Surdna foundation – Ojai retreat
This is more information about the Ojai Retreat held by the Surdna Foundation in 1998. Read More
Overview of the Surdna Foundation
February 20, 2001 | Deanne Stone
John Emory Andrus established the Surdna Foundation in Yonkers, New York in 1917 to support higher education, medical research, and human services. The son of a minister, Andrus was at various times a schoolteacher, manufacturer and distributor of elixirs, mayor of Yonkers, New York, and four-term member of the U.S. Congress. His particular talent-locating, buying and then reselling undervalued land Read More
On Finding and Adapting a Legacy
This is Chapter 3 of the journal, Living the Legacy, featuring “An Introduction to Trustee Education for Family Foundations,” “Honoring Legacy and Adapting to Change: The New Idaho Foundation,” “A Family Establishes a Statement of Legacy,” “Reviewing Donor Legacy and Defining Future Directions: The Current Family Foundation,” and “Accountability as Telling Our Story.” Read More
Looking To The Future, Honoring the Past
February 20, 2001 | Nathan Cummings Foundation
In 1996, the Nathan Cummings Foundation hired historian Deborah Gardner to write a short book about the foundation: A FAMILY FOUNDATION: Looking To The Future, Honoring the Past. According to Charles R. Halpern, the president and chief executive officer at the time: This report describes the challenges the Cummings family faced in making the initial decisions about foundation goals and Read More
Launching the Andrus family philanthropy program
February 20, 2001 | Deanne Stone
The four members of the Family Involvement Committee had taken on a monumental job and, co their credit, they achieved their major objectives. In just 18 months, the committee, in collaboration with the Surdna board and staff, had created the Andrus Family Philanthropy Program, a network encompassing all the family’s philanthropic institutions and educational activities. It had designed the Andrus Read More
It Begins with Donor
This is Chapter 3 of the journal, Living the Legacy, featuring “Donor Legacy: What is it That History Teaches?,” “Why I Started a Family Foundation,” “The Leighty Foundation – Founder Intent,” “On a Donor’s Death,” and “Establishing Your Intent.” Read More
Filling Board and Staff Positions
February 20, 2001 | Deanne Stone
After reviewing the resumes and essays of all the applicants, the Family Involvement Committee submitted the names of six candidates to the nominating committees of the Homes. The nominees were deemed to have the education, volunteer experience, interests and abilities best suited to each board. Among the nominees was Caroline Andrus, the first in-law nominated to serve on a family Read More
Family concinnities
February 20, 2001 | Deanne Stone
After the death of John Andrus I in 1934, his eight children went off in different directions. Some siblings moved away from New York, and others had grown estranged from one another. Helen Benedict was concerned that the family was drifting apart. In 1966, Helen, then in her late seventies, hatched a plan to reconnect the family. She invited 37 Read More
Designing the Andrus family philanthropy program
February 20, 2001 | Deanne Stone
The Family Involvement Committee envisioned the Andrus Family Philanthropy Program as a web or loose-knit network encompassing all of the family’s philanthropic, community service and educational activities. Read More
Communicating a Donor’s Legacy
This is Chapter 2 of the journal, Living the Legacy, featuring “Thinking Matters Over,” “A Lost Opportunity: The Alexander Foundation,” “Learning from Each Other,” and “Honoring the Founder.” Read More
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