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A Renewed, Re-Imagined Commitment to Transparency
As Grabois describes above, the world - or the perception of the world of modern-day Americans - in which the Corporation now functions is a very different one, arguably a more suspicious and less easily moved to hope, than it was in previous eras:
"Public confidence in charities, which sank after the September 11 attacks, has been rising but remains below what it was before the terrorist strikes, a new report says.
More than a third, or 262, of 770 respondents to an October survey by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, said they lacked confidence in the ability of charities to spend donations wisely and to deliver services. Whether groups spend their money wisely is the top determinant of donors' confidence in charitable organizations, the study found...
Diminished confidence in charities comes at a time when public trust in virtually every other civic institution has gone up, the October study found. Confidence in charitable groups remains 10 percentage points lower than it was before the terrorist attacks -- a reminder, Mr. Light said, that "things have changed and are continuing to change in the wake of September 11."1
Vartan Gregorian addressed this loss of public trust in philanthropic and charitable organizations alike in a 2002 Philanthropy News Digest interview:
PND: "You've already touched on this, but I'll ask it a little differently. Given the loss of confidence in all institutions, both public and private, over the last few years, what should the field of philanthropy do to retain and build on the trust of the American public?"
VG: "Transparency and accountability. As a field, philanthropy needs to be more analytical. We can't be afraid to point out where we failed - it can't just be a stream of successes. If we don't tell the public about our failures, as well as our successes, we will lose the public's trust. It is as simple as that."2
He expanded on what he meant by "public trust," transparency and accountability in his President's Essay in Carnegie's Combined 2002-2003 Annual Report:
"With a few notable exceptions, nonprofit organizations, including foundations, have gone about their work with integrity, honesty, balanced judgment and an overriding concern for doing the right thing and for being scrupulously ethical in all their dealings with the public, the media, the government, and with each other.
This is as is should be, because while Andrew Carnegie saw himself as a trustee of public wealth, I - along with the great majority of my colleagues, I'm sure - see foundations as stewards of public trusts. After all, not only are foundations entrusted with the administration of considerable wealth - annually, the more than 61,000 foundations in the U.S. (which have total assets of over $475 billion) gave away over $30 billion - their wealth and central role in our civil society provide them with the power to offer great help or, unintentionally, to harm. Philanthropies, therefore, have a moral responsibility to see that this power is used openly, wisely and responsibly in upholding society's values rather than subverting them."3
The ongoing introspection and public discourse about what it meant to be an effective, accountable and transparent steward of the public trust which has marked the "Gregorian era" at Carnegie was also, of course, characteristic of the Corporation in previous eras (LINK TO - see LIVING UP TO ANDREW CARNEGIE'S CHALLENGE - BY PRESIDENT).
Under Gregorian's leadership, however, Carnegie Corporation has renewed its commitment to transparency, re-imagining "transparency's" possibilities in ways unimaginable prior to the current Internet era.
THE TRANSPARENT ORGANIZATION: Carnegie Corporation Values Documents, Grant Information and Financial Documents
1 Brad Wolverton "Public Confidence in Charitable Organizations Continues to Lag, Report Finds" The Chronicle of Philanthropy, December 11, 2003: http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v16/i05/05002702.htm.
2 Vartan Gregorian, "NEWSMAKERS: Philanthropy in a Post 9-11 World" The Foundation Center's Philanthropy News Digest, Posted November 13, 2002.
3 Vartan Gregorian, "Report of the President: Transparency and Accomplishment: A Legacy of Glass Pockets" in the Carnegie Corporation Combined 2002-2003 Annual Report ( New York, Carnegie Corporation, 2004), http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/pessay/pessay02-03.html.
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