Press Releases

WASHINGTON ­­­­- The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) today hailed the Public Welfare Foundation's announcement that it had elevated NCRP to the status of one the foundation's half dozen on-going annual contributions to national nonprofit infrastructure organizations.

"The award from the Public Welfare Foundation is testimony to the philanthropic sector's need for significant but responsible oversight," said NCRP Executive Director Rick Cohen. "Some foundations are ducking the issue of foundation accountability, but the Public Welfare Foundation stands out among its peers by acknowledging the need of the entire sector for an independent foundation watchdog."

For more than a quarter century, NCRP has conducted research, organizing and advocacy to make foundations more open and accountable to constituencies with the least wealth and least opportunity in society.  With a staff of 10, NCRP is best known for having championed requirements for disclosure of foundation finances and grantmaking, increases in foundation grantmaking levels or "payout," and appropriations to strengthen federal and state oversight of foundation behavior.

"It's important to have an independent voice that highlights the problems of philanthropy and solutions to these problems," said Thomas J. Scanlon, chair of the board of trustees of the Public Welfare Foundation.  "I think it's important to support these independent voices, even though sometimes I don't agree with them.  They perform a critical function in keeping U.S. philanthropy accountable."