It is important to make legal distinctions between Foundation- and grantee-produced information.

For legal reasons, it is important to make a distinction between information and material produced by our Foundation and those generated by grantees with Foundation funding. Page nine shows two columns: one lists the information produced by our Foundation and the other lists grantee materials. Legally our Foundation must review and handle the information differently, particularly when our name is included in grantees’ policy and advocacy efforts.

Our Foundation legally owns all electronic and published information produced or commissioned by us with nongrant dollars and that bear our name and logo. We are legally responsible for its content and, therefore, have internal policies in place to conduct legal reviews. This information includes: our brochure; newsletter Portfolio; www.tcwf.org; Reflections series; news releases printed on our letterhead; print or broadcast advertisements purchased as media buys directly by the Foundation; commissioned polls, surveys and evaluations; and commissioned video productions.

Why the legal reviews? Most of our Foundation-produced materials tell the stories of grantees and their work, and this translates into real people and real issues, some of them controversial, sensitive or heart-wrenching. We take great care to accurately present their lives with dignity and communicate with clarity the complex issues they address. We also write about grantees’ work in some areas that are inherently controversial. For example, we have written about grantees that address the role of guns in perpetrating violence against youth, and have shared information about organizations that promote responsible access to contraceptives among teens to prevent unplanned pregnancies. We also conduct legal reviews to make sure we do not inadvertently misrepresent issues and to make clear that the Foundation’s role is strictly that of a funder without legal responsibility for grantees’ activities.

However, when it comes to disseminating materials that the grantees themselves produce, which include briefing information, advocacy materials or public education campaigns, the role of the Foundation’s legal review is different. The Foundation often funds organizations to address health-related public policy issues, and this has included funding advocacy groups to speak on behalf of underserved populations on access to health care, for example. Such information produced by the grantee is owned by the grantee, not the Foundation, so we do not conduct legal reviews or content editing when only our funding credit is mentioned.

If the grantee asks us for permission to include our name, logo and Foundation information, or to quote Foundation board or staff in its materials, then the information must go through our Foundation’s legal review process before the grantee can release it. We do not edit the grantee’s information, however, because we could assume liability for its content. However, upon reviewing the information and how we are represented, we reserve the right to decline its use of our name, logo and quotes of TCWF staff in its materials if we believe it is not consistent with our mission or is inappropriately presented. If we find that information on the Foundation is inaccurate, we can correct it without assuming liability for the grantee-produced information. But our information is the only content we edit.