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Fleishman urges new era of accountability in philanthropy
Fleishman joined the Duke faculty in 1971 as a professor of public policy and law and was the Sanford Institute’s founding director. He chaired the Duke Capital Campaign for the Arts & Sciences and Engineering, and was appointed first senior vice president of the university in 1991. After serving as president of The Atlantic Philanthropic Service Co. Inc. in New York City from 1993 to 2001, he returned to Duke full-time in 2003.
In addition to his work at Duke, Fleishman sits on the boards of several corporations, including Polo Ralph Lauren and Boston Scientific, which he says gives him insights that he can apply to his nonprofit work.
Corporate boards, he says, are much more focused on "careful process." He adds: "The directors pay much closer attention to what's going on than is typical of nonprofit boards, of foundation boards."
Fleishman left an especially big imprint during his spell as president of Atlantic, the U.S. arm of a grant maker headquartered in Bermuda with about $3 billion in assets — which at the time awarded all of its grants anonymously at the request of its founder, Charles Feeney, an Irish businessman. Given his emphasis on openness, it is ironic that Fleishman ended up working for a foundation that operated so secretly.
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