2006 Highlights


Strategic Planning

Building on the groundwork laid in 2005, DVG completed its strategic planning effort in 2006. Between January and March, subcommittees of the Strategic Planning Committee participated in working sessions to address the specific areas of plan, including: programs and services, membership, staffing and governance, communications and finance. In March 2006, we held two Town Hall Meetings to solicit additional member feedback.  The DVG board approved the new 2006-2009 strategic plan, titled “Strengthening Philanthropy, Strengthening Communities”, in July 2006 and immediately began its implementation. These activities included:

A new communications planning initiative chaired by Frances Sheehan of the Brandywine Health Foundation, to undertake high-priority effort to assess all of our communications activities.

The development and design of a research project that will identify the critical regional and/or statewide data that will tell the story of philanthropy in our region. 

The establishment of several new and reconfigured committees to bolster DVG’s accountability and carry out the work of the strategic plan. These committees include: Program, chaired by Cathy Weiss of the Claneil Foundation; Membership, chaired by Jeff Gordon of PECO, an Exelon Company; and Governance (formerly Nominating), chaired by Fernando Chang-Muy of the Allen Hilles Fund.

Focus on targeted services, including the roll-out in November of Family Philanthropy Online, a new Web-based service that offers our family foundation members free access to a wealth of resources and tools specific family philanthropy.

 

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Public Policy

Once again, 2006 was an active year for policy discussions and legislation affecting the charitable sector. Building on discussions in Congress that began in 2003, momentum continued to grow around legislative reforms to the charitable sector, which culminated in the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 in August.  DVG kept its members informed of the legislative activity as it progressed, and following passage of the PPA, provided important information on how the new laws affect philanthropy.

Other activities relative to public policy included:

On Wednesday, March 15, 2006 representatives from DVG joined colleagues from around the country for Foundations on the Hill 2006.  This annual advocacy day is a chance for the national grantmaking community to meet with members of Congress and their staff to educate them on the important role philanthropy plays in improving communities across the country and around the world.  A delegation of nine DVG members and staff met with Pennsylvania Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter, as well as the Congressional offices of Chaka Fattah, Allyson Schwartz and Curt Weldon.

Work by the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector continued in 2006, with a release in May of a supplement to the Panel’s Final Report.  DVG encouraged its members to provide input to the process that resulted in a proposed set of recommendations to further strengthen the transparency, governance, and accountability of the nonprofit sector.

 

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Governance & Accountability

Over the past several years, DVG has actively supported and participated in efforts both nationally and regionally to better define standards of accountability for philanthropy.  Since developing and adopting our own Statement of Values, Guiding Principles and Best Practices for DVG Members in 2004, we have continued to promote these principles and practices throughout our programming and communications.

As part of an ongoing Effectiveness and Accountability initiative being implemented by the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, DVG was selected as one of three national test sites for a *new* accountability self-assessment tool for foundations. This tool was being designed to help foundations, both staffed and unstaffed, assess their own compliance and accountability practices on three levels: (1) Legal Compliance; (2) Good Practices for Accountability; and (3) Practices of Excellence for Accountability. 

DVG members who participate in the testing process were:  Beth Feldman Brandt, Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation; Sandra Capell, Subaru of America Foundation; Helen Cunningham, Samuel S. Fels Fund; Bruce Karmazin, Lumpkin Family Foundation; Eden Kratchman, ACE INA Foundation; Larry Mangan, Connelly Foundation; Cathy Weiss, Claneil Foundation.

Following a testing phase in the spring, the Forum released the final version of the self-assessment tool in fall of 2006.

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