Business Meeting Minutes
IUPUI - Philanthropy Collections
Indianapolis, Indiana
January 28, 2002
Chair Suzanne Cole (Pew Charitable Trusts) called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Introductions were made in person and by phone. Attendees:
Chris Bailey, Rockefeller Foundation
Glen Birdsall, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Eve Brown, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Brenda Burk, Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis
Michele Butler, David & Lucile Packard Foundation
John Chalmers, The Chicago Community Trust
Josephine Chee, The California Endowment
Sarah Collins, The Foundation Center
Jamie Coniglio, Council on Foundations
Aina Geske, Ford Foundation
Liz Green, David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Hinda Greenberg, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Beth Hansen, The Lilly Endowment
Rebecca Koman, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Gail Schaub, Council on Michigan Foundations
Ron Sexton, Carnegie Corporation of New York
Potential Members and Guests Attending:
Joyce Beard, Lumina Foundation for Education
Barbara Denemark Long, St. Louis Community Foundation
Maggie O'Brien, Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation
Ned Schaub, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation
Nan Schichtel, Grand Valley State University Libraries
Chris Wuest, KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Members and potential members attending business meeting by phone:
Margaret Burzynski-Bays, Philanthropy Archives, Western Reserve Historical Society
Suzanne Cole, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Barbara Kemmis, Donors Forum of Chicago
Susan Fingerman, The Enterprise Foundation
Vicki Dawson, Ford Foundation
Giordana Mecagni, Associated Grant Makers
Item: New Members
Suzanne introduced and/or described the newest candidates for membership. She reminded the group that membership in the Consortium is organizational, not individual. The following institutions were proposed for membership:
Associated Grant Makers
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Daniels Fund
KnowledgeWorks Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education
Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation
Philanthropy Australia
Schwab Foundation
St. Louis Community Foundation
Philanthropic Archives - Western Reserve Historical Society
A staff member and/or the Chair described each organization. Beth Hansen (Lilly Endowment) moved that these organizations become members; Jane Levy (Marin Community Foundation) seconded. The motion carried with the exception of Daniels Fund: it was not represented at the meeting. It will be considered for membership at another meeting.
ITEM: Election of Temporary Secretary
Suzanne then explained the basic organizational structure of the Consortium. The leadership of the group is based on three positions: Chair, Secretary/Chair-Elect, and Immediate Past Chair. Each position is held for two years. The Secretary/Chair-elect is responsible for business meeting minutes; membership liaison (including current addresses), as well as collecting and maintaining the records of the organization. The Chair conducts all business meetings and provides leadership for the organization. Together with the Immediate Past Chair, the Chair and Secretary/Chair-elect form the Program Planning Group for CFL.
Suzanne explained the need for a short-term Secretary to complete the open term as Secretary/Chair-elect until the next elections are held. (Jennifer Little (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) moved and is no longer in a philanthropic organization). Suzanne then nominated Michele Butler (Packard) to serve as Interim Secretary/Chair-elect. Chris Bailey (Rockefeller) seconded the motion. Michele was elected unanimously.
ITEM: Core Collection Project
The CFL Core Collection in Philanthropy project was discussed next. This project is envisioned as a guide for new foundation libraries and/or foundations needing to know key philanthropy resources and tools. The process is that one person take one of the subject sections on the list; review the resources listed in the section; make recommendations for any deletions/additions to the section; write a basic description of the title/entry; write a brief evaluative annotation for each title/entry including comments on usefulness, and include types of questions that can be answered from the annotated source. Suzanne reiterated the need for some more volunteers to work on specific sections of the list that had not been selected yet. The goal is to have the first phase of the list completed by the next meeting at the COF Annual Conference in Chicago.
Some discussion ensued about the section "have no clue where to put these". Gail Powers-Schaub (Council of Michigan Foundations) indicated that this section really reflected type of foundation rather than subject area. Members agreed, and Gail volunteered to compile sources by "types of foundation." Sarah Collins (Foundation Center)indicated that people can use the annotations/abstracts in LNPS to the extent they find them useful. Volunteers and subject areas for this project are:
History of Philanthropy:Sarah Collins (Foundation Center)
Diversity: Jane Levy (Marin Community)
Reference: Suzanne Pichler (Mellon)
Evaluation: Hinda Greenberg (Robert Wood Johnson)
Management/Governance: Susan Fingerman (Enterprise)
Legal/Financial: AVAILABLE
Communications/Public Relations: Eve Brown (Mott)
International Issues: Barbara Long (St. Louis Community)
Grantmaking: AVAILABLE
Information Management: Margaret Burzynski-Bays (Philanthropic Archives - Western Reserve Historical Society)
Periodicals: AVAILABLE
Web Sites: AVAILABLE
Types of Foundations: Gail Powers-Schaub (Council of Michigan Foundations)
It was agreed that the sections would be completed by April. Joyce Beard (Lumina) volunteered to proofread and edit the document.
ITEM: COF Annual Conference Activities
Suzanne then highlighted the various scheduled events for CFL at the upcoming COF Annual Conference in Chicago, April 28 - May 1, 2002:
Sunday, 4/28/02: Coding Grants - Ron Sexton (Carnegie) invited panelist
Sunday, 4/28/02: CFL Business Meeting
Sunday, 4/28/02: CFL Reception
Monday, 4/29/02: Web Resources in Philanthropy - Chris Richardson (Annie Casey)
Monday, 4/29/02 Session on Information Management - Jamie Coniglio (COF), Liz Green (Packard), Brenda Burk (IUPUI), Gail Powers-Schaub (Council of Michigan Foundations) and Chris Bailey (Rockefeller)
Tuesday, 4/30/02 Session on Information Audit - Susan Fingerman (Enterprise), Michele Butler (Packard), Tammy Bradley (Kansas Health), and Roundtable Leaders.
ITEM: Library Updates
The group then went around the room for the customary "Library Update" portion of the meeting.
Packard: New topic areas, training initiatives and trying to capture and label grant "end products". Michele Butler asked the group for advice/input. A lively discussion followed, with many suggestions from members on what to call these items and how to handle them.
California Endowment: Working on archives, the library web page, Intranet and online catalog.
MacArthur: Acquired and installed InMagic software. Working on library and archives.
Ford Foundation: Setting up a Virtual Resource Center to electronically store and access materials. Physically re-organizing the library space by reducing print and increasing electronic materials. Expanding staff to include an electronic resources librarian and an administrative assistant.
Council of Michigan Foundations: Working on transfer of collections to Grand Valley State University; working on archival projects including preservation of a-v materials.
Moore Foundation: Starting to put things together. Still has lots of questions. Glad to be with the group and know there are folks out there to help as they get started.
St. Louis Community Fdn: Putting things aright. Barbara Long also mentioned the WINGS-CF project as well as her work on a taxonomy for community foundations.
Carnegie: Working on Intranet; Virtual Reference Desk.
IUPUI: Obtained an intern to use software to capture foundation web sites, an on-going project.
Chicago Community Trust: Preparing to physically move the library to larger space. Working on coding project.
Rockefeller: Launched OPAC. Expanding information services to field offices around the world. Transforming the library from passive to active model. Chris Bailey also inquired if the group would be interested in pursuing the possible linking of our online catalogs. The group agreed this would be worth looking into; Chris will start that process. He also mentioned interest in a survey of best practices for foundation libraries; Suzanne Cole referred him to Hollister Knowlton at the William Penn Foundation who has started work on this.
Mott: Working on weeding, coding and taxonomy. Proactively marketing library services to staff. Projects include a newsletter; clipping library; acquisitions information; updating Intranet.
KnowledgeWorks: Conducted assessment of collection. Conducting needs assessment of staff. Assessing library staffing levels, effective library services, and exploring library automation software.
Lumina: Conducting a needs assessment; choosing automation software; preparing for library move in March.
Schwab: Involved in major knowledge management initiative. Worked on Intranet and Extranet; the library was established in June 2001. Working on needs assessment. Identifying collection gaps. Exploring catalog software and setting up foundation archives.
Marin: Library is becoming the outreach mechanism to communicate with the community. Preparing for a move to new quarters.
Lilly: Things are pretty much on an even keel.
COF: Redesign of COF web site underway. InMagic software installed and in process of designing and deploying online catalog. Observed that group had come a long way since the Philadelphia meeting as far as visibility in the philanthropic world; congrats all around.
Suzanne concluded the meeting by thanking our hosts and wishing everyone safe travels home. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Recorded by:
Jamie W. Coniglio
Council on Foundations
Secretary du jour
