After a Sudden Loss, a Foundation Looks Ahead With a Veteran Leader

When Lisa E. Goldberg, president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation, in New York, suddenly died from a cerebral aneurysm in January 2007,

the foundation’s trustees knew they had to seek someone special to replace her.

Ms. Goldberg, a 25-year veteran of the philanthropy who had been president since 2003, was integral to the foundation’s successful history, especially its financing of projects to nurture young leaders and encourage use of the Internet for educational activities.

In Julie A. Sandorf, who started as the foundation’s third president last month, the board found its candidate.

Ms. Sandorf, 50, comes to the job with a keen interest in the grant-making programs supported by the foundation, which has $200-million in assets, as well as experience on both sides of the philanthropic aisle, having worked as a consultant to large grant makers and as founder of two charities still thriving in New York.

“We hoped we would find someone who spent a large part of her career actually doing things rather than giving money,” says Martha Minow, the foundation’s board chair and a professor at Harvard Law School. “We found in Julie someone who can partner well with others and enable others to do their work, but also have original and powerful ideas.”

Established in 1956 by Charles Revson, the founder of the Revlon cosmetics company, the foundation distributes between $8-million and $10-million annually to groups that work in urban affairs, education, and biomedical-research policy, as well as to Jewish causes, like supporting the Israeli version of Sesame Street.

While the numbers seem modest compared with amounts given away by other grant makers, the foundation has a history of championing big ideas, like the establishment of the Israel National Science Foundation, which promotes research in that country, and encouraging other grant makers to take part, says Ms. Minow.

Ms. Sandorf has a wide range of interests as well as a track record of making big ideas a reality. The two groups she founded, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, in 1991, and Nextbook, in 2002, continue as vibrant forces in helping homeless people and promoting Jewish culture.

During her tenure, the housing charity raised $85-million to develop 8,500 units for homeless people with mental illnesses or other health problems and gave them help with health care, employment, and other services. Nextbook popularizes Jewish literature and arts by organizing readings and performances around the country and publishing books by respected writers, including David Mamet and Esther Schor.

“I would have made an extremely mediocre scholar,” says Ms. Sandorf, who dropped out of a doctoral program in city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. “But I am actually pretty good at this putting-deals-together stuff.”

Ms. Sandorf partly credits her success in building these groups to mentors, including the late Mitchell (Mike) Sviridoff, a former Ford Foundation official, and Genevieve Brooks, who founded the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes Community Housing Corporation, where Ms. Sandorf learned how to revitalize a burned-out neighborhood one block at a time.

“Mike said, ‘Yes, you can have these big dreams, but you also have to be on earth,’” says Ms. Sandorf. “‘You have to ask yourself every day, ‘Is what you are doing going to actually make a difference in people’s lives?’”

Ms. Sandorf says she will take this down-to-earth approach to the Revson Foundation, an institution she has been familiar with since her days as a grant seeker. (She declined to disclose her salary in her new position.)

In 1986, while working for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, in New York, a group that seeks to rebuild neighborhoods by creating low-cost housing, commercial development, and jobs, she successfully sought a $200,000 grant from the foundation. However, several years later the foundation declined to support the nascent Corporation for Supportive Housing.

Despite the rejection, Ms. Sandorf came away impressed with how the Revson Foundation did business.

“I was treated with respect, my ideas were listened to,” she says. “I was always much happier when someone could be straightforward; then I would move on to the next challenge.”

Her lack of sour grapes was serendipitously rewarded: A year later, Ms. Goldberg invited Ms. Sandorf to revisit the proposal, and the foundation eventually committed a total of $600,000 to the group.

In an interview, Ms. Sandorf discussed her new job and ways to improve relations between foundations and charities:

Why did you take this job?

I have had a longstanding passion and interest in working to create opportunities for people who are living in lower-income communities, or who have been left out of the mainstream. And I have a personal and professional interest in promoting the real treasures of Jewish culture, life, and tradition. The foundation has an avid interest and portfolio in both. It wasn’t a place where I felt I had to go in and blow things up because the corporate culture was not what I was. It was the opposite of that — it’s a place that feels very comfortable to me.

Are there any special challenges of taking over a job where a beloved leader has died?

There are very big shoes to fill — it’s a little daunting. We’ve just created two programs to honor Lisa, a named fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and a grant program for innovative work in technology for current Revson grantees. But the foundation’s board is very much open to new ideas and new approaches and the staff is very excited about moving forward. My job is not to be the caretaker of the legacy.

Plan to start any new programs?

I’m exploring an idea that will combine creating affordable housing and revitalizing public libraries in New York. In our great democratic society, one of our greatest undervalued assets is public libraries and they have not received the investments they have needed. There are few free and open-to-all spaces; public libraries are the last bastion of that.

Are you looking forward to giving away money instead of seeking it?

There are challenges inherent in both. It’s not a piece of cake to give away money well. It requires making hard decisions, being straightforward and honest, and keeping a level head, because these positions can be corrupting. I believe that philanthropies can’t fund everything but at the very least they can make the process less painful for grant seekers.

How could foundations improve their dealings with grantees?

There should be a code of conduct that foundations need to follow when working with grant seekers. It should include simple things like returning phone calls and e-mails, responding to requests in a timely manner.

When you request information, don’t come back every three weeks asking for rewrites when you should have asked for all that information up front. If you don’t think you are going to fund something, turn it down in a timely manner. Time is money; nonprofits have little of both.