Reflections by Lisa Goldberg

One morning, a few months ago, a director of the Revson Foundation asked me: “What do you want your legacy to be at the Foundation?

At the time, I thought it was a trick question, like: “Okay, you have ten million dollars to give away in New York City, but you have to give it away by tomorrow. What are you going to give it to?” (a question I had once been asked in an interview at the New York Community Trust). Or: “You have written your autobiography; it is 300 pages long. Please share page 211 with us” (a question on this year’s undergraduate application to the University of Pennsylvania).

It had actually never occurred to me to think about the Foundation or my work there that way. But it was a good question, and I’ve found myself thinking about it ever since.

So let’s say it’s 2010 or 2015, and we are all looking back at the work of the Foundation over the prior five or ten years. I hope that what we have done builds on our hallmark commitments: 

“Betting on people,” especially talented young people; using technology and media to educate and to build new forms of community; ensuring equal access to high-quality information for all citizens; and protecting the rights while expanding the opportunities of the poor and disadvantaged, women, ethnic and racial minorities.

Above all, our goal is to be where others aren’t, where we can bring our unique expertise and our passion to bear, where we can find partners to join us and leverage our own investment. Our hope, always, is that what we do will matter, will make a difference.