Just saw this from the Fourth Quarter 2009 issue of the ECFA Focus on Accountability newsletter:

The majority of foundations defrauded by [Bernie] Madoff had four or fewer trustees. More than 80% of foundations that lost between 30 to 100% of their assets to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme had fewer than five trustees serving on their boards. This was one of the findings in “Learning from Madoff: Lessons for Foundation Boards,” a white paper by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).

The survey found that 105 foundations lost between 30 and 100 percent of their assets to Madoff’s scheme. The median board size of these foundations was three. Or over, only 16 of these foundations had five or more individuals serving on the boards; 38 foundations listed no more than two trustees, and 46 identified three or four people. For those 16 foundations with at least five trustees, their names showed notable homogeneity.

Have a family foundation? Are you receiving appropriate–properly critical–counsel?

If you have such a foundation, or if you have responsibilities within such a foundation–or any foundation, for that matter–I would like to recommend you read the report. There is good material inside, including observations about reasons why many of the foundations got tangled in Mr. Madoff’s web–observations you may find useful to help you and your favorite foundation(s) avoid similar failures.

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