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| News Briefs |
Katrina’s Long-Term Legacy
07/18/2006
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Philanthropists seek capital for recovery and
redevelopment.
Nearly a year after Hurricane
Katrina ravaged the Gulf
Coast, philanthropic leaders are seeking new
ways to ensure that recovery efforts meet the long-term
needs of those affected.
Panelists at the Voices of the Gulf Coast:
Strategies for Hope and Change forum, held last week in New York, stressed the
need for ongoing assistance to the region. They said that while millions of
dollars have been donated, much of it went toward immediate relief for hurricane
victims. The focus now is on recovery and reform, and the event’s organizers
want to set in motion grants that will sustain Gulf Coast redevelopment for the
years to come.
According to James Joseph, former ambassador to
South Africa and now chairman of the board of the Louisiana Disaster Recovery
Foundation, many foundations need to reorganize their grant-making objectives.
“It’s not just about meeting needs, but about promoting change,” he said in a
speech at the forum. “It needs to be less deliberate and more
functional.”
Joseph, a past president and CEO of the Council on
Foundations, says organizations need to utilize both conventional and
intellectual capital. “Private foundations should be using their social capital
to strengthen the nonprofit sector,” he said, “but they must also help increase
community discourse and provide not just money, but knowledge and access to
networks.”
Panelists unanimously called for foundations to
contribute more than just financial support. They want corporations to use their
reputational capital to influence policy change. The best way to help, they say,
is to make sure a disaster like Katrina does not happen again.
The
forum was organized by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers and the
UJA Federation of New York.
—Tim Chan
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