The Council on Foundations Fall Conference for Community Foundations is under way in Charlotte, and several community-foundation leaders are offering reports from the event on Kris Putnam-Walkerly’s blog, Philanthropy411.

Ms. Putnam-Walkerly, a consultant to foundations, has agreed to allow The Chronicle to post selected items from the event.

Below is a post written by Mike Batchelor, president of the Erie Community Foundation, in Pennsylvania:

OK, I really do get it.

This is a new era, the world is flat, and technology reigns. While I was impressed with our Monday morning plenary about technology, I also found myself asking, “Is this a community foundation conference?”

Now don’t get me wrong. I understand the trends, and our community foundation is doing its best to remain relevant in a changing world. But as our world evolves, community foundations must also honor our traditional values of permanence and trust.

Our challenge, it seems, is to keep both the babies and the bathwater.

Let’s use technology to meet the changing needs of our increasingly mobile donors.

Let’s use maximum creativity when we connect our increasingly mobile donors to the causes they care about.

Let’s measure, partner, and leverage like never before to maximize our community impact.

But let’s also value that traditional donor who wants to create a permanent legacy to meet the community’s changing needs. That’s our sweet spot and that’s what got many of us to where we are.