Message from the Chair

Looking to the Future, Honoring the Past

By James K. Cummings
Chair, 1995-1997

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This year marks the hundredth anniversary of Nathan Cummings' birth. When my grandfather passed away in 1985, he endowed the foundation in which we now participate. His descendants collaborated to make the Nathan Cummings Foundation a living, vibrant institution. This is a memorial which embodies his commitment to service and draws together the efforts of his children and grandchildren. For us, it has been a profound challenge and a unique opportunity.

Over the years, we have had the joy of helping many people to better their lives, and assisting many institutions to strengthen their capacity to serve the public interest. The financial support we have provided, the lessons we have learned, and the satisfaction we have taken justifies the many hundreds of hours that our family has devoted to this enterprise. We have shaped significant programs, continue to evaluate their effectiveness, and modify them as appropriate.

During 1996, NCF began playing a more visible public role in the foundation network seeking allies for our issues and values to leverage the effectiveness of our grantmaking. As Charlie Halpern writes in his essay on page 8, one of the goals of our new communications effort is to preserve and strengthen the nonprofit sector. We want to clarify the important role foundations have always played in our democracy, emphasizing the positive impact that progressive foundations have had in this century by virtue of their democratic values and their willingness to seek innovative solutions to society's problems.To share our own experiences as a family foundation, we commissioned Deborah Gardner to write a monograph entitled Looking to the Future, Honoring the Past. We offer the report to other family foundations facing the same challenges we are, and to other families considering the creation of new family foundations. I am also thrilled that by going to http://www.ncf.org on the Web, one can access this as well as most other pertinent information about NCF and many of our grantees. During my two years as chair, more members of the family increased their involvement in the Foundation's activities as trustees, associates, and members of our program advisory committees.

I can only begin to acknowledge my wife, Sonia, who, besides providing me tremendous emotional support and nurturing throughout the past few years, also has made the time to be extremely active on a number of NCF committees, including the arts and the Jewish life program advisory committees. Non-family trustees and senior staff also have continued to play an integral role in shaping the Foundation's vision and programs. All have contributed significantly to the vitality and growth of the Foundation. Reynold Levy, my esteemed successor as chair, is a non-family trustee who has served on the board since 1991, long enough to feel like a relative. He will continue being an energetic and effective leader as we broaden the Nathan Cummings Foundation's concept of a family foundation.

Recognizing the importance of senior staff, the board in 1996 also invested them with pre-approved discretionary authority to award some grants. They join the Foundation's president in possessing such authority, giving them a greater degree of ownership of the Foundation's work.

As a family, one of our most important tasks is to plan for the participation of the fourth generation, whose members today range in age from 9 to 28. I wish to pass on to them the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment I feel from working with the Foundation while preserving and developing the legacy of my grandfather. The members of our family can be proud of the organizations the Foundation has helped create, of being pioneers in many important areas, and of upholding values that nurture a more humane, democratic society. ,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> on the Web, one can access this as well as most other pertinent information about NCF and many of our grantees. During my two years as chair, more members of the family increased their involvement in the Foundation's activities as trustees, associates, and members of our program advisory committees.

I can only begin to acknowledge my wife, Sonia, who, besides providing me tremendous emotional support and nurturing throughout the past few years, also has made the time to be extremely active on a number of NCF committees, including the arts and the Jewish life program advisory committees. Non-family trustees and senior staff also have continued to play an integral role in shaping the Foundation's vision and programs. All have contributed significantly to the vitality and growth of the Foundation. Reynold Levy, my esteemed successor as chair, is a non-family trustee who has served on the board since 1991, long enough to feel like a relative. He will continue being an energetic and effective leader as we broaden the Nathan Cummings Foundation's concept of a family foundation.

Recognizing the importance of senior staff, the board in 1996 also invested them with pre-approved discretionary authority to award some grants. They join the Foundation's president in possessing such authority, giving them a greater degree of ownership of the Foundation's work.

As a family, one of our most important tasks is to plan for the participation of the fourth generation, whose members today range in age from 9 to 28. I wish to pass on to them the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment I feel from working with the Foundation while preserving and developing the legacy of my grandfather. The members of our family can be proud of the organizations the Foundation has helped create, of being pioneers in many important areas, and of upholding values that nurture a more humane, democratic society.