Business as usual in an unusual world.  The impact of the most recent economic downturn will continue to increase needs and diminish resources to address those needs for some time.  We’ll continue to maintain consistency of our core business (promoting community philanthropy and strategic grantmaking) while we keep our eyes open for opportunities and challenges. 

Putting some real effort behind collaboration.  We’re just now beginning to see earnest interest in meaningful collaboration in our public sector. I believe we will see more in the coming months and years, particularly if we can orchestrate some early successes.  Collaboration may be costly to plan and implement but is can save tremendous tax dollars if done well.  If we’re to build initiatives worthy of public support and then help build public sanction for “doing things different”, community guidance, engagement and monitoring is critical.  Foundations will have to be part of the process.

I’m hopeful our work with the public sector will be matched by opportunities in the nonprofit sector as well, specifically in education, healthcare and the capacity and leadership of our nonprofit organizations.

Reinventing community leadership.  We aren’t in Kansas anymore.  For years we’ve mouthed the words and said things are changing, but our community, region and nation are deep into that change.  Many of our old rules have been replaced by new rules and in some cases rules haven’t even been defined.  Our exploration of our role in community leadership couldn’t have been better timed, as I believe we are in a community leadership crisis or opportunity and the community foundation is in a pivotal position to help our community and region help decide how we will make decisions and solve problems.

 We Connect People Who Care with Causes That Matter

• integrity is our greatest asset and value trust earned with fiscal responsibility, ethical stewardship and transparency
• access to the CFLC should be fair, inclusive and equitable
• in purposeful and collaborative community leadership
• the perpetuity of our efforts are linked to sustainable practices
• strategy, creativity, and adaptability are keys to thriving in a constantly changing world

Annual audits are required by National Standards for US Community Foundations for all but the smallest of foundations.  Audits are included in virtually every set of nonprofit standards and best practices I’ve seen.  As a public charity, I believe we have a responsibility to validate the trust we as of our donors, grantees and community.  Transparency is critical, and like any good nonprofit, we do our best to display our practices and decisions for our stakeholders.  But there is nothing quite like a clean audit as a demonstration of good accounting and illuminate financial sustainability.

Yea I am kind of looking forward to our annual checkup.  Of course it makes it a lot easier being part of a well oiled machine like the Community Foundation and having such a strong and capable staff.

We’ve all seen the consequences of rushing something, whether it’s having to scrape dried paint off a window because we didn’t want to take the time to tape, eating an unappetizing meal because instructions were ignored, or the implications of hastily drafted legislation like the nonprofit provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Sometimes we just have to take things at their natural pace.

I’ve often remarked that the most important feature of a community foundation (and foundations in general) is their ability to be patient and persistent. Certain things take time and we’re seeing a great example with the Fund for our Economic Future. The pace of activities within the Fund is anything but slow, but it’s going to take a long time to change a culture as engrained as ours in NE Ohio. We have to remember the same with our grantees. Sometimes we expect impact too quickly, forgetting that a decision to fund doesn’t automatically result in 100% productivity the moment they get our check.

I’d love to be in my new office tomorrow, but that can’t be rushed. I’ll have to be satisfied with progress and milestones like our new signage that should be done by the end of May. And whe we’re settled, I’m confident that we’ll be glad that we did things right.

Long ago every snail mail we received was personal, intentional and usually relevant.  Then came the junk and lots of it.  Phone calls were the preferred vehicle until those pesky dinner-time surveys and offers for credit cards.  And now email is currently on the chopping block for many (particularly the younger crowd) as SPAM explodes and senders find ways around Junk Filters.  I have no doubt as advertising expertise cracks new barriors, IM’ing, Facebook messaging and Texting will be replaced my a newer and kinder way of connecting with those we want to connect with.  

So how can the Community Foundation of 2010 be transparent and effectively communicate with our many stakeholders?  Why don’t you call me or tweet me with the answer.

I totally disagree with one of the word recommended for banishment to Funk & Wagnalls nether regions – transparency.   I can understand the skepticism concerning how this buzzword has been abused time and time again.  As one Lake Superior nominator described “In the lexicon of the political arena, this word is supposed to mean obvious or easily understood. In reality, political transparency is more invisible than obvious!“  But…

Transparency is such as important core value of the Community Foundation of Lorain County that banishing this word would also seem to require the retirement of words like integrity, accountability, responsibility and trust.  As a public charity, I can’t imagine our community and stakeholders not having full view of what we do on their behalf.

The concept of transparency as a key component of accountability has been around for a long time but the popularity of the word is relative recent, say within the past five years or so within the community foundation field.  Some of you might recall that transparency was the theme of our 2000 Annual Report and the idea was gleaned from our work with international community foundations through the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network.  

Nonprofit NPO (or Nongovernmental NGO) sector is fledgling or nonexistent in many European countries, particularly those transitioning from decades of communism, and our colleagues in those regions are having to begin with the basic constructs of this “third sector” that frankly we take for granted.  They are having to build trust for civic engagement in an environment where secrecy, centralized power, and civic dis-empowerment ruled.  As you might well imagine, transparency is a key ingredient for building a trusted NGO sector and, in fact, civil society.

I don’t think it is any different here in the States.  While we have a long standing history of civic society chronicled in the early 1800′s by de Tocqueville, it would serve us will to remember why the nonprofit sector is important and how trust in the sector is earned.

I’ll try hard not to use words like toxic assets, teachable moment, friending, or shovel-ready (no guarantees on app), but forgive me if I buck the trend, as I intend to keep using the term transparency for a long time to come.

I resolve in 2010 to:

• Listen more than I talk.  I already know what is coming out of my mouth, but I can really learn from the wisdom of people around me.
• If I don’t have anything to say…  My mom was pretty wise.
• Learn to say ”NO” when I need to.  I usually do a pretty good job of not overextending myself, but I have to admit that I pushed it in 2009.  (and closely linked)
• Remember that often being a good worker-bee is the best way to have an impact.  One doesn’t always have to be front and center.
• Accept help from others when offered.  People are generous but a gift needs to be received to be complete.
• Certainly be responsible but don’t take myself too seriously.

And yes, my complete list includes the perfunctory and perpetual entries;  eating right, avoiding junk food and exercise.  I’m also pretty sure my wife Karen would endorse several of the above items to impact our family life particularly the one about listening more.

So here we go 2010!

The first decade of the 21st century also represents 90% of my tenure with the Community Foundation of Lorain County (I started in 1998) and looking at the last 10 years through the lens of the Community Foundation paints a very different picture.  Part of that picture is financial, and people typical ask first about our assets, which have weathered the two recessions and are once again where we began in 2000 (~$75M).  This is remarkable when you consider the ~$35M we’ve invested back into our community through grants and scholarships during that same period.  The number of our endowed funds has doubled since 2000 (to 500) and while the number of donors is only slightly larger, the amount of giving has grown from ~$2.8M per year to almost $5M per year. 

As I look back on the many grants we’ve awarded and the fruits of our investment, I have a very different perception of the past ten years.  When I add the accomplishments of our partner organizations; Lorain County Community College, Oberlin College, United Way, Stocker Foundation, Nord Family Foundation, Nordson Corporation Foundation, our community is much better situated for the future than it was in 2000.  Our efforts to create a regional strategy for economic transformation through the Fund for Our Economic Future is paying off with local impact and national attention. 

I’ll be very relieved to have the decade described in Time magazine end, but I have nothing but wonder and awe for the decade to come as seen through the lens of the Community Foundation.