What Qualities Are Most Important for a Foundation President?

Albert Ruesga’s provocative White Courtesy Telephone blog is back in business after a lengthy hiatus.

Mr. Ruesga, vice president at the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, in Washington, marks his return to writing by writing about questions he has been thinking about now that the Ford Foundation, the nation’s second-largest foundation, has posted advertisements to recruit its new president.

Susan V. Berresford, the current president, announced in September that she would retire in 2008.

Whoever takes the position wields quite a bit of power — namely overseeing a foundation that hands out roughly $600-million annually.

“Imagine that it fell to you, dear reader, to invest $600-million each year in charitable work. How would you do it?” Mr. Ruesga asks. “I can’t imagine anybody doing this successfully without first attempting to answer the Four Fundamental Questions of Philanthropy.”

Here are Mr. Ruesga’s four questions:

In asking those questions, however, Mr. Ruesga asks several others.

Are these the appropriate questions? Are there others that foundation leaders should ask themselves?

We’d love to hear what you think. Discuss your thoughts on this topic by clicking on the comment link just below this posting.