Goldman Sachs 2007 Annual Report Download - page 10

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In launching Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised
fund, the firm’s partners agreed to commit a part of
their overall compensation to charitable organizations.
Individual accounts have been established within
Goldman Sachs Gives for participating partners, who
will recommend charitable organizations as recipients,
thereby diversifying the overall philanthropy of our
firm and our people. In addition, the firm made
a separate contribution to Goldman Sachs Gives.
Through the collective generosity of our people, we
expect that Goldman Sachs Gives will grow to more
than $1 billion over the next few years and will become
a significant source of dedicated charitable funds.
This important initiative will provide a meaningful
way for our people to increase their current support
of non-profit organizations around the world.
Looking Ahead
Some may characterize culture and the attributes
we described above as soft issues. To us, our culture
sustains our client franchise and reputation. In
that sense, it is a tangible driver of our performance.
The relative strength of our franchise can sometimes
be masked by generally favorable markets. The
second half of the year’s more difficult conditions,
we believe, highlighted the depth and breadth of
our client franchise.
Conditions across various markets remain
challenging. Our industry is a cyclical one with
little predictability in the short term. As a firm that
operates in the center of the global economy, we
grow at a multiple of GDP growth and are directly
affected by the macroeconomic environment.
It is important to remember that, given our stake in
the global economy, the recent pace of earnings
growth simply is not sustainable.
However, over the longer term, we remain optimistic
that secular growth trends, notably the rise of the
BRICs and the evolution of markets and instruments,
will play to the strengths of our businesses and allow
us to grow our franchise.
Behind the hard numbers of financial performance
is an internal set of shared values at Goldman Sachs.
These values fuel a culture of teamwork and the
rigor of our risk management. We will make our fair
share of mistakes and we will experience losses.
Guaranteed. However, we manage our business over
the long term and we believe that the cultural
attributes of Goldman Sachs will continue to enable
us to generate strong returns for our shareholders.
Lloyd C. Blankfein
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Jon Winkelried
President and Co-Chief Operating Officer
Gary D. Cohn
President and Co-Chief Operating Officer
8Goldman Sachs 2007 Annual Report