May 21, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
After a stilted relationship with the Bush administration, left-leaning foundations are excited about the opportunity to work with President Obama, writes Lauren Foster in The American Prospect (May 4).
Members of the Obama administration have signaled an interest in teaming up with grant makers, and White House officials have met with foundation leaders to discuss potential partnerships.
But whether such partnerships will mean joint efforts to provide money to a cause, government adoption of social policies supported by the foundation world, or simply sharing ideas remains unclear, the article says.
“Philanthropic organizations are certainly ready to step forward,” Ms. Foster, a freelance reporter, writes. “But how they will actually work with the Obama administration remains to be seen.”
William Dietel, president of the Pierson-Lovelace Foundation, in Los Angeles, called on the Council on Foundations, an association of grant makers in Arlington, Va., that has promoted possible White House partnerships, to suggest specific ways he and his peers can work with the Obama administration.
“It’s all rhetoric: ‘Let’s have a partnership,’” he said, referring to speeches by the council’s chief executive, Steve Gunderson. “Well, come on, these are times when words aren’t what counts, what counts are actions, and what would you specifically propose? We’ll wait till hell freezes over before we hear from him.”
The economic crisis may also affect potential collaboration.
Some argue that the recession will push grant makers and government to work hand-in-hand as unemployment, homelessness, and hunger grow.
But Mr. Dietel and other foundation officials said that it could lead lawmakers to make foundations give more than 5 percent of their assets annually as required by federal law.
The article is available on the magazine’s Web site.
