Meet-A-FLiP: Carlos Miranda

Although Carlos Miranda majored in Anthropology, it’s not an ethnography he’s completing in the New York Public Library.  Instead, Carlos, an associate manager, deals with individual gifts upwards of $25,000 and, with his team at the library, assures relationships with over a hundred major donors. The funds raised are essential in supporting nearly $295 million in operating costs a year. 

Carlos has an impressive academic resume: he graduated from NYU with a degree in Anthropology (with a focus on international affairs) and completed a master’s at the London School of Economics in Global Economic History.  These credentials may not seem the most straightforward path to institutional development.  “My dad used to ask me if I was going to work at the anthropology factory when I graduated,” Carlos jokes.

Yet, Carlos is a clear example of the value that many people who don’t have degrees in non-profit administration can add to the development field and how a diverse educational background, combined with passion and enthusiasm, may be just what the field needs in its young professional corps.

Future Leaders in Philanthropy: How did degrees in anthropology and global history lead you to the NYPL?

Carlos Miranda: Honestly, my degrees led me to my current position in a very roundabout way.  While I was in undergrad, I worked for a conflict-resolution NGO called Seeds of Peace, full-time during my summers and part-time during the school year. I was originally attracted to working for them because, at the time, I really wanted to do something that directly related to what I was studying, which was cultural anthropology and international relations.  Because ‘Seeds’ works with teens from regions of the world that either have a history or are currently engaged in conflict, the job perfectly matched what I was searching for.  Most of my responsibilities while at Seeds dealt with creating and implementing original programming – I did this at their New York headquarters, their conflict-resolution camp in Maine, their conflict-resolution center in Jerusalem, and in workshops throughout Cyprus.

After college, I decided to study economics and history at the LSE because, I thought, it would complement what I had studied at NYU.  Once I finished my degree in London, and I moved back to New York, I knew that I wanted to do something that once again complemented my previous (in this case, work) experiences.  So I started looking for development positions at various non-profits. In a nutshell, that’s how I stumbled across the Library.    

FLiP: How did your educational background prepare you for your job at the NYPL? How do you find in it useful in your every day work?

CM: The obvious answer is that when you study for a degree that is writing intensive, you hone and develop good critical thinking and writing skills. Since the bulk of my responsibilities at the Library involve writing and devising strategies for both current and potential donors, the experience I gained while in school has proven invaluable.

I also applied for and got two undergraduate research grants while at NYU, which taught me early on how to write good proposals, follow-up reports, and devise financial statements.       

FLiP: How do you find ways to integrate the subjects you were passionate about in school into your current work?

CM: The Library, thankfully, provides me with plenty of opportunities to engage my intellectual curiosity.  While the subject matters I focused on at school rarely pop up in my everyday activities/responsibilities, they certainly manifest themselves in many of the extra-curricular activities that are constantly taking place at the Library. The Library hosts different types of events pretty much every week, from small intimate discussion groups to large lectures and presentations attended by hundreds of people.  I got to see Howard Zinn, one of my academic heroes speak last year…and I never have to wait in line for a ticket!

FLiP: What other educational experiences prepared you for, or sparked your interest in, philanthropy?

CM: My experience at Seeds of Peace really taught me the value of the development office.  Working at the camp in Maine or at the center in Jerusalem with kids from Israel and Palestine, you could see how well the program worked – and its success was inextricably linked to the amount of funds we could raise.  At the NYPL it’s the same thing on a different scale – all you have to do is see the new library in the Bronx to know how a good development team can help to change a community.

In terms of other experiences, my upbringing was directly responsible for the subjects I studied at school, which in turn led me to Seeds of Peace, and now to the Library.  My Dad is an engineer and because he worked in oil and gas, I spent the first 18 years of my life living in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, all over the States, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland.   

FLiP: Would you ever go back for another advanced degree? Would you go for something more traditional to development or not?

CM: I would love to go back to school. I don’t know, however, if it would be for something that was directly related to development.  I really have a passion for history and International Relations. 

FLiP: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

CM: Wow, again, I don’t really know. I definitely see myself moving overseas again. I would like to continue to work in philanthropy, but I don’t know in what facet of it.  I’m about to celebrate my one year anniversary at the Library, and I feel like I still have several more things to learn before I can even begin to think about the next step, much less where I’ll be ten years from now. 

FLiP: What kind of advice would you give to students or young professionals with unorthodox educational backgrounds who want to break into the field of development or philanthropy?

CM: I feel like it’s crazy for me to give advice to anyone; I feel like more often than not people need to be giving me advice. But since you’re asking, I would say simply that one should always embrace and maximize an unorthodox educational background. There is no standard way to get a job in fields as wide and as vibrant as development or philanthropy. After all, I studied Cultural Anthropology – and the NYPL is no anthropology factory!

Alisha Fernandez, who conducted this interview, is an Associate Director in the Philanthropy Division of Changing Our World, Inc., helping corporations align their strategic and philanthropic goals. She can be reached at afernandez@changingourworld.com.