Departures of Key Staff Members Raise Questions at Markle Foundation

Departures of several top-ranking staff members at the John and Mary R. Markle Foundation are raising questions about its ability to meet its goal of giving $100-million to Internet and other technology-related projects by July 2004.

Two of the three top officials who oversaw Markle’s grant programs have left. One of Markle’s four main grant programs has been without a leader since last summer. A grants administrator has also left, and a full-time consultant who oversaw a major foundation program has reduced his status from full time to part time.

Several former staff members, as well as some past and current grant recipients, charge that Markle has been devoting so much time to seeking press attention for itself that it has failed to pay adequate attention to reading proposals, communicating with applicants, and awarding funds.

Critics say grants likely to generate positive press have been approved hastily before they are fully thought through, while other proposals have been delayed indefinitely, with applicants left wondering what was happening.

Zoë Baird, who took over as head of the foundation in early 1998, said such criticisms were unfounded.

“We have been moving forward with great energy,” she said in an interview last week. She added that it “would be very inappropriate here to perceive this as anything other than the usual kind of transition in staffing.”

Responding to criticism that the foundation has sought to generate headlines, Ms. Baird said, “We do believe that part of what we have to contribute to the public interest is our intellectual capital as well as our financial capital, and that requires us to speak publicly about our view of the world.”

Markle announced in July 1999 that it had significantly overhauled its grant-making programs to focus on ways to protect the public interest as the communications landscape — including the Internet, cable television, and telephone industries — undergoes a critical period of change.

“This is an urgent moment that will only come once,” she reiterated last week.

To be able to influence communications policy at a critical juncture, Markle said it expected to give $100-million by 2002 to 2004 — a big commitment for a foundation with $205-million in assets.

Ms. Baird said that the foundation was “on target” to meet its goal and that it expected to make large appropriations over the next two years.

During the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, the foundation has made commitments to give $16.1-million in grants. It will distribute $13-million by the end of its current year, nearly 7 percent of its assets.

Even so, observers say it will still be challenging for the foundation to meet its goal of giving away $100-million within the next three to five years.

If the foundation is to pay out the rest of the $100-million within a three-year period, it will need to give $43.5-million a year over the next two years. If it plans to do it within five years, it will need to give away approximately $21.8-million a year for the next four years.

Ms. Baird said that all that money would be authorized by 2004, but the actual payment of some grants might extend until ”a short period’’ after that.

The two top staff members who left were Cathy Clark, who oversaw the foundation’s Interactive Media for Children Program, and Andrew Blau, who left a job at the Benton Foundation two years ago to help Markle make grants on communications policy.

Ms. Clark has become a managing director of the Flatiron Future Fund and the Flatiron Foundation, and Mr. Blau has not announced what he plans to do next.

Last week the foundation announced that it had hired Alice Cahn, president of the television, film, and video group at the Children’s Television Workshop, to lead the program formerly overseen by Ms. Clark. Markle is interviewing finalists for the directorship of another grant-making program, the Policy for Networked Society, which had been overseen by Mr. Blau and Andrew Shapiro, a lawyer and author. Mr. Shapiro is still advising the foundation on the program but has reduced his hours so that he can start a new Internet venture, Kind.com.

The foundation’s health grant-making program has not had a director since it was established last summer, but Ms. Baird said the post should be filled soon.

A memo prepared by foundation officials noted that of the 25 permanent employees Ms. Baird has hired since she took office, only three have departed, two of whom were administrative assistants. Nine of the 11 employees who were hired by her predecessor, Lloyd Morrissett, and who initially remained after his departure, have also left.

The memo said many of the departing staff members had left to attend graduate school, for family-related reasons, or to pursue business careers. The memo was prepared after an article in the New York Post last month erroneously charged that Markle had lost 11 of 12 staffers and contended the fund was in trouble.

Some Markle grantees say they don’t think such personnel issues have been a major problem for the foundation’s attempt to meet its goals. They think critics have been too quick to judge Ms. Baird.

Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which received $85,000 for an effort to encourage public and non-profit involvement in Internet governance, said the foundation is making an important contribution.

“One of the most exciting things that has happened in the last couple of years has been Zoë Baird becoming the head of the Markle Foundation,” he said. Her leadership has prompted other philanthropic leaders to pay more attention to Internet issues, he said.

Others say it is not clear that Markle can contribute to Internet policy without a more stable staff. One former employee was surprised that trustees had not asked about the turnover. “Boards need to look at staff turnover,” said the former employee. “If you have a group of staff members who have left, call them.”

Ms. Baird said she was eager to hear from her critics. “Let them send me great ideas for what we should do,” she said.