By Reynold Levy Chair

Politicians run for office. If they don't perform well, the voters see them to the door.

Business leaders are accountable to their share owners. If they fail to perform acceptably, share owners flee to more prudent investments, the stock price plummets, and senior executives seek employment elsewhere.

Nonprofit executives are held to account for their performance by independent boards of directors at whose pleasure they serve.

What is the equivalent source of discipline for private foundations?

After having spent well over a decade as a nonprofit executive raising funds from foundations and an equal span of time as the president of the AT&T Foundation, I am persuaded that there is at present no counterpart in the philanthropic world to the politicians' ballot box or the corporations' bottom line unless a strong, values-driven board exerts leadership.

Consider these questions:
When was the last time you heard of a foundation president discharged for inadequate performance? What can an aggrieved would-be grantee do about a carefully developed grant proposal that goes unread and unacknowledged? How can some foundations with impunity convey so little information about their guidelines, processes, and decisions? What recourse is available when foundation assets skyrocket but payout levels don't seem to take notice?

It is my contention that for private foundations to discharge their responsibilities in the public interest, there is no substitute for the standard setting and monitoring of an energetic, well-informed and highly motivated board of trustees. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is blessed with a board possessed of those very qualities. I am proud to have served as a trustee and now for over a year as the board's first non-family chair.

Just a few points should suffice to highlight some of the distinctive features of the way the Foundation governs itself.

• Intensive and extensive family involvement at board meetings, functional and program committee meetings, site visits, an annual retreat.

• The selection of outside non-family trustees who are expected to participate fully in Foundation decision making.

• An annual assessment of the performance of the Foundation's president.

• A commitment to openness in our structures, procedures, and decision making, and diversity in our hiring and selection of grantees.

• Engagement in a continuous dialogue with grantees--by e-mail, fax, phone, correspondence, person-to-person meetings, conferences--from which we learn much more than we can possibly teach.

• An organizational culture that is results-oriented and self-critical, continuously striving for improvement, that sides with the underdog and stands for something beyond self.

These characteristics of the Nathan Cummings Foundation help us to keep in touch with realities and to hold ourselves accountable for service to others. So does our Jewish heritage. We recognize that we are very privileged to be in a position to invest a precious pool of private capital to advance the commonweal. We believe deeply in tzedakah-the pursuit not simply of enlightened charity but of social justice.

We leave it to the readers of these pages to determine for themselves how we are faring. And, we invite your comments and reactions. The Nathan Cummings Foundation is still very much a work in progress.

Help shape us.