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?

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 two of Allyson Reaves' blogs on philanthropy fellowships. Part one can be found here. From Allyson:

And They Gave Me 10-15


One of the big things I’m hoping to exchange some information about this week is the idea of ‘philanthroshipping’ (my corny attempt for a new Webster addition: a fellowship and/or internship in philanthropy…cute, huh?). I was sitting at my orderly Program Associate desk at our South Carolina community foundation one day, and I was daydreaming about how I could become specialized in and get my dream job working for international philanthropy (according to most job descriptions in our field, you HAVE to be specialized….but I’m not, and it’s a tad tough to go back to school now)….then I started to worry about the security of my future….retirement…how can I pay back my excessive student loans…….arg!!!!!

Just that moment, dum dum dum dummmmmmm………the President/CEO of our foundation walks into my office, slides a paper on my desk….and says she thinks I might be interested.

While I’m thinking that this paper is a synopsis of some fabulous new report in the field, or a copy of an article from one of the field’s publications, it was an application to the Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (CPCS) in New York City (www.philanthropy.org).

January 2007
Long story short, I sent in the paperwork, held my breath for about a month or so……….and was accepted.

Now I was working (at the community foundation) for the type of President who wants to see her team grow…even if it means benching some players once in a while, and so she let me go with her blessing.

March 2007
After we mapped out a contract that pinpointed duties that I could maintain during the 3 months in NYC, I packed up a few annual reports, left a detailed AWAY message on my voicemail, grabbed some business cards, and got on the philanthroship to the Big Apple.

I want to share that this was by far the most influential span of time in my career so far. This fellowship, based at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, was a remarkable roundtable of consistent dialogue and learning, a tremendous network-building venture, and a flat out awesome intellectual exercise in the field of philanthropic work.

June 2007
I wrapped up the fellowship and I was convinced….. International Philanthropy was what I wanted…but I couldn’t find my shot to the top in South Carolina…and I still didn’t have the experience I needed for the position I wanted.

Just when I was daydreaming again…..in comes an e-mail from the fellowship’s ListServ with an announcement about a program in Italy…………..

The announcement read as follows:

There is a call for applications which makes 20 internships available for non-Italian graduates. The maximum age is 30. The deadline is 30 June 2007.

For one internship, knowledge of Italian is not requested. For the remaining 19 internships, a fair knowledge of Italian is requested. All the details are available in the call for applications (see below).

Again, in the attempt to keep my language concise (I know you’ve read lengthy grant apps before!), I sent over my application.

February 2008
While I’m now working on my Italian, this philanthroship that I’m involved with at Fondazione CRT in Torino (www.fondazionecrt.it) is just what Mr. Advancemeplease suggested- getting some intense experience under my belt so that perhaps one day…I can be considered as a potential job candidate with a specialized area of expertise…maybe 10 - 15 years early!!

While fellowships are usually associated with graduate or doctoral programs, there are a variety of research and work-based programs that are intended for practitioners in their chosen field. Just in case you might be looking for a change of environment, take a look at these programs, and see if they might be a match:


http://philanthropy.org/programs/intnl_fellows_program.html
http://www.abfe.org/abfLinks.asp
http://www.agmconnect.org/About/DiversityFellowship.aspx
http://www.civilsoc.org/announce/jhufel.htm
http://www.efc.be/projects/ifp/#Financial_benefits_for_fellows_
http://www.dukeendowment.org/about/TDEFellowship


Today’s Chat: If you have fellowship experience, please please please, let us know where you were, how it moved your career forward, and….um….any advice for us?

You can read more from Alyson at her blog. Next Monday from Allyson………..Making the Best of your Philanthroship

Philanthrapalooza

The Council on Foundations is hosting a mega philanthropy conference this spring that brings together three of its regular conferences (Community Foundation conference, family foundation conference, and its regular conference). The conference is May 4-7 in the Washington, DC area and a large focus of this conference will be next generation leadership. Emerging Practitioner in Philanthropy has been coordinating many of the planned programs including special salons with Foundation CEO's for emerging leaders, a whole track of programs, a reception, and a hosted Next Gen suite for more relaxed networking. Registration is now open, so bring the form to your boss and explain to them that an investment in your professional development is an investment in the future viability of the philanthropic field. But no pressure.

New Voice-Allyson Reaves

New Voices of Philanthropy is always looking for new writers to share their perspectives of philanthropy on this blog. Allyson Reaves is one of those new voices. Allyson is currently in Italy doing an amazing philanthropy fellowship and I wanted her to share how she got connected to that experience and any other advice that she would have for people trying to break into the field of philanthropy or advance in the field. This will be a three part series from Allyson that will be running for three Mondays. Enjoy! From Allyson:

Your invitation’s in the Mail!

I always slightly tilt my head when I hear a practitioner in philanthropy say ever so nonchalantly, ‘Oh I just fell into the field…..’

Fell? Really? You just fell into the field? Hmmmmm………..Seems like I’ve been trying to knock on..no…knock down the door of entry to the field for a while now….and you just fell….like you didn’t mean to??!?!?!!?!?

It wasn’t until I asked (quite frankly) a very insightful practitioner how I might professionally advance in a field chock-full of leading professionals who keep a tight grip on their leather executive seats for years. No….decades.

So after I asked Mr. Advancemeplease how young folks can direct their efforts to climbing up this ladder while still committing themselves to participating in solutions that address the

social justice, environmental,
arts and culture, education,
health and research, capacity building,
and
community development issues
of YESTERDAY while planning
-strategically and transparently-
the global civil society of TOMORROW,

he responded very succinctly with 3 ideas of how to move forward…..

1) Start at the bottom and work your way up.
Me: Sounds doable to go after an entry level job.…but everybody in my foundation is comfortable in their seats and probably won’t be retiring or moving any time soon….and I’m ready for a promotion!!! This won’t work for me right now.
2) Come in as a consultant…and if all the right opportunities line up, you may possibly be invited to join the team if a vacancy (or a short term grant to underwrite your salary) opens your door of civil service.
Me: Hmmmm…I’ve got college loans out the yin yang…and I need insurance…and a stable paycheck! This won’t work either.
3) Be invited as an expert in a specialized area.
Me: Does that mean I have to have a Ph.D. in something like International Capacity Building with a Concentration in American Diplomacy?
‘No, ladybug,’ Mr. Advancemeplease replied. ‘You’ve got to get some experience-intense experience-under your belt.
ME: Hmmm…well I want to be involved in International Philanthropy…I’ve got the philanthropy part…now I just need to break into the international side. Now how do I get intense INTERNATIONAL experience in South Carolina??????????????

Today’s Question for you: What’s your step-by-step advice on advancing in the field of philanthropy?

You can read more from Allyson at her blog. Next week from Allyson………..Fellowships and Other Ideas of Getting Experience Under your Belt