Friday, December 14, 2012

Signing Off


Rationalizing Workload within the Team
Since early 2008 we at the Endowment have done a periodic (about monthly) blog to help those with interest gain deeper insight into our processes, thinking, or understanding of how/why we do what we do.  In 2012 we committed to ramp that up to twice monthly.  Sounded easy in January….whew!

Anyway, with a very lean staff model of only five full-time staff (three program professionals), it is amazing at how difficult it is to find time for keeping up with something like this.  So, as part of a six-year review to look at how we can best rationalize the workload and do those things that are truly important – not just urgent – we have decided that the blog is one of several things that must come to an end.  Or, in this case, be a lot less frequent.

As part of our commitment to set a high bar in our approach to openness and transparency, the blog was just one of several specific things we started.  Others include an up-to-date website, maintenance of a ListServ for those who wish to receive specific updates, immediate posting of our Audited Financials and IRS Form 990, and more. 

Quarterly Stewardship Reports
One, well-above-the-call, thing that we’ve done since the third quarter of 2008, was a Quarterly Stewardship Report.  These one-page reports included quarterly portfolio performance, cash on hand, grants received from partners, and cash out the door.  They too were just one more tool for those who wanted to “look under the hood” at the Endowment’s operation.

While neither the blog nor the Quarterly Stewardship Reports took loads of time, each was among dozens of things that required a commitment of effort and follow-through.  The proverbial camel was getting loaded…and not from tarrying too long at the water cooler.  After reviewing the numbers of people who viewed each of these two items on a regular basis, we determined that – while good – they were not necessary items.  And, thus, we have accordingly suspended them.

If you were one of those rare but committed followers of the blog or Stewardship Reports, I’d appreciate hearing from you -- carlton@usendowment.org – with your thoughts.

All the best,

Carlton N. Owen
President & CEO

 

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

A Season for Thankfulness


While Thanksgiving may be in the rear-view mirror, November and December seem to elicit deeper thought than is true of the earlier months of the year.  As we hold on tight as 2012 races for the history books, we can’t help but take time with this blog to focus our thoughts on just a few of the very long list of things for which we are deeply thankful.

A Great Leadership Team
We at the Endowment have perhaps the most diverse and committed group of Board leaders that any non-profit could wish to have.  That team has been amazingly stable.  In fact, through our November 2012 meeting, 10 of 13 of our number were “charter” members.  But, as we pass our sixth year as an institution we have reached the point where mandatory term limits and normal changes in people’s lives ensure change.  At the close of the November meeting we saw three more of our initial number – Chuck Leavell, Duane McDougall, and Jim Rinehart – step aside from service.  While each will be missed, they helped ensure that the Endowment has deep roots and is headed in the right direction. 

Too, those changes result in opportunities to add fresh perspectives and renewed passion.  In that regard, John Kulhavi and Kent Gilges, have come aboard.

The broader forestry sector is far from the world’s model for diversity in all of its facets.  But, at the Endowment, with our twin mission of advancing healthy working forests and promoting positive social/economic change in rural forested communities, we have a deeply experienced and diverse team for which we are very thankful.

Outstanding Partners
We sometimes think of what we do as similar to the old BASF commercial, “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy; we make a lot of the products you buy better.”  As an organization that uses a catalytic business model to advance its mission, it is critical that we identify and collaborate with partners who can “put boots on the ground.” 

Again, we’ve been VERY blessed.  Our for-profit and non-profit partners are among the best of the best in the broader forestry sector.  Whether it is our team of researchers working to consider the potential of modern biotechnology as a tool in the battle against destructive pests and diseases or be it the businesses with who we are investing to add family supporting jobs in rural communities, each is outstanding.  We are proud to be working with not-for-profits, universities, businesses -- both start-ups and household names -- and others for the good of the nation’s forests and the people who depend upon them.

Visionary Co-Investors
As a very young institution just beginning to put deep roots and investments in “our space,” we are once again blessed to be joined by others who have been engaged in the fray for many decades.  Our lead federal partners – the USDA Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service – have been joined by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  We are very appreciative of not only the financial commitment each has made, but more importantly, for the trust each has placed in us.

From the American Forest Foundation to the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, still others are co-investing with an understanding that where we can advance a common objective our chances for success increase.

A Committed Staff
While my list of thanks could exceed that of even the most ambitious child who pens his wishes to Santa, let me save my final thanks for those few who comprise the Endowment’s staff.  While there are only five full-time members – two of us who have been here from the start – few organizations can be as blessed as to have such a professional and committed group with whom to labor.  Too, we’ve been doubly blessed to be able to augment our hands and feet with the service of outstanding interns --the current bunch all hailing from Furman University.  The core team, buttressed by our interns, is further aided by a cadre of top notch consultants who help us deliver many of our programs.  All are critical and each adds value.

For now, my special thanks to Florence Colby, Sofi Delgado Perusquia, Kim Free, Alan McGregor, Katie Premo, Peter Stangel, and Patrick Starr.

Too, each of us is thankful to have the opportunity to work with and for the premier public charity working for the good of the nation’s forests and rural forest-based communities!

As the old hymn says, “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”  For us, very true words.
Carlton N. Owen
President & CEO