Endowed foundations are essentially self-regulating and answer to no outside body, unless they break the law. Philanthropy is struggling to sharpen its own responsibility for the use of charitable assets and, at the same time, searching for better ways to incorporate public guidance into foundation decision making. These two different, but related endeavors – improving internal monitoring and fostering public input – are efforts to strengthen accountability.
Too often, attention directed at foundation accountability is prompted by events that shine a light on questionable practices. This, unfortunately, frames the accountability conversation from the liability side: What do foundations have to do to avoid negative attention or government regulation?
For more of this report, click here. (PDF format only)