LAFF THE LAFF SOCIETY For the men and women engaged in Life After The Ford Foundation

December 2009 / No. 61 Reunion! November 20, 2-6 p.m. At The Ford Foundation 320 East 43rd Street, New York City

THE LAFF SOCIETY’S first all-hands Reunion in six years is now scheduled for Friday, November 20, from 2 to KEY PROGRAM ISSUES 6 p.m. at the Ford Foundation. This reunion, the fifth since LAFF was founded in 1991, will be the first at the Ford Natural Assets (Climate Change) Education and Scholarship Foundation building and the first in which cur- rent Foundation staff members will participate. Moderator: Ray Offenheiser Moderator: Janice Molnar Foundation staff: Peter Riggs Foundation staff: Alison Bernstein The reunion will: Panelists: Steve Sanderson, Panelists: Greg Farrell, ᮣ Strengthen the personal, professional Betsy Capbell, Sharon Alpert Joe Aguerrebere and intellectual bonds among and between past and present Foundation staff members. Sexuality and Reproductive A New Logo for Ford: How We ᮣ Update LAFF members on the Foundation’s Health Got There and What it Means new strategies and lines of work. ᮣ Provide an opportunity for alumni to Moderator: Joan Dunlop Moderator: Aaron Levine contribute their insights and talents to the Foundation staff: Margaret Hempel Foundation staff: Marta Tellado Foundation’s current endeavors. Panelists: Adrienne Germain, ᮣ Inaugurate our new president. Joan Kaufman, Margorie Muecke A reception will be held from President Luis Ubin˜as and retiring LAFF 4:30 to 6 p.m. Society president Peter Geithner will deliver Human Rights welcoming remarks. From 3 to 4:30 p.m. Moderator: Lynn Huntley Reminiscences concurrent breakout subjects on key program Foundation staff: Sara Rios Moderator: Alan Divack issues will be presented by past and present Panelists: Larry Cox, Diana Morris, Commentary: Dick Magat, staff members as panelists. The program was Natalia Kanem arranged by Janice Molnar. Mike Lipsky and others The reunion will conclude with the The program will conclude with the inauguration of Shepard Forman as inauguration of Shepard Forman as the new the new president of The LAFF Society president of the LAFF Society and a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

1 The LAFFing Parade as well as its rules. A special chapter is devot- Governing ed to the strategic issues facing nonprofits Sanford M. Jaffe, formerly of the Govern- during times of recession and severe eco- ment and Law program, is co-author of Nonprofits nomic downturn. “To End and Prevent Wars between States: In addition to his service with the Foun- Negotiate, Don’t Litigate” in the journal Paul Firstenberg, officer in charge of pro- dation Firstenberg has extensive experience Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, gram-related investments in the 1970 is the in philanthropy as an executive, trustee, published by the International Institute for author of a new study of governance in the advisor, author, and teacher, including as Conflict Prevention and Resolution. Jaffe nonprofit sector. Titled “The 21st Century chancellor for planning and development of and his co-author, Linda Stamato, are co- Nonprofit: Managing in the Age of Gover- Tulane University, financial vice president of directors of the Center for Negotiation and nance” it was published by the Foundation Princeton University, and Chief operating Conflict Resolution at Rutgers University. Center. It explored key concepts–account- officer and trustee of Children’s Television They cite a conflict between New Jersey ability, transparency, and responsibility–at Workshop (Sesame Street). He now lectures and Delaware over a liquefied gas facility. the heart of effective governance and looks at the Baruch College School of Public It landed before the Supreme Court. “Its his- at the main challenges facing directors and Affairs. ■ tory,” they write, “support a good argument managers of nonprofit for negotiating, and against engaging in organizations today. litigation in such cases-here, the modern-day “The study paints a por- AVE ATQUE VALE equivalent of going to war over the river.” trait of the leadership of The authors also cite the contending claims nonprofit organizations at In an age when newspapers and magazines are of New York and New Jersey over owner- a time when the driving giving way to a jungle of electronic trolls, a publi- ship of Ellis Island, a national landmark. force behind change is the cation that continues to appear after 18 years has Instead of “economic sanctions, battle- need for sound gover- something to crow about. ship diplomacy, and military action, and nance,” says Firstenberg. “It So it is with the LAFF Society Newsletter. And direct flights to court,” they propose “a is largely about our evolv- so it is with a bit of pride and nostalgia that I combination of good faith and a conviction ing expectations of non- report that this will be my last issue as editor. I to work out equitable and environmentally profit management, and have had a lot of fun and very little headache sound results.” the forces driving change.” sheparding some dozens of issues to bed. I have continued on page 4 The report opens with had a lot of help–my co-editors. Will Hertz, Bob an examination of the piv- Tolles, and John LaHoud; the talented graphic otal role played by boards designers, Ruth Neumann and Susan Huyser, and WANTED: CONTRIBUTIONS of directors in organiza- the diligent monitors of finances and logistics, This newsletter needs a continuous flow of contri- tional governance, setting Mary Camper-Titsingh, Dorothy Nixon, and Nellie butions–news, recollections, comments or any- the tone of an organization Toma and, for their patience and encouragement, thing else you think will be of interest to other the various presidents of LAFF, not least the LAFFers.With the more capacious LAFF Blog now durable Peter Geithner. You’re all the best. competing for copy, we’re particularly interested Richard Magat in items of one to three pages and without any urgency in timing. Please send copy for the next issue to John LaHoud at [email protected]. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The LAFF Society c/o Nellie Toma 31-21 75th Street The LAFF Reunion promises to be the LAFF and our stalwart Newsletter edi- East Elmhurst, NY 11370 highlight for LAFF in November. As the tor for 18 years. It is hard to believe and lead article indicates, we anticipate an even harder to accept that we will no E-Mail: [email protected] interesting, informative and enjoyable longer see his name on forthcoming www.laffsociety.org program, thanks to importantly to the Newsletters. I know of no one has been Peter F. Geithner, President efforts of Janet Molinar and her com- more dedicated nor contributed more Barry D. Gaberman, Vice President mittee. If you have not already done so, to this organization than Dick. That he Nellie Toma, Secretary-Treasurer please respond to the emailed Evite or is stepping down only highlights the Dorothy Nixon, Administrative Secretary to Nellie Toma. If you can be there, importance of finding others willing ADVISORY BOARD please also indicate the breakout ses- and able to assist as in editing future Sheila Gordon Janice Molnar sion you plan to attend. At last report, LAFF’s communications with its mem- Ruth Mayleas Francis X. Sutton acceptances already totaled close to bers. Volunteers warmly welcomed. Kerwin Tesdell 100. It will be a pleasure to see as many This issue also includes the farewell of you as possible on November 20. Richard Magat, Editor note from Dick Magat, a co-founder of Peter F. Geithner Susan Huyser, Graphic Designer

2 The LAFF Society/November 2009 “DOCTOR, MY WHEAT IS SICK”

The last issue of the LAFF Newsletter report- Somewhat grudgingly we reversed our we asked the women. They went to work ed the death of Norman Borlaug, the father tracks and walked back toward the van at and made this.” of the Green Revolution, who worked closely the corner of the field. There a transforma- He turned and two of the women held with the Foundation in India and Pakistan. tion had taken place. Carpets now covered up a beautiful quilt. Each square had been An agronomist, Borlaug developed the the bare ground. Lanterns had been hung. made by a different family. Collectively the semi-dwarf, high-yield wheat varieties that Chairs had appeared. The neighbors gathered. women had pieced the squares together. doubled wheat yields in those countries. “Dr. Borlaug,” said our host, “we apolo- “Take this home to Mrs.Borlaug, please,” Borlaug’s death inspired Lowell Hardin, who gize for bringing you here under false pre- our host requested. “Keep it as a reminder monitored the Foundation’s grants for the tenses. But we wanted somehow to thank that without the new wheat the better life we Green Revolution from 1965 to 1981 and you for changing our lives. This new wheat see ahead would not have been possible.” now directs international agricultural will make it possible for me to get married As the moon came out and a tear rolled programs at Purdue, to share this memory to that beautiful young woman there. We down my dusty cheek, I concluded that of a field trip with Borlaug to Pakistan. will build a house where we now stand. We yes, successful development does have a knew not how to show our appreciation. So human face. ■ By Lowell Hardin

he place was what was then West Pakistan; the time, 1968. Norm and The Thaw at the Roof of the World other members of our party were Texamining the wheat crop, visiting with farmers and talking with public officials. By Orville Schell Mekong and Yangtze in between. Our concern was that we might find fatal New York Times, Sept. 26, 2009 Scientists speak about the reactive behav- flaws in these new high-yielding varieties. ior of these glaciers as if they were almost Already in this third year since their intro- hina is beginning to realize that it has human. Now, a growing number of glaciers duction they had spread to more than 20 a lot to lose from the carbon dioxide are losing their equilibrium, or their capacity percent of the wheat acreage in the country. that the world so blithely emits into to build up enough snow and ice at high alti- About dusk we arrived at Lahore where C the earth’s atmosphere. tudes to compensate for the rate of melting we were to spend the night. We were dusty, Not long ago I found myself on a plat- at lower ones. Given present trends, almost tired and hungry, so we were less than form 14,000 feet above sea level, surrounded two-thirds of the plateau’s glaciers could pleased to be greeted with the message, “My by throngs of Chinese tourists. A chairlift well disappear within the next 40 years. wheat is sick. The Doctor must come.” had brought us that much closer to the Moreover, temperatures on the Tibetan Directions for getting to the farm, which was jagged peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Moun- plateau are rising much faster than the global some 12 kilometers our of town, followed. tain and the glacier that cascades down its average. A good portion of the area’s exist- Fearful that there was a serious problem flank. People cheerfully snapped photos ing ice fields has been lost over the past four we climbed back into our van. of the icy mass, seemingly unaware of the decades, and the rate of retreat has increased It was almost dark when the young disaster unfolding before them. in recent years. Pakistani farmer who had left the message The roughly 1.7-mile-long Baishui The slow-motion demise of Baishui directed us to his three-hectare wheat field. Glacier No. 1 could well be one of the first Glacier No. 1 will have far-reaching conse- Gently waving in the lengthening shadows major glacial systems on the Tibetan Plateau quences. In the short run, there will, of was a magnificent crop of Mexipack 65, the to disappear after thousands of years. The course, be an abundance of water. But in the new semi-dwarf transplanted from Mexico. glacier has receded 830 feet over the last long run there will be deficits. These will It was still deep green in color and so dense, two decades. Its decline is an early warning have national security consequences as coun- uniform and sturdy that one could toss his of what may ultimately befall the approxi- tries compete for ever scarcer water hat onto the flat surface of the plump heads mately 18,000 higher-altitude glaciers in the resources supplied by transnational rivers and there it would stay. To me, it looked Greater Himalayas as the planet continues with as many as two billion users. like a 100 bushel per-acre crop in a country to warm. China can’t solve this problem alone. where traditional varieties then averaged The Tibetan Plateau and its environs After all, the ice fields in the arc of peaks less than 20. shelter the largest perennial ice mass on the from China to Afghanistan are melting Our farmer host walked us along the planet after the Arctic and Antarctica. Its in large part because of greenhouse gases irrigation ditch to the far corner of the field. snowfields and glaciers feed almost every emitted thousands of miles away. ■ “Where is the sick wheat?” Norm demanded. major river system of Asia during hot, dry “There,” responded our host pointing to seasons when the monsoons cease, and their Orville Schell, a training associate in the a few plants showing signs of high salinity. melt waters supply rivers from the Indus in Foundation’s Jakarta office in the 1960s, is But by then we all knew that the crop was the west to the Yellow in the east, with the the director of the Asia Society’s Center on well and thriving. Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, United States-China Relations.

The LAFF Society/November 2009 3 The LAFFing Parade continued from page 2 PATH ANNIVERSARY They report that negotiations have pro- duced resolutions of such cross-border issues as highway location, rail-freight operations, novel organization founded by three ing contraceptive technology from the pri- watershed protection and restoration, port Ford Foundation staff members is vate-sector pipeline and bringing them into development, and power-generating plants. observing its 30th anniversary. developing-country health programs. “It was Glenn Hubbard, who spent two decades AKnown as PATH, the Program for like the third person in the relay race was in Africa with the Ford Foundation and Appropriate Technology in Health, it oper- missing,” says Perkins, recalling the void in other aid agencies, is co-author with William ates in 70 countries. It formed to bridge reproductive health that he and the other Duggan of an article, “Why Africa Needs a public health agencies and private industry founders aimed to fill. Marshall Plan” in the FT.com of the Finan- to make sure couples around the world had The organization settled in Seattle with cial Times. “The original Marshall Plan was access to condoms, birth public pills, $92,000 in seed money from the Ford Foun- less a grand aid program than a targeted intrauterine devices, and other modern dation. It also received support from the effort to restore the power of business as a forms of pregnancy prevention. The Battelle Institute’s Population Study Center. growth engine,” they write. “A real Marshall founders, Gordon Duncan, Rich Mahoney, PATH has an international board of plan for Africa would stand apart from the and Gordon Perkin saw an urgent new for directors. Its first large-scale international aid system of governments and non-govern- ensuring that newly developed contracep- project was assisting China with moderniz- mental organizations.” tives could reach people who needed them. ing its contraceptive factories and boosting Starry Kreuger has won the 2009 In China, for example, decades of isolation production to keep up with the country’s William French Award for her work at the due to the cultural revolution left the coun- burgeoning population. It now runs pro- Rural Development Leadership Network. try’s reproductive health technology lagging grams in Manila, Indonesia, and Thailand. It The award is given by the Rural Community behind Western manufacturing and pharma- employs hundred of people throughout the Assistance Corporation. It was presented at ceutical methods. world and touches on every major global a reception in Sacramento, California. ■ No one from the private sector was tak- health issue. ■