be honored for their philanthropic service as the 2005 recipients of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University’s most prestigious award.
Awards will be presented at a dinner on Thursday, August 25, at 6:00 p.m. at the University Place Hotel at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
The Henry A. Rosso Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fund Raising recognizes lifelong dedication to emphasizing philanthropy’s ethics and values, acting as a mentor to perpetuate and invigorate philanthropic traditions, and noted leadership in a long, productive career of distinction.
Since 1990, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University annually has presented this distinguished award to exceptional individuals. The award was created to honor Henry A. “Hank” Rosso (1917-1999), a founder of the Center on Philanthropy and founding director of The Fund Raising School at the Center. Mr. Rosso received the first award for establishing a means for fund raising professionals to learn about ethical philanthropic fund raising and for creating concepts of discipline and dignity in the profession.
“Claire Gaudiani has a distinguished record of fund raising, both for institutions she has served and in communities where she has lived. Her experience, her speaking, and her writing speak volumes about her commitment to philanthropy,” said Timothy L. Seiler, director of public service and The Fund Raising School.
A former Indianapolis resident, Gaudiani currently is a professor at the George H. Heyman, Jr. Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. She previously was Senior Research Scholar at the Yale Law School and served for 13 years as President of Connecticut College. Under her leadership, from 1988-2001, the college quintupled its endowment.
Gaudiani’s recent book, The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism, combines stories from American history, data and survey results to illustrate its thesis that Americans are not generous because they are rich, but rather Americans are rich because we are generous. The author of six books, she is also a frequent speaker nationally and internationally. She holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in French literature from Indiana University, a bachelor's degree, also in French, from Connecticut College, and has received 10 honorary doctorates. The Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Board honored her with its 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and as a fellow of the PBK Society. She was elected to the Century Association.
Gaudiani has served on the boards of numerous for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises including the the Henry Luce Foundation, MBIA Inc., the Shubert Theatre, Public Radio International, and Citizens Bank. She is a trustee of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and volunteered as President of the nonprofit New London Development Corporation for five years, where she currently remains on the board.
“Anna Faith Jones is an important leader in the foundation world,” said Dwight Burlingame, Associate Executive Director of the Center on Philanthropy. “She changed the shape of the Boston Foundation and developed a number of innovative programs in Boston to fight poverty and support the arts.”
Jones chaired the national Council on Foundations from 1998-2000. She was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the country, for 16 years. Jones joined the Boston Foundation in 1974, serving as Assistant Director and Associate Director before being named President in 1985. As President, she oversaw an endowment of more than $700 million and more than $53 million in annual grant distributions to nonprofit organizations that provide a wide range of services to the greater Boston community. During Jones’ tenure, the Boston Foundation’s staff and board became more diverse, and the foundation played an increasingly active role in the community. Under her leadership, the foundation developed multi-year initiatives to develop new strategies to break the cycle of urban poverty. The Foundation also launched an Arts Fund to create a permanent source of funding for the arts in Boston and connect residents, especially those in diverse neighborhoods, with opportunities to participate in the arts.
A native of Washington, D.C., Jones was one of five children of Mordecai Johnson, the first African-American president of Howard University. She notes that she grew up surrounded by strong role models in an atmosphere of dedication to education and community service that has affected the direction of her life and her work. Jones earned her B.A. from Wellesley College, and her M.A. in Musicology from Columbia University. She has received numerous honorary degrees as well as the Wellesley Alumni Achievement Award in 1994. She was the Association of Black Foundation Executives’ honoree in 1994 and received the Council on Foundations’ Distinguished Grantmaker Award in 2001.
Jones’ current civic involvement includes serving as a director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Civic League, and Public Radio International. She is a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum, chair of the Kettering Foundation board, and vice chair of Northfield Mount Hermon School. She previously served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Public Charities of the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General and as chair of the Visiting Committee to the Memorial Church, Harvard University, from 1990-2000.
The Henry A. Rosso Medal presentation ceremony will be held in conjunction with the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University’s 18 th annual symposium, Women and Philanthropy: Gaining Momentum. The symposium is Thursday, August 25 and Friday, August 26 at the University Place Conference Center and Hotel on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), where the Center is headquartered.
Media are invited to cover the Rosso Medal event and the Women and Philanthropy symposium; please contact Adriene Davis at 317-278-8972.
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