August/September 2006 - Education in Philanthropy

Today marks the beginning of our third issue! Since this is a bit of a milestone for us, I think it’s also a good opportunity to explain where FLiP is going. Our goal from the start was, and remains, to create a community for fundraisers and grant-makers who are early in their careers. I am often struck by how many people there are working in this industry, with so few forums to share information or communicate with each other. With FLiP we are trying to address this issue by being an active forum, for you.

Editing the FLiP site has given me the opportunity to talk with dozens of young fundraisers and grant-makers over the past few months. My conversations have revealed an almost universal belief that there is no such thing as a “standard” pathway or experience leading into a career in philanthropy. Moreover, there isn’t even an agreed-upon educational track that future fundraisers and grant-makers should pursue to get into the industry. Many of us majored in marketing (like myself), others in finance, some in communication…and the list goes on. There are literally dozens of other options, and that’s just for undergrads!

In this issue of FLiP we will examine education in philanthropy. Most of us have had a rather informal philanthropic education. Many people I’ve spoken to have said that on the job training has been the most critical piece of their fundraising and grant-making training.

Much of that may be on the verge of major change. As the industry becomes increasingly formal in scope and structure, will a standard education be designed? To have a career in philanthropy, will you need a graduate degree? What should your understanding of finance be? What about your grasp of law? We’ll take a stab at these, and related, questions in this issue.

The first step toward forming the community we’ve been looking for is for us to share our opinions, and our knowledge. With that in mind we hope to hear your thoughts about education this month. In addition to a series of posts we have planned about education, we will continue with our weekly FLiP News Digests, to keep everyone informed about the industry news of the week. We also have this issue stocked with “Meet-A-FLiP” profiles, and many other guest posts.

As always, we welcome your comments, questions, and guest posts. If you would like to be more involved with FLiP, e-mail us here.

The Editor of this issue is Elisabeth Anderson, a Director in the Philanthropy Division of Changing Our World, Inc., helping corporations align their strategic and philanthropic goals. She can be reached here.