All posts by jfanton

In Conversation with John Seely Brown

July 17, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On July 17, 2013, Jonathan sat down with self-described “Chief of Confusion” and former Chief Scientist for the Xerox Corporation, John Seely Brown. They discussed his life, legacy, and the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in a rapidly changing society. The video can be viewed here.

John Seely Brown

July 17, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening. Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Ira Katznelson’s Fear Itself, hear world leaders like former Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, or talk presidential politics during our recent conference entitled Ike Reconsidered: Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century.

Tonight is different. I have been long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally. Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMA President Agnes Gund, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, and, more recently, civic leader Rita Hauser who is here tonight.

Tonight is a very special night for me. Our guest is John Seely Brown, who has been my mentor both at the New School and at the MacArthur Foundation where he was a trustee for a decade. JSB, as most people call him, is a modest man, a generous man who cares, listens deeply and tries to help. And does.

Every person and institution is different, better, after an encounter with John Seely Brown.

He did his undergraduate work at Brown University and then earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in computer and communications science. He had a long career at Xerox, serving as its chief scientist and Director of the Xerox Parc research center. In that fruitful period, inventions and insights into human nature flowed non-stop from Palo Alto. I think of the PAIR program, which fosters collaboration between artists and technology researchers who are using new social media, PARC’s efforts to develop new printing laser technology, which has made printers faster and more efficient, and JSB’s insights into how businesses can maximize their human resources and build effective and collaborative work environments.

JSB is a scholar in his own right, having published over 100 papers in scientific journals and authored must-read books like The Social Life of Information, The Only Sustainable Edge, The Power of Pull, Design Unbound and The New Culture of Learning. He has lectured at universities around the world and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California.

In addition to MacArthur, he has served on the Boards of Brown University, Amazon, Corning and Polycom. And he is in demand as an advisor to governments around the world from Singapore to Spain.

At the New School JSB served on the President’s Technology Advisory Committee. He helped us put the “New” back in the New School as we became a pioneer over 20 years ago in distance learning, one of the first universities to offer a degree earned wholly online. And he saved Parsons School of Design which had been slow to adapt to technology by persuading us to start an interdisciplinary knowledge union with state of the art equipment.

He was one of the first new trustees I recruited when I came to MacArthur. And he made a difference. Here is what I said at his retirement party:

“John, the most interesting work of our generation at MacArthur flows from your partnership with our staff. You transformed the way we think, view the world, do our work. Our language changed as we spoke of emotional listening, complex adaptive systems, the power of pull, going to the edge, pushing beyond our comfort zone, crafting new learning environments and 21^st century skills.”

And it was JSB who proposed we create a Fund for New Ideas to encourage people to put forward fresh, risky ideas of their own. All of us who have been told repeatedly by self-satisfied foundation staff that our ideas are out of program know how important JSB’s determination to open up was. New fields like Neuroscience and the Law and projects like E.O. Wilson’s Encyclopedia of Life were supported by the Fund which JSB chaired.

So I look forward to our conversation.

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

Jeffrey Sachs, “To Move The World”

July 13, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On June 13, 2013, Jonathan provided introductory remarks for a presentation by world renowned economist and scholar, Jeffrey Sachs, on his newly published book entitled, To Move The World, which chronicles JFK’s quest for peace during his last two years in office. The video can be viewed here.

Jeffrey Sachs

June 13, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of Roosevelt House and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a presentation by Professor Jeffrey Sachs of his just published book To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace. It is an absorbing narrative of Kennedy’s own profile in courage, rich with lessons for our own time, skillfully analyzed by Professor Sachs.

We gather in the historic homes of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin’s mother, Sara. Eleanor and Franklin lived here from 1908 until they moved to the White House in 1933.

I think they would welcome the conversation we are going to have about John F. Kennedy’s last great campaign in his final years of life: to reset relations with the Soviet Union on a more peaceful course, pushing back against the Cold War virus. Central to this narrative is President Kennedy’s June 10, 1963 speech at American University a half century ago this week.

While conceding that Communism was repugnant, Kennedy said, “But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements in science and space, in economic and individual growth, in culture, in acts of courage … So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we can not end now our differences, at least we can make this world safe for diversity.”

I believe FDR would have applauded JFK’s initiative and the achievement of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Behind me is a picture of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at Yalta, an appropriate backdrop for tonight’s program. As we know, Churchill was a role model for John Kennedy. And in his personal relationship with Khrushchev, he might have learned from FDR. Some have argued had Roosevelt lived, relations with the Soviet Union might have been better.

Indeed Stalin is reported to have said after Yalta, “Let’s hope nothing happens to Roosevelt. We shall never do business again with anyone like him.” Well, not until John F. Kennedy.

As Kennedy emerged from the Cuban Missile Crisis determined to chart a safer, less confrontational course, he might have recalled Franklin Roosevelt’s October 5, 1944 radio address from the White House:

“[We have a] firm and friendly relationship…with the people of the Soviet Union… The American people are glad and proud to be allied with the gallant people of Russia, not only in winning this war but in laying the foundations for the world peace which I hope will follow this war – and in keeping that peace. We have seen our civilization in deadly peril. Successfully we have met the challenge… What is now being won in battle must not be lost by lack of vision, or lack of knowledge, or by lack of faith… We owe it to our posterity, we owe it to our heritage of freedom, we owe it to our God, to devote the rest of our lives and all of our capabilities to the building of a solid, durable structure of world peace …”

John F. Kennedy made good on FDR’s promise to posterity.

Who better to tell the story of how human kind can push back the forces of pessimism, cynicism and despair by sustained purposeful actions than Jeffrey Sachs? His life is a celebration of how we can achieve a more just, peaceful and humane world.

Trained at Harvard in economics he became a tenured full professor there at age 28. Over the years he has written on the relationship of trade and economic growth, public health and economic development, strategies for economic reform and transition to market economies, climate change, the battle to end global poverty and more. He has written three NY Times bestsellers in the past seven years. The End of Poverty, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet and The Price of Civilization.

Jeff Sachs translates research and theory into practice with the best of them. Here is a sample: In the 1980s he helped Bolivia fight hyperinflation and reform its economy. In 1989, he helped Poland chart its transition from central planning to a market economy, followed by similar advisory roles for Slovenia and Estonia. Then he took on an even greater challenge advising first Mikhail Gorbachev and then Boris Yeltsin on Russia’s transition toward a market economy.

As important as that work was, I venture to say his real passion is fighting poverty, especially in Africa. In 2002 he came to Columbia to direct the Earth Institute and work with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to shape the Millennium Development Goals. He chaired the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, worked with Kofi Annan to design the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and now directs the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network to connect the best knowledge of what works to real life challenges on the ground.

I first met Jeff Sachs when MacArthur supported his Millennium Village Project working in 10 countries directly helping over 500,000 people. This project aims to show that modest investments can empower rural villages to seize hold of their destiny and lift themselves out of poverty. The theory is to work on an interrelated set of issues at the same time: agricultural productivity, improved drinking water, health clinics, bed nets to ward off malaria, job training, new schools and more.

I had the privilege of visiting one of the project villages, Pampaida in Nigeria, and was impressed by the progress. Ten new schools raised school attendance by 20%, 90% of the children now receive meals in school, chronic malnutrition of kids under 2 is down 45%, malaria prevalence cut in half, 70% of the population has access to improved water, crop yields per hectare up four-fold.

I recall vividly visiting a new health clinic in Pampaida – well staffed and equipped. 90% of the population has access to a health clinic, up from 10% when Jeff Sachs started. I was particularly interested in the reduction of maternal mortality, a key issue for the MacArthur Foundation, and was impressed with the progress made.

We should invite Jeff back another night to talk about this important work because he surely knows How to Move The World. But tonight is JFK’s night. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

Michael Fullilove, “Rendezvous with Destiny”

July 8, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On July 8, 2013, Jonathan gave introductory remarks for a discussion between Lowy Institute Executive Director, Michael Fullilove, and Hunter College professor of Political Science, Andrew Polsky, on Fullilove’s newly published book Rendezvous with Destiny. The video can be viewed here.

Michael Fullilove

July 8, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of Roosevelt House, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the home of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and Franklin’s mother, Sara, who built these twin townhouses in 1908 and gave number 49 to Eleanor and Franklin as a wedding gift. It was here Franklin and Eleanor raised their family, Franklin recovered from polio and re-entered politics, launched his presidential campaign and put together his administration. Francis Perkins tells the story of her recruitment to the Cabinet in a conversation in FDR’s second floor study where he made a commitment to create a Social Security program. Sara Roosevelt was never far from Eleanor and Franklin since she had connected the houses on several floors.

The houses came to Hunter when Sara died in 1942, used as a student center until closing in disrepair in 1992. Thanks to the vision and determination of Hunter President Jennifer Raab, who is here this evening, the houses were renovated in 2008 when she created the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.

Tonight we have a very special program, a conversation between Hunter Professor of Political Science, Andrew Polsky, and Michael Fullilove, author of Rendezvous with Destiny. It is a study of how FDR used five special emissaries to pave the way for America’s entry into World War II and move toward global leadership.

Dr. Fullilove is Director of the Lowy Institute, Australia’s top think tank, with a special interest in understanding foreign policy challenges facing Australia within the Asia Pacific region and the global implications of developments in the region.

We hope tonight is the beginning of a relationship between Lowy and Roosevelt House. Only three years old, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute has built two strong undergraduate programs, one in public policy, the other in human rights. It brings faculty together from across Hunter and supports their research, including conferences like ‘Ike Reconsidered,’ a forum organized by Professor Andrew Polsky that examined the importance of President Eisenhower’s legacy for the 21^st century. And it offers a robust set of public programs. Most recently UNDP Director Helen Clark discussing the Millennium Development Goals, Robert Morgenthau on Justice for Immigrants, and former International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo this past March, reflecting on his term as the Court’s first prosecutor.

While the topics for our programs range widely, it is always especially meaningful to focus on the Roosevelts in the home where they lived from 1908 until they went to the White House. World views were shaped, values honed, temperments sharpened in this place.

Michael Fullilove quotes an observation from Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Roosevelt’s biographer, that Roosevelt “lived in a household of unresolved jurisdictions, and it had never occurred to him to try to settle lines in between mother and wife.” And later, perhaps, between formal lines of authority in the State Department and his personal representatives.

Tonight we will gain fresh insight about FDR’s skillful use of special envoys to gain information, send signals, shape policies and public opinion. [He strongly believed in personal diplomacy, direct conversations between leaders. He was confident in his capacity to persuade through charm and guile. But he couldn’t be everywhere. As he recounts to Stalin in July 1941: “I ask you to treat Mr. Hopkins with the identical confidence you would feel if you were talking directly to me. He will communicate directly to me the views that you express to him and will tell me what you consider are the most pressing individual problems on which we could be of aid.”]

To introduce our program I am pleased to call on Rita Eleanor Hauser, a graduate of Hunter College and a valued member of the Roosevelt House Board. She has been a member of the International Advisory Council of the Lowy Institute. Rita implored me not to give a long introduction. So I say simply she is a talented lawyer, with her husband, Gus, a generous philanthropist, and a civic leader serving on Boards like the International Peace Academy, the International Crisis Group, Lincoln Center and more. And she knows something about tonight’s topic, the role of special envoys and peace initiatives. She was part of a group from the Center for Peace in the Middle East, invited by the Swedish foreign minister, that orchestrated discussions which led Yasser Arafat in 1988 to recognize the State of Israel and to renounce terrorism. These negotiations helped pave the way for the historic 1993 Oslo Accords.

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

Hedrick Smith, “Who Stole The American Dream?”

June 24, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On June 24, Jonathan provided introductory remarks for a presentation by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, Hedrick Smith, on his new book about the erosion of the American Dream entitled, Who Stole The American Dream? The video can be viewed here.

Hedrick Smith Introduction

June 24, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. It is my pleasure to welcome you to a discussion of Who Stole the American Dream? by Hedrick Smith, one of America’s most distinguished journalists. Roosevelt House Board member, William vanden Heuvel, will introduce him in a moment.

We are pleased to co-sponsor this event with Common Cause which mobilizes citizens across America to fight to improve our democratic practices and curb the pernicious influence of money in politics. We celebrate a recent Common Cause victory in the Supreme Court. Last Monday the Court ruled 7-2 to uphold the National Voting Registration Act of 1993, striking down Arizona’s 2004 requirement that voters present evidence of citizenship—one that prevented many eligible citizens from practicing their right to vote.

Before going on we should have a moment of silence in remembrance of Common Cause’s President, Bob Edgar, who died recently.

XXX

We cherish the memory of his nearly 40 years of public service. Bob’s strong moral compass and his commitment to fairness are traits we can all admire. If you attended our conversation with Bob last year here at Roosevelt House, you got a taste of the vision, energy, compassion and commitment that animated his fight to make the American Dream a reality.

No doubt many of us share Bob Edgar’s concern about the current state of our democracy. As President Obama seeks to shape his legacy in a fiercely partisan Washington and our city struggles to select a new mayor equal to its challenges, it is useful for us to look at the context of both the national and local debate. In his introduction to Who Stole the American Dream?, Hedrick Smith proposes to “provide a reporter’s CAT scan of the two Americas today, examining the interplay of economics and politics to disclose how the shift of power and of wealth have led to the unraveling of the American Dream for the middle class.” He also offers a compelling narrative of “how we evolved into such an unequal democracy—how we lost the moderate political middle and how todays’ polarized politics reinforce economic inequality and a pervasive sense of economic insecurity.”

These are topics we very much need to understand, to discuss and debate and to do something about.

It is appropriate that we talk about Who Stole the American Dream? under the watchful gaze of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. In this house, FDR assembled his administration and crafted the New Deal that advanced the American Dream. Upstairs in his second floor study, he recruited Frances Perkins to be Secretary of Labor and made the commitment to Social Security. FDR was clear about who stole the American Dream in his time. Hear his words when he accepted renomination in 1936:

“…For too many of us, the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people’s property, other people’s money, other people’s labor—other people’s lives. For too many of us, life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness…”

He was determined to protect and advance the American Dream. And he knew eternal vigilance was required. He would have appreciated Hedrick Smith’s call to action.

To introduce our speaker tonight, I am pleased to present Ambassador William vanden Heuvel.

A lawyer by training, Ambassador vanden Heuvel has had a distinguished career in private practice and public service. As special assistant to Attorney General Robert Kennedy he played a key role in implementing the Brown vs. Board of Education decision desegregating schools in the South. He served as Special Counsel to Governor Averell Harriman, Vice President of the New York State Constitutional Convention, Chair of the New York City Board of Corrections. And then in 1977 he became Ambassador to the U.N.’s European Office and in 1979, U.S. deputy representative to the U.N. His civic activities have included chairing the U.N. Association and the International Refugee Committee.

More than anyone I know he has helped all of us appreciate the legacy of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. He has been President of the Franklin and Eleanor Institute since its creation in 1987 and is the driving force behind the creation of the beautiful Roosevelt Memorial and Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. It is one of the most moving, meaningful and beautiful public spaces in our city and country. When you are there you can feel the inspiration of Franklin and Eleanor. Bill, we will be forever grateful for your leadership in all places and institutions Roosevelt.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome William vanden Heuvel.

International Development, Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

In Conversation with Helen Clark

June 11, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On June 11, 2013 Jonathan sat down with former New Zealand Prime Minister and current head of the United Nations Development Programme to discuss her career in international development and the challenges she faces ahead. To view the video, click here.

Helen Clark

June 11, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director at Roosevelt House, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a conversation with Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Our program is made possible tonight by the generosity of Hunter alumna, Phyllis Kossof, who has been a major force in developing Hunter’s public programs. Previous speakers in the Kossoff series include Tom Brokaw, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Stephen Breyer, and historian David Kennedy.

Phyllis, we are grateful for your friendship and steadfast support. Please stand.

Tonight’s program is of special interest to all of us who care about creating a more just and peaceful world.

Funded at the level of roughly 5 billion dollars in voluntary contributions, UNDP works in 177 countries to increase political transparency, build democratic institutions, oversee the disbursement of humanitarian aid, and help governments reduce poverty. It is the lead agency on driving and monitoring the world’s progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by world leaders in 2000. Her vision for an integrated approach to development and poverty eradication is the theoretical basis of the U.N. High Level Panel report released last month that articulates the post-2015 development agenda.

In preparing for tonight’s session I had the pleasure of reading through a selection of Helen Clark’s recent speeches and papers. The titles tell us a lot: “Inclusion and equality: Why Women’s Leadership Matters,” “Human Development and International Justice,” “Meaningful Development, Sustainable Growth,” “Why Tackling Climate Change Matters for Development,” “Conflict and Development: Inclusive Governance, Resilient Societies.” She is eloquent in teaching us that political, social and economic development must go together. In her words:

“At UNDP we see many of the non-financial constraints on human development – war and conflict, armed violence, low social cohesion, poor governance, corruption, poor enabling environments for trade and investment, and a lack of capacity to drive the development and implementation of strategies which could bring about transformational change.”

Under Helen Clark’s leadership, UNDP has addressed those challenges at a breathtaking pace around the world.

Here is a small sample meant to give you a glimpse of the scope of her work. UNDP:

Assisted 29 countries in adopting official policies that promote small enterprises and women’s entrepreneurship.

Helped mobilize an unprecedented number of young people to vote in Tunisia’s first democratic election in October 2011.

Worked with the Global Fund in 32 countries to fight the spread of AIDS.

Utilized a Gender Assessment Tool in over 20 countries to increase their spending on health and educational services for women.

Conducted case studies on water provision systems in Kenya,Tanzania, and Uganda.

Helped remove 60% of the rubble created by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, with much of it being recycled to create new homes in the area.

Provided security advice to Libya and trained lawyers and judges in the lead up to the country’s first election since 1952.

Provided short-term employment to nearly 5,000 people and legal aide to over 7,000 people a one year period in Somalia.

Those individual accomplishments contribute to big picture progress. In the 13 years since the Millennium Development Goals were adopted there are a half billion fewer people living below the international poverty line, child death rates down 30%, malaria deaths down by one quarter. But we will hear in a moment how much more there is to do and how, despite this good progress, inequality grows. We are fortunate to have Helen Clark to lead us forward.

Appointed in 2009, Helen Clark was reappointed to a 4 year term in 2012 in recognition of her strong and compassionate leadership of all of the UN’s development programs.

She was well prepared for her important work on the world stage. She was trained as a political scientist at the University of Auckland where she taught before entering Parliament in 1981 when she chaired its Foreign Affairs Committee. She served as Minister of Housing, Minister of Health and Minister of Conservation before becoming Deputy Prime Minister. In 1994, Helen Clark was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving three successive terms. As Prime Minister, she lowered unemployment, provided vital services for working families and students, raised wages for the working class, fostered economic growth, and reconciled with Samoa over abuses during New Zealand’s administration of the country.

Her deep experience in the political life of her home country prepared her well for her global responsibilities.

I think Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt would be pleased that we are gathered in their home tonight to talk about how wealthy nations can help improve the lives of the over 1 billion people who live in poverty, people who have energy and talent ready to be unleashed if given a chance.

Hear Eleanor’s words in Sydney, Australia in 1943:

“To help people to help themselves is perhaps the basis of an economic policy which has as its objective freedom from want throughout the world…the future will be safer and perhaps even more prosperous if for a time we devote ourselves to the task of helping people to help themselves…”

What better introduction could there be to Helen Clark whose life responds to Eleanor’s call?

Helen Clark and I will have a conversation for about 30 minutes and then invite you to join us.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Helen Clark.

Africa and Nigeria, Foreign Policy, Other Introductions

Remarks for the King Baudouin Foundation

May 13, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On May 13, 2013 Jonathan Fanton delivered a set of opening remarks to the King Baudouin Foundation, which supports initiatives across the globe aimed at improving living conditions and quality of life for different populations. Here, Dr. Fanton discusses successful strategic planning and fundraising strategies of universities.

Jonathan F. Fanton
King Baudouin Foundation
May 13, 2013

Let me begin by thanking Jean Paul Warmoes for the opportunity to talk with you about the role of strategic planning in fund raising success. I am especially pleased to see colleagues from Nigeria where MacArthur has invested $60 million in strengthening higher education. I have visited Bayero, Ibadan and Port Harcourt many times, indeed am an honorary alumnus of Bayero and Ibadan.

I have seen the planning – fund raising nexus from both sides. In the 1970s I ran Yale’s large capital campaign in a turn around year. I was Vice President for Planning at the University of Chicago. And President of the New School for Social Research for 17 years when fund raising was a matter of survival.

I say both sides because I spent 30 years raising money for universities and 10 years granting money to universities. Let me give you a little background on the MacArthur Foundation. It works in the US and 60 countries around the world granting on average about $200 million a year, much of it to universities. Its focus in the US is urban renewal, affordable housing, juvenile justice reform and how technology is impacting the education of young people. It has offices in Nigeria, Russia, Mexico and India. Outside the US it works in population and reproductive health, conservation, human rights and international justice, peace and security, and migration and mobility. In Russia and Nigeria it seeks to strengthen higher education and research.

MacArthur’s Nigeria work was part of a Partnership for Higher Education in Africa with the Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Hewlett and Kresge foundations that together invested $440 million in nine countries over 10 years – South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Egypt and Ghana.

MacArthur’s strategy was to work with four universities as models to show that wise investments could bring measureable improvement. Bayero University, Kano, Amadu Bello University, the University of Ibadan and Port Harcourt University were our choices. When the Vice Chancellors gathered in Chicago to inaugurate the program, I said this:

“Our interest in higher education proceeds from a simple faith that an independent scholarly community supported by strong universities goes hand in hand with a healthy, stable democracy. In fact, I do not think there is an example of a democratic society without strong and independent universities. And we know only too well the reverse is also true: anti-democratic regimes cannot tolerate academic freedom.

Of course we care about universities not just for their contribution to building a healthy democratic process. Universities are the source of good policy advice essential to rebuilding the economy, of scientific and technological discoveries in health and other fields, of trained personnel to staff the legal system, businesses, municipal governments, environmental agencies, and all the rest. …

We know there is a lot to do to bring your universities to its full potential — to make them the best they can be. But that is our goal — to help you achieve selective excellence, not incremental coping through a steady stream of compromises and rationalizations. … I am a firm believer that ambitious goals can be easier to achieve than modest ones.”

By ambitious goals I meant a long term vision for the university. That is the critical starting point for a strategic plan which in turn is essential to a successful fund raising effort. Donors, be they local or international, private foundations, corporations, government agencies or individual favor a university with a clear vision, a comprehensive strategic plan backed up with specific timetables for implementation and a budget indicating where donated funds will be invested.

MacArthur asked each university for their strategic vision. Common to all was strengthening information technology. But there were particular needs for each, rebuilding the Sciences at ABU, starting a gas and petroleum engineering program at Port Harcourt, establishing a faculty of Agriculture at Bayero, developing a distance learning capability at Ibadan.

And we encouraged all universities to both increase and diversify their sources of support. As I said at the ABU convocation in 2004, “… governments should (not) be the sole source of funds. After all, a government strong enough to give a university everything it has, is also powerful enough to deprive the university of everything it is. Dependence is the enemy of intellectual freedom … that is why public universities in most countries try to maintain a degree of autonomy by diversifying their sources of funding.”

You will hear later in this program from Robert Kissane, president of a premier consulting firm, CCS, which, with MacArthur support, worked with alumni and leadership of four universities to create a fund raising plan, prepare a case statement, organize alumni, build a prospect list of foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals. You will also hear from Wale Adeosun, President of the Nigeria Higher Election Foundation, which MacArthur created to receive tax efficient donations in the US.

Looking back on MacArthur’s work in Nigeria, I wish we had invested more in the strategic planning process, perhaps made a consultant expert in strategic planning available as a partner to the fund raising consultant. I was reading a piece about strategic planning the other day authored by Anthony Knerr, one such consultant.

Dr. Knerr is Managing Director of AKA|Strategy, a strategy consulting firm that has assisted a wide variety of leading universities and colleges and other nonprofit institutions in the US, Europe and beyond.

He is very clear about the planning-fundraising connection when he wrote:
“Successful fundraising depends upon clear strategy. Those organizations that have gone through the difficult work of thinking through their mission, aspirations and objectives have the best shot at raising significant philanthropic resources. Those institutions that have not done so lack a compelling rationale to discuss with prospective donors, may raise money for the wrong purposes and are likely to underachieve their financial targets, possibly significantly so.”

He cites several “critical ingredients” for a successful strategic plan.

First, the planning process matters and must reflect the culture of an institution and its moment in history. In a complex university that process might start by having each Faculty or School prepare a plan to be reviewed and integrated by a university-wide Planning Committee. The Committees at both the Faculty and University level should be representative and must have a strong chair approved by the deans and President. And the process should engage the entire university community, Board, faculty, administrative leaders, students and alumni.

Second, I have already mentioned the importance of thinking big, setting forth a compelling overall vision and clear statement of mission. That mission should connect to the economic, political and social progress of the nation. In some situations, it may be useful for the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor to set forth a mission statement as an hypothesis to be tested by the Planning Committee.

Third, the planning process must focus on the key issues and opportunities and not get diverted by trying to address every question large and small. Plans that are driven by positive possibilities will be more inspiring that those that are
dominated by problems. What are the university’s comparative advantages? What makes it different? are key questions.

Fourth, the planning process should be evidence based, the product of rigorous analysis, that draws on data. Get the thinking straight and leave to a second stage the communications plan, the lofty sales rhetoric.

Fifth, I think it is useful to have a clearly set schedule for developing the plan, dates for the individual school and faculty plans and for a draft of the university-wide integrated plan. There should be room for open debate within the committees and time to seek additional information. And while opinions will differ on this point, when possible I favor a series of public discussions about the draft and time to make adjustments based on what is learned.

Sixth, Anthony Knerr recommends, and I agree, that the document coming out of the process, in his words “should be concise, crisp and big picture …. (including) the organization’s mission and vision; delineate four to five key strategic objectives with underlying goals for each objective, lay out means of measuring progress … and provide an implementation plan, and often, a financial plan in an appendix.”

Seventh and last, we all know of plans that are well done but sit on the shelf, unimplemented. Sometimes that reflects an out of touch process where the substance of the recommendation doesn’t fit the reality. Sometimes it means the process was not politically sensitive, even divisive. More often it is due to the absence of an implementation plan driven by the university leadership team – President, Vice Chancellors and Deans.

To make the plan real for members of the university community, and potential donors, I recommend a Quick Start Fund : a set of visible improvements for what money can be raised quickly. These improvements should bring benefits to the university community that will be felt and appreciated, lift morale, create a buzz that the university is on the move.

Leadership needs to identify a list of such giving opportunities before the strategic plan is complete and have some money lined up in advance. Indeed building the development staff and large prospect list and cultivation of the prospects should be underway even before the planning process is complete.

The overall plan will most likely cover a 5 year period. The quick start fund should be the first 12-18 months and build confidence that the overall plan is doable.

Let me conclude where I began. Every institution is different. Each of your country contexts is distinctive. There are no magic formulas that fit all circumstances. I have tried to offer some suggestions to get you thinking. Some may make sense to you, some may not.

With all that said, I am convinced that most international donors, foundations, corporations, development agencies, will look favorably on institutions that have a clear mission statement and a robust strategic plan. This is not a field of dreams, “Build it and they will come.” The strategic plan is a starting point, the raw material that trustees, alumni, development staff need to launch and execute a successful fund raising campaign.

Let me end with a passage from my ABU Convocation – in which I quoted Nelson Mandela who said:
“In the history of nations, generations have made their mark through their
acumen in appreciating critical turning points and, with determination and
creativity, seizing the moment. A new and better life will be achieved only
if we shed the temptation to proceed casually along the road — only if we
take the opportunities that beckon.”

Amidst the many perils of this moment, opportunities also beckon. I urge
you, therefore, not to proceed casually along the road but rather to seize
those opportunities: to build on the remarkable progress you have already
made; to remember that a university embarked on an upward path must
keep climbing to avoid the temptations and traps that might cause you
to stumble; and to go forward as a true community with each member
dedicated to the success of all, and all committed to the success of each.

That might be said of the spirit in this room. Let us hope that history will record that this conference was a turning point through which private fundraising across the continent of Africa took a major step forward. Our collective goal is a change in culture, within universities where all faculties step forward to help raise funds, in national culture where tax laws should incent private giving which is honored by society, and among international donors who have strengthened confidence that investment in African universities will be well used and bring results – for stronger universities which contribute to economic and social development and advance our quest for just, humane, democratic societies at peace.

Conversations With Interesting People

In Conversation with Hanna Holborn Gray

May 2, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On May 2, 2013 Jonathan Fanton sat down with former President of the University of Chicago, Hanna Holborn Gray, to discuss her renowned career.

Hanna Holborn Gray
May 2, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening. Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Ira Katznelson’s Fear Itself, hear world leaders like former Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, or talk presidential politics during our recent conference entitled Ike Reconsidered: Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century.

Tonight is different. I have been long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally. Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMA President Agnes Gund, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, and, most recently, Harvard Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot.

Tonight I will have a conversation with my close friend and mentor, Hanna Holborn Gray. I first met Hanna in 1971 when she was elected to the Board of Yale University and I was Assistant to President Kingman Brewster. But I had known her father with whom I studied European History some years before. In 1974 Hanna became Provost of Yale and shortly I joined her as Associate Provost. When Kingman left to be Ambassador to England, Hanna became Acting President and she and I made common cause in rescuing Yale’s major capital fund drive. And when Chicago recruited her to be its President, she asked me to join her as Vice President for Planning.

Along the way, I became close friends with Hanna and her remarkable husband and fellow historian, Charles, with whom I had frequent games of squash.

She and I continue to work together on the Board of Scholars at Risk. She has been a staunch advocate of academic freedom and knows firsthand the dangers of oppression as her father and mother were forced to flee Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s.

Growing up in the New Haven area, she attended Bryn Mawr College and went on to earn her Ph.D. in History at Harvard where she taught before moving to the University of Chicago with Charles. Her gift for leadership earned her in rapid succession appointments as the Dean of Northwestern University’s Arts and Sciences, Provost at Yale and President of the University of Chicago where she did an outstanding job in strengthening the faculty and the college and graduate divisions.

Along the way, she gave leadership to important institutions, serving as Chair of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation and serving on the boards of Harvard, the Smithsonian Institution, Bryn Mawr, the Mayo Clinic and Brookings among others.

She was co-editor with Charles of the Journal of Modern History and is author of Searching for Utopia: Universities and Their Histories.

I could go on. But you get the point. Hanna Holborn Gray is an extraordinary person. She is smart, courageous, inspiring, demanding but loyal and fun to be with. She has laser insight into people’s characters and motivations and an awesome ability to put the present in a historical context that reveals layers of meaning.

Whatever good I have done in my career owes to her honest and caring mentorship.

Introductions at Student Seminars

Bradley Tusk, Paths in Public Service

April 24, 2013 jfanton

On April 24, 2013 Bradley Tusk spoke to Hunter College undergraduate students about his previous experience as the Lt. Governor of Illinois and chief campaign strategist for the 2009 Bloomberg campaign. Jonathan Fanton opened the event with an introduction of Mr. Tusk.

It is a great pleasure to welcome my friend Bradley Tusk to Roosevelt House. We met almost 10 years ago when he was Deputy Governor of Illinois, an appointed post, and I was President of the MacArthur Foundation. We hit it off immediately, two New Yorkers in the Windy City feeling nostalgia for mutual friends like Ed Koch and former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern.

Some of you may recall that Commissioner Stern gave code names to people, something like the secret service. I was Opera, Phantom of the Opera. Bradley was Ivory because the Commissioner thought he stood high among the top young talent in his agency.

I thought Bradley would be good for the Pathways series because he understands the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and law degree at the University of Chicago.
He came to understand the city working for Henry Stern in his mid-twenties, then handled communications and policy for Senator Schumer, then was a Special Assistant to Mayor Bloomberg, creating the campaign promise index so the Mayor could report to the public on his campaign promises.

Moving on to Illinois as the appointed Lt. Governor he had major managerial experience something like the Chief Operating Officer. You may be familiar with the sordid record of Governor Rod Blagojevich who was sentenced to 14 years in prison on corruption charges ranging from wire fraud, attempted extortion, and a conspiracy to accept bribes — most notably in the form campaign contributions in exchange for Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. While all the political chicanery was going on Bradley stuck to policy and came out clean in a vigorous federal investigation.

Under his tenure, Illinois became the first state to guarantee health care for all children, the first state to offer pre-school to all 3 and 4 year olds, the first state to convert its entire tollway system to Open Road Tolling.

He returned to New York to be a Vice President of Lehman Brothers and did better than the firm. After the bankruptcy he started his own consulting firm, Tusk Strategies. His clients include WalMart’s effort to enter the New York market, AT&T’s effort to enhance its New York profile as well as Michelle Rhee’s educational reform effort Students First. Bradley loves issues campaigns, for example, the successful campaign to raise the number of charter schools allowed in New York which helped New York win $700 million in federal Race to the Top money. The campaign was called a “coup for the charter school movement” by the Wall Street Journal, a “huge win for the kids” by the New York Daily News, and a “significant victory” by the New York Times.

Probably his most recent high profile assignment was directing Mayor Bloomberg’s successful bid for a third term.

All this and he isn’t even 40 yet! Bradley is an unusual person, not just because he is bright and precious. He understands how the political process works, keeps policy goals front and center, knows how to compromise without sacrificing principle, moves easily across party lines and brings together the public, private and non-profit sectors in pursuit of the public good.

Other Speeches

Morehouse Trust Dinner

April 13, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On April 13, 2013 Jonathan Fanton spoke before the Andrew Morehouse Trust Association about his long career in public service as a university leader, philanthropist, and human rights advocate.

Let me begin by thanking Roger Vincent for inviting me to share some reflections with you and for all he has done to revitalize Spade and Grave.

Only in the last few years have I fully appreciated how Spade and Grave prepared me for both my professional and civic responsibilities. My time as Chief of Staff for Kingman Brewster, my service as Vice President of the University of Chicago and President of The New School, and my leadership of the MacArthur Foundation all benefited from what I learned through intensely personal conversations in our modest tomb on the top floor of our Trumbull Street quarters.

I came from a classical Connecticut Yankee family, intensely private, not prone to show emotion, or share feelings. As you can imagine, the autobiography was quite a challenge, especially since I went first. It was the most open I had ever been about my life and I was relieved there was no cross examination. Now liberated, I freely questioned classmates who followed with their personal stories. But my turn came when the group decided there would be a second round. Believe me, the questions were intense and my initial well-crafted presentation of my character and beliefs was tested.

And I was a changed person by June. I understood differences more than before – different backgrounds, beliefs, values, ambitions. I gained an appreciation and respect for diversity. I learned to listen more deeply and developed an empathy for the challenges people face.

These qualities were essential to meeting tests along the way.

I think of May Day 1970 and my role in reaching out to the African American community in New Haven,

or weathering Union strikes at Yale and The New School where I played a constructive role in bridging conflict,

or at MacArthur which works in 60 countries around the world – hearing the stories of fishermen in Fiji, trying to understand the Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, supporting women of the Don in Rostov Russia, trying to comprehend the enormity of the Rwanda genocide in conversation with a survivor who lost his whole family.

In the 1980s as the Iron Curtain weakened and fell, I was Chair of the Human Rights Group Helsinki Watch and later became Chair of Human Rights Watch worldwide.

The listening and empathy skills I learned at Spade and Grave were responsible for my rise within the human rights movement. I recall being present in Prague October 1989 on the day the Velvet Revolution began, talking with Havel and other dissidents about whether a big demonstration was, in fact, the beginning of the Revolution. On another occasion, Mrs. Jimmy Carter and I talked to Boris Yeltsin about his feeling that the Soviet Union would disintegrate as it did within a year. I can still recall meeting with Lithuanian President Landsbergis in his barricaded office in Vilnius as Soviet troops sought unsuccessfully to crush Lithuania’s independence movement. I listened in a different way, had instincts about what was happening, was able to help strangers under pressure think about their choices of action.

I thought of this theme last month when I met with the leader of the opposition in Tunisia and heard his analysis about where the Arab Spring was headed in his country. I was in Tunisia for a conference on Academic Freedom organized by Scholars at Risk of which I am now Chair.

If I were doing my autobiography today – about 50 years from my presentation in fall 1964 – the headline would be the central importance of my human rights work to my life. You who are about to graduate and you who are entering Spade and Grave, have a long life ahead. Family and career will be important but save some time for civic engagement. My work at Human Rights Watch has been the most meaningful and satisfying part of my life.

So I end where I began: being engaged in community organizations, issue advocacy groups, as well as religious and service institutions, will add value to your lives and make a difference in our society as we search for a more just and humane world at peace. And as you feel the difference you are making, you will take heart that the deadly forces of fatalism and despair can be turned back by the power of individuals coming together directly, unmediated by governments.

That is the way of the future in our race against global warming; against the ravages of AIDS; against the growth of terrorist networks; and against the potential of social explosion, as rising expectations clash with the stubborn persistence of poverty.

The most powerful force for good in our time is the worldwide mobilization of citizens to act directly: sometimes to supplement government action, sometimes to resist it; most often to bring compassion and competence, hope and determination, when formal mechanisms fail. I hope that you will all join in.

Conversations With Interesting People, Video

In Conversation with Sara Lawrence Lightfoot

April 11, 2013 jfanton Leave a comment

On April 11, 2013 Jonathan Fanton sat down with acclaimed sociologist Sara Lawrence Lightfoot for a conversation about her career and reflections on learning, culture, and relationships. To view the video, click here.

Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Introduction

Thursday April 11, 2013

Good evening. I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure you welcome you to a very special evening. Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Ira Katznelson’s Fear Itself, hear world leaders like former Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, or talk presidential politics during our recent conference entitled Ike Reconsidered: Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century.

Tonight is different. I have been long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally. Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMA President Agnes Gund, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, philanthropist Rita Hauser, and, most recently, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio.

But tonight is a very special to me as I sit down with my friend and colleague, Sara Lawrence Lightfoot. Sara and I made common cause at the MacArthur Foundation when she was Board Chair and I President. She is the best Board Chair I know and I have known a lot. I learned a great deal from her — how to ask probing questions in a nice way, how to listen deeply, how to explain the foundation’s work through stories rather than dry statistics of impact. Sara knows how to build a community based on mutual respect, open but civil discourse, and deep personal relationships. She moves easily among disciplines, geographies, cultures, always eloquent, ever-inspiring. I have seen her in action from the Chicago board room to New York City neighborhoods, from Fiji to Nigeria to India and many places in between.

Sara is the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education at Harvard where she has been teaching since 1980. She has written 10 books with titles that invite you in: Balm In Gilead: Journey of a Healer, I’ve Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation, Respect: An Exploration, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free, and The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other.

My idea for this series of conversations was inspired by that book and I see each conversation as a learning experience for all of us here.

As you will see, Sara is a modest person, unpretentious, fun to be with. When you meet her, you feel the warmth, the empathy, the interest in hearing what you have to say. And always a desire to help. And yet, here I am facing a winner of the McArthur Prize Fellowship, someone recognized with 28 honorary degrees, a recipient of Harvard’s George Ledlie prize for “research and discovery” that make the “most valuable contribution to science” and “the benefit of mankind.” And that’s just a sample.

She is a devoted and gifted teacher. I know her students come first. And she is a thoughtful and productive scholar who has advanced our understanding of how personal development, family, community and pedagogy come together to create enabling learning environments.

But somehow she finds time for public service, Chair of the MacArthur Board, now Deputy Chair of the Atlantic Philanthropies, member of the boards of WGBH in Boston, the Berklee College of Music, her alma mater Swarthmore, the Coalition of Essential Schools, Bright Horizons Family Solutions and much more.

Let me close with a sample of her work, from her book Respect, which she sees as…

“Symmetric and dynamic.… (It) supports growth and change, encourages communication and authenticity and allows generosity and empathy to flow in two directions…. (It is) visceral, palpable, conveyed through gesture, nuance, tone of voice and figure of speech…. It is more than civility…. It penetrates below the polite surface and reflects a growing sense of connection, empathy and trust. It requires seeing the other as genuinely worthy…. Respect is not just conveyed through talk, it is also conveyed through silence. I do not mean an empty, distracted silence. I mean a fully engaged silence that permits us to think, feel, breathe, and take notice – silence that gives the other person permission to let us know what he or she needs.”

After Sara and I talk for a while we will broaden the conversation to include all of you.