Since I wasn’t able to attend the Council on Foundations’ just-wrapped 2011 Annual Conference in Philadelphia, I kept up with the sessions by following the steady stream of blogs summarizing what was happening.  It was a pretty good way to be part of the latest national discussions about philanthropy without actually getting on a plane to go there.

• COF website blogs   – particularly note comments onthe interesting closing plenary  Philanthropy On Trial. The charge: Philanthropy is not fulfilling its mission of advancing the common good. Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies, represented the prosecution; and Ralph R. Smith, Executive Vice President of The Annie E. Casey Foundation and former COF Board Chair, served as the defense attorney. A former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Jane Cutler Greenspan, acted as the judge.

• Philanthropy411 also covered the conference with the help of an insightful blog team.

And if you have the time, there was one more blog about the conference that is worth the read for – if nothing else – its frankness: White Courtesy Telephone blogger (and Greater New Orleans Foundation president) Albert Ruesga shared some pointed thoughts about the celebration of philanthropy that is the COF Annual Conference via PhilanTopic.

 —  Nancy Jamison, Executive Director, San Diego Grantmakers

The Donors Forum staff knows Nancy through our membership in the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. The post above was originally a message she shared with her grantmaking members in the San Diego area, and we thought it would be useful to grantmakers and nonprofits in Illinois.