An Evening of Diversity

Recently I had the pleasure of attending an event held annually by a local philanthropic organization-Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy (CAAIP).  The organization, a professional development group, brings together like-minded individuals from private and corporate foundations for meetings and networking to further the dialogue on diversity in our field.  The organization also offers students of color scholarships to explore careers in philanthropy.  I discovered the group a few years ago as I was forging my path and have been a member ever since. 

The annual event, the Handy L. Lindsey Jr. Award & Lecture on Inclusiveness in Philanthropy, each year honors an individual whose leadership and commitment to inclusiveness has helped maintain a public conversation on the importance on diversity in the philanthropy field.  Past recipients have included Anne Roosevelt (Boeing), Aurie Pennick (The Field Foundation of Illinois and my current Executive Director) and Nicholas Goodban (former VP of Philanthropy at the McCormick Foundation).  This year’s honoree was Amina Dickerson, former Senior Director of Global Community Involvement at Kraft Foods. 

Even though the awards ceremony is only in its sixth year it is no less significant in its meaning.  Amina’s speech was self-deprecating, enlightening and emotional. She recounted her early days in the nonprofit and philanthropy field being only one of a handful (if that many) of African Americans practicing the craft.  She reflected on the isolation she felt and lack of mentors that existed at the time. During her speech I looked around the auditorium at the more than 200 attendees—a truly inspiring sight when you realize some of country’s most prestigious foundations and corporations were represented by these individuals of color.  I listened as Amina spoke of how far the field of philanthropy has come in terms of diversity but the job is far from complete. We must continue to work toward mentoring and sheparding the next generation of color into the philanthropy field. By maintaining the public conversation and keeping the issue at the forefront is the only way to truly level the playing field. 

In a perfect conclusion to a stirring speech,  Amina quoted Hannibal by saying: “We will either find a way or we will make one.”   Indeed.

Paulette Pierre is a Program Officer intern at The Field Foundation of Illinois.  She has a graduate certificate in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy from Loyola University and is currently pursuing her MA in Interdisciplinary Studies at DePaul University

Are You on the COF All Star Bloggers List?

New Voices of Philanthropy and Emerging Practitioner’s in Philanthropy’s blog EPIPhanies will be providing coverage of the COF Conference in Atlanta from the perspective of next generation leaders. You can also get conference updates by following me on twitter. If you will be attending the conference, I am going to have great prizes available for conference attendees who are following me.  Other twitterers covering the conference can be found by search the tag #cofannconf09. New Voices bloggers at the conference will include: Jason Franklin- Deputy Director , 21st Century School Fund and board member at Resource Generation Kevin Laskowski- Field Associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy Erika Orsulak-Grants Manager, St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children and EPIP-Philly

I am looking for additional writers. You can write about the sessions that you attend, themes you have been seeing at the conference or your overall thoughts but we are really looking for a variety of perspectives of the conference. Blogging at the conference is a great way to give back to the field and is a fabulous way for you to raise your visibility as an up and coming leader. The team is filling up quickly so contact me at tristaharris (at) gmail (dot) com if you are interested.

Learning never ends

I have long given up on chastising myself for not keeping up on every new development in the world of philanthropy. Face it-it’s impossible for the even the most passionate and devoted among us.  Pile on a full-time job and graduate school and that’s a recipe for an ulcer.  So I decided I must be more strategic about the process.  As any good student, I subscribe to the usual suspects (Chronicle of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Quarterly) which are great because I don’t feel guilty if it takes awhile to get through the issues. Of course, foundations websites are always good as well for keeping current on what other funders are doing.

But what I discovered (and try to indulge in every chance I get) are professional development opportunities that land in my lap.  I am fortunate in that being on staff at a foundation I have access to workshops, conferences and webinars I would not be able to access otherwise.  Attention to all interns out there: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE.  More often than not your foundation is a member of several organizations or has access to them via their foundation status.  As a staff member these can be free and you can get on mailing lists which keeps you connected to the field.  Not to mention the workshops and conferences can offer a great networking opportunity.  I have taken part in countless workshops at our local Donors Forum on several topics including “New Grant makers Peer Network” and “Funding LGBT Issues.”  In my first cycle, my Executive Director registered me for a 2-day Affordable Housing Conference (based locally) which truly opened up my eyes to the decades-long housing and discrimination issues this country has experienced.

Webinars are another option to take advantage of because they don’t require any travel, you can listen during your lunch hour and if you miss the actual date of the event, you can usually access the archived transcript.  Several think tanks and research centers offer these.  I’ve been able to register or access forums offered by Chapin Hall (University of Chicago) and Grant makers for Children, Youth and Families.  I wish I had the time to be a part of more sessions but my schedule doesn’t allow for that.  I try to focus on areas that I am passionate about and which my foundation is a stakeholder.  Opening myself up to these opportunities to learn and engage in issues I don’t have a lot of knowledge in allows me to be more effective at my job.  It also shows your boss how seriously you take your position.  And this should be rule number one for any intern. 

Paulette Pierre is a Program Officer intern at The Field Foundation of Illinois.  She has a graduate certificate in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy from Loyola University and is currently pursuing her MA in Interdisciplinary Studies at DePaul University.

Old Foundation, New Tricks

My foundation is a 35-year old, multi-billion dollar health funding behemoth that can sometimes be slow to change.  But thanks to the enthusiasm of an executive vice-president who's a fan of technology, we are embracing web 2.0 and exploring ways to incorporate it into our grantmaking.  One of the first steps was to start a blog (http://rwjfblogs.typepad.com/); most recently we started Twittering.  You can follow RWJF through Twitter and recieve its regular tweets on the latest publications, research and foundation news. When this was first announced I was kinda surprised...well, shocked.  Hearing that a foundation this old (in foundation years) was twittering was like hearing that my grandmother had started a My Space page.  But it's exciting news too.  So now I suppose I should join the bandwagon and give Twitter a serious look-see. 

I'm younger than the foundation but can be a little slow to embrace the newest technological trend.  I bought my first iPod in 2006.  I started my Facebook page 2 years ago but refuse to join My Space.  My first reaction to Twitter was "I don't want to know what people are doing every minute of the day".  But the more I read about Twitter's potential as a powerful tool to stay informed, the more curious I've become.  I need help, though.  Send me the philanthropy, health and/or news tweets that you follow so I'm not sifting through what I'm sure are thousands (millions?) of "twitterers" posting notices each day.