O’Brien and Family Pairs Discuss Passion for Philanthropy

The conference opened with a discussion about the role of family legacy in philanthropy. The spirited exchange was moderated by CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien and featured three family pairs—Valerie Rockefeller Wayne and Charles Rockefeller, Woodrow Myers Jr. and Kimberly Myers Hewlett, and Agnes and Catherine Gund—talking about the role family legacy has played in their philanthropic ventures.

O’Brien, noting that "ultimately what connects everyone in this room is passion," asked the panelists to discuss their passions for diverse areas such as health care, education, and the arts. Myers Hewlett perhaps summed up the feelings of everyone when she conveyed her sense of accomplishment in working with family foundations: "I feel like I’m saving the world."

Couric Tells Conference Attendees How Cancer Inspired Her Philanthropic Efforts

Veteran journalist Katie Couric spoke movingly about the losses of her husband, Jay, and her sister, Emily, to cancer. She said their deaths changed the course of her philanthropic life. Because she "didn’t have the ability or the expertise to set up a foundation" by herself, Couric worked with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and others to launch the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) to raise the public’s consciousness about cancer and cancer research.

"Nothing motivates you like something that touches you personally," Couric explained during Monday morning’s plenary session. "That’s Jay’s [and Emily’s] legacy. It really focused my attention on this disease." Those efforts have paid off. The NCCRA already has raised $33 million to fight this deadly disease, and SU2C has raised $180 million.

Attendees "Eat, Drink, and Be Sustainable" During Lunch Plenary Session

Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel told attendees Monday afternoon he "grew up on the floor of my parents’ kitchen. That was my playpen." So it was his destiny to help people create a world in which everyone can eat food that is good for them, for the farmers who grow it, and for the planet as a whole.

After Viertel’s remarks about the rewards of getting involved in the slow-food movement—such as discovering a commitment to social justice and the environment—the audience ate a delicious meal cooked by Renato Piredda, executive sous-chef at the New York Marriott Marquis. Piredda said the goal for the meal was simple: "We want it to be organic. We want it to be local. We want it to be without pesticides."

As everyone enjoyed creamy butternut squash soup with crème fraiche and a salad of mixed field greens with caramelized apples and crumbled blue cheese, Piredda prepared herb oil roasted chicken breast, smashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and braised carrots. One satisfied consumer summed up the experience this way: "This definitely wasn’t your average conference meal!"

Encourage "Burning Eyes" and "Wild Ideas"

Paul Bennett, managing partner and chief creative officer for IDEO, one of the world’s largest design firms, noted that design "is a powerful agency for change" that has "put us at the forefront of innovation." It’s important to work with people who have "burning eyes," he said, because they’re passionate about what they’re doing. "Burning eyes are the business eyes of the future. Burning eyes are the opportunity for philanthropy in the future."

Bennett also told the rapt audience at Tuesday’s breakfast plenary session to "encourage wild ideas because you never know where they are going to end up." But, he added, those ideas should be human, simple, and small because "the more personal you can make this world the better...philanthropy is about people and their stories."

Following in his Parents’ Footsteps by Leading a "Fully Realized Life"

When Sargent Shriver died just one week before the family conference, his son—Special Olympics President and CEO Timothy Shriver—wasn’t sure he had the strength to come to New York and speak at Tuesday afternoon’s closing plenary session. But then Timothy heard his father’s voice: "You get your rear end up to New York and tell them about your mother."

And so he did. He talked about how philanthropy was always a very hands-on experience in his family because his parents truly believed "that everybody counts the same." That’s why his mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968 to celebrate the diverse gifts of people with intellectual disabilities—and why her son also decided to make it his life’s work. "It’s the best place in the world to lead a fully realized life," he explained, "and have fun in the process."