What's New

 

The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) and Ellen B. Rudolph, Surdna Foundation program director for Thriving Cultures, received the Institutional Research Initiative Award from the Arts Schools Network at its recent annual conference in Washington, D.C.

Based at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, SNAAP is an annual online survey, data management and institutional improvement system designed to enhance the impact of arts-school education.

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Surdna's Chief Financial Officer, Marc de Venoge, was interviewed by Investment Consultant Cambridge Associates in its most recent client newsletter, C|A Perspectives.  In the interview Marc discusses Surdna's history and investment strategy.  To read the interview, Click Here.

Surdna Foundation enthusiastically reports that its Chairman Emeritus, John E. Andrus, III, grandson of the founder, celebrated his centennial birthday on September 19, 2009.  Exactly 100 years to the day after his birth, John marked the occasion with family and close friends at the Woodhill Country Club, near his home on Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota arranged by his 3 daughters.  What makes this milestone especially rewarding for us all is that John remains an active individual, still engaged in the interests and pursuits of his life.  John remains in vigorous good health and continues to participate in family and foundation endeavors, as well as his love of nature and art.

The centennial evening celebration included a dance performance and songs by his daughters with numerous touching and personal tributes from his 6 grandchildren and numerous friends and relatives.  Each tribute was a demonstration of affection and admiration, and acknowledgement of a man who lives an exemplary life with compassion and caring enough to touch the hearts and minds of so many. After blowing out the 3 digit candle of a centenarian, John, the always gracious and poised gentlemen thanked the assembled group and acknowledged his gratitude for the wonderful tributes and for attending his party.

John's grandfather was the founder of the Surdna Foundation in 1917.  But it is the grandson that the Foundation credits for the modern, professionalized Surdna Foundation beginning in the late 1980's.  A successful business man in his own regard, John conceived the idea of focusing the grant making power of the foundation into specific and targeted areas guided by a professional staff, and insisted on regular reviews of grants and grantee progress.  In 1989 the foundation hired its first Executive Director who worked with the board to devise an effective and collaborative grant program.  John is also credited with recruiting some very talented family members to be board members including a financial executive who served as Treasurer that set into motion the investment portfolio discipline and operational backbone that has held Surdna up so well over the years.

John Andrus, III grew up in Minneaplis, Minnesota.  He served proudly in the US Army and was a 1933 graduate of Wesleyan University. After majoring in English and English Literature at Wesleyan, John went on to the Minnesota School of Law.  Along side a successful life in business heading up the metal fabricator Deep Draw Corporation, John also led a long and involved career in philanthropy.  In addition to his dedication to the Surdna Foundation, John served as chairman of the board of the Nature Conservancy, chairman of the board of the Minnesota Institute of Art and was involved in numerous other nonprofit organizations. John joined the Surdna board in the 1969 and established himself as a voice of wisdom and reason.  He served Chair for many years and reached emeritus status in 1991.

So on the occasion of John's 100^th birthday, we all sincerely wish John many more years of productive philanthropy and quality living.

 

After more than a decade as director of Surdna’s Nonprofit Sector Program, Vince Stehle has left the Foundation to seek new challenges.  Vince was instrumental in shaping the program and is widely respected in the field. 

The Nonprofit Sector Program has been closely associated with the field of nonprofit infrastructure and the early support of organizations that have transformed the practice of philanthropy.  But there have also been more specific areas of work where the program has had a significant impact. Among the most notable areas of focus, Surdna’s support for nonprofit technology is probably the sector where we have had the most profound impact.

The Program has also had a major impact on the field of media and communications, where we have more recently joined a large and growing group of grantmakers concerned about the value of media in amplifying the work of all nonprofits and causes.

Vince was a hands-on program director, serving as Chairperson of Philanthropy New York formerly the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG), and serving on the governing boards of YouthNoise, VolunteerMatch and the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN).  He continues to serve on the board of Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media and he remains a tireless advocate for our grantees and the field of philanthropy in general.  We wish him great things in his future endeavors.

The Surdna Foundation's board announced today that after a year-long review of its grantmaking, the Foundation is launching three new grantmaking programs - Sustainable Environments, Strong Local Economies, and Thriving Cultures - that will more effectively advance the Foundation's top objective to foster just and sustainable communities. To deliver on this new mission, the Surdna Foundation is aligning its work to prioritize environmental, economic and cultural issues as three areas critical to the long-term well-being of U.S. communities.

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September to approve 87 grants totaling $10,141,000.

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