TheNathanCummingsFoundation

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“Nothing will ever be attempted if all
possible objections must first be overcome.”
  • About the Foundation
    • Mission Statement
    • Nathan Cummings
    • The Cummings Family Legacy
      • NCF Remembers Trustee Emeritus Buddy Mayer
      • Remembering Trustee Dr. Robert N. Mayer
        • Board and Staff Reflections
      • A Family Foundation: Looking to the Future, Honoring the Past
        • Part One: Nathan Cummings, the Donor and His Interests
        • Part Two: Organizing the Foundation: Basic Decisions
        • Part Three: The Foundation Begins its Work
        • Part Three: The Foundation Begins its Work (continuation)
        • Part Four: The Foundation Comes into its Own
        • Part Four: The Foundation Comes into its Own (continuation)
      • The Second Chapter: Nathan Cummings Foundation 2000-2010
        • Oral History
        • Written History
          • Board Recommended Grants
          • The Impact of Early Funding
          • Long Term Funding
          • The Sundance Compact
          • Spousal Connections
          • Shareholder's Resolutions
          • Evolution of the Investment Committee
          • Partnership with the New Israel Fund
          • Board Chairs (Family & Independent)
    • NCF DNA
    • Board of Trustees
    • Staff
    • Office Space
    • Contact Us
    • Financial Statements
    • Office Arts Exhibits
      • Dandy Lion
      • Hold These Truths
      • JAZZ.COVERS.POLITICS: ALBUM ART IN AN AGE OF ACTIVISM
      • Kamoinge + En Foco: Advancing the Frame
      • Bring in the Reality
      • HOME(WARD)
      • Re-imagining a Safe Space
      • Counter)Public Art, Intervention & Performance in Lower Manhattan from 1978–1993
      • Centrifuge
      • Caribe Now: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Diaspora
    • AAI Impact Investing
  • What We Fund
    • Corporate and Political Accountability
    • Inclusive Clean Economy
    • Racial and Economic Justice
    • Voice, Creativity and Culture
    • Israel
    • Grants
    • Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowship
      • Fellowship Guidelines
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Current and Former Fellows
        • 2015 Fellows
        • Introducing Culture Changes Us
          • Culture Changes Us 2016 Cohort
        • 2013 Fellows
        • 2014 Fellows
      • Fellow Reflections
  • How To Apply
    • FAQ
  • News & Reports
    • Letters to the Field
      • Fellowship now taking applicants!
      • In solidarity, we will prevail.
      • Letter to the Field: No Time for Business as Usual
    • Annual Reports
    • News
      • NCF Welcomes Leticia Peguero, New Vice President of Programs
      • President’s Remarks: Radical Solidarity - Philanthropy’s Role in Showing Moral Courage
      • FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: This Is How We Will Ensure Net Neutrality
      • IBT runs NCF piece on problematic structure at 21st Century Fox
      • Investors Raising Heat on Fossil Fuel Companies and Their Strategies for Emerging Low-carbon Economy
      • Large Mutual Funds Fail to Support Proxy Access
      • Loren Harris Joins The Nathan Cummings Foundation
      • NCF grantee AXS Map featured in Time Magazine
      • NYT Reviews Firelight Media's 'The Black Panthers'
      • New Momentum for Change in Corporate Board Elections
      • News Corporation Board Approves Split of Company
      • The Nathan Cummings Foundation Taps Sharon Alpert as Next President and CEO
      • Tipped Into Poverty
      • Uber Drivers and Others in the Gig Economy Take a Stand
      • We can solve climate change, but it won’t be cheap or easy
      • “Summits on Tenth” Press release
      • ISS Backs Proposal on Open Internet at Verizon
      • $1 million in matching funds to Jewish social justice
      • PRRI & Brookings Institute Poll Finds Broad Support for Path to Citizenship for Immigrants
      • Tackling Poverty and Thinking Big
      • Questions Emerge About the Mold That Hurricane Sandy Left Behind
      • Stanley Nelson and ‘The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution’
      • Institutional Investors Press for Disclosure of Corporate Lobbying
      • Report Raises Concerns about AT&T's Commitment to an Open Internet
      • Press-Release NCF & Harvard's SRP
      • Slow pace of flood repairs a concern in NYC
      • Rupert Murdoch survives calls to step down as chairman
      • British Regulator Declares BSkyB ‘Fit and Proper’
      • Court backs Obama on minimum wage, overtime for home health aides
      • Survey | Beyond Guns and God
      • Whats True? About the White Working-Class
      • Support for Proxy Access at Darden Restaurants Expected to be High
      • "A Historic Moment for Two Million Home Care Workers"
      • 2015 Fall Docket Summary
      • A Climate Hawk Separates Energy Thought Experiments from Road Maps
      • A White Poet Borrows a Chinese Name and Sets Off Fireworks
      • Active Ownership vs. Divestment: When Is It Either-Or? Can My Foundation Do Both Well?
      • An Environmentalist Call to Look Past Sustainable Development
      • Congratulations Ai-jen Poo and Rick Lowe
      • Congratulations to Rabbi David Saperstein
      • Gap To End On-Call Scheduling For Workers
      • NCF Joins the “Ban the Box” Philanthropy Challenge.
      • NCF Proposal Leads to Positive Changes in Duke Energy’s Reporting
      • NCF Proxy Access Proposal Wins at Oracle Corp.
      • Evolution of the Foundation’s Focus
      • NCF Welcomes Elizabeth Méndez Berry and Isaac Luria as Directors of Voice, Creativity and Culture
      • Nathan Cummings Foundation Names Artealia Gilliard as its First Director of Communications
      • Net Neutrality Activists Take Civil Rights Fight to Doorsteps of Telecom Giants
      • Oracle Ties Pay to Performance After Investor Lobbying
      • Saqib Bhatti: Chicagoans Need a Financial Plan That Puts Neighborhoods First
      • Shareholders Press Verizon Board on Net Neutrality
      • PRRI Survey Results Indicate That The GOP Is Out Of Touch With America On Immigration
    • Special Reports
      • #PopJustice Report Series
      • A Family Foundation
      • Changing Corporate Behavior Through Shareholder Activism
      • Strategic Planning Process
        • NCF's Carbon Footprint
        • Visioning Justice and the American Jewish Community
      • Nathan Cummings Foundation Statement on Occidental Petroleum
    • Shareholder Activities
      • Proxy Voting
      • Shareholder Resolutions
      • UNPRI
      • Press Coverage and NCF-Authored Articles
      • Additional Resources
      • Changing Corporate Behavior Through Shareholder Activism

    Board Recommended Grants

    The Nathan Cummings Foundation

     

    Board Recommended Grants

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    Rachel Durchslag
    Board Vice Chair, Nathan Cummings Foundation

    Debra Weese-Mayer
    Trustee, Nathan Cummings Foundation

    DWM: As I recall, the board recommended grants were put into place so that every member of the foundation could recommend a grant that was not necessarily in one of the four program areas. The four program areas are Jewish life, the environment, the arts and health. If they had a passion for something outside of those four program areas, something specifically in their own community to bring philanthropy closer to home, it provided that opportunity. So at this point it’s roughly $50,000 per trustee and then a different number depending on the associate level with the message that it’s not the dollar amount, it’s actually the impact of the grant.

    RD: I’m particularly passionate about an issue (the sexual exploitation of women) that’s not within the core program areas and what’s been amazing for me about the board recommended grants committee and the program is that it’s given me the ability to really support things that I care about in a way that’s meaningful. And so really I’m the only, I think, consistent funder in the country that’s helped build this movement that’s really shifted and changed the lives of vulnerable individuals in the United States and without the board recommended grants, those programs would probably still be very underfunded and by the Nathan Cummings name being now associated with some of these non-profits they’ve been able to leverage that to get other funding and have really been able to grow in their capacity to make change. So it’s been really wonderful for me to see how a small amount of money can help be that seed growth that a non-profit needs to kind of make the impact that they’re desiring to make. And one of the reasons I love chairing board recommended grants is you really get to see what it is that drives people, what it is that makes people want to be part of a social justice community and I think that it’s a real privilege to get to be at a leadership position to help enable the systems that get people what they need to recommend their grants and to follow through on them.

    DWM: The board recommended grants I think, have encouraged people to continue participation, because not everybody in their own charitable existence is able to give $50,000 worth of funding to organizations of their choice. I think that the voice of the foundation should change with the constituents of the foundation. And I think the current composition of the program areas reflects the prior generation and I think administration of the foundation has prevented modification of that and I think it really speaks tothe fourth generation of the Nathan Cummings Foundation to strongly encourage the older people who sit around the table to hear you and to understand that it is possible that those four program areas no longer resonate with you. The world’s changing and perhaps those four program areas are not the way that we should move into this next piece of history of the Cummings Foundation.

     
     
    The Nathan Cummings Foundation 475 Tenth Ave., 14th Floor New York, NY 10018