What are the challenges ahead of bitcoin foundation? What are the challenges ahead of bitcoin foundation? What are the issues they currently working on? How to track their activities?
What are the issues they currently working on?


Perhaps I can help. I'm a member of the foundation; however, they haven't broadcast a specific mission or vision to us yet. That said, they are pursuing regulation and continued development of the Bitcoin protocol.

As for challenges, they face the following concerns:


Managing the growth of the ecosystem in a way that promotes mainstream adoption of bitcoin
Resolving issues with miscommunication and misinformation by the media and other entities
Working with businesses to better understand the regulatory and legal implications of bitcoin
Soliciting and integrating new developers and ideas into the protocol as the needs of the ecosystem mandate
Dealing with the consequences of government regulation on the ecosystem


There are far more issues to resolve; however, these to me seem to be the ones the foundation has invested the most work on. 


  How to track their activities?


As of now, you can't outside highly public events such as the conference in San Jose. They are not a very transparent organization, which I suspect is a symptom of their age. Over time they will have to become better.


  What are the challenges ahead of bitcoin foundation?


For the moment, survival and relevance. They have yet to court the bitcoin community nor have a dynamic outreach program in the works to the best of my understanding. Longer term the issues of education and business adoption are also major challenges. As more people become aware of bitcoin, they will have a large list of questions and concerns. Depending on how they are addressed, the individual may have a positive or negative opinion of Bitcoin and will spread that opinion to their peers.