Just Philanthropy

I'm preparing for a small convening of grantmakers called "Moving Your Philanthropy Closer to Social Justice and Racial Equity" that will be taking place in Minneapolis this week. The meeting is being hosted by Community Philanthropy for Racial Equity. I'm excited because the topic is close to my heart and also because I think a lot of action will come out of the convening.

Colleagues have been asking me how things are different running a foundation, compared to being a program officer for one. I think the largest difference has been that a lot of my time is spent learning and spending time representing Headwaters at conferences. That visibility piece is key for us because we have the luxury of being the public face for the issues that our grantees are so hard at work at changing. Things like economic justice, human & civil rights, environmental justice, political power, and racial justice do not get the attention that they need in the foundation world. It is my job to make sure that those issues are at the table. Needless to say, I am loving it.

A Student Again-Week 2

First of all, let me say that I forgot how much reading is involved in a graduate level class. I saw the syllabus and almost fainted with the amount of reading that must be done on top of what I read for work. But the weekly topics will be very interesting and so I'll try to consider it as "reading for pleasure"...

This week we discussed the regulation of foundations since the Tax Reform Act of 1969. The reading the struck me the most was "The Long Recoil from Regulation" by Peter Frumkin (1998). In it he discusses the results of the regulations imposed on foundations in 1969; of particular interest to me was his discussion of the change in foundations funding innovative, long-term programs and operating support to small, short-term targeted grants that are administratively heavy. When I was writing a paper for a fellowship last year, I read several articles with the same criticism of foundations being more interested in project-specific grants instead of funding general operating support or long-term investments in innovation. The unfortunate result is that nonprofits wind up creating new projects and programs to meet the requirements of the foundation when in fact all they need is money to continue to support their staff salaries or buy a new computer. So they create a new program (or reconfigure an old one) and fold in the operational expenses. It becomes a vicious cycle of grant after grant just to ensure that a key staff member still has a job.

In 2006 the Center for Effective Philanthropy released a report highlighting the need for operational support from nonprofits. In the findings, only 16% of the foundation CEOs surveyed were in favor of grants providing operational support. On the flip side, nonprofits preferred larger, long-term grants that supported their general operating expenses. The foundation I worked at in St. Louis, MO funded operational support and it was our most popular program. It was the one allocation that was completely spent every year. I've felt for a long time that more foundations should support operating expenses. There are many small nonprofits doing phenomenal things but they struggle to keep their doors open. So why not just help them maintain their programs? Why do many foundations essentially force nonprofits to reinvent themselves repeatedly so they can sustain their operations? Certainly there are new programs to be created but if something is going well and the organization is fulfilling its mission then it needs to be sustained, nto made to repackage its efforts for a 1 or 3 year grant.

I'd love to hear from those of you who do support operational expenses in your foundations and what you've heard from your grantees. I'd equally love for those who don't fund operational support to make comments with their thoughts.

Job Posting and an opportunity to highlight an outstanding young Minnesotan

The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, which is one of my favorite organizations because they promote philanthropy that serves the public good and helps keep foundation's feet to the fire when it comes to accountability and transparancy, is hiring. This Washington, DC-based organization is looking for a field associate to plan and support programmatic work and field outreach of the nation’s premier philanthropic watchdog organization. The person in this position will be responsible for coordinating membership services, and support the field department in national partnerships, collaboratives and other special initiatives. More about this position can be found here.

A friend of mine from the Jaycees is looking for nominations for outstanding young Minnesotans ages 18-40 who deserve recognition for their leadership in the community. The Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans (TOYM) program is Minnesota’s only statewide recognition program for outstanding young leaders. The program acknowledges the efforts of young leaders that have contributed to our state through their service, thought/influence, community involvement, or entrepreneurship. To submit a nominee go to: http://www.mnjaycees.org/ The deadline for submitting a nominee is this Friday, September 26th, 2008.

It's great to see such a longstanding organization in the community recognize and nurture young leadership.

Why Rosetta is rocking the nonprofit world

Rosetta Thurman is one of my favorite nonprofit bloggers because she is willing to not only complain when she sees something that isn't right, she moves people to action. Her recent letter to the publisher of the Nonprofit Times in response to little minority representation on the Power & Influence Top 50 list was timely and needed. From Rosetta:

Heather Carpenter's list of next generation leaders inspired me last week. But when I saw the official Nonprofit Times Power & Influence Top 50, I got so riled up that I wrote a letter to the publisher. There were barely any people of color on that list, and I feel that it is really time for us to start pointing that out when we see it, instead of just saying "well, that's the way it is." Below is the letter I emailed to John McIlquham, the publisher of the Nonprofit Times. Hopefully he will write me back.

In the meantime, please help me add to my list in the comments, so we can all learn from each other about the depth of multicultural leadership in our sector. How do we pay this forward so that we can begin to build a culture of honoring contributions from people of color in the nonprofit field?

Dear John,

Like my colleagues in the nonprofit field, I am an avid reader of The NonProfit Times, as the "premier business publication written for nonprofit executives." As your website notes, the NonProfit Times reaches 38,000 executive decision makers, and we all appreciate the timely information that is presented in each issue. That is why it shocked me to see that this year's Nonprofit Times Power & Influence Top 50 included so few leaders of color in a list of 50 influential people in our sector. I was very disappointed that your publication did not reflect the racial diversity of nonprofit leadership. From looking at your list, one might be inclined to think there aren't really any minorities leading in the nonprofit sector. But you would be wrong.

Recent studies show that: people of color represent 18% of nonprofit CEOs and 14% of board leadership.

As a nonprofit community, I think it fits within our values to recognize the deep talent and contributions that people of color are making in our field. I have only worked in nonprofits for six years, and I am aware of way more than 50 leaders of color that are leading the way for social change and making an impact on our sector overall.

I hope to be helpful in my remarks to you in the hopes that we will see a more inclusive set of leaders in your publication next year. For now, I offer this brief list to the NonprofitTimes Top 50 Power and Influence selection committee as a small sample of other folks to consider for 2009.

Sincerely,

Rosetta Thurman
Blogger & Leadership Consultant
Perspectives From the Pipeline

See Rosetta's list of Nonprofit Leaders of Color Here.

Why Gen Y will rule the world

Clay Collins, author of the blog The Growing Life wrote this guest post for Penelope Trunk's blog about why Generation Y is so productive. His reasons include:

• They use the best tools
• They're good at automating
• They get better sleep
• They're much more likely to love their jobs
• They stay up to date in their fields
• They're experimental
• They don't "go through the motions"

Check out the full post here and let me know if you agree with his logic or has Gen Y been so supported and encouraged by their parents that they just think that they are more productive (or am I just a cynical Gen Xer?)