By Charles R. Halpern
President, Nathan Cummings Foundation

In 1968, when I began my career as a grant-seeker, I did not understand what foundations do besides write checks. Now that I have been president of this foundation for four years, I have a clearer sense of what these unique institutions can do. Foundations can, of course, respond to funding requests. They can also trigger a complex interaction of people, ideas, and institutions-sometimes creating new programs and having an impact on real world issues.

At the Nathan Cummings Foundation we try to identify major problems and to seek solutions. We think of ourselves as partners in the activities of our grantees. Thus, while we provide financial support to environmental organizations, we also consider ourselves a part of the environmental movement.

Let me use as an example of our process the work the Foundation has done in the area of mind-body health. When we began to shape our health program four years ago, we looked for issues in the health field that had major importance, inadequate funding, and real promise for development and public benefit. We concluded that the mind-body relationship met those criteria. One of our Trustees,James Cummings, had knowledge of the field, and we consulted with a number of experts to round out our understanding.

We found that a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrated that mental and emotional states can cause or exacerbate illness. Interventions aimed at mental states can improve health and speed recovery. David Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford, had shown that psychological support groups for women with metastasized breast cancer could extend their lives significantly-as well as improving their quality of life, reducing pain, and increasing productivity. Dean Ornish had demonstrated that a regimen of diet, meditation, exercise, and group support could reverse serious heart disease. While these findings involved small groups of people and were not conclusive, they sugge sted a powerful set of tools that were too little acknowledged in the world of orthodox medicine.

There are some obvious reasons why these approaches were not readily accepted. Doctors are trained to treat acute disease, and to look for pharmaceutical or surgical interventions to cure particular conditions- not to deal with the emotional distress associated with chronic illness. They are given little support for efforts to deal with the emotional disruption that often impels, accompanies, and exacerbates serious disease.

We began making a series of grants to support these researchers and clinicians, to disseminate their findings, and to encourage replication. To bring these findings to a wider audience we made a grant to support Bill Moyers' series on mind-body health interventions. That series-called Healing and the Mind-was broadcast by PBS to an audience of more than 10 million. We joined with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in establishing the Center for the Advancement of Health in Washington DC, an institution which will bring to the attention of health policy-makers the importance of these new developments and their capacity to make health care more humane.

After three and a half years, it is gratifying to see the work of our grantees bear fruit. Our contribution helped to build the identity and momentum of the field.

Much the same process has taken place in our other three program areas. We try to find issues of national importance and we try to have an impact.We lend support to the work of dedicated and imaginative people who are devoting their lives and their efforts to the public welfare.

Our program areas confront some intractable problems. The environmental crisis continues to deepen. Disparities between rich countries and poor countries, and between rich Americans and poor Americans, continue to grow. Our grantees are taking the lead in developing imaginative approaches to the environmental crisis; in reforming health systems riddled with inequities, high costs, and depersonalized service; in rebuilding a new sense of Jewish identity encompassing traditional values and social justice; and in promoting broad participation and free expression in the art world.

All of these problems demand something more than tactical approaches and piecemeal solutions. They demand wisdom-attention to the long-term, recognition of the interdependence of all human beings, reverence for the earth-qualities that go beyond operational skill and manipulation of knowledge. We support efforts to re-value the quality of wisdom in our society.

Many of our grants support good people who are fighting a good fight, and we will continue such support. We will also seek novel directions-to fill gaps and to support young people with untested ideas. We believe thatfundamental changes are required. There must be changes at the material level-in the ways in which we utilize our resources; care for those who are helpless; nurture the young. We must also address less tangible concerns: the way we define our place in a threatened, fragile ecosystem; assure that all people can lead healthy lives; seek wisdom in Jewish traditions; open the art world to values of diversity and free expression.

We are reporting on our third complete grant cycle. It has been a period of growth, consolidation, and deepening understanding of our program areas. Our Board of Trustees, now including members of the Nathan Cummings family and non-family members, has learned to work together effectively, drawing on the skills of all members; the interests and commitments of the Trustees are more deeply embedded in our program choices.

The Foundation's developing personality is readily apparent in our new offfices. Our space is on the West Side of NewYork, in a 100-year old loft building. Visitors often comment on the openness and brightness of the space, and the creativity of the design. This space reflects the Trustees' commitment to creativity and to an open, risk-taking approach to grantmaking.

The renovation of the building was the joint effort of a talented architect, Peter Wormser, and the Trustees and staff. In particular, the perceptive esthetic judgments of Diane Cummings and Ruth Cummings Sorensen are embodied in the colors, shapes, and spaces of the Foundation's of fice. Our offce manager, Annette Ensley contributed her sense of how an offfice should work-how each person can contribute his or her best and most creative efforts.

Ruth Cummings Sorensen's term as Chair saw the Foundation move into a new home and solidify its grantmaking strategies. Her knowledge of the non-profit world, her engagement with the Foundation's programs, and her warmth animated the Foundation's activities. Her continued service as Vice-Chair assures that the Foundation will continue to benefit from these qualities. Rob Mayer, who has succeeded her as Chair, brings to the job high energy, broad experience, and deep commitment to the goals of the Foundation. Both Ruth and Rob, grandchildren of the founder, provide distinctive and inspiring leadership to the staff end Board of Trustees. mbedded in our program choices.