Blogging from COF - As from Another World

Sean Stannard-Stockton, blogging from inside the Council on Foundations Conference, writes about new media and philanthropy.  I sense in his post  the difficulty of holding the world of established foundation philanthropy and the world of informal new media in mind at once.  Few are denizens of both worlds. Who is a guest in whose world? Who has positional authority? Who controls what information flows? Whose "web" of contacts is most resourceful? For now, of course, established philanthropic funders in tightly bound networks, behind firewalls, are the powers that be.  But Sean on the inside/outside is signaling change, albeit modest for now. That COF has welcomed bloggers into the inner sanctum is promising - but then again, if Queen Elizabeth can knight Elton John, then COF can't go too far wrong by countenancing a Stannard-Stockton.  How elites preserve themselves in the face of rapid change is an interesting topic.