242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:27 AM Page Cov

Carnegie Corporation of New York vol. 3/no. 1 Fall 2004

What Are Foundations For?

Literacy Coaches: An Evolving Role

Philanthropy in Russia

Scholarship in Africa 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:27 AM Page IFC

One of the great joys—indeed, the blessings—of having Newscasts said that, “Local residents began selling photographs served as president of the New York Public Library and now, as of the burning library within hours in an attempt to raise money president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was to help fund the rebuilding” and reported that people had created by Andrew Carnegie, who founded over 2,500 libraries in “volunteered to form a human chain” in order to rescue materials the U.S. and abroad, is that I am often asked to help dedicate that had survived in the basement. Reading these accounts, you libraries all over the country. In the past, I’ve participated in get a sense that the community views the destruction of the library dedications and helped launch library campaigns in San library as something akin to a death in the family, and I mourn Francisco, Denver, Seattle, and many other cities; as this magazine with them. We all do. goes to press, I am soon scheduled to speak at the dedications of I’m sure that eventually, another library will be built to replace the James Buchanan Duke Library of Furman University in South the one that was lost. That has always been my experience: Carolina and the Middlebury College Library in Vermont. whether libraries are occasionally destroyed or torn down, or some I am always pleased to pundit decides to sound their institutional death knell, they just be involved in these events seem to keep on becoming livelier and more relevant than ever— because they celebrate the and their numbers keep growing. One of the newest libraries in best instincts of our society: the U.S. is the remarkable Seattle Central Library, which I had the to promote literacy, enrich honor of helping to dedicate. It opened in May 2004 and repre- sents a sea change in the way libraries will be pres- ent in our lives from now on: a soaring, beautiful glass and steel building presidentwith sweeping views and citizenship and provide opp- surprising angles, it is an architectural gem as well as fully func- ortunities for lifelong learn- tioning and “wired” library. I was overwhelmed by it, delighted © BEN FRAKER ing. Libraries are also one of by it, awed by it—and grateful for it. This remarkable library— the most critical foundations of our democracy, for as writer along with other extraordinary new library buildings and renova- Anna Quindlen says, reading is the ultimate democratic act. tions, such as the Milton Freewater Public Library in Oregon and Library dedications are particularly meaningful for me now the Oak Park Public Library in Illinois—exemplify the idea that because so many of the more than 1,600 libraries that Andrew libraries are not simply utilitarian institutions serving prosaic pur- Carnegie founded in the U.S. alone are either celebrating or poses. Public libraries have become centers of civic life; university approaching their 100th anniversary; many others have already libraries are celebrated as essential to their institutions’ missions. passed that mark. How many? The truth is, we don’t know what As American Library Association President Carol Brey-Casiano number of the original Carnegie libraries are still in existence, has said, “Many new libraries also are challenging people’s ideas as though I imagine many of them are, judging by the fact that a stuffy, slightly musty place. Cutting-edge architecture, innova- hardly a day goes by without the Corporation receiving an tive design and reinvention are bringing more light, more beauty announcement about yet another library centenary. and more personality to America’s libraries. As our communities In terms of bricks and mortar, these are old buildings, but grow and change, so do our nation’s libraries.” they must have ageless souls. Wherever they stand, on rural Libraries, old and new, are also living testaments to the fact roads or on the avenues of large cities, they have served, literally, that human beings, who first scratched out the news of their generations of Americans. And for many Americans, particularly existence on cave walls and wrote down their thoughts on papyrus new immigrants, what was true in the past remains true today: scrolls so that those who followed after them could benefit from libraries, with their promise of free access to as much knowledge what they had learned, still believe in the importance of collecting, and education as a person can absorb, may represent the only sharing and preserving knowledge. Within their walls they contain door to social and economic progress that can be opened by not only the heritage of humanity, but also a record of our civiliza- someone with few resources. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Books tion—indeed, they can probably help us understand how we constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for became civilized and perhaps even how to avoid taking the road hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption.” back to chaos and conflict, as much as we sometimes seem to be Just about everyone makes use of a library. According to the trying to nudge ourselves in that direction. That so many of the National Center for Education Statistics, which recently surveyed libraries Andrew Carnegie had the wisdom to help create continue over 55,000 households, 65 percent reported that individuals in to do their part to cherish and preserve this extraordinary heritage the household had used the library in the last year; in the month should give us great comfort; that they add to it every day—one prior to the survey 36 percent of all households reported borrow- reader, one learner, one dreamer at a time—should bring us joy. ing from or dropping off a book to the public library and 18 So to all the Carnegie libraries: we wish you happy birthday! percent reported visiting the library for some other purpose like a We celebrate you, appreciate you, honor you and applaud you, as lecture or story hour. will our descendents, on through the years. Clearly, libraries are important to us, though perhaps we never truly realize their value until they’re somehow taken away. No recent incident brings this notion more clearly to mind than a recent tragedy: the destruction of the Ramsgate Library in Kent, England. Erected in 1904 with support from Andrew Carnegie, the library was burned to the ground this past August. VARTAN G REGORIAN, President 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:27 AM Page 1

Carnegie Corporation of New York vol. 3/no. 1 Fall 2004

2 What Are Foundations For? Foundations, big and small, are proliferating in the United States today, but is the kind of philanthropy they practice still relevant in the 21st century? Our essayist looks at both sides of the argument. 10 Literacy Coaches: An Evolving Role With too many of the nation’s students unable to read well enough to understand the information in their textbooks, literacy coaches are helping teachers learn how imparting content and comprehension can go hand-in-hand. 20 Philanthropy in Russia: New Money Under Pressure After the Soviet Union collapsed, the “New Russians” began practicing both capitalism and philanthropy—but the Russian government may have other ideas about how the money of the newly wealthy should be spent. 32 Scholarship Emerges In Africa The continent’s scholars are numerous, but their emphasis is on carrying out research that will assist national development. Is there also room for those interested in exploring the “ivory tower?” 42 F. W. DeKlerk An interview with the former president of South Africa.

44 The International Reporting Project: Giving Journalists A New Perspective On the News Editors from across the nation journey to Syria and Lebanon to get an on-the-ground look at the world from a Middle Eastern perspective.

47 Recent Events Carnegie Corporation of New York holds a Forum on Social Inequality and Corporation president Vartan Gregorian is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

49 New Books A selection of recent books on issues ranging from Islam in Russia to preventing hatred and violence in child and adolescent development. 51 Foundation Roundup A series of quick snapshots of projects and initiatives supported by foundations around the country.

52 THEBackPage A Dangerous Threat to Philanthropic Freedom Adam Meyerson, president of The Philanthropy Roundtable, gives his views about how federal intervention could be be a threat to the independence of American foundations.

The philanthropists pictured on the cover are, top row, left to right: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller; middle row, left to right: Walter Annenberg, Teresa Heinz Kerry; bottom row, left to right: George Soros, Melinda and Bill Gates, Ted Turner. 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:28 AM Page 2 Wha F o

Andrew Carnegie, founder of Carnegie Corporation of New York. 2 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:29 AM Page 3

by hat Are D ANIEL A KST oundations F In the U.S. today, there are about 65,000 grantmaking foundations; they have both critics and supporters. This essay by author Daniel Akst examines some of the reasons why.

When Andrew Carnegie sold his steel interests to J.P. For?means for meeting them scant. This was the world in which, Morgan in 1901 for a staggering $480 million—something hard on the sale to Morgan and after years of giving money like $10 billion in today’s money—America was a very differ- away independently, Carnegie began to set up his various ent place than it is in 2004. perpetual trusts. A decade later he inaugurated the modern There were only a quarter as many people. Newborn life era of foundation philanthropy by launching his Carnegie expectancy was just 47 years. The middle class was tiny, the Corporation of New York as an enduring monument to his federal government equally so, and the social safety net was dreams for the future. John D. Rockefeller followed suit just almost nonexistent aside from the voluntary associations of two years later with a great foundation of his own. working men, immigrants and African Americans. Nine-out- Benevolent trusts of various kinds are almost as old as of-10 blacks dwelled in the Jim Crow South, many in near- recorded history; when Plato died in 347 he bequeathed feudal conditions that reinforced their powerlessness and income from his estate to fund his academy, which lasted humiliation daily. Cities were booming, but 60 percent of until 529 AD, when Justinian closed it for spreading pagan Americans lived a rural life, and most didn’t go far; although doctrines (even then, foundations were getting in trouble for railroads were extensive, there were just 8,000 cars and fewer backing controversial ideas). Before the turn of the 20th cen- than 10 miles of concrete roads. Business was red in tooth tury there were just 18 foundations in this country, according and claw; cartels known as “trusts” controlled coal and other to Randall G. Holcombe, author of Writing Off Ideas: vital industries, and the rights of employees were few. Taxation, Philanthropy and America’s Nonprofit Foundations Immigrants were pouring in at a rate that would never again (Transaction Publishers, 2000). The charitable focus of these be equaled—even today—and technology, while advancing, organizations was largely on helping the needy. was primitive by modern standards. The Wright brothers But Carnegie and Rockefeller, who knew one another wouldn’t take wing until 1903. There was no income tax. The array of needs, in other words, was vast, but the Daniel Akst is a writer in New York’s Hudson Valley.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 3 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 4

and discussed their ideas, went off in a look something like the age of philan- long as the foundations themselves. different direction, hoping with their thropy. The implications are huge. “Foundations have been viewed with vast wealth to attack the root causes of Writes Peter Frumkin, a Harvard suspicion and distrust throughout the social ills rather than fund mere pallia- University expert on nonprofits: “As twentieth century,” Holcombe reports. tives. Their decision reverberates loudly philanthropy braces itself for an infu- Historian Ellen Condliffe Lagemann to this day. sion of new funds and new practices, notes that even before there was a A century later, in a nation of 300 the line dividing public and private Carnegie Corporation, some people million people and a gross domestic spheres will all but surely be redrawn in resented being objects of Andrew product pushing $12 trillion, there are ways that will have consequences for Carnegie’s philanthropy, while others roughly 65,000 grantmaking founda- the shape of our democracy.” complained that he might have done tions, a number that is up 67 percent in These new developments beg some more good simply by raising his work- just 10 years. Foundation assets have very old questions. What are founda- ers’ wages. Socialist labor leader Eugene grown even faster, to perhaps half a tril- tions for? Are they inherently undemoc- V. Debs went so far as to urge commu- lion dollars (depending on where the ratic? Should the wealth that sustains nities to reject Carnegie’s library-build- stock market happens to be when you them be taxed and allocated by govern- ing gifts, assuring them of libraries read this). Foundations are important; ment instead? Can perpetual organiza- aplenty in the future, “when capitalism even their critics—perhaps especially tions that are sheltered from competi- is abolished and working men are no

Detractors notwithstanding, all signs indicate that the recent proliferation of foundations is probably only the beginning of a period of explosive growth in both the number and size of these institutions.

their critics—acknowledge their influ- tion remain perpetually vital? In a longer robbed by the philanthropic ence. “The complexion and quality of polarized political culture, what is the pirates of the Carnegie class.” the nation’s life are profoundly affected future of this “third sector” that is nei- Rooted in the class conflicts of the every day, for better and for worse, by ther government nor business? Gilded Age, when the poverty of most the trustees and staffs of a few hundred Given the mass inheritance that will Americans contrasted with the fabulous private and community foundations,” occur in the years ahead and the wealth of the new industrialists, resent- affirms Mark Dowie, whose 2001 work expected growth in foundations, these ment arose not just against the philan- American Foundations: an Investigative questions have never been more timely. thropy of the super-rich but against the History (MIT Press) prods these trustees And they reflect many of the central entities that they hoped would perpetu- and staffs for their many shortcomings. issues facing society, including the lim- ate their giving. “When the Carnegie Detractors notwithstanding, all its of government, the obligations of and Rockefeller foundations were cre- signs indicate that the recent prolifera- one generation to the next, and how ated prior to World War I, critics tion of foundations is probably only the best any of us might do good. Timely as charged that capitalist robber barons beginning of a period of explosive they are, these are enduring questions, were not content only to control growth in both the number and size of in other words, and in every era American business,” Holcombe writes. these institutions, which though they American philanthropic foundations— “Rather, through the reach of their exist elsewhere, play a role in this coun- time-tested vehicles for channeling pri- foundations they wanted to control our try’s life that is peculiarly American. vate wealth into public purposes— educational institutions, our social serv- Indeed, an array of social, political and have worked hard to provide answers. ices, and even our governments.” demographic developments have come They have had to, if only because Following World War II, when fears together to make the decades ahead their critics have been around as of Communism peaked, criticism of

4 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 5

understatement. “Donors have used context of America’s massive web of foundations to maintain family control nonprofits, the vital organizations that of corporations, to aggrandize their are neither businesses nor government. family names, and to pass power and They inhabit what Frumkin describes as status on to their heirs by placing them “the contested arena between the state on foundation boards.” and the market where public and private Exorbitant salaries and dubious concerns meet and where individual and philanthropic activities at some founda- social efforts are united.” tions provided additional ammunition This arena has always been an to critics, and finally in 1969 Congress essential one to Americans, and while it enacted some new rules to govern has long been contested, recent com- them. Among other things, the law mentators such as Robert Putnam, required foundations to give away a author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse minimum proportion of their assets and Revival of American Community (now 5 percent annually) and imposed (Simon and Schuster, 2001) have wor- a 4 percent excise tax on investment ried more about its decline than its income. It also barred foundations power. Foundations are one compo- CORBIS

© from owning more than 20 percent nent of this third sector that are indis- In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville of any one business and improved putably on the rise. But their wealth, famously noted Americans’ transparency by increasing disclosure visibility and independence make large propensity for forming extra- governmental organizations. requirements. Although greeted at the American foundations in particular time with dismay among foundation stand out from other nonprofits, and executives, the 1969 act is seen today as their special tax status brings special foundations came from the opposite a perfectly moderate approach to keep- obligations. “Philanthropies bear heavy direction. This time foundations were ing foundations on the straight and societal responsibilities by virtue of accused of using their money to finance narrow, and at this late date it’s worth their wealth, their central role in our a leftist agenda aimed at undermining noting what Congress considered but civil society and their power to help the free market system which produced ultimately rejected: moves to strip away or, unintentionally, to harm,” says their wealth in the first place. (This crit- the tax preferred status of foundations Carnegie Corporation president Vartan icism persists, as we shall see, and several and impose a sunset provision requiring Gregorian, who adds that, “I see foun- foundations have dedicated themselves them to spend themselves out of exis- dations as stewards of public trusts. to countering the supposed trend by tence after a fixed number of years.* After all, philanthropies have historical, diligently funding conservative causes It was during the 1970s, after this legal and moral obligations to society as and think tanks.) “traumatic encounter with Congress,” as well as to their founders.” The American propensity for form- Frumkin calls it, that foundations trans- The critics—nowadays at both ends ing extra-governmental associations, formed themselves more fully into of the political spectrum—tend to see famously noted in 1835 by Alexis de something like public institutions. foundations the same way. Foundations Tocqueville—a radical idea in a world Reflecting the rise of larger, more spe- in recent decades have come under fire where the State was almost synonymous cialized staffs, in the 1970s and 1980s from the left for enabling the wealthy to with society—has always generated wor- administrative expenses as a percentage avoid taxes, to maintain power over ries about the power such groups could of grant outlays rose sharply, reversing social spending that properly should have. As the number of smaller founda- the falling trend that characterized the rest with the electorate, and for giving tions ballooned, possibly in response to 1950s. (In 1957 the figure was 9.9 per- Uncle Sam an excuse to shirk responsi- rising income-tax rates, abuses began to cent, but by 1989 had reached 17.6 per- bilities to the poor. As more founda- crop up. “Charity has not always been cent.) Foundations also became much tions were formed at ever higher “tax the sole motive for creating founda- more self-aware. Today most large foun- cost,” moreover, critics were embold- tions,” Holcombe observes with some dations view themselves firmly in the ened in their claims that foundation

* Congress is once again turning its attention toward nonprofits: in June 2004, a Senate Finance Committee hearing was held to review current problems and best practices in the nonprofit field and, as of this writing, new legislation is being considered that would affect the governance of both charitable organizations and foundations.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 5 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 6

assets weren’t entirely private and in fact and for failing to give enough to liberal always greater than the value of any tax had been diverted from their proper activist groups. “The reluctance of most deduction. (Carnegie and Rockefeller, redistribution by government. American foundations to support advo- among others, gave before there were Teresa Odendahl makes the argu- cacy and activism flies in the face of any income taxes, although their ment in her 1990 book-length attack, American history,” Eisenberg wrote in foundations have since earned income Charity Begins at Home: Generosity and 2002, adding: “If poor and working- sheltered from most taxes.) David Self-Interest Among the Philanthropic class people are to fight successfully for Hammack, a historian at Case Western Elite (Perseus Books Group, 1990). social and economic justice, they must Reserve who has studied nonprofits, “Elite American philanthropy serves the receive the support they need to level says: “Foundations fit in the American interests of the rich to a greater extent the playing field.” than it does the interests of the poor, Conservatives, meanwhile, suffer disadvantaged, or disabled,” she writes, from a degree of split personality on the contending that voluntary organiza- whole subject. On the one hand, they tions of the wealthy “divert decision- accuse foundations of veering sharply to making in the arts, culture, education, the left, as the Ford Foundation undeni- health and welfare from public repre- ably has done since its founding by the sentatives to a private power elite.” automobile-making family. In an open Foundations, moreover, “may actu- letter to then-novice philanthropist Bill ally reduce the extent to which basic Gates, conservative education guru human services are provided on a dem- Chester Finn went so far as to warn ocratic basis.” And she decries the “fre- Gates that, “Big philanthropy in this quency with which philanthropy is country has had little if anything to do invoked by its proponents as an argu- with good works as that term is gener- ment against redistribution of wealth by ally understood and still less to do with the government. Public policy, enacted buttressing the institutions and values of through the tax codes, allows and a free society. Instead, much philan- encourages a relatively small group of thropic activity...is engaged in subvert- rich people and their advisers to hold ing these institutions and values.” On much more power over the shape of the other hand, conservatives applaud society than the vast majority in the foundations as exemplars of private ini- middle and lower classes.” tiative in the service of the public good. system, which emphasizes private prop- Odendahl’s is a strangely seething As the conservative thinker Michael erty and individual initiative.” That’s book, replete with descriptions of her Novak put it, “One of the most over- precisely what makes foundations spe- visits to rich people whose Teflon gra- looked characteristics of a free society is cial. Peter Frumkin recognizes this when ciousness makes them no less transpar- the principle that it is not necessary—it he writes, perhaps idealistically, that ent to her. Giving by these people is, in is even dangerous—to serve public “foundations can perform a distinctive her view, about self-interest, status, needs solely through the state.” role in society because they are free from social climbing, networking, reactionary For all their willingness to embrace the influence of organized constituen- politics and tax avoidance. Society is the idea that they are public trusts, the cies and shareholders.” selling them indulgences, she seems to ultimately private nature of foundations Hardly anybody is really free from say, at bargain basement prices. and their assets is precisely what sets such influences, of course. Foundation Other foundation critics on the left them apart—and what gives them the trustees, executives and staffs have per- come not to bury foundations but to unusual opportunity to do the good that sonal and professional ties to major uni- upbraid them. Pablo Eisenberg, for they do. Critics over the years on the left versities, business leaders and the politi- example, who was for 23 years executive and (more surprisingly) on the right cal elite, as you might expect. But large director of the Center for Community seem to have missed this essential point grantmaking foundations are freer than Change, a low-income advocacy group, about American foundations, which is most comparably endowed enterprises has criticized foundations for not treat- that it’s their money. It was given freely whose main goal isn’t profit, and over ing grant recipients like equal partners by their donors, for whom the cost was the years they have used that freedom to

6 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 7

try a lot of things. In the words of funded Gunnar Myrdal’s powerful to permeate American life. The Michael Katz, a historian of social wel- study of racial discrimination entitled Corporation funded the Educational fare at the University of Pennsylvania, An American Dilemma, which was cited Testing Service, for example; it was “Foundations fund a lot of creative in subsequent legal challenges to segre- founded in 1947 to develop ways of stuff on the cutting edge.” gation—including the classic 1954 measuring academic merit without In a democratic society, the notion Brown v. Board of Education decision regard to social or economic back- of large foundations wielding private by the U.S. Supreme Court—and con- ground, and the result—controversial assets for public purposes is especially tinues to exert influence. to this day—was the SATs. The significant given their focus on ideas As Myrdal’s book shows, ideas lead Corporation also funded research that and education rather than traditional to action, which is what makes them led to the creation of Head Start, and good works, a focus that may account so scary. What could be more subversive, helped launch the Children’s Television for a lot of the ideological contention after all, than Andrew Carnegie’s obses- Workshop, which gave us Sesame Street. that foundations seem to generate. sion with library building, which Of course, it’s hard to imagine Sesame Ideas are deceptively important in included the goal of spreading knowl- Street without public broadcasting, American life; embracing an idea, edge and ideas deep into the working so it’s noteworthy that when Congress in rather than belonging to any one tribe class? Later, Carnegie Corporation 1968 established the public broadcasting or race, is what makes us American. funded the Carnegie Commission on system, it was acting on a recommenda-

What could be more subversive than Andrew Carnegie’s obsession with library building, which included the goal of spreading knowledge and ideas deep into the working class?

And as Holcombe reminds us, “The Higher Education, which outlined a tion from the Corporation-funded ideas that are promoted with founda- massive program of federal assistance to Carnegie Commission on Educational tion money have been controversial higher education, which led in turn to Television. Subsequent Corporation throughout the twentieth century.” more than $100 billion in federal Pell studies accelerated educational reform, The history of the Carnegie grants to 30 million students. (In the including the widely adopted recom- Corporation is illustrative on this realm of education, if not necessarily of mendation that junior high be replaced front. In its first two decades, the ideas, the Corporation established the by a middle schools of grades five Corporation funded a study docu- organization now known as TIAA- through eight. Today, continuing to menting the inability of low-income CREF, the $300 billion retirement fund work actively on behalf of educational Americans to afford legal representa- for educators.) In 1970 the Corporation advancement, the Corporation has tion; a report that led to an institute granted $55,000 to an idealistic young undertaken a $60 million, five-year ini- dedicated to clarifying U.S. laws; lawyer named Ralph Nader to launch his tiative known as Schools for a New the National Bureau of Economic new Center for the Study of Responsive Society, aimed at district-wide reform Research, which lives on as a leading Law (which didn’t stop him from saying and reinvention of high schools, a task research center in its field; and an later of foundations that, “Never has so that Gregorian has called “the Panama organization that eventually would much money led to so few changes”). Canal” of high school reform. evolve into the Brookings Institution, Few people—including, apparently, Carnegie Corporation isn’t the one of America’s most respected think Nader—appreciate how deeply some only philanthropy that has focused on tanks. In the 1940s the Corporation of the Corporation’s ideas have come new ideas, of course. The American

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 7 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 8

Enterprise Institute and the Hoover tem—all natural clients of foundation If America’s large foundations have Institution are just two of the influen- grantmaking. The effect has been to always been “theaters of creativity,” tial idea factories that have enjoyed exert competitive pressure on founda- in the words of Charles Halpern, former major support from large American tions, which have to work harder to president of the Nathan Cummings foundations. This willingness to make an impact. Hammack observes Foundation, they are likely to produce fund communications-savvy think that in 1900, nonprofits employed even more experimental theater in the tanks—rather than just university only 1 percent of the U.S. labor force future. That’s something they are scholars—has helped foundation- versus nearly 10 percent today, while uniquely positioned to provide, as funded ideas have a greater impact than charitable giving has remained constant Frumkin articulates: “Drawing on their they otherwise would have. at less than 2 percent of personal tremendous resources and independ- Given the changes in society since income. The difference, he says, is gov- ence, foundations have...shown a will- Andrew Carnegie’s day, it shouldn’t be ernment; a university, for instance, gets ingness to attempt projects that govern- surprising that Carnegie Corporation research grants, student aid and other ment and business are either unwilling and other foundations focus on new funding that just didn’t exist 100 years or unable to carry out for political or ideas and new initiatives. Cassandras at ago. That’s another incentive for foun- financial reasons.”

If America’s large foundations have always been “theaters of creativity,” in the words of Charles Halpern, former president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, they are likely to produce even more experimental theater in the future.

both ends of the political spectrum dations to focus on new ideas, new ini- Chances are we’ll see more of these may see disaster lurking around every tiatives, and new ways of doing things. projects than ever, for the simple reason corner, but the reality is that America Lester M. Salamon, an expert on that, critics notwithstanding, we are is doing so darn well compared to nonprofits at the Johns Hopkins going to see a lot more foundations. 100 years ago that it’s sometimes Institute for Policy Studies, has One reason is that the modern hard to believe it’s the same country. observed that nowadays, nonprofits American economy is proving even By practically any benchmark—life even face competition from the for- more adept at creating wealthy citizens expectancy, personal income, home profit sector. Responding to a nation of than it was in Andrew Carnegie’s day. ownership, education, or civil rights, consumers armed with their own mas- There are something like 3.5 million just to name some of the big ones— sive earnings as well as unprecedented households with a net worth of $1 mil- most Americans are thriving compared borrowing power, for-profit hospital lion or more in America, the vast major- to their forebears, not to mention the chains, pharmaceutical and scientific ity of them self-made by any reasonable residents of most other places. Given research initiatives and even universi- definition of the term. While most have the extraordinary gains enjoyed by the ties are meeting some of the needs tra- managed to amass a few million dollars vast majority of Americans, it only ditionally met by philanthropy. All this despite modern income and other taxes makes sense that foundations should be competition is probably a good thing; (with which Carnegie and Rockefeller willing to go in new directions. foundations are inevitably exempt from did not have to contend), the very rich- At the same time, the role of gov- the commercial or electoral pressures est Americans are increasing in number ernment is vastly greater than in that keep other institutions in our soci- as well, and they are very rich indeed. Andrew Carnegie’s day, not just in pro- ety on their toes. The expanded roles of Bill Gates, for example, who came from viding a social safety net but in sup- government and profit-making busi- an affluent family but made his money porting science, health research and an nesses are only likely to make founda- on his own, is worth an estimated $46 infinitely expanded university sys- tions better at what they do. billion, according to Forbes; his Bill &

8 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 9

side of traditional elites because tech- polarization of the political process nology and private enterprise have (thanks to various electoral factors, driven down the cost of establishing including gerrymandering on the basis and maintaining them. of party purity) have only made it more Once upon a time, says Claire difficult for Washington to get things Costello, director of Citigroup Private done. It’s noteworthy that even among Bank’s philanthropic-advisory service, foundation critics, there is little faith $2 million was considered the mini- that government could do more good mum capital required to make a family with the money. foundation worthwhile due to the But trust in business is also sagging. costs associated with establishing and Corporate scandals, spiraling CEO pay maintaining it. But she believes that and companies that operate seemingly rule no longer holds. Foundation serv- with little regard for workers or com- ices firms such as Foundation Source in munities can only make nonprofits Norwalk, Conn., will set up a founda- (like foundations) that much more AP PHOTO/MARTY LEDERHANDLER AP PHOTO/MARTY

© tion, including legal work and govern- attractive as vehicles for change. Swedish professor and Nobel ment filing fees, for just $4,750. The Indeed, corporate reformers have for Laureate Gunnar Myrdal used company has a sliding fee scale that years insisted that public companies Carnegie Corporation funding to write An American Dilemma, makes even tiny foundations plausible. put shareholders first, which would the ground-breaking study of For instance, they’ll take care of a foun- seem to leave little room for initiatives race in the U.S. dation with just $250,000 in assets for that don’t directly benefit the bottom an annual fee of $2,000 plus 30 basis line. Burton Weisbrod, writing almost points—or just $2,750. The result is a a generation ago, understood that Melinda Gates Foundation, with a typically American democratization of “there are likely to be both efficiency remarkable $24 billion in assets, is far an entity once the exclusive province of and equity failures in the private mar- and away the largest grantmaking foun- the very rich. Now even the routinely ket,” and that “government, which dation in the country. affluent, if they really want one, can might be expected to correct such fail- Then there is the matter of inheri- establish a foundation of their very own ures, is not always able to do so.” tance. “Over the coming decades,” with nothing more than the accumu- This will be no surprise to the new Frumkin asserts, “a massive intergener- lated equity of a middle-class home. generation of entrepreneurial philan- ational transfer of wealth, estimated at Another big factor in the founda- thropists whose cutting-edge ventures well over $40 trillion, is expected to tion boom is surely our persistent dis- have generated so much wealth in redefine the landscape of giving.” trust of government. Frumkin, citing recent years. For this iconoclastic Dowie figures that by sometime in the data from the late 1990s, reports that group, not content merely to vote, pay second half of this century, U.S. foun- only a quarter of Americans trusted taxes and make donations, what Peter dation assets could rise tenfold, and government to do the right thing, ver- Drucker has called “the counterculture that by 2050 foundations could be sus three-quarters 50 years earlier. of the Third Sector” has special appeal. granting more than $200 billion a year Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra, the And more than ever, the foundations (up from $30 billion today). Clinton sex scandal, the failings of they establish will be willing to There are other factors, too, some NASA, intelligence shortcomings on embrace new ideas. These new philan- of them practical. Today’s deficits and 9/11 and Iraq, doubts about public thropists are bringing new strategies to demographics, for instance, strongly education—the list goes on and on— grantmaking, including strategies more suggest that the future is likely to see have undermined faith in political insti- familiar in the world of business than higher income tax rates—which will tutions, and this disillusionment runs that of foundations. Andrew Carnegie, make charitable giving of every kind across the political spectrum. While who of course made his money in busi- more attractive on an after-tax basis. conservatives attack big government, ness, and whose legacy includes the And in a development rife with poetic liberals decry government war-making, men who pioneered what was then justice, foundations are now a possibil- unresponsiveness and restrictions on called “scientific philanthropy,” would ity for more and more Americans out- civil liberties. And in recent years the have been delighted. ■

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 9 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:30 AM Page 10

10 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:31 AM Page 11

by LiteracyB ARBARA H ALL oaches CC AN EVOLVING ROLE The concept of literacy coaches dates back to the 1920s— but they are increasingly in demand in 21st century schools.

For six years, Stacy Fell-Eisenkraft has been a literacy coach at Intermediate School 131, in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown. She and other literacy coaches in schools across the United States are working to increase the instructional capacity of content teachers, so that they can incorporate literacy instruction in science, math, history and other subject areas. With too many of our nation’s students unable to read adequately, this new approach is aimed at equipping all students with strategic reading skills, so that they will be prepared for college and the demands of today’s workplace.

Barbara Hall has written about education since she covered local school board meetings for a New England weekly newspaper some 25 years ago. Between then and now, she’s written on learning for publications including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She also writes for children in the award-winning AppleSeeds magazine and is currently writing and illustrating a children’s book.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 11 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:31 AM Page 12

On a morning in late spring, Fell- research organization in Cambridge, degrees and reading specialist certifica- Eisenkraft meets with Bryce Bernards, a Massachusetts, refer to literacy coaches tion. In some schools, tutors who work first-year teacher at I.S. 131. Before as “change coaches” and “content with students are also called coaches; their thirty or so eighth graders enter coaches” in a June 2003 report, these individuals have a variety of levels the classroom, the two educators trade Coaching: A Strategy for Developing of training and they may work for com- ideas and approaches to the day’s read- Instructional Capacity. Hundreds of panies (both profits and nonprofits) who ing and writing lesson. interviews with literacy coaches, prin- supply supplemental services to students Recognizing that a literacy coach cipals and other administrators, along attending schools labeled ‘in need of should be supportive to teachers, Fell- with synthesis and analysis, are gath- improvement’…There are no agreed Eisenkraft skillfully and sensitively ered in the report, which was prepared upon definitions or standards for the helps Bernards refine his lesson plans. for The Aspen Institute on Education roles…In the leadership role [coaches] He is pleased with her suggestions, and, and The Annenberg Institute for design, monitor and assess reading as students stream in, takes his place in School Reform. achievement progress; they provide front of the classroom. Fell-Eisenkraft One model for literacy coaching, as professional development and coaching remains nearby, assessing how she can it has been introduced into Boston for teachers…they are responsible for be helpful in the classroom. The young classrooms and elsewhere, is called improving reading achievement; and teacher begins the class by engaging the Collaborative Coaching and Learning they may also have staff supervision and students in reading exercises, intertwin- (CCL) because a chief characteristic of evaluation assignments.” ing the themes of “recipes” and “identi- the model involves active participation Roller suggests that what distin- ties” to capture the students’ interest. by teachers who collaborate with their guishes literacy coaching is teacher-to- Like a carefully constructed painting, colleagues. Coaches and teachers are teacher communications that occur brushstroke by brushstroke, the morn- carrying out CCL through practices both during class and at other times as ing’s lesson cumulatively takes shape, that involve demonstration and obser- well. She also observes that the supply forming a cohesive whole. During the vation, pre-conference meetings, lab- of literacy coaches these days is far to and fro between teacher and class, site activities, debriefings and classroom exceeded by the demand. Her senti- Fell-Eisenkraft writes key points on the follow-up. ments are echoed by Susan Frost, presi- board—especially helpful, Bernards The Role and Qualifications of the dent of the Alliance for Excellent says later, because of the multilingual Reading Coach in the United States, an Education in Washington, D.C., who nature of his class. important statement on literacy coach- offers the idea that literacy coaching is ing, was published in June 2004 by the an outgrowth of “high-stakes” testing— Literacy Coaching Defined Delaware-based International Reading schools fail if students fail tests; Literacy coaching is a growing devel- Association (IRA). Cathy Roller, direc- improvement in test performance opment in the field of American educa- tor of research and policy for the organ- depends, in part, on a student’s ability to tion. Like other educational innova- ization, helped develop the report with read and comprehend the test material. tions, from charter schools to enriched the IRA board of directors; the publica- For Carnegie Corporation of New after-school programs, literacy coaching tion is endorsed by an array of organiza- York, a concern with increasing the is protean, varying from venue to venue tions representing many learning disci- number of qualified literacy coaches who and even described by different terms in plines. One of the report’s recommen- are currently working in middle and various regions of the country. dations is for higher standards for liter- high schools is an element of its overall On the West Coast, educators acy coaches, notably, a requirement of a work in the area of improving adolescent work with an instructional framework master’s degree. The report also draws literacy, which grows out of the known as “reading apprenticeship,” attention to the marked flexibility—not Corporation’s long history of supporting while an East Coast source calls liter- necessarily a positive thing, in the literacy efforts. Currently, grantmaking acy coaches “advisor/mentors.” These authors’ view—in the definition of lit- in this area is focused around its terms have evolved over the years, with eracy coaching. Advancing Literacy: Reading to Learn sub- early studies on the subject often using “Some coaches are volunteers with program, which was launched in 2003 the term “reading specialists.” Barbara no specific training in reading,” the IRA after an extensive two-year review that Neufeld and Dana Roper of Education publication notes, “where others are included consultations with the nation’s Matters, Inc., a nonprofit educational school district employees with master’s leading practitioners and researchers.

12 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 13

Specifically in support of literacy coach- says Andrés Henríquez, Carnegie Like other ing, the foundation has made grants to Corporation program officer in the the University of Michigan to help train Education Division. “In high schools, a educational coaches through the use of technology third or more of the entering ninth and to IRA to begin to review and help graders will not graduate; the problem set standards for middle and high school may be exacerbated in urban communi- innovations, literacy coaches. ties, but it is not just an urban problem, Improving adolescent literacy is a it is also a suburban and rural problem. literacy coaching particularly difficult challenge, since Our nation needs to focus on the issue what is expected in academic achieve- of adolescent literacy.” is , ment for middle and high school stu- “It is clear to teachers and princi- protean dents has substantially increased, yet pals alike that one-day professional the way in which students are taught to development workshops are not suffi- varying from read, comprehend and write about sub- cient,” he continues. “Coaches are an ject matter has not kept pace with the answer to a district’s need to provide venue to venue demands of schooling. American 15- ongoing professional development for year-olds, for example, barely attain the teachers in specific content areas. standards of international literacy for Literacy coaching can help teachers and even described youngsters their age, and during the make the content of their subject more past decade, the average reading score of comprehensible to students, so they by different terms fourth graders has changed little. can truly understand the complex Readers who struggle during the inter- information in their textbooks.” mediate elementary years face increas- in various regions ing difficulty throughout middle school Tracing Developments and beyond. Through the Literature of the country. “We’re losing these youngsters,” Rita Bean, an IRA board member and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, says it’s nice to be prescient. Readers who struggle during the intermediate elementary years With Robert Wilson, Bean wrote a face increasing difficulty throughout middle school and beyond. 1981 report for IRA entitled, Effecting Change in School Reading Programs: The Resource Role. Among its attributes, the work clearly anticipates the ascent of the literacy coach, though the authors did not use that term. Now, says Bean, “The extent of the phenomenon is sur- prising to me.” In their work, Bean and Wilson trace the literacy coach movement to the 1930s. They write that, “In looking at the evolution of the reading specialist as a support person, it is interesting to note that the early specialists (1930s) were essentially supervisors who worked with teachers to improve the reading program. It was after World War II, in response to the raging criticism of the schools and their inability to teach chil- CORBIS

© dren to read, that remedial reading

13 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 14

teachers became fixtures in many support, she points out, but the money schools, public and private, elementary to pay for it often is not available. through secondary…” Sturtevant gives her own descrip- For “reading specialists,” the mid- tion of the history of coaching. “As long 1960s marked a shift from the remedial ago as the 1920s,” she suggests, “read- to the resource role. A 1967 study ing educators advocated that secondary on the subject (“Standards and content teachers teach students to com- Qualifications for Reading Specialists,” prehend their content texts [“An Reading Teacher, March 1967), suggested Historical Exploration of Content Area “the need for certain personal qualifica- Reading Instruction,” Reading Research tions that would enable the specialist to Quarterly, 1983, pp 419-38]. Educators establish a rapport with teachers, admin- of that time found that many children istrators, parents, and students; commu- had difficulty transitioning from the nicate effectively with teachers by listen- children’s stories that were used in the ing carefully before evaluation; and early grades to more difficult content encourage teachers to perform their area textbooks in secondary schools.” instructional tasks effectively…” In a word, there was a disconnect. In their 1981 paper, Bean and Wilson cite the then-surfacing Two Reformers Reflect “resource” role as one of “colleague- John Goodlad and Theodore Sizer ship” with classroom teachers, parents, are prominent education reformers with administrators and other resource an active interest in literacy coaching. workers, noting, “…the reading spe- Goodlad, president of the Institute cialist and the teacher must work as for Educational Inquiry and a founder ‘associates and equals’ bound together of the Center for Educational Renewal CORBIS

by a common purpose, the improve- at the University of Washington, wrote © ment of students’ learning…” the classic, A Place Called School: The Literacy Coach: A Key to Prospects for the Future (McGraw-Hill, to suggest that there should be greater Improving Teaching and Learning in 1984, 2004). His latest book is evaluation of the field. “We need long- Secondary Schools, written by Elizabeth Romances With Schools: A Life of term studies of literacy coaching—it’s G. Sturtevant, also for the Alliance for Education (McGraw-Hill, 2004). difficult to understand its value without Excellent Education, calls literacy Goodlad says that from his vantage ongoing studies and assessment. It’s a coaches “key players in the change point, “The coaching idea is not new at tough question because we don’t know process” aimed at improving adolescent all. My view of it is a cultural one. The the impact of shifting heavily to tech- literacy. The report (November 2003) term dates back to the multi-language nology and what the computer will do addresses the need to build bridges problem; I’d time it in with the growth to literacy in the long run. I worry some between literacy coaches and the mid- of the Hispanic population, forty or about this. The contrast between com- dle and high school levels, as well as tie fifty years ago. Simultaneously,” he con- puter-based literacy and print-based lit- into teacher training in college. When tinues, “there were people making their eracy provokes,” he says, “a layered con- asked about the greatest challenges concerns known at the university level. versation.” Adding a cogent comment, facing literacy coaches, however, They had the sense that you didn’t get he says that he believes “the under- Sturtevant, associate professor and co- anywhere if you couldn’t read. There standing of democracy involves the coordinator of the literacy program in was a call for vocabulary to understand written word.” the graduate school of education at social studies, science and so on.” Sizer, too, has a new book: Keeping George Mason University, cites “eco- Math dominated the coaching land- School: Letters to Families from Principals nomic issues.” While reading initiatives scape, he recalls. “That’s my first mem- of Two Small Schools (Beacon Press, for younger children receive ample ory of the use of the term ‘coaching.’ 2004) written with Deborah Meier and resources, teens in the middle and high Today, though, literacy coaching has Nancy Faust Sizer. Currently visiting school years continue to need literacy become a cottage industry.” He goes on professor of education at the Harvard

14 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 15

cern,” he says, “is that coaching carries a great deal of ideological freight. Moreover,” he adds, “if coaches are just thrust upon teachers, there will be resentment.” But there are directions to follow, Sizer suggests. For example, “It’s important,” he says, “to build a network of people who are very close to the action of schools, who are trained to work with others.” Overall, Sizer is optimistic about the growing practice of literacy coaching. “It’s one of the pieces of education reform most likely to be sustained,” he says.

Frictions and Mini-Epiphanies While the practice of literacy coaching continues to make inroads in schools across the nation, even its most dedicated advocates acknowledge that it can have drawbacks. In studying lit- eracy coaching at the Boston public schools, for instance, educators can- didly caution that there are sometimes turf battles between coaches and teach- ers—and content teachers, who are deeply invested in the practice of Graduate School of Education, Sizer is imparting knowledge about a particu- “We don’t know also the chairman of the Oakland, lar subject area, do not always welcome California-based Coalition of Essential the idea of having to teach literacy the impact of Schools (CES), which “provides and comprehension at the same time. national networking and professional Their feeling, often, is that by the time development opportunities, conducts kids reach the middle grades, their ele- shifting heavily to research, and advocates for public poli- mentary schools should have already cies” that are aimed at developing taught them to read and understand “equitable, intellectually vibrant, per- the information in their textbooks. technology sonalized schools.” With the added pressure of having to Infused with Sizer’s ideas about ensure that students pass required and what the educational reform, CES is committed tests—so that not only can the student to the idea of literacy coaching. continue his or her educational career Sizer likens a literacy coach to the but also so that the school itself doesn’t computer will do artist/teacher. “You still do your own suffer the stigma of being a “failing art while you’re teaching,” he says. school”—literacy is not always the first to literacy in “You’re still influenced by current subject on a middle or high school movements in the art world.” teacher’s agenda. What Sizer says worries him is Still, Boston and other systems have the long run.” coaches who end up not actually teach- also had their “mini-epiphanies.” The ing—departing from what he calls the term is used by Lisa Gonsalves, author —John Goodlad practice of “school-keeping.” “My con- of a 2003 University of Massachusetts

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 15 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 16

study of literacy coaching in Boston’s ways than they used to… so one key is school officials had endorsed funding public schools. But, as Gonsalves and that we’ve got to find just the right for her literacy coaching program, others note, Boston’s successes can, in teachers to participate.” Some 80 per- including coaches at the secondary large measure, be chalked up to a dedi- cent of Boston’s literacy coaches are for- level. “It’s horrible to live on a year-by- cated and capable team. Cathleen Kral, mer teachers, Guiney reports. year basis, so this is a great relief,” she the instructional leader for literacy K- She has a number of recommenda- says. She credits the ultimate strength 12 in the Boston public schools and tions for schools that want to begin of her program to a team approach, coaching head there, has worked closely inculcating literacy coaching into their involving parents, administrators and with individuals such as Ellen Guiney, classroom. “I would start small,” she teachers. “It was with the support of executive director of the Boston Plan counsels. “But don’t wait too long to the superintendent and the superin- for Excellence in the Public Schools scale up.” She also lists these points to tendent for instruction that we’ve made Foundation, and Barbara Neufeld to focus on: invest in the development of progress. They said, ‘Okay, show us incorporate the literacy concept in the professional coaches, work closely with how it works,’ and we did. But once city’s middle and high schools. (The school organizers, ensure that school we did, they really paid attention.” Boston Plan for Excellence also part- leaders buy in, get the incentives right Other notable initiatives include a ners with the Boston public schools in for the coach and carve out time for the “Reading and Writing Studio” course in Schools for a New Society, a Carnegie coach and teacher to work together. Denver that asks middle and high Corporation initiative being carried out In describing workshops for school students reading below grade in seven urban communities that Boston’s teachers, Kral notes that the level to read a million words a year. The focuses on reform of school district over-arching goal is to “deepen a child’s students’ teachers are aided by literacy policies and practices to help reshape thinking.” Coach/teachers begin at the coaches who, among their duties, serve teaching and learning in high schools; “pre-conference stage,” she explains and as liaisons to other subject teachers. key elements include creating small continue through debriefing. “They The Southern California learning communities and a citywide should leave with something to do, Comprehensive Assistance Center of network of excellent schools that can with a kind of assignment,” Kral adds. the Los Angeles County Office of provide high-quality education for all Another developing story is taking Education sponsors a “Reading Success students.) place in rural Stafford County, Network” that involves identifying The challenges of developing a liter- Virginia. Nancy Guth, who has been reading coaches in all schools and acy coaching program have been many, the language arts supervisor for the school sites joining the network; the says Guiney, “With coaching in the pic- county’s public schools for the past 13 coaches are then provided with train- ture, teachers teach in entirely different years, recently received good news: ing, seminars and supports. Ruth

The PASS Act Succeed.” Introduced in August 2003 Would Fund iteracy by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), L the measure would raise substantial monies to tackle the high school oaching drop-out problem and provide Cand Other extended support for teens seeking employment after graduation. Literacy Efforts Murray cites statistics indicating that every school day 3,000 second- Concerned about the well-being ary students drop out of school. She of America’s teenagers, senators on says that in 2003, nearly 540,000 Capitol Hill are gradually gathering young people left school without support for the PASS Act— attaining a high school diploma. “Pathways for All Students to On average, then, high school

16 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 17

Schoenbach and Cynthia Greenleaf, to meet that goal. spent a few hours picking (our history co-directors of the Strategic Literacy Every Child a Graduate: A coach’s) brain and working with her to Initiative (SLI) of WestEd, a nonprofit Framework for an Excellent Education create lesson plans for the next six educational organization headquartered for All Middle and High School Students, weeks. We’ve got clear ideas about how in San Francisco, work with the net- written by Scott Joftus, policy director to tackle each lesson we’re going to be work. Both say they’re dedicated to pro- of the Alliance for Excellent Education, doing. I don’t feel burdened. I feel moting “high rigor, high literacy, not is a relatively recent report (September excited about coming to school.’” just basic literacy.” Through the net- 2002) that provides a snapshot of the work program, they explore “how practice of literacy coaching in Pitfalls and Sustainability teachers think of their own lives as read- California’s Long Beach Unified School While support for literacy coach- ers.” One area they work on is trouble- District: “Each coach specializes in ing is strong on many fronts—educa- shooting. “Say you have a Scientific a specific subject—math, science, tors increasingly favor the practice, American article,” says Schoenbach. English, history—and works four days parents see its results—there are also “We try to help our teachers determine a week to mentor new teachers, model pitfalls to be considered, such as the where they themselves might have got- instruction methods and help select and shifting definitions of coaching and ten stuck, what they didn’t understand. use resources. In addition to these con- the problem of sliding standards. The In that conversation—working out tent coaches, the school district pro- term “coach” can refer to volunteers, meaning—you have teachers saying, vides a variety of first-year teacher paraprofessionals or individuals hold- ‘Wow, there’s something here that I do coaches who help inexperienced teach- ing advanced degrees. understand now, and here’s why.’ In ers learn classroom management, essen- Effective coaching also depends on that way, you see how different people tial elements of effective instruction and school administrators’ full understand- make sense of things in terms of other important skills.” In his report, ing and approval. And there is the reading.” Essentially, says Schoenbach, Joftus also provides insight into the quandary presented by school adminis- what they’re looking for are the differ- reaction of a young teacher in a Long trators who, beset by budget woes, redi- ent ways to really dig into a text Beach school taking full advantage of rect money meant for coaches into their and then weave those methods into literacy coaching as a collaborative tool: coffers for content teachers. Yet some teaching—a concern that underpins “First-year teacher Jason Marshall’s administrators recognize the valuable almost every effort to give students enthusiasm suggests the positive impact role of coaches. the literacy skills they need to under- the coaches have on the school: ‘I go “Although states have drastically stand what they read, and help their home smiling every day,’ Marshall said. reduced education budgets and are in teachers find ways to guide students ‘I don’t feel frustrated. Just yesterday we the worst financial shape in decades,

students are performing poorly in provide “the best possible support phy, literature, language arts, and reading, supporters of the legislation for students and teachers, and pro- other core courses…” As envisioned, reason. PASS Act advocates assert vide direct, targeted assistance to the literacy coaches would give addi- that 29 percent of boys and 20 per- students most in need of help,” tional reading instruction, assess stu- cent of girls in eighth grade are read- backers state. dents to determine their needs and ing at “below basic” levels. Worse, High school reading programs, coordinate services to ensure the the reading achievement of twelfth in particular, would be upgraded young people receive the appropriate graders has declined at all perform- through the initiative. Literacy supports. ance levels since 1998; 33 percent of coaching (one coach per 20 students, In addition to Murray, co-spon- twelfth grade boys and 20 percent of ideally) is a key feature of the PASS sors of the PASS Act include Jeff girls in the same grade read below Act. These coaches “will help teach- Bingaman (D-NM), Hillary Clinton the basic level, according to Senate ers incorporate research-based liter- (D-NY), Thomas Daschle (D-SD), champions of the legislation. acy instruction into their mathemat- Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and If approved, the PASS Act would ics, science, history, civics, geogra- Richard Durbin (D-IL).

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 17 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 18

scores of literacy coaches are being hired in school districts throughout the country,” Carnegie Corporation’s Henríquez says. “This may be happen- ing, in part, because the No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to provide data on students’ reading and math scores for third to eighth graders. And in high schools, every day 3,000 students drop out. Of course, the dis- tricts and the teachers feel pressure for their upper elementary and middle schools to be successful, and high schools want to ensure that young peo- ple stay engaged in school. Literacy 2004 DENNIS MILBAUER

coaching may be a way to help improve © student literacy and reduce high Jane Lehrach, principal, I.S. 131 dropout rates.” Before embarking on a coaching program, Neufeld and Roper suggest Two pieces of legislation have been that educators and school administrators proposed that address the need for such The practice of ask themselves the following questions: funding. The PASS Act (see Sidebar) ■ What are our professional develop- calls for funding for literacy coaches literacy coaching ment goals and what do we want to as well as academic counselors and accomplish with our overall profes- resources. The Graduation for All Act sional development programs? is co-sponsored by Congresswoman will provide few ■ What would we gain from having Susan Davis (D-CA) and Congressman coaching as part of our repertoire of Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), who is long-term teacher/principal learning opportunities? Chairman of the Congressional ■ What would coaches do to help us Hispanic Caucus Education Task Force. achieve our instructional goals? The Act could provide $1 billion in fed- benefits if there ■ Are there other approaches to achiev- eral funding for schools to place literacy ing our goals, and might they be more coaches in high schools and implement appropriate for us? individualized graduation plans for stu- isn’t secure, ongoing ■ What else, in addition to coaching, dents most at risk of dropping out of would we have to support to help us high school. Graduation for All is tar- funding available reach our instructional goals? geted at schools with the lowest gradua- Expectations, many experts sug- tion rates and allocates funding for at gest, must be reasonable. Concurrently, least one literacy coach for every high- to ensure that there must be adequate support for needs middle and high school. Coaches coaches to meet their potential as con- would help teachers incorporate coaching has tributors to the learning process. But research-based reading and writing the most critical issue—one on which instruction or English-as-a-Second- virtually all stakeholders agree—is that Language instruction into teaching staying power the practice of literacy coaching will practices for core academic subjects. provide few long-term benefits if there In Florida, the Middle Grades isn’t secure, ongoing funding available Reform Act, which went into effect on the educational to ensure that coaching has staying in May 2004, funds reading coaches power on the educational agenda. for 240 middle schools. Although agenda.

18 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 19

Governor Jeb Bush (R) announced The students then compose their is raised because of literacy coaching grants of $16.7 million to support this recipes in more depth. During the class, and that teachers and students really effort, many policymakers will be pay- literacy coach Stacy Fell-Eisenkraft cir- benefit.” ing close attention to this initiative culates among the students, a reassuring Her words are music to the ears of in the hope that it will provide some presence for the children and for Jane Lehrach, the school’s principal, guidance to other districts and states Bernards. The coach, who is also earn- who often attends her school’s literacy around the country. ing a doctorate from Teachers College, coaching sessions. The veteran educator Columbia University, not only works is justifiably proud of her school. “It’s a Meanwhile, Back closely with teachers in her New York safe and peaceful place,” she says, in Chinatown… City middle school, but also assumes adding that “respect” is the watchword At Intermediate School 131 in tasks ranging from ordering books to at I.S. 131. She goes on to say that New York City’s Chinatown, on a running after-school book clubs for the “education is a journey of growing, and spring day towards the end of the faculty. Fell-Eisenkraft may also help literacy coaching, done right, is a mani- school term, Bryce Bernards familiar- Bernards adjust to his new profession. festation of that philosophy.” izes his students with the format of As a young teacher, he and others like As she speaks, one of Bernards and recipes; features such as measurements, him across the country are vulnerable Fell-Eisenkraft’s eighth graders passes on cooking instructions, ingredients, to the demands of a new job and drop his way to his classroom seat. Lehrach number of servings and required uten- out at higher rates than their more lets her comments waft off in the air as sils are discussed. The children, quiet, established colleagues; a University of another idea intervenes. “I like to say intent, talk about how members of Pennsylvania study indicated that as that every child has treasures. And what their families use recipes at homes. many as 50 percent of teachers leave are your treasures?” she asks the boy. Bernards then asks the children to the profession within five years. “Books!” he exclaims, providing superimpose their life stories onto the Literacy coaches can provide a support the answer Lehrach hoped to elicit. recipe framework. (What he’s aiming system that will help these younger Although the youngster has come to for, in his words, is to teach a lesson in faculty members cope with the chal- love books, literacy coaches at I.S. 131 “sustained metaphor, the genre of lenges of their profession. and other schools across the country recipes.”) He offers details of his own Bernards agrees that Fell-Eisenkraft know they must go beyond teaching a background to get the youngsters is indispensable to his work. “She keeps love of reading literature and help stu- started. He says his life has consisted me focused on what’s important,” he dents develop reading strategies that of “One-fourth cup of overbearing, says. “For example, I may come in with will allow them to comprehend the demanding parents. An uncle who a lesson that tries to incorporate three complex information presented in didn’t want me to become a teacher. different skills, and she will help me their textbooks. One can of Wentworth Avenue sauce.” narrow it down, which leads to more Summing up how literacy strategies (He explains that’s the address where effective teaching.” He then goes on to such as coaching should be inculcated he grew up.) “A bag of wild friends talk about how he and Fell-Eisenkraft into teaching and learning, Sturtevant who lived on my block and played designed a lesson to accommodate the writes in her report, “Schools and street games. Plus two World Series multiple-languages—Chinese, Spanish teachers have the ability to base their championships tickets for the and English—spoken by the children in instructional and curricular decisions Minnesota Twins, a big part of my his class. “You saw Stacy writing on the on years of research related to the types childhood,” he informs the class. board behind me,” he says. “That of learning environments and day- The children respond in kind. One always helps in terms of the students to-day teaching strategies that best boy, for instance, offers the following: being able to visualize the words.” support students’ growth in reading, “One cup of my mother who watches One advantage Bernards and Fell- writing, and critical thinking. Schools out and keeps an eye on me when I get Eisenkraft have in carrying out their and teachers can make a real difference in trouble. Five packages of curiosity teaching partnership is the support of in the lives of the adolescents with because I want to know everything. those who run the school. “Our admin- whom they work. The current chal- One cup of over-reacting parents.” istrators are completely behind us,” lenge is to make this goal a reality in “Our identities are pretty complex,” Fell-Eisenkraft reports. “They realize, as middle and high schools throughout Bernards observes. I do, that the overall level of instruction the United States.” ■

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 19 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 20

by J AMEY G AMBRELL Philanthropy in ussia R NewMoney U The rise of democratic reforms and a capitalist were called, were already making enough money to be looking around economy in Russia has produced wealthy individuals for interesting things to spend it on. who have begun the practice of Western-style Young, unofficial artists, writers and performers were some of the first recip- philanthropy—but the government may have other ients of their largesse. Cultural figures plans for how they spend their money. who had been part of the established Soviet system found the new situation Prologue notorious entrepreneur Sergei Mavrodi, distasteful: in Soviet times such “char- At the end of perestroika and the enriched a few and deprived many ordi- ity” or “patronage” was considered a beginning of the Yeltsin era, get-rich- nary citizens of their life savings. There demeaning, manipulative capitalist quick schemes scurried around Moscow were also the sudden Central Bank cur- practice and was forbidden—after all, like cockroaches, disappearing into the rency reforms which had much the same the state was supposed to take care of cracks and crevices of the decaying sys- effect, at least for anyone outside the the citizen’s every need, both material tem with equal alacrity when exposed to loop of aspiring capitalists and bankers and spiritual. the light of investigation. Some were capable of turning ruble fortunes into During this time—the early harmless, small fry stuff, like buying foreign currency and placing it in for- 1990s—the culture of Russia’s pre-revo- VCRs on trips abroad, and selling eign accounts on a moment’s notice. lutionary “Silver Age” aroused intense them back at home at the black market The English word “sponsor” was interest among the Russian intelli- ruble rate. Others, like the infamous the word of the day. “New Russians,” gentsia. It represented a time when the MMM pyramid scheme run by the as the newly prosperous businessmen arts flourished and many Russians trav-

20 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:32 AM Page 21 y Mikhail Prokhorov, (center, in yellow hard hat), general director of Norilsk Nickel, at one of the company’s plants.

y Under Pressure COURTESY OF MIKHAIL PROKHOROV

eled abroad regularly, seeing themselves their conspicuous consumption and of American ballet, for example). as Europeans. Interest in the art, man- the legendary vulgarity of their tastes New Russians began to collect ners and mores of the Silver Age (they were the butt of many jokes mak- Russian art, both historical and, to became a symbolic way of reconnecting ing the rounds at the time), were look- a lesser extent, contemporary. The with the interrupted flow of national ing for non-Communist models of history and forging a revised, non- social status. Dozens of books and Jamey Gambrell writes on Russian arts Communist identity. There were many articles appeared on the lives of the and cultural politics; her articles have exhibitions of the World of Art group, great Russian art patrons, people like appeared in The New York Review of the once forbidden Russian avant- Pavel Tretiakov, who donated his Books, Art in America, The New garde; and works by writers like Osip art collection and the Tretiakov Gallery Republic and other publications. From Mandelshtam, Boris Pasternak and to Moscow; and Morozov and 1995-1997 she served as deputy director Anna Akhmatova were published with Shchukin who amassed prescient for programs at the Open Society the censor’s cuts restored. collections of European and Russian Institute, Moscow, where she worked Historically, charity in Russia had avant-garde painters that now hang with Russian staff to develop culture and been the prerogative of the aristocracy; in the Hermitage and other Russian media programs. Gambrell also translates it was only at the turn of the 20th cen- museums. Exhibitions and publica- Russian literature; her books include tury, with the rise of wealthy industrial- tions detailed the history of impresa- Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries 1917- ists, that other classes began to engage rios like Diaghilev, whose Ballets 1922 (Yale University Press, 2002) by in patronage of the arts and support of Russes made Russian art and dance the poet Marina Tsvetaeva, and Tatyana the poor. Like the post-Soviet intelli- the envy of the West (and had an Tolstaya’s novel The Slynx (Houghton- gentsia, the “New Russians,” for all indelible effect on the development Mifflin, 2002).

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 21 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 22

Russian Orthodox church also bene- or “funds” (the word is the same in to a great deal of this activity. One fited: businessmen gave money to Russian and English) were covers or of the first privately owned and restore long-abandoned churches, and umbrellas for shady business activities, truly independent Russian newspapers, at one point in the early ‘90s, the money laundering, currency operations, Kommersant, which was the brainchild nightly news almost inevitably con- and so on. Despite much truly selfless of Vladimir Yakovlev, son of the tained footage of Orthodox priests work to assuage long-standing ills, what Moscow News editor Egor Yakovlev, blessing some newly opened business. was most visible to the public at large began publication in early 1990 with The focus of most of this activity was was the graft and corruption associated the express aim of creating a Russian attention-getting prestige. But if with “charity,” “foundations,” “non- “business middle class” that didn’t yet patronage and sponsorship revolved profit organizations,” and the less com- exist, by writing for it as though it did. around reviving lost cultural heritage, mon “philanthropy.” In Russian, the The aspiration to live in a “normal the obvious needs of an increasingly distinction between charity and philan- country,” often expressed at the time, impoverished population and the grow- thropy is not firmly embedded in the was so strong in Moscow and the re- ing dysfunction of the state led many to branch out or evolve into areas of chari- table social welfare—aid to orphanages, sick children and the handicapped, etc. The motivations behind much of it were, undoubtedly, genuine, but the very helter-skelter, hustling nature of Russia at that time led, unsurprisingly, to abuses that gave a bad name to even pristine charitable impulses. “Informal” and “charitable” organizations began to multiply under the aegis of more estab- lished, official institutions (since the legislation for unaffiliated organizations was lacking altogether or insufficient); they often had the right to create com-

mercial subsidiaries, whose proceeds CORBIS/JOSE FUSTE RAGA © were supposed to go to supporting The Hermitage (above) and other Russian museums benefit- “non-commercial” cultural or charitable ted from the generosity of “new Russians.” activities. Needless to say, in the regula- tory and legislative void of newly public mind—or in the language. The named St. Petersburg, that many independent Russia this was often not word blagotvoritel’nost’—most often believed, in a sort of Soviet version of the case. translated as “charity,” literally means Pascal’s “leap of faith,” that if the coun- Scandals associated with abuses of “creating good deeds”—and has been try simply pretended that it was “nor- nonprofit and charitable organizations used almost interchangeably with “phi- mal,” it would, in fact, become so. In also began to sprout like proverbial lanthropy.” Given the natural cultural other words, if the outward trappings of mushrooms. Particularly notable among distrust of wealth after 70 years of Soviet a democratic society and middle class them, and extensively covered by the propaganda, and numerous scandals, were imitated in sufficient detail, the press at the time, was the National Sport polls showed that the public at large moral and institutional content would Fund, which received permission to associated the concept of a “charitable” magically appear to fill the void left by import and sell liquor, tobacco and or “philanthropic” foundation with 70 years of deeply cynical centralized other coveted consumer goods without shady money machinations. dictates and a planned economy. And being subject to the usual taxes. But that However, despite rampant corrup- one of the key features of democracy was only the most prominent tip of a tion, or, at best, inconsistency and lack and a successful market economy was a very large iceberg. Numerous organiza- of transparency in charitable activities, civil society that included charity and tions calling themselves “foundations” there was a genuine democratic pathos philanthropy.

22 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 23

The Foreign Connection Hard on the heels of the Soviet York began funding Centers for The first foreign philanthropic Union’s collapse, many other foreign Advanced Study and Education foundation in Russia was financier organizations began to arrive to assist (CASEs), aimed at revitalizing higher George Soros’ Cultural Initiative (CI), Russia’s “transition to democracy.” education in the former Soviet Union which opened in 1987, when the first Government aid in various forms and through the establishment of univer- breezes of perestroika were just begin- amounts was quickly forthcoming from sity-based centers dedicated to the pro- ning to be felt. CI helped support the U.S., European countries and the motion of scholarship, publications, publication of many previously unpub- European Union (though never on the academic mobility, international net- lished books and translations, and pro- “Marshall Plan” level envisaged by working and access to resources. vided funds for Soviet academics, writ- many intellectuals and Yeltsin’s first Many of these foundations funded, ers, and scientists—long isolated from government). Along with governmental and still fund, an extraordinary range of their colleagues in the West—to travel agencies, other Western philanthropies projects within Russia, often with a abroad for the first time. However, began to make grants for projects in strong emphasis on the development most of the employees were Russian Russia or open offices with grant- of the non-governmental sector and and the foundation in its initial form making programs: notable among the institutions of civil society. was subject to many of the same ills that them, in addition to OSI, were the Furthermore, smaller charity organiza- afflicted early Russian charitable efforts; Heinrich Böll Foundation, the tions with specific profiles, such as additionally, it bore the burden of being MacArthur Foundation, the British Alcoholics Anonymous or the British charity, Downside Up, which works with families of Given the natural cultural distrust of wealth Down’s Syndrome children in order to avoid institution- after 70 years of Soviet propaganda, polls alization, reached out to their Russian counterparts and showed that the public associated the concept launched projects in Russia. Likewise, foreign businesses of a “charitable” or “philanthropic” foundation such as McDonald’s, Coca- Cola and Philip Morris with shady money machinations. brought their corporate sponsorship practices with them to Russia. the first such foreign presence in the Charities Aid Foundation, the Ford Suffice it to say that the history of Soviet Union, and its activities were Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott foreign charitable, nonprofit, and phil- closely monitored by a suspicious Soviet Foundation and the Howard Hughes anthropic organizations in Russia to government. Soros eventually closed Medical Foundation. The Eurasia date would fill several volumes. Though CI, and opened two new foundations, Foundation, a U.S. government-private it far exceeds the reach of any one arti- The Soros Science Foundation, which sector partnership was created in cle, it is important to keep in mind. offered support for individual scientists Washington in 1992 expressly to “pro- Foreign foundations—particularly pri- and peer-review, awarded grants in the mote the advancement of democratic vate ones—provided both potential fundamental sciences. Later, in the institutions and private enterprise” in grantees and would-be Russian philan- mid-‘90s, a Russian office of the Open Russia and other post-Soviet countries. thropists with a model of philanthropic Society Institute (OSI) was opened; it Over the last ten years, the Eurasia activity. It involved a transparent, egali- supported everything from civil society Foundation has supported projects in tarian grantmaking process, in addition development, education, textbook, civil society, small business and media to financing hundreds of millions of legal and tax reform to Russian literary (among other areas) with some $225 dollars of projects over the first decade “thick journals” and contemporary art. million in USAID funding, enhanced of post-Soviet Russia. The staff of these In the nearly 15 years Soros was active by more than $58 million from other organizations, as well as the juries con- in Russia, his foundations funded well private and institutional sources. And stituted to evaluate the grant applica- over $300 million in projects. in 2000, Carnegie Corporation of New tions, consisted largely of Russian

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 23 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 24

citizens. Thus, the foreign foundations The oligarchs have been blamed entirely lacking in any systematic philo- served as a training ground for future wholesale for many of the country’s sophical approach. Russian-funded philanthropic activity. current ills, though the story is far Then, between 1993 and 1995, indi- Grant-makers and grantees alike gained more complex than many of the black- vidual giving soared from a few thou- valuable experience—both philosophi- and-white, good guy/bad guy depic- sands of dollars to approximately $1 mil- cal and practical—in their contacts with tions of them would allow. What is lion. Over the same period, corporate foreign philanthropy. indisputable, however, is that with the giving again rose tenfold, to approxi- Concurrently, with the influx of for- rise of the “oligarchs,” and wealthy mately $100 million. By 1998, over 75 eign institutions, the controversial era of individuals in less visible, but highly percent of Russian companies engaged privatization began. In the ‘90s, Russian profitable Russian businesses (for in some form of charitable giving. business exploded beyond the limits of instance, the telecom industry), the Giving on the part of both companies perestroika-period cooperatives—essen- scale and focus of Russian charitable and individuals suffered a major setback tially small businesses—into banks, activity changed. Russian philanthropy, after the financial crisis of autumn 1998; advertising, media outlets (broadcast of a sort closer to the American use of by 2000, however, it had not only recov- and print), publishing, utilities and large the word, began to emerge. ered ground, but registered another ten- industrial and natural-resource con- The Charities Aid Foundation esti- fold increase. In that year, CAF estimates glomerates. Many of these were created mates that from about early 1992 that corporate giving reached about by selling off huge state-era enterprises (when prices were decontrolled and pri- $200 million dollars, while contribu- to private individuals, par- ticularly people who had begun their careers in the Komsomol, the Communist In the last four years, Russia has seen Youth League, or elite Soviet institutions—usually for a the emergence of its first private and small percentage of their actual (or potential) worth. The Yeltsin era created a family foundations engaged in genuine, class of so-called “oligarchs,” whose small numbers were systematic philanthropic activities. far outweighed by the polit- ical influence they wielded and wealth they controlled. According vatization began) to the end of 1993, tions by individuals rose to approxi- to figures collected by the Russian office corporate giving rose tenfold, from mately $10 million nationwide. of Britain’s Charities Aid Foundation, about $1 million U.S., to $10 million. Furthermore, these gains were made in 2003, Russia had 36 billionaires Private donations, however, were still despite the fact that the Russian tax code (whose capital represented 24 percent minimal—in the thousands of dollars. offers no tax deductions for donations to of the country’s GDP), 33 of whom The first, tentative Russian steps into non-governmental organizations, and lived in Moscow. Furthermore, of the charitable activity tended to be along grants received by organizations and 100 richest people in Russia, only 34 the lines of the “patron of the arts” individuals are taxed as income. built their own business; the others or “sponsor” model. Businesses often Civil society was growing as well, accumulated their wealth as a result of sought to use “charity,” variously con- though beleaguered by government reg- their access to the legacy of the Soviet ceived, as a form of advertising—get- ulation and constant re-registration Union—mostly oil and metal produc- ting their name into the press, “buying” requirements that often amounted to tion. Details of the Byzantine political the goodwill of important people, political harassment. In 1993 there were and economic deals—some would call sponsoring visible literary and artistic approximately 35,000 registered non- them mafia wars—of Russia’s privatiza- prizes, or special events for everyone’s governmental organizations (NGOs); tion period have been emerging in favorites—orphanages and emergency by 2003, the numbers had risen to over recent years in books and articles on the medical aid to children. These acts were 350,000. While many of these organi- Yeltsin era. usually isolated, one-time affairs, and zations exist only on paper, there are

24 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 25

tens of thousands of genuine NGOs care, child care, elementary and second- hidden in corporate philanthropy and active in all areas of civil society and ary schooling, recreational and vacation most of it was what we refer to concerned with issues ranging from facilities for employees, etc. And in the as ‘orphanages, grandmothers and public health, child welfare, juvenile post-Soviet era the state has often churches,’” i.e., essentially charity. delinquency, AIDS education, science been unable to pay even subsistence However, in the last four years, Russia has and humanities education, culture and wages on time, much less attend to also seen the emergence of its first private the arts, to media training and monitor- other social needs. Companies have and family foundations engaged in gen- ing, human rights, military reform, stepped in to at least partly fill the uine, systematic philanthropic activities. prison reform, environmental issues, vacuum, in different ways and under CAF reports that private Russian monitoring of government activities, varying degrees of political pressure giving has risen from about $10 mil- from Moscow. The leaders in this area, lion to $100 million a year; the amount says Kortunov, have been large enter- of money funneled to philanthropic prises and conglomerates like Interros, and charitable activities through CAF Yukos, Severstal, Lukoil and SUAL alone has grown from approximately (Siberian-Ural Aluminum). four million pounds sterling to ten mil- lion. (Many Russian donors, private The Tide Turns and corporate, prefer to have grant A real sea change became evident competitions administered by outside with the advent of the millennium, the organizations, rather than keep large end of the Yeltsin era and Vladimir operating staffs; CAF, for instance, has Putin’s election as president in March run grant programs for Potanin’s foun- 2000 (after his appointment by Yeltsin dation, as well as for Yukos and when the latter resigned in late 1999). Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia.) Unlike The changes over the next three years much of previous private giving in were both quantitative and qualitative. Russia, these foundations are generally Between about 2000 and 2003, corpo- grantmaking, and follow a more rate giving is estimated to have jumped transparent, Western-style model, from $200 million to $1.5 billion. using publicly announced application Until the year 2000, 98 percent of all processes, grant competitions and COURTESY OF THE OPEN RUSSIA FOUNDATION THE OPEN RUSSIA OF COURTESY charitable giving by Russians was cor- expert juries to determine grantees, in Mikhail Khodorkovsky, embattled head of the porate. By 2001, Kortunov says, you addition to funding solicited projects Yukos oil company. also began to see an encouraging devel- and operating programs. opment directly connected to a rise in These institutions are fledgling and private giving: the separation of philan- their numbers small: in all, there are six refugee rights, and social assistance of thropic activity from the goals and tasks private and family foundations estab- various kinds. of the business that supports it. Leading lished by some of Russia’s wealthiest Corporate philanthropy, on the this field, he said were the activities individuals. However, the numbers are other hand, has tended to be dominated of Dmitry Zimin and the Dynasty growing, and among the 100 wealthiest by the “company town” model, notes Foundation; Interros and its chairman individuals in Russia, many were begin- Andrei Kortunov, Eurasia’s vice-presi- Vladimir Potanin; and Yukos and its ning to structure or institutionalize dent for Russia and director of the chair, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. their private giving by 2003. Corporation’s CASE program, where “Until the end of the ‘90s, you “business takes on part of the work of couldn’t talk about Russian-funded The Rise and Fall of Yukos the state.” This is a comfortable and strategic philanthropy,” says Olga The oil giant, Yukos, has been one familiar model for many in Russia, and Alexeeva, director of the Russian CAF. of the indisputable leaders in corporate certainly for the state. After all, under “In other words, there wasn’t any ‘civi- philanthropy. Like most large compa- Soviet rule, state enterprises usually lized’ philanthropy where you try to treat nies, it has focused its projects largely on provided not only employment, but the disease and not the symptoms. the geographical areas of the company’s cradle to grave care: housing, medical Private philanthropy,” she notes, “was holdings, but it has instituted innova-

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 25 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 26

tive, competitive grant programs for a people such as the “New Civilization” funds and helped to expand the seminars, variety of social and cultural services, program, which exposes them to the conferences and training programs of the many of which are featured on its web values and practices of democracy, civil ten-year-old Moscow School of Political site, www.yukos.com. In 2001, Mikhail society, and market economics through Research; and supports a program that Borisovich Khodorkovsky, Yukos’ presi- a learning game called “Newlandia.” In analyzes all new legislative initiatives from dent, along with several other major addition to these sorts of operating pro- the point of view of civil society and dem- Yukos shareholders, established the grams, Open Russia supports the previ- ocratic values. It has also been one of the Open Russia Foundation, financed ously established “Russian Booker most transparently run foundations, pub- from their private wealth. Since then, Prize” for literature and the prestigious lishing information on grant awards, Khodorkovsky’s spending on philan- Regional Tefi awards for television (a competition funds, administrative costs thropic programs, grants and activities sort of Russian “Emmy”). and the like. has averaged $15 million a year, and Two of the foundation’s five priorities Open Russia has been virtually the according to Irina Yasina, director of are directly linked to civil society issues: only Russian-funded organization to Open Russia, was intended to reach as much as $30 million in 2004. From the outset, Open Russia’s pri- orities were unrelated to Yukos’ corpo- rate profile. The goal of the foundation, as articulated in its mission statement, is to “help create the conditions… in which people will prefer to work and earn a living in Russia, facilitating the country’s emergence as one of the lead- ing world economies. We are com- pletely certain that this is possible if the country continues moving along the road of democratic reforms, strengthen- ing civil society and stimulating entre- preneurial spirit.” As the very name of the foundation indicates, it was modeled on the Open Society Institute. Indeed, many of the programs financed by Open Russia are ANDREY ILYIN in one way or another analogous to pro- © grams initiated by OSI. The Internet Visitors to Memorial, a human rights organization founded in 1989. Education Federation (originated by Yukos), for example, creates centers around the country to train school “assisting in the dissemination of objec- give money to human rights organiza- teachers in Internet use; Open Russia, tive and truthful information about the tions, many of which not only have in partnership with the Ministry of activities of Russian government and activist monitoring functions, but con- Culture and Mass Communications social institutions” and “continual moni- duct important research and educa- and professional library associations, toring and public expertise of Russian leg- tional programs as well. For example: supports the modernization of rural islation.” To this end, the foundation has Memorial, founded in 1989 to support libraries with computer equipment, worked with established organizations former political prisoners and their Internet access and training, as well as like the Glasnost Defense Foundation to rehabilitation, has developed an contemporary reference materials on create a mass media law specialty in extraordinary program for secondary economics, management and business. Russian law schools; it has given grants to school students (ages 14-18) called Like the Potanin foundation, Open continue Internews Russia’s regional tele- “People in History: 20th Century Russia has initiatives targeted at young vision journalist training programs; it co- Russia.” Young people from cities,

26 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 27

towns and villages around the country gence of a new generation of dedicated lic about its rights and remedies under conduct interviews with local sources young Russians who seek the truth of Russian law. and do original research in local their nation’s past, no matter how However, in 2003, the Russian pros- archives, producing papers—often painful, in order that the tragedies they ecutor’s office began investigating Yukos related to their individual family his- have chronicled not be repeated. on tax evasion charges; simultaneous tory—on various aspects of Russia’s for- But Open Russia has gone further investigations of Khodorkovsky himself gotten or unknown 20th century his- than simply supporting pre-existing also began, in connection with the 1994 tory. Several hundred papers are usually programs. In February 2004, together acquisition of another company. In entered; the forty best are chosen by a with the human rights organizations October of last year, Khodorkovsky was jury of eminent writers and historians, Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki arrested in a dramatic pre-dawn seizure are published, and their authors Group, Alexander Yakovlev’s Democracy of his private plane, and has been in pre- trial detention in a Moscow prison since Grants to university students are an emphasis of the Vladimir then. (In Russia, the prosecutor may Potanin Charity Fund. make arrests during an investigation, before any formal charges are brought.) His trial was underway as this article went to press. Other major Yukos share- holders are also under investigation; one, Platon Lebedev, has been in prison for over a year. Khodorkovsky’s arrest sent shock waves through the Russian business and foreign investor community and the world of Russian private and corporate philanthropy. The business community has been assured on many occasions, by both Putin and members of his admin- istration, that the results of privatiza- tion would not be revisited, a position hard to reconcile with government

ANDREY ILYIN actions taken against Khodorkovsky © and Yukos. In early July, Khodorkovsky proposed that Yukos’ majority stock- holders turn over their 44 percent con- trolling interest in the company to the awarded prizes at a ceremony in Foundation, and the Russian Regions government in order to stave off bank- Moscow. Likewise, the teachers who Foundation, Open Russia established ruptcy—tax arrears cannot be paid stand behind these students receive spe- the Public Verdict Foundation, which because the government has frozen cial honors from the jury. aids victims of government or law Yukos’ accounts—but the presidential Now in its fifth year, “People in enforcement agency abuse and publicizes administration has so far been unre- History” was originally funded largely such abuse. On July 1, 2004, Open sponsive to such proposals. As of this by the Ford Foundation, the Heinrich Russia, Public Verdict and the Regional writing, Yukos, with its stock price Böll Foundation and other foreign Press Institute inaugurated a “human plummeting and its assets threatened, is sources. For the last three years, the pro- rights hot line” program, which will in danger of going bankrupt and gram has been co-sponsored by Open allow citizens in all seven federal districts Khodorkovsky’s future is uncertain. Russia as well. It has produced several of Russia to receive brief legal consulta- volumes of serious work that not only tions by cell phone around the clock. The Vladimir bear witness to the history the Soviet Violations will be published online and Potanin Charity Fund regime sought to erase, but to the emer- in the press in order to educate the pub- Vladimir Potanin, president of the

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 27 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 28

holding company Interros that owns Almost uniquely among Russian not uncommon in the Russian corpo- Norilsk Nickel—as well as Rosbank, businessmen, Potanin has sought to rate world. A total lack of tax breaks and companies in other sectors of the position himself as an international cul- and regulation of charitable giving pro- economy, including insurance, pub- tural philanthropist and patron as well. vides no incentive to separate corporate lishing, real estate and agriculture— In 2002, he made possible the purchase and charitable foundation interests. No was the first to create a private charita- of one of Kazimir Malevich’s Black Russian charities or philanthropies as ble foundation that is structured and Squares by the Ministry of Culture for yet have endowments because the operates somewhat similarly to a west- the Hermitage Museum, which has lit- interest on endowments, even when ern philanthropic foundation. The tle of the Russian avant-garde in its col- that income is devoted exclusively Vladimir Potanin Charity Fund was lection. The same year, he became a to charitable events and projects, is established in 1999 and began work member of the board of trustees of the taxed at approximately 40 percent. in 2000. Potanin, who was born in Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Donations of up to 25 percent of pre- 1961, graduated with a degree in eco- and chairman of the board of directors tax income are allowed only if the nomics from Moscow’s prestigious of the new Hermitage-Guggenheim recipient is a state institution; if the Moscow State Institute of International Charitable Foundation established to recipient is an NGO, the donor may Relations, long a training ground for support joint projects by the two muse- not deduct anything. Furthermore, top Soviet cadres, in 1983. He is one of ums. In 2003, Interros and Potanin’s if money or even equipment is Russia’s wealthiest men (estimated by foundation were major sponsors of the donated to a non-governmental organi- Forbes to be worth $4.9 billion), and large Russo-French exhibition in Paris zation that runs a children’s home or considered one of the top ten business- “When Russia Spoke French,” in honor shelter, the organization is taxed on the men in the country. On average, over the last three years, Potanin has given $10 million of his personal funds through his founda- The lack of tax deduction is tion, to projects and pro- grams in education, culture a serious obstacle for small and mid-size and the arts. Potanin’s flag- ship programs are scholar- companies wishing to become involved ships and grants to university students awarded in two- in corporate philanthropy. stage, open competitions. Currently, over 1,400 stu- dents from over 60 Russian universi- of the tercentenary of St. Petersburg; value as though it were commercial ties—“Potaninists” as they are called— and Potanin was elected chairman of income. As Kortunov and many others are receiving stipends of 1,500 rubles the board of trustees of the Hermitage note, the lack of tax deduction may not (approximately $500) a month—quite a Museum. In addition to the high pro- be that important for the really huge, decent salary in much of Russia today. file support of the Hermitage, the wealthy companies, but it is serious The foundation also awards scholarships Potanin foundation has just completed obstacle for small and mid-size compa- to 20-30 pupils who place in interna- a pilot grant competition for smaller, nies wishing to become involved in tional academic Olympics, seeking to innovative projects from museums corporate philanthropy. continue Russia’s tradition of excellence across the country. To try and promote a culture of in education. Additionally, Potanin’s The lines between giving by small and mid-size business contribu- foundation provides scholarships to stu- Potanin’s foundation and the Interros tions, CAF has worked hard with busi- dents at military academies and to the group itself are somewhat blurred— nesses and the authorities in the regions Russian Orthodox University (a secular Interros public relations director Larisa to establish a number of community university, rather than a seminary, which Zelkova oversees Interros giving and foundations (there are presently 16 in provides degrees in many rare subjects, is executive director of the Potanin all). This model allows businesses and such as ancient languages.) Foundation as well, a merging of duties individuals to pool resources with the

28 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 29

local authorities, and to receive addi- was launched by Mikhail Prokhorov, minimize pressures on the decision tional funds for projects through grants general director of Norilsk Nickel. making process by rival local constituen- from larger foundations, whether for- Prokhorov, not yet 40, is himself esti- cies. There is a president (Mikhail eign or Russian. In this model, the cru- mated by Forbes to be one of Russia’s Prokhorov), director (Norilsk inhabitant cial issues of equitable grant-making wealthiest individuals, next in line after Irina Prokopenko), an advisory board practices, accountability and effective- Potanin. The Foundation for Cultural consisting of eminent Muscovite and ness are addressed, and the political Initiatives (The Mikhail Prokhorov Norilsk professionals in a variety of dis- pressure is spread across a variety of Foundation), supported by $1 million ciplines and an expert council consisting donors. At present, given the highly annually of its founder’s personal funds, of four very well known Moscow experts charged, political atmosphere of busi- is the first non-commercial philan- in the cultural field. thropic (or charitable) organization in One of these, who no doubt had the Norilsk region, an area of per- much to do with the overall concept of mafrost located north of the Arctic the foundation, as well as its thoughtful Circle. Adding to the inhospitable cli- structure, is Prokhorov’s sister. Irina mate is the fact that Norilsk Mining Prokhorova, an important cultural fig- Company—which has one-third of the ure in her own right, founded the world’s nickel, and produces copper, Moscow publishing house New Literary platinum, palladium, cobalt and gold— Review, which has published hundreds has been one of Russia’s most serious air of serious scholarly and academic polluters. Nor is the city’s history a books, as well as two of the most highly source of comfort: founded at the respected academic cultural journals. height of Stalinist forced industrializa- Prokhorova, a philologist by education, tion, Norilsk, like many areas of Siberia, has had a great deal of experience work- was home to the Gulag. ing as a program expert in Soros-funded Prokhorov’s foundation focuses on translation and publishing programs; modernizing and stimulating Norilsk’s she is a former president of the Russian cultural and intellectual environment. Booker Prize Committee and is on the The five priority areas include structur- advisory board of Potanin’s personal ing municipal spaces (clubs, galleries, foundation. “We want to have a real Internet cafes, etc.); science and educa- impact on the city,” says Prokhorova. tion (support of education programs, “In part because it was artificially cre-

COURTESY OF IRINA PROKHOROVA COURTESY scholarships for gifted children, library ated, Norilsk has a very highly educated Irina Prokhorova, editor- acquisitions, museums, publications on populace, and despite all the difficulties in-chief of the Moscow publishing house New local history, schools for non-native of living there, many people either do Literary Review Russian speakers, research, etc); sports not want to leave, or have no other and health, which includes scholarships place to go. They love their home. We for young athletes, recreational facilities feel it is very important to create a real ness-government relations, community for children, support of drug rehabilita- cultural infrastructure in Norilsk, create foundations may prove a particularly tion centers; support for print and conditions in which different commu- fruitful model for support of at least Internet press development; and artistic nities and groups can express their some aspects of Russia’s civil society. initiatives such as festivals, exhibitions, interests by having an active influence literary evenings and theater. The foun- on the look of the town, and the con- The Fund for Cultural Initiatives dation will run both operating programs tent of the social and cultural processes Despite the potential hazards, the and grant competitions in all five areas. that take place in it.” example of leading philanthropists such Not only does the Foundation for as Potanin and Khodorkovsky has Cultural Initiatives have an extremely Family Foundations Emerge clearly had its effect on their associates cogent mission statement and well-artic- In a sense, one could say that the and other businessmen. In March ulated series of priorities, its structure is Foundation for Cultural Initiatives 2004, a new type of private foundation well balanced and clear, designed to combines the models of corporate (tar-

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 29 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 30

geted at the area of corporate presence) says Zimin. “You have to give some- elections. It is widely thought that the and private (strategic) philanthropy thing back. We have a far-reaching company is being deliberately driven to with another emerging model—the idea—to raise the level of intellect in bankruptcy so that the government may family foundation. There are currently the country. We were fortunate in find- acquire a controlling or at least blocking three family foundations functioning ing a structure we could work through.” interest in it, and so Khodorkovsky, in Russia: one is Dobry Vek, founded The Foundation for Fundamental with his civil society allegiances and by SUAL director Viktor Vekselberg Research administers most of Dynasty’s political ambitions, is removed from and his wife, Maria Dobrynina. It has a programs, though the foundation is also the company’s ownership structure. budget of about $200,000 a year and working in partnership with Eurasia Analogies have been drawn with the supports projects related to psychiatric and other foundations. As the “elder way in which Vladimir Gusinsky, issues and research. Dobroe Nachalo, a statesman” of the new Russian philan- (founder of Most Bank and NTV, Tver-based foundation, founded by thropy, Zimin has been an active partic- Russia’s first independent television sta- Dmitri Zelenin and his wife, supports a ipant in conferences and seminars pro- tion) and the journalists who originally variety of activities and projects in the moting corporate social responsibility created NTV, were systematically driven Tver area, northwest of Moscow. But and the development of civil society out through a series of engineered the Dynasty Foundation is by far the values among the business community. “business conflicts,” bankruptcies and largest and most ambitious of the three Following Khodorkovsky’s arrest— selective jurisprudence (Gusinsky now now functioning. It was established in which he views as a disgrace—his par- lives abroad), and controlling blocks of 2001 by Dr. Dmitry Zimin and his son ticipation in joint philanthropic proj- Boris Zimin. Dr. Zimin, a physicist by ects has become particularly important, education and specialist in radio elec- and he will be the only Russian donor tronic technology, started his business, on the board of the New Eurasia VimpelCom, from scratch in 1992 and Foundation, which has been recently built it into one of the leading Russian formed and is headed by Kortunov wireless telecommunications compa- (with support from OSI, the Charles nies. In 1996, VimpelCom became the Stewart Mott Foundation, the first Russian company since 1903 to Corporation and others). “The thing be listed on the New York Stock that’s different for me,” Zimin has Exchange; its “BeeLine” cell phone remarked, “is that I’m the oldest—all service now has over 10 million sub- the other Russian philanthropists are scribers in Russia. young, in their 40s. I think my greatest stock turned over to government- Zimin timed the creation of the achievement, besides building the com- friendly stewardship. Dynasty Foundation to coincide with pany, was to know when to retire.” Whatever their personal political his retirement from active management views may be, businessmen fear the of the company at age 70. Dynasty pro- Implications for the Future greater repercussions for the Russian vides between $1 to $1.5 million a year Despite the government’s consider- economy and foreign investment. in scholarships, awards and postdoc- able efforts to depict it otherwise, Recently, even Russia’s foreign economic toral stipends for Russian students Khodorkovsky’s arrest is seen by most of partners have begun to speak out on the engaged in fundamental research in the the press, business community, human subject. About the actions taken against exact and natural sciences. The founda- rights organizations and leading Russian Yukos and Khodorkovsky, European tion also supports publications and cultural figures, as a political act, a Commission Director General for events that popularize Russian science. warning to Russian enterprise. Not External Relations, Eneko Lanaburu, Though Dynasty’s focus is on the sci- only has Open Russia funded human said in late July, that: “We interpret this ences, it also gives to groups working rights organizations that have rankled as a decision of President Putin to with at-risk children and their families the presidential administration, but destroy an economic empire that had to prevent adolescent homelessness. Khodorkovsky personally had begun to certain strategic goals of political influ- “I believe that philanthropy is an fund opposition political parties in the ence…. What’s happening is essentially inevitable process for a businessman,” lead-up to the March 2004 presidential a settling of accounts.”1 Certainly, some 1 Quoted in RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 142, Part I, 28 July 2004.

30 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:33 AM Page 31

of Open Russia’s beneficiaries have targeted at the development of civil and retribution. taken the political warning to heart: society— will be allowed to exist with- The effect of the government’s earlier this year the Russian State out the blessing of the president and actions is having a chilling effect that Humanities University (RGGU) was the presidential administration. Some continues to ripple on. The work of poised to sign off on a deal in which subjects—education, children’s welfare, Open Russia, for example, has already they would have received $100 million health and culture or donations to state slowed down and there are fears that it from Khodorkovsky and Yukos over a cultural institutions (like SUAL board will eventually have to close its doors. number of years; then the RGGU’s chairman Victor Vekselberg’s recent That prospect comes at a very inop- board suddenly rammed through a $90 million purchase of the Forbes col- portune time for civil-society-oriented change in their by-laws that would have lection of Russian Imperial Easter NGOs in Russia. Soros has basically deprived the donors of any fiscal con- Eggs)—are considered safe territory. closed down at this point, and many trol whatsoever. The deal fell through. Others, such as Chechnya, the environ- foreign donors are in the process “What we are seeing,” says Arseny ment and human rights, are not. of conceptualizing or implementing Roginsky, director of Memorial, “is the This “governmentalization” of phi- their “exit strategy” from Russia. (New ‘governmentalization’ of philanthropy lanthropy is entirely in keeping with Eurasia, for example, will become and charity in Russia.” The same view what has been the hallmark policy of a Russian spinoff of the Eurasia is echoed by many others, including Putin’s presidency: establishing a verti- Foundation, with $25 million in Kortunov and Alexeeva; “Yukos was a cal power structure in Russia, i.e., mak- seed money coming from USAID alone). Memorial announced recently that its project of recording the names of It is taken for granted that no Russian all the victims of Stalin’s purges could be seriously philanthropic foundation with a far-reaching held up by the lack of Open Russia funds. social agenda will be allowed to exist Given the extraordinary growth of Russian philan- without the blessing of the president. thropy and charity over the last few years, perhaps even this severe blow could warning,” says Kortunov, “that the gov- ing sure that different sectors of society be eventually absorbed—as long as ernment sees corporate and private phi- toe the government line. The current Yukos doesn’t go bankrupt, throwing lanthropy as a ‘voluntary obligation,’ a situation has made for what might 70,000 employees out of work, and oil sort of forced tax: if business has extra seem strange bedfellows, forging an production and the economy into a tail money, then the government will tell it alliance (or at least a platform of com- spin. And as long as the government’s what to support.” Others suggest that mon interest) between human rights recently submitted draft legislation the government sees “philanthropy” as and civil society activists on the one increasing controls on NGOs and a way to “patch up holes” in the federal hand, and big business on the other. requiring the registration of every budget, particularly for essentially Human rights and civil society activists foreign and Russian grant with a charitable social aid programs. have held round table discussions with special commission does not pass as Activities of the sort supported by business leaders and other civic profes- proposed. Attention to matters of cor- Potanin and Dynasty have been sionals on the issues and ramifications porate social responsibility has been received with approbation by the of the Yukos and Khodorkovsky affairs. massively increased. It seems certain Russian public and government alike. These two utterly disparate social that Russians, particularly the country’s But among businessmen and NGOs, groups with extremely different pre- wealthiest individuals, will continue to it is taken for granted that the 1991 backgrounds both have a vested fund projects in a wide range of activi- Khodorkovsky affair means that no interest in a country governed pre- ties, even though, for the time being, Russian philanthropic foundation with dictably by the rule of law rather than their funding choices will be carefully a far-reaching social agenda—i.e., one by personal or administrative whim calculated not to offend. ■

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 31

242814-Carnegie 10/8/0410:34AMPage32

Dr. forAgriculturalResearchinAfrica. MontyJones,ExecutiveSecretary, Forum S c COURTESY OF THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE FOUNDATION 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 33

S cholarshipemerges in

by K ENNETH WALKER frica As universities onA the continent grow stronger, research and science with a particular emphasis on practical results to aid national development are on the upswing. But can this trend continue, given the pressures to Westernize?

Long before the murders, rapes and mutilations that heard about the challenges facing Sierra Leone and the conti- resulted from one of Africa’s most brutal civil wars, the Sierra nent—about the need to alleviate hunger and poverty and Leone of Dr. Monty Jones’ childhood recollections seem the desire to see Africa grow. Jones and his siblings were sent almost idyllic. “It was a beautiful and peace-loving country,” to Roman Catholic schools and made to attend mass seven Jones recalls, adding. “People looked out for one another.” days a week. Jones looked forward to the rituals of the “Certainly, no one back then could possibly dream of any church, where he served as an altar boy. Sierra Leonean doing anything like ‘short-sleeving’ or ‘long- But as Jones was nearing the end of secondary school, a sleeving,’” adds Jones, referring to the practice of civil war rebels of cutting off the limbs of their victims either at the Kenneth Walker, who currently runs Lion House Productions, a hand or the elbow. South African strategic communications firm, has had a distin- “Sure,” he continues, “there was some hunger and guished career as a journalist. In the U.S., he worked for ABC poverty, but I couldn’t imagine a better place to grow up than News, covering the White House as well as the U.S. Justice Sierra Leone. Our currency was on par with the dollar.” Department and also served as a foreign correspondent. Before As the son of an engineer and a teacher, Jones—currently that, for 13 years he reported for The Washington Star newspa- executive secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in per, which assigned him to South Africa in 1981 where his Africa—lived a life of privilege. It was not unusual for gov- work earned several of the most prestigious awards in print jour- ernment ministers and other officials to be invited to dinner. nalism. In 1985 he won an Emmy for a series of reports he did

COURTESY OF THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE FOUNDATION WORLD THE OF COURTESY Jones recalls being enthralled with the conversations he over- on South Africa for the ABC news program Nightline.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 33 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 34

great rift developed between him and vation is spreading through much of the U.S. and other African countries.” the Irish priests he had loved so long. West, East and Central Africa. Finally, Karemera founded the Kigali “The fathers wanted me to go to Demand for rice is growing faster Institutes of Science and Technology, seminary and study to become a there than anywhere else in the world. Education, Health, and Agriculture as priest,” Jones recalls. “I told them I Imports drain an annual $3 billion a means of rebuilding Rwanda’s aca- wanted to go into agricultural science. from these African economies. demic and scientific classes. They were very angry with me, but I “Imagine,” Jones says, “what differ- In the years following independ- said that I wanted to help produce food ence that $3 billion can make in the ence, new governments, focusing on that would help feed the world.” lives of the people in those countries.” development, nurtured a small but With his father’s support, Jones vibrant academic community in Africa. defied the priests and chose his own path. Research and Science: Coming But over the next 25 years, as wars, This October, Jones will become Back from Diaspora economic collapse, one-party states and the first African scientist to receive the As a scientist, Jones is rare, not only military dictators crippled much of the prestigious $250,000 World Food for his talent, but for his continued continent, many—perhaps even Prize. “When I come to America to presence on the continent. Africa never most—of Africa’s scientists and aca- receive the prize,” Jones says, “I hope, had many scientists to begin with, demics were forced overseas. somehow, the priests learn about it and according to the international reference Between 600 and 700 Ghanaian realize that I made the right choice.” book, African Higher Education physicians, for example, are practicing in Jones is receiving the award for (Indiana University Press, 2003). In the the U.S. alone. That’s half the total pop- almost single-handedly transforming rice 1960s, which many consider to be the ulation of doctors remaining in Ghana. farming in West Africa. Early in his era of African independence, the conti- An estimated 10,000 Nigerian academ- career as a research scientist, Jones nent had only six universities and these ics now work in America. Between 1980 noticed that West African rice, which has enrolled only a handful of students. and 1991, only 39 percent of Ethiopian been under cultivation for 3,500 years, The Democratic Republic of students returned from studies abroad seemed to grow almost anywhere—in Congo, for example, reached independ- out of 22,700 who left. swamps, mountains, plains—even in ence without a single engineer, lawyer Many of the academics who sol- areas known for recurring droughts. or doctor. Most of the professionals the diered on in Africa increasingly aban- Several millennia of exposure to country was able to produce were doned research and development activi- such harsh conditions had made the driven away by decades of tyrannical ties as their universities thought them rice extraordinarily hardy—resistant to rule by the late Mobutu Sese Seko and a too expensive to maintain. Numerous pests, salinity, acidity, viral and fungal murderous and long civil war, which, scientists were forced into side work, diseases, weeds and droughts. There while officially ended, still produces like chicken and pig farming, just to was just one problem: the rice had very occasional outbreaks of violence. make ends meet. low yields. Rwanda had its own unique brain The result, according to the Science “Asian species,” Jones said, “have drain. Joseph Karemera, the current Citation Index, is that Africa accounts more than four or five times more Rwandan ambassador to South Africa, for 0.4 percent of the world’s R&D grain. It was obvious to me we needed was his country’s minister of education expenditures and produces just 0.3 to combine the two.” immediately after the genocidal percent of “mainstream science.” That’s exactly what Jones did. The violence that took place there in 1994 But recent visits and conversations result was “New Rice for Africa,” or was crushed. throughout much of West, Central, East NERICA. The new strain of rice “Out of 3,000 students and profes- and Southern Africa show that this pic- retained the hardiness of the African sors,” Karemera says, “we lost 1,500 ture is slowly beginning to change. variety and exceeded the yields of the students and 200 lecturers to the geno- The number of conflict zones has Asian rice. And the normal six-month cide. We had to bring in foreign man- decreased. Multi-party democracy is harvest time was cut in half. NERICA power to assist us in the government taking hold in several countries and the is transforming agriculture in much of and the university. We also tried to economies of several nations have West Africa—benefiting twenty million attract our people in the Diaspora to begun a slow but steady climb. African farmers, most of whom are women who come back and assist. And we sent out nations also declared a new era of were previously unemployed. Its culti- hundreds of students to study in India, accountability in founding the African

34 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 35

Union and the launching of the New in Africa—but there is very little of The combined efforts at reviving Partnership for African Development, what is referred to as “ivory tower” sci- African universities and the research both committed to continent-wide ence, or basic research, in most of within them has led to the formation of socioeconomic progress. In addition, Africa. Virtually all of it is strictly what one scientist calls “islands of many universities have initiated radical applied and practical. The research excellence” in African research, which reforms in their operations in close is focused like a laser on poverty are often focused around scientists like cooperation with their governments. alleviation, food security, healthcare, Monty Jones. These leading researchers International economic devel- have much in common. They tend, like donors are opment and fun- Jones, to have received postgraduate also con- damental social training in top Western or Japanese tributing. issues, such as universities. Most seem to come from The World the link between professional and deeply religious fami- Bank, the cultural practices lies. Almost all share a messianic zeal to International and the spread make a contribution to Africa’s devel- Monetary of HIV/AIDS. opment. Each seems acutely aware that, Fund and Research on food to many in the West, the phrase other donors security addresses “African scholarship and research” is an spent years how to increase oxymoron. refusing to fund the production of tertiary educa- staples like rice, A New Breed tion activities in corn, cassava Dr. Keto Mshigeni, professor of Africa, insisting and bananas. marine botany at the University of that this was a Elsewhere, many Namibia, is one of the new breed of waste of money scientists are African scientists. Mshigeni has, like better spent on focused on Jones, single-handedly created new primary and sec- curing or alle- industries for Africa’s subsistence farm- ondary education. viating Africa’s ers. His work has launched mushroom But times have COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL. tropical diseases. and seaweed farming industries where changed. The The 2003 research report Some scien- none existed before, creating jobs for World Bank, for of the University of tists insist that mostly previously unemployed women KwaZulu-Natal in South example, now Africa exemplifies the the relative absence in East and West Africa. recognizes the emphasis of the continent’s of basic or theo- In Zanzibar and in Mshigeni’s value of support- research community on retical research native Tanzania, 40,000 women are ing higher educa- “knowledge production that will always leave now farming seaweed, which in some expresses itself in practical tion in Africa and interventions.” African science form is probably consumed by virtu- other funders, such behind. Others, ally everyone on earth. It is used in a as Carnegie Corporation of New York, are like Dr. Asifa Nanyaro, director general of wide variety of pharmaceutical and emphasizing the support of African uni- the Tanzania Industrial Research and food products, including yogurt, versities in their grantmaking programs. Development Organization, are not as toothpaste, shaving cream and ice The Corporation is also part of the pessimistic. “We have many challenges in cream. From zero seven years ago, the Foundation Partnership to Strengthen Africa,” he says. “We have limited export industry in Tanzania is now val- African Universities, which has pledged resources and capacity, and there is a great ued at $20 million annually. Mshigeni to provide $100 million over five years to demand for solutions to problems. If we believes the kind of farming that has advance universities in six sub-Saharan don’t alleviate poverty and grow our been spurred by his research would be countries. The other members of the economies, there will be no one left to do sustainable in all the coastal countries partnership are the Ford, MacArthur basic research. Once African economies of the continent. and Rockefeller foundations. grow, there will be enough time and For his work on seaweed, Mshigeni All this has served to create a kind money to go off and think deep thoughts. has been awarded the UN’s Boutros of nascent rebirth of scientific research The next generation can do that.” Boutros-Ghali Prize. But he says the

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 35 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 36

biggest reward for him is to see how in languages not his work has resulted in an improved their own. Dr. Ruth quality of life for the women who have Oniang’o is the become seaweed farmers. editor-in-chief of “We thought, now we are being lib- the African Journal erated,” says 70-year-old Miriam Juma of Food, Agriculture, Hamis, who was the first woman to Nutrition and Deve- take up seaweed farming in Zanzibar, lopment, one of the where the project began. “We could growing number of earn a living.” She is speaking as part of scientific journals cre- a group of about seven women seaweed ated on the continent farmers, who all nod in agreement. because of the per- Ahura Abdul Aziz Isa, a 51-year- ceived difficulties of old mother of nine children, says, “The publishing in the whole family depends on this money. I West. “I’m finding can pay my children’s school fees and that, for some papers, buy the uniforms, shoes and books it may take two or they need.” three reviews just to Like Jones, Mshigeni’s scientific get it to the level of imagination was fired in childhood. He publication,” she says. says, “In my home village, Mamba Mshigeni’s work Same, in Tanzania, my friends and I is already delivering used to harvest certain plants, which we exponential benefits: put into river ponds. We caught fish new businesses have that way.” developed to add 2004 KENNETH WALKER 2004 KENNETH Mshigeni shares with Jones and value to farmed © In Zanzibar and Tanzania, women are the other leading African scientists, a deep seaweed, which is primary seaweed farmers. religious belief. Many of his friends refer presently cultivated to Mshigeni as “Almost Reverend,” only for the export because, by the age of 11, he could market. South African Klauss Rottman ship on seaweed farming, Mshigeni is recite more than 150 biblical verses has a seaweed processing business even more excited about his most from memory. in Johannesburg. He sees a wide range recent research—on the cultivation of One of the earliest lessons he of new applications for the product, mushrooms. “The global market,” he learned while studying as a scientist, including medicinal uses, crop fertiliza- notes, “is worth $30 billion a year for Mshigeni says, was that researchers’ tion and cosmetics. edible mushrooms and $10 billion for imperative to publish papers in English “Goiter is a huge problem through- medicinal mushrooms. Africa’s share of and other Western languages was out much of Africa,” Rottman explains. that is .03 percent. If we just took truf- hurting African development. “These “One hundred million Africans are fles alone, which we also have here in papers—many of them quite good— affected by goiter and other related dis- Africa—just like France—that one crop would just languish,” he notes. “They orders. Pregnant women don’t get is worth $3-4 billion.” were of absolutely no use to most enough iron and they have children Mshigeni is hoping that mushroom Africans because they were not in their with birth defects. Seaweeds are very farming, which he has helped spread to local language. I decided, starting with high in iodine. The problem with eight African countries so far, will the work on seaweeds, to translate them iodized salt is the iodine evaporates become the signature project for the into Swahili so that the people of East during the long distances the trucks UN ZERI project—Zero Emissions Africa could easily understand them.” have to travel. But seaweed retains its Research and Initiatives—for which he Another difficulty African iodine. It could be powderized, spread serves as Africa chairperson. researchers have with the publishing on food and save many lives.” “ZERI looks into a wide range of imperative is that many struggle to do so Despite the success of his scholar- materials that we generally conceive of

36 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 37

as waste in order to see how we can “This mushroom has long been the continent. The African Union (AU) turn them into raw materials for new, used by traditional healers as a rejuve- has a scientific technical committee on marketable, value-added products,” he nator, a tonic, an aphrodisiac. When we traditional medicine consisting of med- explains. “Africa, where 80 percent of tried it on HIV/AIDS patients, we ical doctors, botanists, pharmacologists, the people are subsistence farmers rais- proved it works for them. It improves chemists and traditional healers who do ing maize, sugar cane, cotton, bananas, appetites, skin and complexion. It ethno-botanical surveys. coffee, sisal and the like, produces huge builds blood vessels and improves cir- So far, in 19 countries, plants are amounts of organic wastes, which can culation. It revives the linings of the being collected and identified and com- cause pollution. Mushroom farming is intestines and helps cure fungus infec- piled into an ethno-pharmacopeia for just one example of what we can do tions much quicker. The mushroom each particular nation. “We are trying with this biomass, which can be used as seems to extend patients’ lives but we to document the botanical folklore in a substrate to produce not only mush- can’t say how long yet.” each country,” says Mahunnah, a mem- rooms but also bio-gas for energy, con- ber of the AU committee. struction materials and other products Traditional Practices Resurface “Whenever a traditional healer not yet dreamed of.” The garadema mushroom is one dies,” he says, “it’s like a library being The UN’s ZERI project in Africa, example of the growing interest in just burned. That’s what I say when I attend now headquartered in Namibia, aims to about every African country in tradi- their funerals.” have “Centers of Excellence” in eight tional medicine. Throughout the con- Some of the special plants them- African countries to research and dis- tinent, scientists are studying ancient selves are being burned, says chemistry tribute information throughout the plants and herbs. The aim is to try and professor Dr. Mayongo Nkunya, the continent about the marketable utiliza- reestablish traditional medicine as chief academic officer of the tion of so-called organic wastes. an integral part of the primary health University of Dar es Salaam. Nkunya, A growing number of African med- care system. who has long researched the efficacy of ical researchers are exploring another “Africa must return to traditional traditional plants on a variety of offshoot of Mshigeni’s work—medici- medicine,” says Dr. Ragasian African diseases, said one tree was dis- nal mushrooms. One variety, the Mahunnah, with the Institute of covered that was “very rare, but appar- garadema mushroom, is producing Traditional Medicine in Tanzania. “The ently the bark is effective against promising results. key to health care in Africa is to be malaria parasites. The people in that Dr. Waza Kaunda is the son of more preventive, because most area use it for firewood, so soon, the Zambia’s founding president, Kenneth Africans, once they get sick, can’t afford tree will disappear.” Kaunda, a Pan-Africanist. Waza Kaunda to treat diseases in the Western ways. Nkunya says another danger is bio- has been studying the use of medicinal We can’t afford the machines, or the piracy by pharmaceutical giants from mushrooms on HIV/AIDS patients. drugs, or the Western trained physi- developed countries. “They are taking “These mushrooms grow on dead cians who know how to use them.” large quantities of our plants and herbs,” trees,” Kaunda says, “and are a very Compared to the science in Asia, he reports. “They will make the com- good immune booster. In our research Latin America—even Europe and the pounds and then sell them back to us.” project, patients treated with the mush- U.S.—research in traditional medicine But the biggest problem, according rooms stop losing weight and keep in Africa lags far behind. Mahunnah to Mahunnah, is the way information improving. We surprise doctors at the says the main reason for this is colonial- has been passed on since antiquity. hospital when, after one year, we send ism. “When the colonists came, they “The tradition was always for knowl- them patients who they thought should suppressed the traditional medicine sys- edge to be passed from one person to have been dead.” tem. It was seen as something evil— another—usually within the same fam- Dr. Daniel Mtaengo, senior voodoo or witchcraft. The colonists ily—and regarded as holy secrets. Its research fellow at Tanzania’s Institute of used force in suppressing traditional possession guaranteed status in the Traditional Medicine, doesn’t think the medicines. People were killed in public community. Colonialism was successful mushroom is a cure for HIV/AIDS, or a for using them.” in suppressing traditional medicine substitute for anti-retroviral drugs—an The focus on traditional medicine because it didn’t take much to disrupt assertion that Kaunda agrees with. “It’s in Africa today is on taking an inventory the transfer of knowledge, since there an immuno-stimulator,” Mtaengo says. of the customs and traditions all across was no documentation.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 37 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 38

“Another factor in the loss of this “I also found another plant,” he knowledge,” Mahunnah continues, “is continues, “which, when used in com- that today’s traditional healers may not bination with two others, can be used have learned exactly the time of year or as a vaginal microbicide. You don’t have month to harvest the plants, or precisely to wait for the person to be infected. It how to process them. Was it the leaves, can be used in formulations by women the roots, the stems or some combina- to prevent infection. It prevents the tion of them that produced the cure? virus from attaching to the cells. I asked Many healers today will cure some peo- the American National Institute of ple and have no effect on others, and Health to test the plants. Their results not know why. Every time you pick a were even better than I was getting plant, the concentration of the active here. The plants inhibit the replication ingredient is different.” of HIV.” African governments are striving to Ayisi’s experience suggests another institutionalize traditional medicine. challenge for African scientists and gov- Even in South Africa, where Western ernments—very few universities or medicine is very advanced—the country nations have policies on intellectual Dr. Ragasian Mahunnah, Institute of Traditional Medicine in Tanzania

inaugurated heart transplants—tradi- property rights that enable researchers WALKER 2004 KENNETH tional medicine is being rediscovered as a to profit from their discoveries or to © method of primary health care in a prevent developed nations from pirat- ten years researching psychotherapy in nation where, like much of Africa, ing their bio-resources. Africa, starting in his native Nigeria. Western methods are too expensive to be Ayisi tried to patent some of the “Here, psychotherapy differs from practical for many people. traditional medicines himself in the the concept of psychotherapy in “The challenge,” says Mahunnah, U.S., but found the experience prohibi- Europe and America,” says Madu, “is to bridge the gap between Western tive. “Placing a patent on a product in “because it must include concepts like and traditional medicine, as they have Africa is not really effective. The U.S. religious and traditional healing. In done in China. There is mistrust has come to dominate the market on the typical African environment, these between so-called modern and tradi- intellectual property rights, so you have are very important. Eighty percent of tional medicine. Most of our doctors to apply there. But in the U.S., the Africans consult traditional or reli- were trained in the West. Once this process is so complicated and expensive gious healers.” divide is conquered,” he predicts, “over that very few people in developing Madu was trained in Austria, but the next five-to-ten years, we will have countries have access to it.” when he returned to Nigeria in 1985, cures for several diseases, including Despite the disappointments, Ayisi he was only one of five psychothera- malaria, hypertension, diarrhea and remains determined. “I always felt that pists for 135 million people. Madu was many others.” God has given a purpose to my life— soon “confronted with a lot of prob- Dr. Nana Kofi Ayisi, head of that there is something I have to lems. The clients’ attitudes were com- the vitrology unit of the Noguchi accomplish here in science on this con- pletely different than in Austria. First, Memorial Institute for Medical tinent. So that when children in the psychotherapy is completely new to Research in Ghana, believes he already future read history, they won’t think them, so a certain amount of psycho- has several treatments for HIV/AIDS. that their ancestors didn’t do everything education had to take place.” “I have worked on twenty-six they could to make the following gener- There are also three different kinds plants, and five of them have anti-HIV ations’ lives better.” of patients in Africa, Madu says. “There properties,” Ayisi says. “One particular Researchers in the fields of psychol- are the Westernized patients who are plant has properties that no drug has in ogy and psychiatry have also engaged used to seeing a Western medical doc- the world: it kills chronically infected with traditional healers. tor. There are the rural patients who are cells. HIV infected cells produce new Dr. Ntomchukwu Sylvester Madu is used to seeing the traditional healer. ones. One of our plants was able to kill the head of the psychology department And there are those born in the villages these new cells without affecting the at the University of the North in South but who moved to the townships. They uninfected cells.” Africa and has spent much of the past consult both types.”

38 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 39

Madu sees a growing body of scholarship and research in Africa. important role to play.” research that suggests many methods Many researchers insist their work is Dr. Bagele Chilisa, the head of the used by traditional healers “can be cate- informed by the need to reclaim and Department of Education Foundations gorized under psychotherapy. They are emphasize indigenous knowledge. at the University of Botswana, says similar to typical psychological meth- Professor Jacob Songsore, dean of many African researchers who were ods we use for treatment. They also use research and graduate studies at the trained in the West are beginning to herbs and concoctions.” University of Ghana, believes that challenge Western assumptions. He The recently deceased Dr. Thomas Africans “must reject the notion that we says, “Western philosophies…tend to Adeoye Lambo is widely regarded as are the oldest humans on the planet, yet dominate the way we carry out research. the founder of African psychotherapy. we know nothing. The resilience of The way we formulate questions, and The British-trained Lambo rejected Africa is something we have to build the way we analyze and report. These notions of European superiority by hir- on. If you bring Western technologies Western methodologies are taught as if ing regional traditional healers at the to Africa’s subsistence farmers, they they are universal and apply across all Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Aro, can’t use most of the techniques because cultures. They don’t. The consequence Nigeria to assist Western-trained psy- they are too expensive. If you bring is that we misrepresent the people we Western medicine here, are researching.” without accounting for local beliefs and tradi- Emerging African Definitions tions, and for poverty, it Nowhere is this drive to reclaim also won’t work. Even African memory more intense then in Western methods of con- the research of history. struction are problematic Much Western history of Africa, because sometimes mate- says Bertram Mapunda, who heads the rials used are not available archeology unit in the history depart- or not cost effective ment at the University of Dar es because they have to be Salaam, “would like to paint a picture transported great dis- of denying the responsibility of colo- tances and to places where nialism in the lack of development in there may be no roads. Africa. They insist that Africa had been This requires that we take culturally, economically and socially what we have—what we weak, even before whites came here. know works—and then Some go even further and suggest that use whatever we can from imperialism actually did improve the outside to improve it.” Africa. Most Africans find that argu- 2004 KENNETH WALKER 2004 KENNETH © Professor William ment ridiculous.” Dr. Nana Kofi Ayisi, Head of the Rugumamu, the associate Mapunda believes that African his- Vitrology Unit, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana dean of research and pub- torians and researchers face the challenge lications for the University “of rewriting this crooked history.” In of Dar es Salaam, agrees. Tanzania, Mapunda’s department is chiatrists in the treatment and inter- “There is a battle between indigenous spearheading a research project on the pretation of mental illness. They work ways and Western knowledge. We have early 19th century war of the Maji side by side. The programs have been to directly address the way resources are Maji—a campaign of resistance by so successful that the UN produced a used by the majority of the people. In Tanzanians against German occupation. film about the hospital, which has the area of law, people have to go back “The Germans would like us to served as a model for other African to traditional institutions, the way believe,” Mapunda says, “that there mental health systems. they are in Rwanda, in order to main- were a bunch of savages committing The continent-wide reaffirmation tain peace. Most people can’t afford barbaric acts against gentle white of traditional medicine represents a access to Western courts and people. We need to investigate the strong underlying current in much lawyers. Traditional leaders have an savage, barbaric acts the Germans

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 39 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 40

committed against Africans. We are of the elite, in many ways, this limited The study of philosophy is also focusing on the African perspective. I their contact with and understanding an emerging field in Africa: it simply see this trend as reclaiming our his- of African people, most of whom did not exist on the continent 50 years tory and heritage.” were peasants.” ago. Dr. Sanya Osha, one of Africa’s Something like Tanzania’s research of In addition to being Westernized, leading philosophers, says that one the Maji Maji war is occurring in most these first modern literary scholars of the first tasks within the discipline African countries, as researchers seek to also tended to be male, Conteh- “was to debate whether there was such a redefine themselves, not least in many Morgan notes. thing as African school textbooks that retain the Western “African litera- philosophy. We point of view. ture today is Western method- wasted several Literary scholarship in Africa is also about widening decades on that struggling with African definitions. John the landscape. question. But Conteh-Morgan of Sierra Leone is the There are more ologies are taught now we have editor of Research in African Literatures, a women and moved beyond it journal published by Indiana University more writers as if they are to define it.” Press. Conteh-Morgan and others chal- dealing with the African phi- lenge Western perceptions that, prior to many different universal and losophy is differ- colonization, Africa had no literature— peoples and ent than in the no written tradition. places of Africa. apply across all West, Osha says, “In both East and West Africa,” he Literature in “because of the says, “there were written traditions dat- Africa has unique nature ing back centuries before colonization. entered the cultures. They of our experi- Ethiopia’s Amharic is one of the world’s post-nationalist ences—out of most ancient written languages.” phase. There don’t. The conse- which all philos- Still, until relatively recently, is a greater ophy arises— Conteh-Morgan acknowledges, litera- recognition of quence is that we which include ture in Africa was an interest of only a indigenous tra- slavery, coloniza- handful of people. “Certainly since ditions. Writers tion, apartheid, colonization, literary scholars tend to are more pre- misrepresent the decolonization be Westernized elites who mainly pared to exam- and genocide.” were writing for one another, or for ine the societies people we are The “rele- critics in the West,” he asserts. in which they vance” challenges African literature after colonization live — warts researching. confronting all also had a political bent, Morgan and all. Nobel African academ- adds. “When African nations were Prize Laureate ics are hitting struggling for independence, the in Literature, Wole Soyinka has always philosophers particularly hard, Osha writers postulated a homogenous been a part of this modern tradition.” notes, saying, “Within universities and people. All Africans were one. They Habila concurs, saying, “The new governments, there is an unrelenting were constructing identities in oppo- African writer is in many ways better demand to know how the study and sition to and in contrast with the placed to understand and represent teaching of philosophy matters to the identities of the imperial powers.” Africa than his predecessors. The new pressing developmental issues of society. Writer Helon Habila recently stated writer is part of the new, powerless This is forcing philosophers to that, “Most African writers will readily middle class. He has no privileges. adopt a more multi-disciplined confess to not having written for a Often the best job he can hope for is approach—delving more into the social mass domestic audience, because as a teacher or a journalist. He is also sciences, like history. Philosophers must there was none. These authors were luckier than those who went before now deal with issues like democracy and the first to go to university, the first him because he has an emerging, human rights in order to justify funding to travel abroad, the first to get indigenous, educated audience to for research and even their very exis- government jobs. Because they were part address.” tence within universities.”

40 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:34 AM Page 41

South Africa lot of attention is Tebello Nyokong, tions,” she says. One of these “big” Not surprisingly, perhaps the one professor of physical-inorganic chem- research questions, according to Posel, country to have largely escaped such istry at Rhodes University, who recently revolves around what she calls “the overarching demands for “relevance,” as achieved a breakthrough that may meanings of money.” well as many of the other issues con- greatly improve treatments for cancer in One of the problems posed by the fronting other scientists on the conti- its early stages. After 13 years of many “meanings of money” presents a nent, is South Africa, which many research, Nyokong has identified new serious challenge to the development scholars across Africa do not regard as a molecules that, in combination with of scholars in South Africa, as well as developing country. lasers, would destroy cancer cells. throughout the rest of the continent. Dr. Loyiso Nongxa, the vice chan- Hard as it was for a black scientist Most scholars interviewed for this cellor of South Africa’s University of the to rise in a society where until the late article voiced serious concern about Witwatersrand, acknowledges that the 1980s such courses were reserved for the continent’s ability to produce a apartheid government “built a consid- whites, Nyokong, who is female, insists new generation of scientists and erable research infrastructure” at uni- the difficulties for women are just as researchers. versities there—a tradition the new pressing. “I have been ostracized by “A black graduate who has talent,” government is maintaining. And men in the sciences. It’s definitely an Posel says, “is snapped up by other whereas research in most of the rest of old boys’ club. When it comes to social- fields. There’s the temptation of money, the continent is rigorously applied, izing or mentoring or just being help- and there are huge sums of money to be South African scholars still find the ful, the men stick to themselves.” made outside academia.” The story is funds and time for so-called basic Hard science research such as the same all over Africa. Many scientists research, or, as Nongxa put it, to do Nyokong’s has proceeded without themselves say they would not encour- research for its own sake. much interruption in South Africa, age their children to pursue a path sim- Not surprisingly, South Africa has but the social sciences have undergone ilar to theirs because ‘there’s no money the continent’s best-equipped laborato- a revolution, in that they have tracked in it.’” ries and many of the continent’s most the trends in the rest of the continent “It’s a very serious problem,” agrees distinguished scholars. The vast major- to emphasis more practical outcomes. Professor Mayunga Nkunya of the ity of them, however, are white, as are Professor Deborah Posel, the director Faculty of Science at the University of the leaders in virtually every South of the Wits Institute for Social and Dar es Salaam. “Law and economics African institution. “We face multiple Economic Research (WISER), says are the most popular programs at the challenges as black academics,” says that after the democratic government university. Developing countries need Nongxa. “The primary challenge is to was elected ten years ago, “Those of us good scientists and engineers. If every transform the universities so that the in social sciences realized that we had a good person becomes a lawyer, then student body and faculty come to more responsibility to help reconstruct the the prosperity of Africa is at very seri- closely resemble the black majority country. A process of social engineer- ous stake.” population.” ing had to take place in order to Dr. Monty Jones, the NERICA rice There are several budding South redress the social engineering of inventor, was perhaps the one voice of African scholars beginning to draw apartheid.” optimism regarding the future. “Not attention. One may be the only black Many social scientists, Posel says, everyone can become lawyers or busi- astrophysicist on the continent. The moved aggressively into applied ness people,” Jones said. “There will cosmic imagination of Dr. Thebe research—either through the universi- always be some students who are Medupe of the South African ties or as a result of an explosion of pri- attracted to research and scholarship. Astronomical Observatory and North- vate consultancies. “That produced a As African countries continue to stabi- West University, was fired as a child very technocratic approach to knowl- lize and grow, there will be more schol- when he grew up in a poor village with- edge production,” Posel adds. “We ars. That is why, when I come to the out electricity, looking up at the African became fixated on knowledge that U.S. in October to accept the World sky while listening to the elders tell tra- could be used to fix things. That is why Food Prize, I will accept it on behalf of ditional stories about the African ani- we positioned WISER as one of the rel- all of Africa. I will accept it for what we mals depicted there. atively few institutions left that reem- have done, we are now, and for what we Another new researcher attracting a phasizes basic research on the big ques- will become.”■

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 41 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 42

F. W. DeKlerk was the president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994. His lifting of the ban on the African National Congress in February 1990 and releasing Nelson Mandela from jail paved the way for the negotiations which led to the end of apartheid and white minority rule. DeKlerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their work towards the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundation for democracy in South Africa. He is interviewed here by Susan King, Carnegie Corporation of New York vice president, public affairs.

F.W. DaneKlerk interview

Susan King: We’ve reach the ten-year think through the implementation of anniversary of—as it’s been described so well-balanced economic policies we have often—a miracle in South Africa. How do overcome the skepticism that originally you judge it? existed in the foreign investor community. F. W. DeKlerk: If I look back, I think SK: But in terms of housing, education, we have achieved most of the goals that jobs—those have been difficult areas AIMÉE SISCO 2004 were achievable within a short span of ten because so much ground needs to be made action—in a positive way that draws all the years, such as the creation of a constitu- up? energy in the country into this process tion and the acceptance of that constitu- FWDK: That is the challenge of the next rather than becoming a new divisive factor. tion as truly embodying the value system ten years. We’ve done a lot already in SK: Some people would think govern- of the nation. As Albie Sachs, one of our housing and in bringing fresh water and ment is the driver that really moves some constitutional court judges says, our con- electricity to more people. In terms of of these socioeconomic issues forward. stitution is the autobiography of the education, lots of preparatory work has How does a foundation contribute? nation—of the new South Africa. Our been done. But at the school level, things FWDK: My foundation does that in two democracy is developing quite satisfacto- haven’t changed all that much. There are ways. First, by trying to motivate all facets rily. This spring, we had our third general still good schools that are now fully inte- of civil society to be involved. Second, election. The first two went peacefully, grated and multiracial. That’s a great by promoting a constructive dialogue and I think the third one was even better. achievement, which happened without between civil society and the government In one sense, though, ours is not a much pain, but real improvement in the on transformation issues. very healthy democracy. I believe there’s education provided by the majority of our What that means, specifically, is that too much power in one party’s hands, and schools is still to come. we bring together a multidisciplinary that sometime or another we will have a As for unemployment, it’s extremely group—positively oriented people from realignment that will bring us away from high. So, poverty is clearly at the root of education, from charitable organizations, ethnically based and racially based politics many of our socioeconomic problems. from the church, from the private sec- and towards value-based political parties There are so many children, for example, tor—and sit down with government to and value-driven political debates. I hope living in homes where parents can’t even discuss the burning issues involved in the that will take place. I think only then will help with the schoolwork because of illit- process of black economic empowerment, we be able to say we have achieved our eracy among the older generation. affirmative action, strengthening the con- goal of becoming a truly non-racial The F.W. DeKlerk Foundation, stitution, etc. democracy, which is embedded in our bill which I created in 1999, is focusing its We’ve already had two brainstorming of rights and constitution. activities in South Africa on trying sessions with President Mbeke and I Economically things are going well. to make a contribution to assure that think we have built up trust. Now, we’re We need a much higher growth rate, but we bring everybody onto the playing preparing for a third meeting where we in American and European terms, our field with regard to the challenge will propose a joint action plan that growth rate of around about three percent of socioeconomic transformation—of draws everybody in with regard to in real terms is already quite impressive. I black empowerment, of affirmative socioeconomic reform.

42 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 43

SK: The government of South Africa is FWDK: I don’t think there’s a quick there is a broad, firm consensus among currently led by the African National fix for the vast problem of unemploy- the overwhelming majority of South Congress (ANC) which, for many years, ment that we have. It is not just the Africans—who are moderates—that we saw you as the enemy, although perhaps result of former policies, and so on. will make our constitution work. they wouldn’t be where they are if it wasn’t Unemployment is rife in other countries SK: In the U.S., we always feel that our for your leadership in ending apartheid. in Africa where they’ve been self-govern- first president, George Washington, helped Do they now see you as a real player in a ing for almost 50 years now—it’s a prob- us establish a vibrant democracy because new South Africa? lem of the developing world in general. he didn’t want to stay in office too long. It FWDK: There was a time when I think And South Africa is sort of a hybrid must have been also a positive thing to they might have been suspicious that I still country. It has a first-world dimension, have Nelson Mandela serve his term and had a political agenda, but it’s been but it has always had a third-world then leave office. accepted now by the powers that be within aspect as well. So we’re struggling with FWDK: I think it was a very good exercise the governing party that I don’t, and that I the same problems that the rest of the to have a change of presidents after one am making and can make a contribution. developing world is struggling with. term. In a sense, I think Mandela is missed, And there is a new openness and a new Our skills base cannot meet the but he’s still doing so much in the field of sense of trust on their part towards me, demands of the new economy and the reconciliation and in working toward which really strengthens my hand. I have new industrial setup that has developed socioeconomic transformation that not regular meetings with President Mbeke; through the technological revolution of having him as the president isn’t so hurtful. President Mandela and I have become recent years. If you look at Africa, only But the fact that there was a peaceful tran- quite good friends. We’re doing some four percent of African youth gets terti- sition, that a former president could stay things together: as part of this greater dia- ary education as opposed to nearly sixty involved in the country’s development, is logue, for instance, a group led by President percent in developed countries. That dis- an example to the rest of Africa that presi- Mandela’s foundation and a group led by parity tells you immediately why our dents needn’t cling to power in order to my foundation have already had a two-day workers don’t have the skills needed for play a constructive role in their country. get together. And we’re now working today’s economy. SK: That goes for you as well? towards a more structured agenda for a fol- In a country like South Africa, it is FWDK: Absolutely. I experience it from low-up meeting, where we are looking at fundamentally important that we get new day to day when I’m in South Africa, how to stimulate this dialogue at the local fixed investments, that new factories are where I continue to live and which is the level, the city level, the town level so groups built. That new sources of revenue are country that I love. The recognition and within each area can tell us what they feel tapped, new mines opened, new jobs cre- respect that I get from black South are the challenges facing us in achieving ated in new businesses. In some ways, we Africans is a great inspiration to me. socioeconomic transformation. are beginning to see that happening, such SK: You could have walked away after SK: And these are dialogues between as in the motor industry. South Africa has your presidency. What made you say, I’ve blacks and whites? become an impressive exporter of cars to got to keep investing in this country? FWDK: Absolutely. Southeast Asia, Australasia, and other FWDK: Well, I feel I have a residual SK: Between all racial groups? Indian Ocean realms, which has created responsibility. It would be arrogant to say I FWDK: Absolutely. But my team also has many jobs. And we’ve had hundreds of started it all, but I was one of the leading blacks on it, and also has people of color millions of dollars in new investment in figures who promoted the initiatives that on it. So, it is a truly non-racial group from South Africa. We need to make that hap- led to the creation of a new South Africa— both sides. pen in other spheres, too. which led to the peaceful transition SK: With unemployment so high, there is SK: Some people worry that South Africa towards a full and free democracy. But that frustration and anger among those in could go the route of Zimbabwe, which new South Africa is still like a young, ten- South Africa whose lives are not improv- for many years was doing pretty well as a der plant. It needs nurturing, it needs ing. Many people thought that the end of democracy and where the black and white water, it needs to be trimmed from time to apartheid would bring a better life. What is communities seemed to have a rapproche- time. And as long as I have the energy and the most important thing that you must ment. But Zimbabwe has now fallen into the capacity, I feel that I have a responsibil- work on when so many people are disap- disarray; there’s violence and chaos. Can ity to do my part—not from the perspec- pointed? Is it building the job base? Is it you avoid the same fate? tive of a member of a political party, but education? Or do you have to work on FWDK: I have no doubt that we will avoid from who I now am, a member of South everything at the same time? becoming a Zimbabwe. I say that because Africa’s civil society. ■ Editor's Note: In August 2004, F.W. DeKlerk announced he was withdrawing from the New National Party (NNP), of which he is a member, citing the fact that the NNP's merger with the African National Congress would leave "a gap in South Africa's political spectrum." F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 43 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 44

It was almost dark on the Syria-Lebanon intellectual program the project staff had care- campaign to connect with the American peo- border. Like most border crossings, there were fully arranged from their headquarters in ple and present a different picture than the nondescript, almost decrepit, colorless Washington, D.C. American policymakers are currently painting. office buildings just beyond the armed guard The day had begun with a fleet of small After the meeting with Assad, most of the passageways where everyone had to enter for government cars waiting outside the Omayad editors filed stories. Excerpts include this, from passport control. For the group on the bus that Hotel in downtown Damascus where the jour- AP’s Laura Myers, who wrote, “Assad disputed had just pulled up, it was going to be at least nalists had stayed the night. Drivers dressed in the case that the Bush administration had an hour-long wait. But there was no time for black suits whisked them through the city made to impose the embargo, saying Syria boredom among the passengers: with laptops behind a motorcycle police escort with sirens does not have weapons of mass destruction The International Reporting Project Giving Journalists a Ne

propped on the gray concrete barriers separat- ing the border from the road, a group of thir- teen men and women who make decisions about foreign news for some of America’s lead- ing news organizations energetically typed their stories with a single-minded passion. It was almost deadline back in the States. There is something about filing a story that animates a reporter and transforms a group of thoughtful individuals into a pulsat- ing, animated force. Newspeople seem to get their nourishment from knowing that an arti- cle they are working on will soon get into the paper or on the air. And this group had a story guaranteed to attract attention: President Bashar al-Assad, the son of the long-time Syrian dictator, had given them 90 minutes for PROJECT REPORTING THE INTERNATIONAL COURTESY The Gatekeeper Editors with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. what was billed as a briefing, but which later morphed from an off-the-record conversation blazing. They traveled past the UN building and there is no evidence of foreign fighters into a major newsmaking event. that had been bombed only ten days before, to crossing the border from Syria to Iraq.” The day before, the United States had the palace on a desert hill built to impress and From Steven Butler, Knight Ridder’s for- imposed long-talked about sanctions against exhude control. From this huge cement palace, eign editor: “Assad strongly disputed the prem- Syria for what the government described as designed by a Japanese architect with little rev- ise of the American demands while calling for a Syria’s continuing support for terrorism. In erence for anything Syrian, the entire sprawl- common effort with the United States to pur- this context, the fact that The Boston Globe, ing, ancient city of Damascus, with its souk sue peace in the Middle East and fight terror- Knight Ridder, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, and wandering neighborhoods, could be ism. U.S. officials acknowledge that Syria has Newsweek.com and even the far-reaching observed at a glance. provided important intelligence on terrorists.” Associated Press had their own journalists on The journalists walked through the wide From The Boston Globe’s James Smith: “In the spot to question the little-seen Assad corridors of the palace, which was devoid of a rare meeting with American journalists at meant they had a story and an inside perspec- furniture or art, past flowing fountains and his palace, Assad said Syria was still assessing tive for their news organizations. They had into a large elongated room where, without the impact that the sanctions could have, but something their competition did not. warning, President Assad waited to greet them, he downplayed their potential affect…Still, For the International Reporting Project one by one. The tall young man with a reced- the president suggested that even a symbolic (IRP) at Johns Hopkins University’s School ing chin hardly looked like the formidable U.S. move against Syria could hinder efforts of Advanced International Study, which had enemy described by U.S. diplomats. He also to gradually implement internal reforms and organized this trip to introduce American didn’t seem as crafty as he joked about his love ease Syria’s longtime suppression of political journalists to Islam and the Middle East, such of computers and e-mail. But clearly, this opposition.” a newsmaking opportunity was a welcome unusual meeting, arranged by Assad’s ambassa- For Assad, the morning spent with leading addition to the serious, diverse and challenging dor to the United States, was part of a Syrian U.S. journalists was a worthwhile exercise. For

44 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 45

be visiting before they left the U.S. “During your travels, at meetings you’ll attend, you’ll hear that the war on terrorism is a war on Islam,” Shehata told the group. His talk pro- vided a grounding in ideas that echoed throughout the trip. John Schidlovsky had organized the IRP program to pack in what he felt every reporter and editor would need to know in order to better cover this part of the world. Schidlovsky had founded the International Reporting Project seven years ago with the backing of the Pew Charitable Trusts, the sole funder before they ceased support so they could direct their

COURTESY THE INTERNATIONAL REPORTING PROJECT REPORTING THE INTERNATIONAL COURTESY resources toward other initiatives. (The Journalists Mark Bowden and James Smith walking the “Green Line.” International Reporting Project has since received grants from Carnegie Corporation of New York, as well as other foundations.) After a New Perspective on the News many years as a foreign correspondent, he wandered into the world of journalism educa- tion through the door of the Freedom Forum, the reporters, it was a high. They were in the needs of their audience, the demands in the a foundation focused on a free press. Middle East to learn, attend seminars, meet newsroom and unrelenting competition. Creating his own international program with leaders, both those in power and from the “I manage nine foreign reporters,” Steve for journalists was Schidlovsky’s dream. “I was opposition. They were here to experience the Butler, the Washington foreign editor for the increasingly disappointed that there were fewer different perspectives of the Muslim world in Knight Ridder chain, told the group, “I don’t news bureaus overseas at many U.S. news oper- Lebanon and Syria, but getting a story first- feel I have the background I need to make ations,” he said, “meaning, not only was the hand, feeling the pulse of a world leader was a informed decisions about their work.” This public getting less international news but jour- special experience, one bound to animate and was an interesting admission from a man who nalists had few opportunities to cover interna- energize these intelligent, well-educated and was hardly a neophyte in his profession. Fluent tional news.” He created a semester-long train- well-traveled journalists. in Chinese, he had lived and reported in Asia ing program for young working journalists But there was another benefit that these for many years but felt less grounded in drawing on the expertise of Johns Hopkins thirteen “Gatekeeper Editors”—as the group Middle East issues. He came on this trip hun- scholars. Each semester a new crop of fellows— was collectively known—were reaping, as well: gry for information, insight and knowledge. young or mid-career journalists who compete journalism is arguably the most prominent “We publish fast and on the fly,” confessed for the fellowships—come for four months of American profession that makes little invest- Arlene Getz, a South African who had covered classes and seminars at Johns Hopkins followed ment in its best and brightest. According to much of the anti-apartheid struggle and the by weeks of on-the-ground travel and reporting the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, transition to democracy in her home country in a chosen part of the world. the business world spends approximately two for Newsweek magazine. Now she is deputy edi- After a few years of working with young percent of its payroll on training employees, tor of the magazine’s web site and working and and mid-level reporters, Schidlovsky realized the technology world about four percent, but living in New York. She, too, wanted a deeper that, “We really had to reach their bosses. We journalism, by comparison, invests less than grounding in the Middle East, now the center learned that many editors in charge of foreign one percent in professional development. To of so much journalistic attention. coverage had not been to key countries in the be awarded an IRP Fellowship in International James Smith, a foreign correspondent for world, yet they were making decisions about Journalism, an editor must apply and be 22 years, explained that he manages six corre- how international news was presented.” Thus accepted. His bosses must agree to give him spondents for The Boston Globe and 80 percent the Gatekeeper Editors program was launched, the time off. of his time is focused on Middle East coverage. a yearly trip designed to give leading editors a All the journalists on this trip, from large He had recently opened the paper’s bureau in crash course in the culture, politics, history, and small papers from both coasts and points Baghdad but said, “ I’m not as familiar as I issues and perspectives of a particular region of in between, as well as from radio and television, need to be with the Middle East. I hope that the world. “As a result of these trips,” says had similar motivations for applying to partici- this experience will help me to direct our cov- Schidlovsky, “we could eventually have hun- pate in the current study tour, which they erage more knowingly.” dreds of participants who assume increasingly shared with one another in a small conference No one was saying it in quite so many important roles in their news organizations. room at an airport hotel a few hours before tak- words, but in journalese, for these editors, the Editors in chief; publishers—people in posi- ing off from Washington for Beirut. For more next two weeks of their lives could be head- tions to implement pretty substantial changes than a year, these editors had been planning, lined: Crash Course In Arab Public Opinion. and have substantial impact on their business.” managing, and editing copy focused on the war And that was almost exactly the preview As this particular Gatekeeper trip pro- in Iraq and other conflicts in the Middle East. they received from Samer Shehata, the Islamic gressed, it was clear that no news organization Since 9/11, there had been little let up for the scholar from Georgetown University who gave could have put together as deep, multi-faceted, foreign editors who daily have to assess the them an hour lecture on the region they would varied, or colorful a ten-day experience in F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 45 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 46

Lebanon and Syria as had Schidlovsky and his that the media often gives the impression that “was an unexpected benefit,” Smith said, “and deputy, Louise Leif. Leif, also a former journal- every street in Lebanon and the entire region is very helpful.” ist and veteran of television as well as print, is filled with demonstrations and conflicts with Iowa’s Cedar Rapids Gazette does not have a fluent in Arabic and she had made the arrange- police, military and civilian targets. I will cer- string of foreign correspondents making sense ments on the ground, which included a meeting tainly be looking for more in-depth material of the world for its readers, a group who with members of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that goes beyond the news of the day.” become unduly important every four years that had become infamous in the 1970s for kid- For most of the editors, the exhilaration of when the presidential election season begins in napping journalists and holding them hostage on-the-ground-learning had meant success. that state. Mark Bowden, the Gazette editor, for months, and which—with an irony lost on They shared an enthusiasm that comes from shapes the world view of many of those voters, none of the journalists on this trip—was now having pulled back a curtain and looked in on and for him, this trip was his first experience in hosting the Gatekeeper Editors at their head- a world that was no longer so obscure. the Middle East. “We hear so much in the news quarters. Leif has also arranged for seminars on “This will help me to steer my reporters about Islam being the precipitator of the con- Arab television, women’s rights, the United harder in the right direction. They know more flict and what we have learned in a very short Nations, politics, diplomacy and visits to the than I do, but I can push them for more depth. time is that the issues are much more complex: American embassy, the Hezbollah television sta- I now know what questions to raise,” Steve there is a conflict between religion, culture and tion and Beirut’s famous “Green Line,” the now Butler of Knight Ridder said. Butler and oth- tradition at work here. It’s been a very helpful busily traveled main avenue that had been the ers admitted that the Iraq war required a depth experience from that context.” If this study tour dividing line between Islam and Christian of knowledge no Pentagon briefing could pre- ends up helping Bowden think differently Beirut during the long Lebanese civil war. pare them for. Understanding the conflict in about foreign coverage, he also insisted it would It was a great deal to absorb. “The evalua- Iraq meant having a better understanding of have an impact on how he will assign and tell tion at the end of the trip will help us really the Shiite religion, the forces and power that stories about events in his local area where there shape Islam and the is a strong Syrian Islamic community. relationships between For Miriam Pepper, the editorial page edi- groups like the tor at the Kansas City Star who directs the Sunnis and Shiia. paper’s policy and chooses the op-eds that “I wanted to expand opinion for her readers, meeting some know more about the of the analysts and journalists whose work Islamic world and from the Middle East she sometimes publishes really see what life is was critical. “One problem we’ve always had is like in a society rising finding pro-Palestinian pieces to run in the up out of the conflict paper that are factual and reflect honest opin- in Lebanon,” Arlene ions. I think I’m in a lot better position now to Getz said. Once leery recognize what views are truly representative of of the heavily lecture- the region.” dominated schedule Based on the comments of the journalists COURTESY THE INTERNATIONAL REPORTING PROJECT REPORTING THE INTERNATIONAL COURTESY of the trip, she now who participated in the Gatekeeper Editors’ trip The editors with Sayyed Fadlallah, the spiritual saw it as a good mix to Syria and Lebanon, the program, with its leader of Hezbollah. Women were required to wear head coverings for this meeting. and such a founda- objective, in-depth and open-minded introduc- tion-sponsored study tion to the Islamic world and how many understand whether we met the editors’ expec- tour as a major plus. “At the moment,” she con- Muslims living in the Middle East view tations,” said Leif, “and how, if at all, their tinued, “American society is in the thick of a America, was clearly an unqualified success, and experiences will influence the way they handle conflict and people really need to know and reinforced the idea that journalism can best foreign coverage from this region in the future. understand exactly what’s going on. Good jour- serve a nation when it tells a story informed by We haven’t pushed any particular point of nalists have a critical role to play in informing the facts, buttressed by experience, and view,” Leif added. “We haven’t told the jour- the public.” unclouded by bias or political influence. How nalists what to ask or tried to achieve any out- For James Smith, the real motivation for much the program will be able to improve jour- come other than adding to their depth of participating in IRP was to learn about this nalism as a whole is a question open for debate, knowledge.” But would any of this make a dif- part of the world where America’s daily cover- but there was no doubt that it had deeply ference—would it really enrich and broaden age is focused. But he discovered something affected these thirteen editors, who left with the editors’ understanding of the international equally enriching in becoming part of a com- more understanding than when they arrived. issues they’d be asked to deal with when they munity of editors. “I wanted a chance to share “If there are foundations that want to got back to work? For Schidlovsky and Leif, an impressions with colleagues and talk with peers help shape American foreign policy, the affirmative answer to those questions would who face the same challenges as I do all the International Reporting Project is certainly an define success. time.” On the domestic side of the news busi- effective mechanism to consider,” Smith con- “We have always tried to be fair in selecting ness, Smith pointed to problems such as tight- cluded, echoing the sentiments of many others stories and pictures from the region,” Ron ening budgets, 24/7 decision-making and news in the group. “As editors and reporters, we are a Royhab the editor and chief of the Toledo Blade operations that are perpetually short-staffed, channel to a far greater number of people. Our in Ohio wrote in his evaluation, “but now I am then segued into concerns about the security of work magnifies the impact of the news. Our asking myself if we do enough to explain the reporters working in war zones. Realizing that readers are the American people, and they serious and complex issues. I am also concerned just about everybody had these same problems depend on us to tell them the truth.” ■

46 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 47

RecentEvents

Carnegie Forum On Social Inequality In 2000, Carnegie Corpor- Panelists (l. to r.) ation of New York partnered Jane Waldfogel, with the Russell Sage Larry M. Bartels and Foundation to explore a topic Barbara L. Wolfe high on America’s agenda: income inequality and the social impact of this growing inequity. The foundations commissioned forty-eight social scientists organ- ized into six working groups to examine whether the recent Vartan Gregorian increases in economic inequality introducing Eric Wanner have, in fact, exacerbated social inequities of the kind that might DENNIS MILBAUER make the widening gap between Woodrow Wilson School of become more or rich and poor Americans diffi- Public and International Affairs, less pronounced?” cult to reverse. Princeton University (Bartels is The answer, in The first phase of that also a 2004 Carnegie Scholar); all cases, seems to research is complete, and was Barbara L. Wolfe, Institute of be that economic published recently in the report Poverty Research, University of equality—which Social Inequality (Russell Sage Wisconsin; and Jane Waldfogel, has risen sharply Foundation, 2004), edited by School of Social Work, since the late Kathryn M. Neckerman, associ- Columbia University. 1970s when the ate director of the Institute for In opening remarks, Wanner United States expe- Social and Economic Research said, “The United States has rienced a series of

and Policy at Columbia been through an inequality economic shocks, DENNIS MILBAUER University. shock over the past few years such as stagflation, along with quintile lost income share…the On August 12, 2004, and this economic trend will demographic changes—seems bottom fifth of all American Carnegie Corporation of have important social conse- to be having both lasting and families saw their meager share New York and its president, quences.” Wanner explained debilitating effects on our of national income decline from Vartan Gregorian, hosted a that the four-year-long research nation. Access to education, 4.3 percent to 3.5 percent.” Forum on Social Inequality project sought to examine spe- to satisfying and economically The Carnegie Forums com- featuring some of the key cific areas of society—education, rewarding employment, to prise an occasional series of researchers who contributed to politics, work and family—and decent housing—to so many working luncheons and round- this first publication presenting to understand the dynamic of the benefits that we hope table discussions that focus on their findings. “We think the effects that income inequality and believe should be available national and international issues. time is ripe—now, when the had on each sector. “In each to those who play by the An essential component of these country is focused on the kinds social domain,” he said, “we rules—remain out of reach of events are the comments and of national concerns that chal- asked how the lives of the rich the economically disadvantaged. questions from the audience lenge us every four years—to and poor changed over the last Income is one important indi- of academic and policy leaders, bring the insights and policy three decades, as economic cator of these disparities: foundation colleagues and implications detailed in the inequality rose. Did inequality according to Social Inequality, journalists. This forum report to the forefront of our in family structure and invest- “From 1979 to 2002, families helped launch what both the national discussions,” Gregorian ments in children, in educa- in the top fifth of the income Corporation and Russell Sage told the forum. tional quality and opportunity, distribution increased their Foundation hope will create a Eric Wanner, president of the in health care and outcomes, in share of the national income deeper understanding of the Russell Sage Foundation, led a job quality and satisfaction with from 44 percent to just under consequences of social inequality panel discussion by three of the work, in political participation 50 percent, with almost all of and the role policy plays in nar- scholars who worked on the and influence, and in many this gain going to families in rowing the gaps of inequality. project: Larry M. Bartels, other aspects of social life the top 5 percent. Every other (Continued on page 48)

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 47 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:35 AM Page 48

RecentEvents... Continued from page 47

Var tan Gregorian for a lifetime’s work can be ation of New York in 1997 and of The Wall Street Journal and Receives Presidential daunting, but what we on the joined as the twelfth president Pulitzer Prize-winner; Edward Medal of Freedom Corporation’s board know only after serving for nine years at W. Brooke, first African On June 23, 2004 Vartan too clearly, is that no honor president of Brown University. American elected to the U.S. Gregorian, president of will slow down the vitality and As president and chief executive Senate since Reconstruction, a Carnegie Corporation of New creativity of Vartan. He has officer of the New York Public Republican who represented York, was one of thirteen indi- taken the subjects and skills he Library before that, Gregorian Massachusetts from 1967 to viduals awarded the 2004 has mastered at each job and is credited with returning the 1979; Doris Day, singer and Presidential Medal of Freedom, brought them to the foundation fabled city institution to its icon on the American movie the nation’s highest civil award. in a way that has made the international esteem and screen; Gilbert M. Grosvenor, Established in 1945 by Corporation a powerhouse of grandeur. Gregorian is an histo- chairman of the National ideas and possibilities. It is won- rian and teacher who recently Geographic Society; Gordon B. derful to see the White House authored Islam: A Mosaic Not Hinckley, president of The recognize his life’s work and his a Monolith, (Brookings Church of Jesus Christ of continuing contributions.” Institution Press, 2003) and Latter-day Saints; Pope John “This is wonderful choice by his autobiography The Road to Paul II; Estee Lauder, the late President Bush,” said Governor Home (Simon & Schuster, cosmetics pioneer; Rita Moreno, Thomas Kean, immediate past 2003). He has won numerous Grammy-, Tony- and Emmy- chair of the Corporation’s board awards and honorary degrees, award winning actress; Arnold of trustees. “It reveals a deep including the highest award Palmer, winner of 92 golf cham- respect for the role of a scholar of the American Library pionships; Arnall Patz, a world- in public life and recognizes Association, its honorary renowned ophthalmologist and the great importance of both membership. researcher of eye disease whose universities and libraries to Gregorian is the third presi- breakthrough work has helped America. Vartan has been hon- dent of Carnegie Corporation prevent blindness; Norman ored by both the academic and of New York to be honored Podhoretz, neoconservative library community many times, with the Presidential Medal of author and longtime editor of AP/WIDE WORLD AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS © and this Medal of Freedom Freedom. John Gardner was Commentary, the American Vartan Gregorian receives the Medal of Freedom from honors not only Vartan person- awarded the medal in 1964 and Jewish Committee magazine; President George W. Bush. ally, but also, both communities David Hamburg in 1995. and Walter B. Wriston, former whose work is vital to our This year, the other recipients chairman and chief executive of President Harry Truman, the nation.” of the Medal were: Robert L. Citibank and chairman of award is given each year by the Gregorian was named the Bartley, the late conservative President Reagan’s Economic president of the United States to president of Carnegie Corpor- journalist, editorial page editor Policy Advisory Board. distinguished leaders for service in a range of disciplines. In the White House announcement, Gregorian was recognized as a scholar and historian, for his work in revitalizing the New York Public Library, for his years of service as a professor and leader at six universities in the United States and for his philan- thropic endeavors. “It is a great tribute to Vartan who is a teacher’s teacher, a scholar’s scholar and a philan- thropist’s philanthropist,” said Helene Kaplan, chairman of the AP/WIDE WORLD AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

board of trustees of Carnegie © Corporation. “To be recognized The medal winners and their representatives in the White House.

48 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 49

NewBooks

attempt at what they call tion model to advance our The New York Times “nation-building lite” was a fail- understanding of a foreign Guide for Immigrants ure. Daalder and Lindsay sug- equity market…One of the key in New York City America Unbound: gest that although it is too early questions was how much an by Joan P. Nassivera, The Bush Revolution to judge whether Bush’s foreign investor should be willing to pay in partnership with policy revolution will ultimately for the market’s exceptional rate the Lower East Side in Foreign Policy Tenement Museum by Ivo H. Daalder and be successful, in one respect— of growth. Since it was well Thomas Dunne Books, 2004 James M. Lindsay assuming that overwhelming known that not all forms of Many immigrants who arrive Brookings Institution Press, 2003 power alone is enough to earnings growth contribute to a When George W. Bush took in New York City have neither achieve America’s goals—it has firm’s value, Stan and I tried to family nor friends in their new office, he was widely criticized already been proven wrong. probe more deeply into the for his inexperience in world home, and nobody to help them value-additive component of solve basic problems like finding affairs, and many thought that Franchise Value: growth, which we chose to char- the more seasoned members of housing and employment. A Modern Approach acterize by the term ‘franchise his cabinet would dictate his for- Those from countries where to Security Analysis value.’” One reviewer said the eign policy. In America government officials and the by Martin L. Leibowitz book was “A bold investigation police are feared often distrust Unbound: The Bush Revolution John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2004 into the basis for common stock in Foreign Policy, Ivo H. groups that can help them. The Inside the Yield valuation that will challenge Daalder, a senior fellow in New York Times Guide for Book: The Classic That conventional thinking about Foreign Policy Studies at the Immigrants in New York City Created the Science such basic ideas as earnings Brookings Institution, and is an important resource that of Bond Analysis and growth.” James M. Lindsay, vice president provides answers to many criti- by Sidney Homer and Along with the late Sidney and director of studies of the cal questions immigrants may Martin L. Leibowitz Homer, who was the founder have, such as how to find a job, Council on Foreign Relations, Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1972; Bloomberg and general partner in charge of explain how President Bush has Press, 2004 enroll their children in school, Martin Leibowitz, vice chair- Salomon Brothers’ bond market open a bank account or get brought about a foreign policy research department, Leibowitz revolution based not on deep man of Carnegie Corporation of medical care. The Guide, which New York’s board of trustees, is is also the co-author of Inside the was supported by Carnegie knowledge of international poli- Yield Book, first published in tics but on firm convictions currently a managing director in Corporation and other founda- the research department of 1972 and reissued this year. This tions, also offers advice for deal- about America’s international updated edition of the classic role. Moreover, they argue that Morgan Stanley; prior to that, ing with a host of legal and for nine years he was vice chair- volume, which has been in print practical problems including Bush, not his advisors, has for over 30 years, “explains and orchestrated this revolution, man and chief investment officer how to work towards citizenship of TIAA-CREF, overseeing more makes sense of essential mathe- as well as where to take free noting that he chose cabinet matical relationships that are members and foreign policy than $300 billion in invest- English classes. While there are ments. The author of several basic to an understanding of many places in New York where advisors who share his “hege- bonds, annuities, loans…any monist” worldview, which sees previous books and more than immigrants can go for help, 130 articles, Leibowitz has now securities or investments that recent arrivals may have no way America as a unique power that involve compound interest and must not be bound by interna- written Franchise Value: A of connecting with them. That Modern Approach to Security the determination of present is why one of the most valuable tional coalitions and treaties value for future cash flows.” unless they are in its own inter- Analysis, which provides invest- sections of the Guide is probably ment practitioners with a Frank J. Fabozzi, Editor of the the resource directory, which est. Daalder and Lindsay, both Journal of Portfolio Management members of the National comprehensive guide to lists names and contact informa- price/earnings ratios and equity and Frederick Frank Adjunct tion for the many agencies, Security Council under Professor of Finance at Yale President Clinton, also analyze valuations. The franchise value services, and groups that be of (FV) approach, explains University’s School of assistance to immigrants and how the war against terrorism Management has written of has tested this principle, offering Leibowitz, springs from work details the services each pro- he and an associate, Stanley Inside the Yield, “This book vides, in what languages and their assessment of the Bush transformed the markets’ under- Administration’s successes and Kogelman, undertook in the late for whom. Helpfully, the book 1980s at Salomon Brothers. standing of bonds. The new is divided into three sections failures in Afghanistan and Iraq. material in this expanded edition Regarding Iraq, the authors say Discussing the development of where the information is pro- FV, Leibowitz writes, “We had extend those insights to equities vided first in English, then that while the war itself was an and other investments…” extraordinary success, the been asked to develop a valua- Spanish, and then Chinese.

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 49 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 50

NewBooks... Continued from page 49

Islam in Russia: and national identity, providing Hamburgs examine the potential professor of education and the Politics of Identity critical new insights for policy- of education to prevent hostility human development at Harvard and Security makers, scholars and the public. and violence on all levels: in fam- Graduate School and professor of by Shireen T. Hunter Hunter is also the author ilies, in communities, among psychology at Harvard Medical M.E. Sharpe, 2004 of Modernization and diverse ethnic and religious School, documents their 30 years Islam in Russia: the Politics of Democratization in the Muslim groups, and among nations, pos- of creative research in The Identity and Security is a thor- World: Obstacles and Remedies tulating that, if hatred can be Promotion of Social Awareness ough study of Islam’s influence (Center for Strategic and taught, so too can tolerance and which was written, in part, with on post-Soviet Russia. Shireen T. International Studies, April cooperation. They note, how- Corporation support under its Hunter, director of the Islam 2004), which provides a wide- ever, that prejudice is to some focus in prior years on early Program at the Center for ranging and objective overview degree inherent in group psy- childhood development. The Strategic and International of the Muslim world, incorporat- chology, and hence “education original foundations of Selman’s Studies, explores the role of the ing politics, history, economics everywhere has been ethnocen- research were the theories of “Islamic factor” in developing and development issues, while tric—and all too often virulently moral development established Russia’s national identity and its also exploring the “Muslim prejudicial.” As a remedy, the by the psychologists Jean Piaget impact on Russia’s relations with world’s modernization and authors—in this profoundly and Lawrence Kohlberg, which both the West and Muslim democracy gap.” hopeful book—advocate an postulate that moral develop- nations. Hunter begins with a expansion of “peace education,” ment comes primarily through history of Russian-Arab relations, Learning to Live a form of conflict-resolution recognizing different points of from the Mongol invasion to the Together: Preventing instruction that addresses large- view and having positive social present day, explaining how the Hatred and Violence in scale group conflicts. They relationships. Selman and his patterns of conquest, assimila- Child and Adolescent explain how, with the help of colleagues began researching tion, and resistance have made Development universities, international organi- these theories by presenting at- Russians and Muslims view one by David A. Hamburg, M.D. zations, and foundations, both risk children in Boston-area pub- another as the “hostile other.” and Beatrix A. Hamburg, industrialized and developing lic schools with brief stories that Since the fall of the Soviet M.D. nations can realize the potential made them consider moral or Oxford University Press, 2004 Union, many predominantly of peace education to teach inter- social dilemmas. This allowed In Learning to Live Together, Muslim areas of Russia have group cooperation. the researchers to expand their David Hamburg, president emer- struggled for both cultural and predecessors’ theories by identify- itus of Carnegie Corporation of geographic independence; how- The Promotion of ing different stages of social skills New York and his wife, Beatrix ever, many Orthodox Russians Social Awareness: development. Their work also Hamburg, a visiting scholar in have increasingly asserted their showed that literature can be the Department of Psychology at Powerful Lessons from nation’s cultural and religious very effective in making children Cornell University’s Weill the Partnership of homogeneity, a conflict that consider different points of view. Medical College, apply their Developmental Theory complicates the development of a Selman and his colleagues next experience in the field of conflict and Classroom Practice civic, multiethnic Russian iden- addressed a practical problem: resolution and human develop- by Robert L. Selman tity, and may eventually endan- Russell Sage Foundation, 2003 integrating their theories into the ment to examine how children ger Russia’s stability. Islam in The social behavior that chil- curriculum. Together with the can be taught cooperation and Russia, which was supported dren learn in elementary and Voices of Love and Freedom, a tolerance rather than hatred and by a grant from Carnegie middle school can vitally affect group that tries to advance cul- prejudice. The authors argue Corporation, also painstakingly their futures, yet teachers every- tural and social awareness in ele- that despite the historical perva- examines the way Islam has where rarely include social skills mentary schools, they developed siveness of warfare, it is preventa- shaped Russia’s foreign relations, education in their lesson plans. a program to combine literacy ble, and the immense destructive particularly since the terrorist How can educators promote pos- education with social and con- power of modern weaponry attacks of 9/11 and itive, healthy social interactions flict-resolution skills. The makes conflict avoidance a neces- analyzes the international while still teaching basic aca- Promotion of Social Awareness sity. In attempting to avert vio- importance of the wars with demic skills? Since the early describes this program using lent group conflicts, scholars Chechnya, as well as the way 1970s, the Group for the Study extensive examples from the have focused on political and they have radicalized both of Interpersonal Development, classroom, and offers insightful economic means of deterrence, as Islamic fundamentalists and an informal coalition of conclusions about both the Hamburg did in his 2002 book Russian nationalists. The book is researchers, has investigated this potential and the difficulty of No More Killing Fields. Now, in an important study of the inter- question in schools from Boston bringing developmental theory to Learning to Live Together, the play of religion, history, politics to Iceland. Robert L. Selman, our public schools.

50 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 51

FoundationRoundup

PUBLIC RADIO CAPITAL

Extending the Reach of Public Radio Solutions Proposed for New Guidebook for The Ford Foundation has Spiraling Tuition Costs Foreign Policy Advocacy recently joined other funders in America’s college students and The Henry L. Stimson Center in supporting Public Radio Capital Youth Vote a Force their families, especially those Washington, D.C. has announced (PRC), an organization that to be Reckoned With from the middle and lower- publication of a “how-to” book works with public broadcasters to Research and polling data show income strata, are facing spiraling that offers nonpartisan strategies acquire new channels and stations America’s 18-to-24-year-old regis- tuition costs that may limit access for engaging Congressional mem- to extend the reach of public tered voters now represent a voting to higher education and ulti- bers on national security issues and broadcasting and bring its pro- bloc sizable enough to affect the mately, lifetime opportunity. promoting effective policy changes. gramming to underserved areas. outcomes of elections over the A new policy brief from Policy Matters: Educating Working closely with public next several years. Lumina Foundation identifies Congress on Peace and Security lays broadcasting stations and affilia- According to the New Voters conditions responsible for the out new ways of thinking about tion groups, PRC offers a range of Project’s (NVP) 2004 Youth Vote jump in cost, including a greater today’s security needs and offers services to support these transac- Briefing Memo, Generation Y—the demand for college diplomas, user friendly tips for formulating tions: an intermediary to purchase largest generation since the Baby shortages of space and learning strategies to engage Congress that radio stations, a representative for Boom—has nearly 25 million eli- support programs, national and can be employed by a diverse organizations deciding to buy or gible voters, and for the first time fiscal economic problems and the constituency, including religious sell stations and as a financial in 20 years, young people’s interest public’s demand for accountability groups, verteran’s organizations, advisor to public broadcasters for in politics and civic participation from colleges and universities over grass-root activists and academics. strategic business planning. PRC is on the rise. academic standards. Because, as polls indicate, most has also introduced the use of tax- NVP predicts that youth voters Lumina’s report—Collision Americans favor cooperative secu- exempt financing to public broad- could tip the scales in several 2004 Course: Rising College Costs rity arrangements based on shared casting, enabling nonprofit enti- state elections, including Florida, Threaten America’s Future and values and common good, they also ties to participate in the highly Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, Require Shared Solutions—suggests mistakenly assume that legislative competitive media marketplace. and that they might have a signifi- a set of sweeping remedies for policy reflects public opinion, Since its creation in 2001, cant impact on the presidential these problems such as bolstering according to a recent study by the PRC has been involved in trans- race as well. The numbers haven’t the purchasing power of Pell Woodrow Wilson School of actions around the country that been lost on political parties: both Grants, the lynchpin of student Princeton University. As a conse- have advanced the reach of public have supported major grassroots financial aid and streamlining quence, they remain passive when broadcasting, resulting in the efforts targeting young voters and related federal regulations. it comes to advocating for bal- addition or preservation of 12 GOP and Democratic leaders have Other suggestions: state gov- anced, long-term and cost-effective locally owned public stations that appeared on MTV. ernments can reassess funding approaches to U.S. security. provide news, information, music The nonpartisan NVP is priorities by considering the eco- Countering this misconception and cultural programming to coordinating projects in six nomic benefits a college educa- and pushing for legislative change over 10.5 million listeners. states—Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, tion brings—higher salaries, are major challenges to Americans Original funding for PRC came New Mexico, Oregon and increased tax revenues, social hoping to revise national security. from the Corporation for Public Wisconsin—with the goal of regis- cohesion, decreased crime rates Drawing on their expertise in Broadcasting through the Station tering 265,000 young voters, coor- and improved quality of life. the security field and their consid- Resource Group. Since then, the dinating person-to-person contact Recognizing that more graduates erable Capitol Hill experience, Surdna Foundation, the Open among one million youth, and want to earn a college degree, authors Lorelei Kelly and Elizabeth Society Institute and other founda- organizing voting initiatives on high schools can offer academic Turpen offer an inside-out view tions have also provided support. 300 campuses. rigor to ensure their students are of navigating peace and security Ford Foundation funding will NVP is a joint project of the well prepared. Colleges and uni- issues in Congress and informed enable PRC to break new ground Graduate School of Political versities can nurture academic insights into promoting balanced with additional broadcast partners Management at The George achievement by providing sup- solutions to the nation’s most and to insure that additional Washington University, the State port programs, reallocating pressing foreign policy and security broadcast channels are owned and Public Interest Research Groups financial resources, and building challenges. For more information: operated by local public broadcast- (PIRGs) and The Pew Charitable institutional endowments. For www.stimson.org. ing organizations. For more infor- Tr usts. For more information: more information: www.lumi- mation: www.pubcap.org. www.newvotersproject.org. nafoundation.org. F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 51 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 52

BackTHE Page

Adam Meyerson is president of as important, provides inter- power to review and revoke the general to make contributions to The Philanthropy Roundtable, a ested parties such as The Philan- tax-exempt status of every foun- charities of the AGs’ choosing, to national association of 500 foun- thropy Roundtable with a dation every five years—espe- change the composition of their dations, philanthropic families, valuable opportunity to share cially when this is combined boards (without any findings of and corporate giving programs. their views. with another proposal allowing wrongdoing by directors), and to Its mission is to foster excellence The Philanthropy Roundtable state attorneys general to enforce open up the board meetings of in philanthropy, to help donors is strongly committed to protect- federal tax laws. This automatic private institutions to the public. achieve their philanthropic intent, ing the philosophical diversity of power, unless it is very carefully Private foundations currently and to help donors advance free- the philanthropic sector, and to circumscribed, would give indi- have the legal authority to make dom, opportunity, and personal preserving the freedom of private viduals in positions of authority their own decisions about such responsibility in America and foundations and other philan- an opportunity to use the IRS as important internal questions. We abroad. This article is adapted thropic vehicles to make funda- a weapon against charities and are concerned that a five-year from an editorial in the July- mental decisions about how best foundations they disagree with review power in the hands of August 2004 issue of the Round- to achieve their charitable objec- philosophically. As recently as state attorneys general would put table’s magazine, Philanthropy. tives. And from this perspective, 1997, allegations were made that private foundations at their we have seven principal concerns the IRS targeted for audit tax- mercy. This is because the threat A Dangerous Threat to Philanthropic

by A DAM M E YERSON

COURTESY THE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE THE PHILANTHROPY COURTESY Freedom The Philanthropy Roundtable about the Senate Finance Com- exempt organizations that were to revoke tax-exempt status of a applauds the Senate Finance mittee discussion draft. critical of Clinton Administra- foundation imperils its very exis- Committee for its leadership in First, we are troubled by a pro- tion policies. And while an tence and can tie it up in admin- working to reduce abuses of posal giving the Internal Revenue investigation by the staff of Con- istrative knots, making it much tax-exempt status in charities, Service the power to review foun- gress’ Joint Committee on Taxa- more difficult to carry out its private foundations, donor- dations’ and other tax-exempt tion “found no political bias in philanthropic mission. advised funds, and other organizations’ “management poli- the IRS’s selection of tax-exempt Third, we are concerned 501(c)(3) organizations. In cies regarding best practices” and organizations for audit or the about a proposal to make a foun- many cases, the remedy for these “a detailed narrative about the conduct of such audits, the Joint dation’s continued tax exemp- abuses may require additional organization’s practices” as part of Committee staff did identify cer- tion contingent on approval by a resources for the enforcement a review process for determining tain procedural and substantive private accrediting agency for of existing laws and more timely continuation of tax-exempt sta- problems with IRS processes charities or foundations. Unless and accurate reporting and tus. We are not aware that the that may have contributed to a there is a wide variety of philo- disclosure. In other cases, as IRS has any expertise in judging a perception of unfairness.” sophically diverse accrediting demonstrated by published foundation’s internal manage- A likely greater danger, again agencies, or unless there are very reports on the overvaluation of ment policies and procedures. unless the power to revoke tax- minimal standards for accredita- donated vehicles, new laws may Even more important, this new exempt status is very carefully tion, an accreditation require- be needed to provide targeted power would represent a substan- circumscribed, is that state attor- ment could pose a serious threat remedies for specific categories tial intrusion by federal authori- neys general would abuse this to independent thought in char- of abuse. The June 22, 2004, ties into the internal workings of power to put inappropriate polit- itable and philanthropic organi- Senate Finance Committee dis- a private organization. It has no ical pressure on private founda- zations. The experience of col- cussion draft describes several of place in a free society. tions. This is not an idle threat. leges and universities, which the issues and identifies several Second, we are concerned by a Our members tell us they are fre- must be accredited in order for possible solutions, and equally proposal to give the IRS the quently asked by state attorneys their students to be eligible for

52 carnegie reporter—F all 2oo4 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 53

federal loan guarantees, illus- cussion draft would sharply make internal decisions about standards. The money would trates the problem. Beginning in limit, and perhaps eliminate alto- how best to carry out their chari- come from the tax on net invest- the early 1990s regional accred- gether, compensation for foun- table mission. ment income on foundations. iting monopolies threatened to dation trustees. There is a long Fifth, we agree with the con- The Philanthropy Roundtable deny accreditation to some very tradition in the foundation world cerns articulated by Derek Bok of believes that it would be totally fine colleges, such as Thomas of expecting trustees to make a Harvard University at the June inappropriate for the philan- Aquinas College in California, gift of their time and serve on 22, 2004, hearing. “There is a thropic sector to turn to govern- because they did not agree with boards without compensation. danger,” Professor Bok argued, ment to raise resources for its the colleges’ curricula. The presi- There is another long tradition “that in enacting rules in own self-improvement. Philan- dent of Stanford University, Ger- which believes in paying busy response to a few particularly fla- thropists and the organizations hard Casper, wrote that the trustees for their time and judg- grant, widely publicized abuses, that serve them have the accreditors’ pressure for con- ment. Our experience is that regulators will impose burdens of resources to raise this money formity “would ruin a system of philanthropic excellence—and paperwork, record-keeping, and themselves. Turning to govern- higher education that allows philanthropic mediocrity—is other costs on all non-profits that ment for financial help would Stanford and Thomas Aquinas well represented in both tradi- will more than equal any benefits also be deeply corrupting to the College to serve students of dif- tions. More important, this is a achieved by government inter- spirit of independence and vol- ferent tastes.” This threat to aca- judgment for the foundation vention.” We are particularly untary initiative that animates demic and intellectual freedom itself to make. concerned that the imposition philanthropy at its best. diminished somewhat when the Some foundations might pre- of Sarbanes-Oxley-type require- The Philanthropy Roundtable U.S. Department of Education fer to spend relatively more on ments on foundations with small is not reflexively opposed to all authorized a new accrediting trustees than on staff, or vice staffs or boards would impose regulation of foundations and agency (the American Academy versa. The travel needs of a very substantial costs with very other philanthropic vehicles. of Liberal Education) as a com- foundation with international uncertain benefits. Our interest is in preserving petitive alternative to the charitable objectives will differ Sixth, we are concerned by a the freedom and philosophical regional monopolies. substantially from those of a proposal in the discussion draft to diversity of the philanthropic Fourth, we are concerned foundation focused on a local require the public disclosure of sector. Freedom thrives under about proposed micromanage- community. These are judgment contributions by donor-advised the rule of law. Freedom thrives ment by the federal government calls for the foundation. It funds. Private foundations have under conditions of robust of internal decisions involving would be better to have an prospered under their public dis- debate, competition, and staff and trustee compensation overall cap on administrative closure requirements of the past exchange of ideas. Freedom and travel budgets. This is a expenses as a proportion of total 35 years, and they would not suf- thrives when there are standards departure from a long tradition in expenses (allowing room for fer under proposals in the discus- of excellence and vigorous federal and state law of respecting additional operating-foundation- sion draft to ensure more accurate watchdog groups monitoring the diversity of the philanthropic type expenditures of a genuinely and timely filing of IRS Form performance. These watchdogs sector in terms of mission, philos- philanthropic nature), than for 990-PFs. However, individual include the press, professional ophy, size, operating style, and government to second-guess donors have always enjoyed the associations and gadflies, and, division of staff and trustee most individual expenditures on right to keep their charitable con- where necessary, regulatory responsibilities. The tax exemp- travel and compensation. tributions confidential if they agencies. There is a role for the tion has been framed broadly to As demonstrated by the recent wish. Disclosure requirements for public sector and a much larger encourage this diversity and flexi- jury trial of former officers of the donor-advised funds would most role for the private sector in cre- bility, and regulations such as King Foundation in Texas, there likely reduce charitable giving by ating the conditions where phil- those guarding against self-deal- are examples of fraudulent and taking away a highly efficient anthropic freedom will thrive. ing and investment abuse have grossly excessive compensation in vehicle for living donors who In sum, The Philanthropy not interfered with the ability of a the foundation world. In the cherish their privacy. Some other Roundtable applauds the Senate foundation to make its own deci- King Foundation case, existing regulations may well be necessary Finance Committee for its work sions about how to achieve its laws were sufficient to punish the to ensure that expenditures by to reduce foundation and other charitable objectives. By contrast, wrongdoers. Should new laws be donor-advised funds are made for abuses in the tax-exempt sector, the Finance Committee discus- necessary to guard against other charitable purposes. and we are committed to ensur- sion draft suggests that govern- cases of excessive compensation, Seventh, we are concerned by ing that reforms of the law will ment knows better than founda- they should be narrowly targeted a proposal for government to preserve the freedom of philan- tion leaders how their organiza- to address the abuses in ques- subsidize efforts within the phil- thropists to make key decisions tions should be run. tion—without interfering with anthropic sector to encourage about how best to achieve their To cite one example, the dis- the discretion of foundations to best practices and set accrediting charitable mission. ■

F all 2oo4 — carnegie reporter 53 242814-Carnegie 10/8/04 10:36 AM Page 54

CARNEGIE a footnote to

Fall 2004 C ARNEGIE C ORPORATION OF N EW YORK 437 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10022 Phone: (212) 371-3200 Fax: (212) 754-4073 t his own request, Andrew Carnegie was Web site: www.carnegie.org buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Vice President, Public Affairs: North Tarrytown, New York. The site was Susan Robinson King A EVEROD NELSON Editor; Director, Publications designed by the famous landscape architect and Public Affairs: Eleanor Lerman Frederick Olmstead, who gave shape to Central Associate Editor; Photo Editor: Aimée Sisco Park and other historic outdoor spaces. Chief Staff Writer: Michael deCourcy Hinds The new marker at Foundation Roundup Editor: Grace Walters Interred with Carnegie are his wife Louise and Coordinator of Dissemination and Andrew Carnegie’s gravesite has a plaque Media Programs: Ambika Kapur servants who were valued members of the commemorating Carnegie’s legacy, which Researcher: Ronald Sexton Carnegie household. His grave is marked by a Cover Photos: AP/Wide World Photos, lives on in the 21 different institutions Gettyimages.com, Corbis.com simple Celtic cross cut from stone quarried near that he established in his lifetime. Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philan- Skibo, his summer home in Scotland. thropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in While the reason Andrew Carnegie chose to be buried outside New York City has been lost to history, 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding among the people of his great-granddaughter, Linda Thorell Hills, says the general feeling in the family is that America was the United States. Subsequently, its charter was amended to permit the use of funds for the same chosen because Carnegie, above all, felt himself to be an American. It was with immense gratitude that he purposes in certain countries that are or have been recognized this country enabled him to realize his potential, which he did beyond his wildest dreams. In members of the British overseas Commonwealth. The goal of the Carnegie Reporter is to be a hub of addition, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which covers about 100 acres and has forty thousand burials within its ideas and a forum for dialogue about the work grounds, was the final resting place for a number of Carnegie acquaintances and contemporaries, including of foundations. Board of Trustees William Rockefeller, Walter Chrysler and others. Helene L. Kaplan, Chairman In recent years, Carnegie’s last living grandchild, Barbara Miller Lawson, who died in 2002, urged Vartan Martin L. Leibowitz, Vice Chairman Vartan Gregorian, Ex officio Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, to investigate the condition of her grandfather’s Bruce Alberts resting place, worried that the perpetual endowment established by her grandmother was no longer adequate Geoffrey T. Boisi Fiona Druckenmiller to ensure the gravesite’s upkeep. When Gregorian and other staff visited Sleepy Hollow, they found the James B. Hunt, Jr. gravesite of our founder a place somewhat neglected and forgotten, hidden by trees and overgrown bushes. Sam Nunn Olara A. Otunnu To ensure the dignity of the Carnegie gravesite, the Corporation supported the landscaping of the plot William A. Owens Thomas R. Pickering and, in August of this year, installed a new bronze marker on the walkway outside the gravesite so that those Richard W. Riley who go to the beautiful and historic cemetery will know they can walk into the glade and see Carnegie’s Raymond W. Smith resting place. Carnegie’s face is engraved in bronze and the names of the 21 institutions he founded and endowed are etched on the marker—“the living legacy of Mr. Carnegie.” Hills wrote to thank Gregorian for the Corporation’s attention to the gravesite saying, “It’s almost a pilgrimage of sorts to visit Sleepy Hollow. Grandpa ‘Naigie’ continues to positively impact so many lives ©2004 Carnegie Corporation of New York. All rights today, and I think he would be very honored by the continuing significance and profound influence of his in photographs, illustrations, artworks and other philanthropy.” graphic materials are reserved to Carnegie Corporation of New York and/or the copyright holders (licensors).

C ARNEGIE C ORPORATION OF N EW YORK Non-profit Org. 437 Madison Avenue US Postage New York, New York 10022 PAID St. Louis, MO Permit No. 4767