Access to independent and reliable information about our sector is increasingly important. The Council on Foundations has once again combined forces with Commonfund Institute, the research and education arm of Commonfund, to produce a study of private foundation investments. And Philanthropy Southwest encourages members to participate so that the results will be all the more valuable and significant to the foundation community. A link to the CCSF2014 questionnaire in Adobe® Acrobat® format is available by request from the Philanthropy Southwest staff.

The survey is very user friendly and is designed to reside and be completed on your computer. The deadline for this year's research is quickly approaching. The deadline has been extended to May 15th! The website, www.ccsf2014.org, is a helpful tool as you complete this year's research. Please visit the site should you need to retrieve another copy of the questionnaire, view FAQs, access the Glossary, review Participation Instructions and for Help Desk or contact data.

Commonfund will be providing a customized benchmark survey specifically for the members of Philanthropy Southwest if there is sufficient participation, which will be very beneficial to the membership. In addition, participating foundations will receive the complete study of all Private Foundations or Community Foundations.