This special session will last four days, and will be co-chaired by Dr. Russell Mawby, Chairman of the Board of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Dr. Robert Payton, Professor of Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University. The session will bring together a select group of approximately thirty individuals from the senior levels of grantmaking or potential grantmaking institutions from the United States, Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union. One purpose of the session will be to assess the American philanthropic culture, define its various forms, and identify which parts of it may or may not be adaptable to other areas represented at the session. Another purpose of the Session will be to examine the activities of philanthropic organizations, which have provided support to Central and Eastern Europe and the NIS during the past five years, paying specific attention to what has been attempted, what has been accomplished, and what directions future philanthropic endeavors might take. The overall focus will be on sharing lessons learned in all areas. Because everyone involved will be from a senior level, the expectation is that all will participate in a substantive way, be it presenting plenary lectures, by serving on panels reacting to the plenary lectures, or by actively discussing the various presentations. The hope is to create an atmosphere that will be informal in manner, but rigorous in examination, one that will build relationships while it points the way to increased and improved practice of philanthropy in all of the regions represented.