Regarding my previous post Phil asks, basically, what's the point? Why should foundations seek publicity? It's a good question.

Foundations began publishing information about themselves as a way of countering the accusations of secrecy and malfeasance that led to the Tax Reform Act of 1969. The mantra was, and remains, "transparency and openness," to the degree that the self-publishing [read: editing] of data can be construed as such.

Somewhere along the way, I'd say during the '80s, foundations got the bright idea to invest some resources in drawing attention to the work of grantees. They began to publish newsletters, magazines, journals, etc. highlighting what grantees were doing with their funding.

Then along came the Internet, which allowed foundations to broaden their audiences but, I would argue, didn't really change their thinking about how to approach the issue of publicity.

Today, if you ask your run-of-the-mill foundation CEO why she or he invests resources in public relations, you'll likely hear a homily about accountability and drawing attention to the work of grantees.

What I'm suggesting is that new ways of thinking about marketing, including use of new technologies, offer opportunities for foundations to tackle the issues they care about [and, ostensibly, that their founders cared about] in other ways than just donating money to charity. Say the Rich Socialites Foundation of Greater Palm Beach is dedicated to the preservation of contemporary dance as a viable art form. It could, of course, give a bunch of money to a variety of contemporary dance companies, ensuring their long-term survival. But it also might look at some other approaches. Wouldn't getting high school students interested in contemporary dance help meet the mission? How might Socialites go about doing that? In particular, if Socialites is a well known organization within the community, why not leverage its brand to accomplish its mission? Build an interactive Web site about contemporary dance targeted to teens? Form partnerhips with online portals already being used by teens in the community? Fund a buzz marketing campaign using star quarterbacks and cheerleaders?

I think it's time foundations start to play more directly in some of these spaces in which they've traditionally said, "Well we wouldn't do that but certainly we'd fund someone to do it."

That kind of self-limitation is why foundations get beat up in the marketplace of ideas.