Job Postings- MN

The Saint Paul Foundation in Minnesota has an opening in their donors services office for a donor services assistant.
ESSENTIAL ACCOUNTABILITIES AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES: Perform primary responsibility of grant making administrative functions for Donor Advised Funds and Community Funds for The Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Community Foundation.
• Provide accurate and timely processing of advised grants including: entering grant data, conducting organizational research, collecting and compiling appropriate information for grantmaking, updating organizational information in systems and forwarding to grants administration for processing, preparing, routing for signature and mailing donor confirmation of grants, monitoring the status of organizational information and Pension Protection Act documentation during grantmaking process, preparing general weekly/biweekly grant memo for appropriate authorization and file grant control sheets weekly.
• Provide accurate and timely reports for staff and management, including producing and editing mailing lists, quarterly summary grant reports, relationship management reports and other reports as requested.
• Perform maintenance, daily entry and reporting to meet needs of donor relations and development area, including FoundationPower, FundLink and Community Funds Handbook Web site.
• Copy and mail receipts and gifts promptly and accurately and assist in mailing quarterly fund statements.

SEND RESUME OR APPLICATION TO: jobs@saintpaulfoundation.org

Philanthropy News

I have been filling my in-box with interesting philanthropy articles that I want to cover on this blog. This glut of interesting philanthropy articles is moving me farther and farther away from my goal of having an empty in-box so I thought it was time to clean house. Here it goes:

The Columbus Dispatch has a great article about a new project of the Columbus Foundation that will bring individual donors and nonprofits together.

The New York Times criticized the influence of the Gates Foundation on malaria research. I think this article is interesting because most foundations are criticized for having too little impact on world issues.

Strategic Philanthropists in Australia are covered in Business Spectator.

OnPhilanthropy questions the ability of Gen X and Y to step up and take over the reins of the nonprofit sector.

Climate Change and Mission Related Investments are covered by SocialFunds.com

The Poor Give More to Charity can be found here.

When nonprofits and their funders break up with One Laptop per Child as the example is at the Financial Times.

Phew, I feel lighter already. Happy reading and let me know if you have had success cleaning our your email clutter.

Job Postings- Minnesota and New York

The Minnesota Council on Foundations has a Manager of Professional Development and E-Learning position open. Reporting to the Vice President of Member Services, the individual selected for the position will work with Council staff and members to assess the professional development needs of its members, identify emerging issues and trends, and plan, develop, implement and evaluate high-quality learning opportunities. These tasks bring the Manager of Professional Development and e-Learning into ongoing direct contact with representatives of the Council’s member organizations. More info can be found here.

The Open Society Institute has a position open to manage a new program at the Institute; it focuses on the systemic conditions facing African American boys and men. Note: the deadline to submit resumes is Friday, February 29th . More info can be found here.

New Voice-Allyson Reaves

As a part of New Voices of Philanthropy's series of articles from other new voices on Philanthropy, I bring you part three of Allyson Reaves' blogs on philanthropy fellowships. Part one can be found here and part two can be found here. From Allyson:

All Aboard the Philanthroship!!!

So we chatted last week about exploring fellowships as opportunities for intense learning and experience gathering. I’m hoping that this week, we can chat more about how to identify the right philanthroship (my corny attempt for a new Webster addition: a fellowship and or internship in philanthropy), how to prepare your boss and organization, and how to make the absolute best of your time as a fellow.

Finding a Philanthroship
• Don’t restrict yourself to just fellowships. I used to think that after I graduated, internships were off my radar. Not so! There are a significant number of respectable internships that pay well and lead to phenomenal job opportunities.
• Google it!! I used every combination that interested me: fellowship + art, fellowship + international, internship + paid, fellowship + Brazil…..(yep….there are some in Rio!)
• Constantly tune into opportunities listed in philanthropy-related publications.

Selecting a Fellowship
• One of my priorities is that the philanthroship pays well. That way, my income can be used as leverage when negotiating my salary for the next job.
• Try to shoot for a fellowship that lasts for a year. That way, you become very famililar with the host organization’s network, it’s main area of programming, and colleagues.
• Find a philanthroship that suits your talents. Also, try to get your hands involved in as many different kinds of projects as possible. That way, you have a tremendous amount of experience condensed into just 1 year of work.

Planning a Philanthroship
• Pursue a philanthroship when you are comfortable with being between jobs. The host organization just may ask you to stay on.
• If your current employing organization wants to keep you as a staff member while you are away, be sure to draw up a contract that outlines expected duties, insurance, continued benefits, accumulated vacation time, and payscale.

After the Philanthroship
• If you conducted research and compiled a useful paper, try to get it published. Circulating the work you completed in your philanthroship could lead to your next big career move.
• Keep in touch with EVERYONE who helped you....people you interviewed in your research, lecturers, other philanthroshippers, etc. Even sending a quick thank-you to everyone after your philanthroship builds what will become a frequently used bridge.

You can read more from Alyson at her blog.

Today’s Chat: If you’ve got some tips, ideas, or other suggestions about how to make the absolute best of your philanthroship, let us know!

Orphan elephants and nagging parents

I have two young children and sometimes I worry that by working as a "professional giver" I will desensitize them to the needs of the world. Hearing your parent go on and on about nonprofit effectiveness is probably not how budding social activists are created, so this article from Slate was very much welcomed.

Pennies for Elephants

How to raise budding philanthropists.

By Emily Bazelon
Updated Monday, Feb. 11, 2008, at 7:34 AM ET

On most Saturday mornings, I take my son Simon to Tot Shabbat at our synagogue. After the kids march around with stuffed red and blue Torah, they sing. One of my favorite songs is about tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of healing the earth. Upstanding morals, catchy tune—all good. Except that there is one verse that has bothered me. It goes like this: "So give your time/ and give your penny/ lend a hand/ to help someone."

Give your time and lend a hand. Check. But give your penny? Was the lesson that a penny, which Simon at age 4 already knows has practically no worth, is all that you need to part with in order to fulfill your charitable responsibilities? Was the whole thing just a little too pat?

As I mulled over this without broaching my doubt with Simon (who was staging a revolt against Tot Shabbat and didn't need any encouragement), my older son, Eli, came home from school and told us that his second-grade class was raising money to adopt an orphaned elephant. Her name was Dida. She had fallen down a well in Kenya. To which I confess my first reaction was: an orphaned elephant? What about an orphaned child? They have a lot of those in Kenya. Not to mention in Washington, D.C., a lot closer to home. Read the rest here.

I'd love to hear your tips for raising young philanthropists and I'd also like to know what you thought of the orphan elephant stuck in a well?