Apogee Adopts Anti-Corruption Strategy in Response to Study Commissioned from Harvard University

New York, May 24, 2005 (Primezone (US), Pressbox (UK)) - The Apogee Foundation, a leading international supporter of performing arts education, today announced the publication of a study commissioned from specialists at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government which analyzes corruption in performing arts institutions in the former Soviet Union. The Foundation also anounced its adoption of new policies aimed at shielding its beneficiaries and donors from the devastating impact of these phenomena.

The study was commissioned by Apogee as a result of its decade of efforts and experience in support of high-potential performing artists in the former Soviet Union. Entitled "Helping Talent Thrive: Mitigating Corruption in Performing Arts Institutions in the Former USSR," the study was produced by a team of specialists with expertise in the fields of public policy and philanthropy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

"Helping Talent Thrive" analyzes the ways in which the potential success of students and professionals in the deteriorating systems of the former USSR, as well as those who seek to help them, are severely constrained by the profound and multi-dimensional impact of corrupt practices. The study serves to highlight the radical depreciation of human resources resulting from administrative practices such as non-merit based manipulation of educational and professional opportunities, as well as the catastrophic depletion of economic resources resulting from conversion of institutional assets to private advantages.

The Belfer Center of Public Management at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge

In addressing these phenomena, the study discusses the critical need for transparency, institutional restraints and accountability, and draws upon the most widely respected anti-corruption models employed by international organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations and the United States Agency for International Development to provide both general frameworks and specific recommendations designed to mitigate the devastating effects of corruption upon Apogee's constituencies and objectives.

"Helping Talent Thrive" is dedicated to the children of the former Soviet Union who, in seeking to fulfill their dreams, continue to face tremendous obstacles. It was presented to Apogee President Kenneth Schneider at Harvard University on May 12, 2005. The study is publicly available at the library of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

In response to the recommendations promulgated in the study, the Foundation has adopted a slate of new anti-corruption policies, including:

The Littauer Center of Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government

- sponsoring and verifying fulfilment of merit-based educational and professional opportunities and, where merit-based opportunities are not available, providing access to merit-based alternatives;

- instituting direct delivery of aid to needy beneficiaries and interlinking multiple aid programs to minimize chances and incentives for misappropriation of available resources;

- promoting modern accounting and reporting practices, professional codes of conduct, and reliable systems of oversight and review; and

- engaging with other philanthropic and multilateral organizations as well as the media to synergize and spread anti-corruption know-how and wherewithal.

In discussing the study and Apogee's response, Foundation President Kenneth Schneider said: "We are grateful to this outstanding team of experts for their guidance in confronting the challenges Apogee has faced over the past decade in fulfilling its mission. Apogee owes our benefactors and beneficiaries the highest quality of professionalism, including by obtaining and employing specialized third-party analysis of our work around the world, so that we can maximize our effectiveness in helping talented people achieve their potential even in extremely complex environments."

About The Apogee Foundation ®

The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.

About Harvard University and the Kennedy School of Government

Harvard University, now approaching its 370th anniversary, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and the Harvard Corporation (the University's executive board) is the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere. Seven presidents of the United States were graduates of Harvard, and its faculty have produced 40 Nobel laureates. The Kennedy School of Government, one of the University's eleven major divisions, is dedicated to the goals of preparing leaders for service to democratic societies and contributing to the solution of social problems.