Philanthropically Speaking

We've all just returned from Foundations on the Hill, and today I offer my blog space to Helen Ishii, our director of member and government affairs, who led SECF's charge of 50 people up the steps of Capitol Hill and lived to tell about it. The results were the best we've seen from any Foundations on the Hill event to date. My hat's off to Helen for pulling us all together. Here's her reflection from the experience:

I'm sitting across from a couple of very bright Congressional staffers, making idle chit chat and finding connections with less than six degrees of separation, as we await Rep. Boozman (D-AR-3rd) to return from a vote to meet with us. I appreciate that the Congressman finds our visit important enough to return to the office, especially as it's now 5:00 p.m.  I also appreciate that in every office we've visited today, someone in our group has found a personal connection to at least one staffer and also often to the Member of Congress. These personal connections have proven important over the years as they are often what makes a staffer or Member comfortable calling on us as a resource.

This is my 6th trek to DC for Foundations on the Hill. This physically exhausting trip has become a valued annual event for our members, 50 of whom made it this year. These hearty souls put many miles on their soles as they walk and walk and walk the halls on the Hill. This year they have visited 94 Members of Congress from the 11 states in the Southeastern Council of Foundations' (SECF) region. Every year we return to educate the ever revolving supply of extremely young, extremely bright and extremely inexperienced staffers about the work of foundations, as well as to inform Members of Congress on the issues impacting our sector.

This year I joined our teams from Arkansas and South Carolina as they made their visits. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) immediately "got" the importance of basing the TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) funding formula upon need and the benefit that would accrue to all Southern states. She also remarked about how helpful it was to have the same message delivered to her Southern colleagues by other SECF members.

Everyone saw how a cap on charitable deductions could be harmful to the sector.  As to be expected, the chair of the House Budget Committee, Rep. John Spratt (D-SC-5th) asked about the "scoring" of H.R. 4090, which will simplify the private foundation excise tax to a flat rate. We were able to answer his question, thanks to the briefings we'd received from COF the day before.  Soon, blessedly soon, I'll be walking to the METRO to catch a flight home, where I'll finally be able to soak my aching feet and begin my thank you notes to continue the relationships begun today.

- Helen Ishii, SECF Director of Member and Government Relations