On April 1–2, Atlanta hosted the third annual meeting of The American's Committee on Foundations (COF). The weekend commenced with a Friday dinner party at the home of Nancy and Peery Grant, who went out of their way to offer Southern hospitality at its finest.
On Saturday morning, COF chair Harvey Rich of Washington, in a room filled with familiar faces and several new ones, opened the meeting. President Judith Schachter of the American Psychoanalytic Association was in attendance, as were president-elect Marvin Margolis and treasurer Stephen Firestein. Schachter spoke of The American's support of foundation activities, particularly those that increase the visibility of psychoanalysis through public education and communication.
Participants shared with one another news of the diverse and creative programs set up through the efforts of the various local foundations. To highlight just a few: Nadine Levinson reported how in San Diego over $215,000 was raised through contributions from members of the institute and society there. Esther Globe, a social worker who once worked for the clinic, bequeathed another $225,000. The money has been used to buy a new building for classes, meeting rooms, and a library. Mark Levy of San Francisco showed a videotape illustrating how foundations, through work with the media, can reach millions of people. Last Christmas the San Francisco Foundation participated in a televised hotline dealing with stress during the holiday season. This effort at community outreach has had a positive ripple effect on private practice. Peery Grant and Burness Moore of Atlanta described an innovative program that trains police officers in dealing with violence. Teruko Neuwalder found creative ways to raise money for the New York Institute's library from her bookstore and mailorder catalogue. Anne-Marie Sandler of the Anna Freud Center in London provided insight about fundraising abroad.
A blue-ribbon panel on ethics addressed the resistance to fundraising activities often encountered in analysts who fear such efforts will compromise treatment or violate boundaries. The panel, chaired by James Robinson (Houston) and Rima Brauer (New Haven), included Sandra Kopit Cohen (New York), Charles Feldstein (Chicago), Stephen Firestein (New York), and Mark Levy (San Francisco). The panel explored the tension between clinical analysis, applied analysis, and the ethics of gifting, donating, and solicitation. How, they asked, does private practice, with its emphasis on anonymity, neutrality, abstinence, and transference, interface with community outreach, with its emphasis on recruitment, fundraising, and education? The goal of the panel was to provide a statement of principles to guide analysts in the fundraising domain. This goal was accomplished through a look at case examples. In one, Jay, a man who had finished his analysis several years earlier, called his former analyst to say he would like to make a donation to the local psychoanalytic foundation. The analyst referred him to a foundation member to discuss the matter.
Most of the panelists had no difficulty with this apparently clear-cut situation. The patient was finished with analysis and was not solicited by his analyst. Should we infantilize former patients, it was asked rhetorically, by not allowing them to give? It is less clear what to do if the patient is currently in analysis and wants to donate or to become involved in foundation work. We all have agendas, it was remarked; we simply need to be aware of them. Where appropriate, that knowledge may be used in resolving the inevitable transference-countertransference issues. Often, it was noted, treatment guidelines such as neutrality, abstinence, and transference are invoked to avoid the very issues and conflicts expressed by these actions/enactments. Foundations can function as neutral entities, Charles Feldstein suggested, thereby avoiding the possibility that undue influence might be exerted by the analyst. For example, lay board members can talk to former patients as a way of minimizing any fear of manipulation or exploitation of the transference.
By the close of the weekend, a number of guidelines had been formulated.
Patients, current or former, are never to be solicited by the analyst in any way. Names of patients are never divulged to others for purposes of fundraising.
The analyst should never benefit monetarily from any financial contribution. Patient confidentiality, transference, and neutrality must be safeguarded.
Each decision about ethics must be regarded on an ad hoc basis. “Once a patient, always a patient,” it was agreed, is a concept that needs to be further discussed.
Giving and gratitude have many conscious and unconscious determinants. If the donor is in analysis, the wish to give is “grist for the mill.” If the donor is not in analysis, it should be assumed that the individual has understood his or her own motivation.
In the afternoon three workshops, organized by Prudence Lieb of Chicago, were held. In “Organizing New Structures” participants discussed how to organize structures related to foundation fundraising and community outreach. In “Developing and Writing Essential Print Materials,” a professional fundraiser, specializing in media and in “getting the message across,” presented basic principles. “Fundraising Basics” provided guidelines on how to ask individuals for money, how to approach organizations such as private foundations, and how to access sources of government funding.
On Sunday, Charles Feldstein, an experienced professional fundraiser and a member of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Foundation, talked about fundraising and psychoanalysis. The reality is that psychoanalysis needs to raise money to support itself in the world of today. Finding ways to get that money requires creativity from both professionals and volunteers. Publications—newsletters, brochures, reports—are essential, as are public outreach programs designed to inform and serve the community.
Sunday's wrap-up focused on the relationship between the national psychoanalytic foundation and the local foundations. Harvey Rich emphasized that the American Psychoanalytic Foundation's primary aim is to assist the local institutes and not to compete with them. Efforts such as a student loan fund, funds for psychoanalytic research, and programs for public education would directly assist local efforts.
Next year, on April 12–14, COF will meet in Oregon under the sponsorship of the Oregon Psychoanalytic Foundation. Selma Duckler of Spokane is arrangements chair. The meeting will emphasize public outreach as a way to enhance and promote the philanthropic efforts of local foundations.