Click the bookshelf photo to read the collection descriptions.

1978
As executive director, National Mental Health Association, Brian was engaged by National Council on Philanthropy (NCOP) and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations (CONVO) to conduct a feasibility study on their futures.

1978-79
NCOP and CONVO agree to a fuller study leading to a new entity larger than the sum of their parts, to be headed by John W. Gardner, former secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, former president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, and founder of Common Cause; and staffed by Brian O’Connell.

1980
INDEPENDENT SECTOR founded at a charter meeting on March 5 in Washington, D.C. John Gardner was named first chair; Brian O’Connell, the first president. The name of the new organization was selected to celebrate what the organizers saw as the most important quality of the sector.