July 17, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Philanthropy continues to feel the effects of the economic recession as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation said it is offering buyouts to 40 percent of its staff members, while the Ford Foundation announced that almost 11 percent of its employees have left the grant maker after accepting a voluntary severance package.
Sixty-eight of Kellogg’s 167 workers have been offered a severance deal, said Joanne K. Krell, the organization’s vice president of communications. While she said the move was “largely driven by economics,” the foundation is also revamping its grant-making programs, which requires some personnel changes.
(Read the Chronicle’s article about Kellogg’s new approach, which was developed before the recession.)
Employees have until mid-September to make their decision. Three senior executives at the fund — Rick Foster, vice president of programs; Greg Lyman, a senior vice president; and Gail McClure, vice president for international programs — have already accepted the buyout.
In June, Kellogg, in Battle Creek, Mich., announced that it laid off 13 staff members at an office it closed in South Africa.
With its assets suffering a 22-percent decline last year, Ms. Krell, said, “We want to protect them for the long term.”
Ford Foundation Changes
The Ford Foundation, in New York, is facing a similar drop in its endowment, and 60 of its 550 staff members decided to take the severance package. In addition to its buyouts, which were announced in the spring the grant maker eliminated 30 positions by closing offices in Vietnam and Russia.
Both foundations stressed that the staff reductions and other budget cuts would help the organizations maintain their giving.
“We moved $40-million from internal costs to grant making,” said Luis A. Ubiñas, Ford’s president. “We sacrificed in order to keep our core program budget as strong as possible.”
He said that the foundation does not anticipate further reductions in staff members, barring any significant drops in its assets, and described the buyout process as one of the toughest periods in his professional life. “It was like losing my aunts and uncles as co-workers.”
To hear Mr. Ubiñas talk about the cuts, please click on the audio player below.
