ANNOUNCEMENT: Forum of RAGs, Council on Foundations Forge 'Strategic Alliance'

Just in...

The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, which serves four thousand grantmakers through thirty-two regional hubs, and the Council on Foundations, with two thousand members nationwide, have announced a strategic alliance to better serve the nation's foundations and philanthropic donors.

According to the press release, both organizations will continue to provide education programs but through an "expanded common framework that draws on the knowledge of both, eliminates competitive and overlapping offerings, and reaches into new areas of learning." To further that effort, the forum will move its offices to the council's headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia, in January 2009.

"This alliance builds on the complementary strengths of both organizations -- the sector-wide leadership of the council and the unique local knowledge, credibility, and reach of the regional associations, said CoF board chair and Annie E. Casey Foundation executive vice president Ralph Smith. "This is a promising next step toward building a more coherent, effective, efficient, networked approach to supporting philanthropy."

With the economy heading south in a hurry, I suspect we'll see more annoucements of this kind in the coming months. Stay tuned...

-- Mitch Nauffts