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Over the past few weeks, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University has responded to numerous media requests for insight, direction, and hard data during the recent economic instability. Our broad research base has proved helpful at these times of fiscal uncertainty. A recent highlight from Giving USA takes a look at recession years from the last four decades. We notice variation in the market effects on giving in different subsectors; some are hit harder than others. Although markets may drop more, on the average giving only decreases by one percent in these years. The best indicator of this year’s effect won’t come until year end, but the current volatility will undoubtedly take its toll. The Center has been able to shed some light on the situation and share meaningful information with the public through such news outlets as WISH TV 8, TIME, USA Today, The New York Times, Nature, Indiana Business Journal, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and many more.

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The study of philanthropy continues to gain global interest. At the Center on Philanthropy our international relationships are broadening and deepening, positioning us for more cross-cultural collaborations and illuminating the importance of philanthropy around the world. Here is an update of our most recent activities.

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It has been eleven years and one month since I became Executive Director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. It has been an extraordinary time of growth and development for the Center, the nonprofit sector, and the fields of Philanthropic Studies and nonprofit management. Philanthropy itself has become larger and more complex, growing from $143 billion in 1997 to $306 billion in 2007 according to the latest figures from Giving USA 2008. And the Center on Philanthropy in its various research, academic, training and outreach programs has provided leadership in understanding and preparation for this new world of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations.

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I planned to use this summer letter to our Board of Visitors to update you on the Center’s activities during the months of June and July. At that time I had no idea that important changes were in the works. By now you have learned that I accepted the position of President of the Indiana University Foundation, to be effective September 1, and that Patrick Rooney, the Center’s Director of Research, will become its Interim Executive Director at the same time. These changes happened quickly during the last few weeks. I have spoken to many of you by phone and others via email about what this means for the future of the Center on Philanthropy.

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In this month's letter I want to give you a brief update on some of the Center's international activities and plans. As you know, we identified International Development as a separate section of the 2008-2013 Strategic Plan (attached) with a goal of being recognized as the world’s leading center for Philanthropic Studies. Under the leadership of Bill Plater as the Director of International Community Development, we are developing strategic international partnerships with universities abroad, collaborating with other centers in the U.S. to deliver programs and disseminate research internationally, seeking funds from international foundations to support student study, library materials, and a joint research program in collaboration with an international institution. We just received a grant from the International Development Fund at IUPUI to support travel.

The Board of Visitors met last month to discuss the strategic plan for 2008-2013 and the Center's vision for the future. Our new strategic plan has been shaped by the Philanthropic Studies Faculty and Center staff, the various advisory committees related to our work, and the Center's Board of Visitors. It will now be discussed and approved by the Center on Philanthropy Executive Committee in May. This plan specifically identifies what the Center will have to focus on in the next five years to achieve its vision in 2018.

We believe that research is the foundation for all we do. The Center and the associated Philanthropic Studies Faculty are at work constantly to develop new knowledge for the development of the field and to help inform practice and policy. During the last month there were several activities that illustrate this commitment.

At the end of the year we were reminded of the risk involved in some of our international work. The protests and disturbances in Kenya impacted directly on the work we have started with Moi University in Eldoret.

The semester has ended, but the past month has been full of activities on all fronts. I begin this letter by featuring the Center’s relationship with the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). ARNOVA has become a major force in building the field of nonprofit and philanthropic studies. The organization has grown from 388 members in 1995 to more than 1,100 members today, and has greatly expanded in international participation. The organization is located near the Center in Indianapolis and we are pleased to have a close relationship. The Executive Director of ARNOVA, Thom Jeavons, is an adjunct member of the Philanthropic Studies Faculty. ARNOVA’s major journal, the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, is edited by two Philanthropic Studies Faculty members, Wolfgang Bielefeld, Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs and Dwight Burlingame, Associate Executive Director of the Center.

I thought I would use this month’s newsletter to report on activities related to our 20th Anniversary events on November 4th, 5th, and 6th.

We held our signature event November 4th and 5th in Indianapolis. These two full days of events included presentations by Jacqueline Copeland-Carson, founding partner of Copeland Carson & Associates, and Jim Morris, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme; and a lecture and panel discussion by Diana Aviv, President and CEO of INDEPENDENT SECTOR, and responses by the Center’s five endowed chair holders. Indiana University awarded honorary degrees to three national and international philanthropy leaders: Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Emmett Carson, CEO and President of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; and Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, Chairperson of the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), located in Bangkok, Thailand.

We are pleased to announce that Joy Persall, executive director of Native Americans in Philanthropy, has recently joined the Center’s Board of Visitors. She holds a B.A. in Multicultural Nonprofit Administration and was previously the Associate Director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice. She has completed an Emerging Philanthropic Leaders Fellowship from the national Council on Foundations, served on the board of Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action and the Funding Exchange. She currently serves on the Board of The National Network of Grantmakers, is chair of grantmaking for Changemakers, and serves on the Headwaters Foundation for Justice Fund of the Sacred Circle community grantmaking committee.

As we begin our fiscal year, we are busy putting the final touches on the annual report for 2006-07. We are using this opportunity to more deliberately communicate with both our constituents and those who are not familiar with the Center to create a better understanding of the importance of our work. We have taken a new approach with the annual report – it tells the story of the Center by telling the stories of real people who are benefiting from our work. In essence, it puts a human face on the work we do – it’s one thing to know that the Center "strengthens nonprofits." It's another thing to see a photo and hear a story about Indian children or Kenyan students who will have a chance at a better life and at improving their communities because the Center exists. Here is the web link to the annual report so you can take a look at it yourself. I look forward to receiving your comments.

We just hosted our fourth McCormick Tribune Foundation Philanthropy Summit, entitled "Expecting Too Much? Promising Too Much? Assessing Accountability for Grantmakers and Recipients." The summit brought together 51 leaders from nonprofit organizations, foundations, governmental organizations, and corporations to candidly discuss challenges and strategies for ensuring that assessments are having positive results for grantmakers, donors, and the nonprofit organizations they support. Bill Plater, former Executive Vice Chancellor of IUPUI and now associated with the Center on Philanthropy, organized this year's event. We opened Monday evening with a discussion of accountability to the government by Ronald Schultz, Senior Technical Advisor for the IRS who is in charge of the Form 990 revisions. The group discussion ranged from the importance of assessment to difficulties created by measures that do not actually reflect success.

Seven years ago, the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy (now the Giving USA Foundation) contracted with the Center to research and write Giving USA. The edition released in June incorporates estimates made using techniques the Center developed, along with summaries of key events in 2006 that marked charitable giving in the year. These include Warren Buffett's remarkable gift and other notable contributions. This year's edition also contains revised and updated estimates for types of recipients based on the IRS Forms 990 for 1989 through 2004.

I just returned from participating in the women’s philanthropy conference cosponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Center’s Women’s Philanthropy Institute (WPI). From June 18-20, more than 150 enthusiastic conferees engaged in conversation in Boston about the best practices in women’s philanthropy. The conference was opened by Jill Ker Conway, former president of Smith College. Laura Rockefeller Chasin discussed the challenges and opportunities of both earned and inherited wealth. And Andrea Learned, coauthor of Don’t Think Pink, focused on marketing to women. Ellen Remmer, a member of the Center’s Board of Visitors, hosted a reception at her home outside Boston. Cheryl Altinkemer, Deb Engle, and WPI co-founders Sondra Shaw Hardy and Martha Taylor, all members of the WPI Advisory Board, presented and led discussions at the conference. Una Osili, a member of our Philanthropic Studies faculty and associate professor of Economics at IUPUI, discussed the differences in women’s philanthropy in diverse communities. We are hopeful that the Center and WPI can work with CASE to make this an annual event.

We finished commencement ceremonies last week. Sixty students in the Master's degree programs completed graduation requirements - 23 in the MA, 8 in the MPA-Indianapolis, 25 in the MPA-Bloomington, and 4 in the MA-MPA dual programs. We hosted our annual graduation dinner in Indianapolis and a luncheon in Bloomington to recognize their achievements. We are grateful to the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI and IU Bloomington for the partnership that makes these graduate programs possible. And we are extremely proud of the outstanding individuals who have come through these programs.

I have just returned from teaching in our exchange program with the University of Bologna. We can be proud of what the Center has accomplished in partnership with Professor Giuliana Gemelli and her colleagues who have organized the Master's in International Studies in Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship. It was an exciting week for me and a wonderful opportunity to meet with students from around the world who are all passionate about the nonprofit sector. For this third cohort, Dwight Burlingame taught history of philanthropy and comparative aspects of philanthropy, Kevin Robbins taught legal aspects of philanthropy, David Smith taught ethics and philanthropy and professors Steinberg and Gunderman provided guest lectures.

After an extensive search, the Indiana University Trustees announced this month that Michael McRobbie will become the new president of Indiana University, effective July 1, 2007. He has served as IU’s interim provost since January 2006. He was vice president for research and graduate programs, beginning in 2003, and served as the vice president for information technology and chief information officer upon his arrival in 1997. President-elect McRobbie is very aware of the Center on Philanthropy and its national and international impact. He views the Center as one of the crown jewels of Indiana University. We are fortunate to have a champion and supporter as our next president. President-elect McRobbie will join us in November for our 20th anniversary events.

Our 20th anniversary celebration is officially underway. The Trustees of Indiana University passed a resolution on February 2 commemorating the 20 years of service of the Center on Philanthropy beginning with its establishment by the Trustees of Indiana University on January 31, 1987

As I write to you, the Spring semester is well underway. The students have returned to classes, our faculty and students have had an opportunity to interact with significant visitors, several of our program advisory boards have met, and major public service work is underway.

As we come to the close of the calendar year, it is important to reflect on the accomplishments we have had in 2006 and to thank the many partners, donors, supporters, students, faculty, staff, and volunteers who have contributed to our success.

Fall is always a busy time on our calendars and this year is no exception. But in this October letter I want to tell you about the extraordinary gift from Bob Hartsook and update you on some of our special projects: the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, the Third Millennium Philanthropy and Leadership Initiative, and our Kellogg partnership program with Arizona State University and Grand Valley State University which we have named AIM.

I thought I would use the September letter to report to you on some of the international activities in which the Center has been engaged. They include faculty research programs in other countries; the delivery of The Fund Raising School (TFRS) courses and seminars internationally; formal partnerships with foreign universities, organizations and associations; and the enrollment of international students in our graduate programs and TFRS.

Let me begin with the last first. Our 19th annual symposium was a huge success. For the first time in the history of the symposium, the opening speaker on Thursday morning and the closing speaker on Friday both received standing ovations. Ambassador Stephen Lewis, Special Envoy to the United Nations for HIV/AIDS in Africa, opened the symposium at the first plenary session. He spoke of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and the failure of the G-8 nations to fulfill their financial commitments, resulting in the need for private philanthropy to play a greater role to meet the critical needs in the region. Dr. John Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, closed the session on Friday at noon with comments on what it takes to conquer cancer in the 21st century. In addition, we raised $82,050 from 16 organizations, which included grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. This year was the largest amount we have ever received in support of our annual symposium.

When the story broke on Sunday, June 25, that Warren Buffett had pledged $30 billion of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, journalists from around the world called on us to provide meaningful context and immediate analysis. Over the next few days, the Center responded to more than 60 media inquiries and our staff gave more than 35 interviews.

We had an opportunity to meet with the IU Foundation Board's International Committee. The Committee has adopted the Center on Philanthropy as one of its four foci areas. We discussed a number of things including upcoming presentations in Bangkok, Kenya, Germany, and Japan, as well as the work of Jen Shang, one of our Ph.D. students originally from China who transferred an NPR grant here from the Wharton School. (By the way, she is studying the impact on fundraising outcomes of changing messages in NPR solicitation campaigns in different parts of the country.)