2007 Council on Foundations Videos
At the 2007 Council on Foundations Annual Conference in Seattle, WA, leading foundation CEOs, trustees and staff discussed key issues, trends and opportunities for improving diversity in philanthropy. The video clips below capture highlights from the conference.
« Back to COF Overview- Diversity in Philanthropy and Investment Portfolios
- Robert Friedman
- Trustee, Friedman Family Foundation & Founder/Chair, Corp for Enterprise Development
- “We don’t ask about the social and environmental returns of our investments. And to the extent that it’s part of our mission, we may be doing more harm in our investment portfolio than we’re doing good in the grant portfolio.”
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- Diversity in Philanthropy: Not Limited to Race & Ethnicity
- Robert Ross, MD
- CEO, The California Endowment
- “This is a broader proposition: it’s rural, sexual orientation, gender, political views...”
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- Diversity and the Heart of Philanthropy
- Richard Woo
- CEO, The Russell Family Foundation
- “So the question that we have to ask ourselves is, ‘what do you stand to gain or lose at your foundation as a result of making change?’”
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- Diversity and American Ideals
- Susan Berresford
- CEO, Ford Foundation
- “We care about diversity because it is an expression really connected to the American ideals. …We have to reset our compass to true North. …We live in institutions. And why should these institutions not be striving toward the American ideals that we all share?”
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- Diversity in Philanthropy and Its Value
- Steve Gunderson
- CEO, Council on Foundations
- “Every one of these leaders of our nation is looking at us. They have directly said that they will decide how they feel about us based on how we conduct ourselves on this critically important issue [diversity].”
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- Diversity and Hiring the Best
- Antonia Hernández
- CEO, California Community Foundation
- “Smart people are a dime a dozen. Grounded people with common sense – they’re very rare. If you give me two PhDs that have never seen the streets. That’s not smart to me.”
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- Diversity and What Works
- Victor De Luca
- President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
- “[Diversity] just makes us a better organization. It informs our choices and do our job better. …From a business perspective, it’s the absolute right thing to do. We can’t be effective if we don’t have the tools and the knowledge around the table to do our job well.”
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- The 3 Point Diversity Program
- Henry A.J. Ramos
- Lead Consultant, Diversity in Philanthropy Project
- “…We think that [the Diversity in Philanthropy Project] will bring us together in this discussion in a way that will really help us better comprehend what it is we’re talking about, what it is we’re trying to do, how we might go about doing that and doing it together.”
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