The grant-making world’s black leaders were urged to support education and pay special attention to the plight of young men during a lecture and awards ceremony on Sunday for members of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, as reported by Rosetta Thurman on her blog, Perspectives from the Pipeline.

The association, an affinity group of the Council on Foundations, gathered this past weekend in Atlanta as part of the council’s annual conference.

Beverly Tatum, president of the historically black women’s institution, Spelman College, urged grant makers to direct more of their organization’s support to colleges that primarily serve minorities. “Millions of dollars go to heavily endowed organizations – dollars that could do so much at Spelman, Morehouse, Tuskegee,” Ms. Tatum said.

Another speaker — Loren Harris, formerly of the Ford Foundation — pointed out that more black women than black men are currently enrolled in higher education.

”Our First Family provides a high profile example of what it means to be successful,” he said. “That reality has to be made tangible for the ordinary black men who for them, this success is as far as the moon. “

He continued, “Our young men have an absence of unconditional love — when they make mistakes, they are punished harshly . . The odds are high that one mistake can derail a young black man’s entire life trajectory.”

Amina Dickerson,who in February announced her plans to step down as the leader of Kraft Foods’ philanthropic arm, spoke about the need for careful succession planning Among her tips: “Don’t replace you with yourself.” Ms. Dickerson said she told her bosses at Kraft why she thought Nicole Robinson would make her ideal successor, and subsequently Ms. Robinson was chosen for the job.