What's it Like to Work for a Family Foundation? by Elizabeth Miller

After FLiP published one of my favorite Meet-A-FLiPs, an interview with Elizabeth Miller, I decided to press my luck and ask Elizabeth for a little bit more. I've said it before, I have been a professional fundraiser for over five years now and I have tell you, it seems like giving away money for a living is a dream job. Especially if you work for a family foundation. That means you're just giving away someone's money, right? Seems amazing!

Of course, as FLiP has grown and I have met more and more young grantmakers, I am learning how intense, competitive, and difficult a job it is. Program Officers are tasked with making a big impact with finite budgets, not to mention contending with donors' extreme personalities. Since she is one of the most well-spoken FLiPs I've met, I asked Elizabeth to write an article called, "What's it Like to Work for a Family Foundation?", and she ran with it. I love the result. Hopefully you'll hear more from Elizabeth in the future!

Elizabeth R. Miller works as a Program Associate for The Overbrook Foundation, a New York City-based family foundation established in 1948 by Frank and Helen Altschul. Its mission is to improve the lives of people by supporting projects that protect human and civil rights, advance the self-sufficiency and well being of individuals and their communities, and conserve the natural environment.

Growing up, my favorite books to read were those from Sydney Taylor’s series, “All of a Kind Family.” The five books detailed the lives of an immigrant family living on New York's Upper East Side just prior to World War I. I read the books over and over and at one point, my grandmother even recorded the books so that I could fall asleep listening to a tape of them every night. Looking back, I’d like to think it was a sign that I’d someday go to work for a family foundation in New York.

Now that I have that job, I realize that a lot of my friends and family don’t really understand what I do. When I tell people I work for a family foundation the most common response I get is, “Oh so you must write a lot of grants.” Well, not exactly.  I wasn’t even quite sure what I was getting myself into when I first came to The Overbrook Foundation in the spring of 2004.

In order to understand what it’s like to work for a family foundation you first have to understand why families would be motivated to start a foundation in the first place. The overarching reason is usually a desire to give back to a community that you care about. Families might want to support issues that they feel strongly about, or pass on the tradition of giving to future generations, and they also probably have a general desire to unite all the branches of the family with a shared sense of purpose. Along the way of figuring out all of the above (for example, what issues in a community are you going to focus on - education, health, environment?), people probably come across unique challenges and opportunities, enriched by the lively personalities in their families.

So what is it really like to work for a family foundation? On a daily basis, the tasks I undertake vary tremendously. In “All of a Kind Family” the five young girls encounter everything from everyday chores, to missing library books, to trips to the Rivington Street market. Ironically, I too have “chores” whether it’s drafting minutes from committee or board meetings, responding to letters of inquiry that the Foundation is unable to fund, cleaning out grant files or setting up for meetings; I search for missing pieces of grant proposals; I even make trips downtown to the flower district to pick up orchids before our quarterly Board Meetings.

Meet-A-FLiP: Scott Overdyke

Our resident DC FLiP Julie Fagnani sat down with Scott Overdyke of Razoo.com, an online community of people changing the world one passion at a time.

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): Tell us a little about yourself - where  you went to school, what you majored in, and the interests that led you to a job in philanthropy.

Scott Overdyke (SO): I’m from Louisiana and grew up in Texas. For undergrad I attended Vanderbilt University, majored in Economics and Political Science, and graduated in 2003. After college, I worked in New Zealand for a few months for an oil service company.

I did the Peace Corps for 2 ½ years in Panama as an agriculture business volunteer. After that I came back to the States, moved to DC and started working for Razoo (where I have been working for a year).

FLiP: Describe your role at your current job.

SO: My job is to talk to nonprofits, spread the Razoo.com network and community, expand business and keep up on trends in philanthropy.

My current role here is to help grow and strengthen the Razoo community by identifying the people and organizations most relevant to the website, providing practical incentives for membership, and finally just serving the needs of our existing users. 

So part of the job is passive - you have to be intimately familiar with your audience and your environment, which entails loads of research.  And the other part is active - seeking out new members, organizations, student groups, companies, and schools with whom we might work or partner.

FLiP: What are some parts of the job you like? What do you dislike?

FLiP-on-Tap: Wrap Up!

As the second floor of Black Sheep started filling up last night, I started to get a little concerned about having enough space. When I saw a line of FLiPs snaking down 3rd Avenue, it was basically confirmed: a ton of people were coming to FLiP-on-Tap, our latest networking event.

The final tally came in just over 150 people, more or less doubling the size of our last event. I saw dozens of business cards change hands, and I know of at least five follow-up meetings that have already been set. Did you make a connection at the event?

The “good-sport-of-the-night-award” goes to Sharna Goldseker, our very dignified speaker who climbed onto a chair in the middle of the crowd in order to deliver her speech! Sharna, who was unflappable, spoke about the twists and turns of her career that led her to her current position as a Vice President at the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. Always intending to ultimately become a grantmaker, Sharna started her career as an affordable housing fundraiser, an experience she said made her more mindful of the pressures and strains fundraisers across the country face. Her work as a fundraiser, she says, has made her a much better grantmaker.

I was thrilled to see so many familiar faces in the audience, as well as so many new ones. However you slice it, it’s obvious that FLiP is growing by leaps and bounds.

I also want to make a pledge: Our next event, coming up in late January or early February, will be in a larger space! We’re open to suggestions for “tweaks” to improve upon what we’ve already accomplished. What could have been better??

(be nice)

Thanks again to everyone who came! I had a great night, and I’m excited for the next event!

Meet-A-FLiP: Marisa Lee

(Editor’s Note: Just because Breast Cancer Awareness Month is over doesn’t mean the issue goes away.  We’re happy to present this Meet-A-FLiP about Saving Second Base in, yes, November!)

Marisa Lee is an inspiration – and not just to me.  When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, she was not content to sit idle and set about starting Saving Second Base, an organization dedicated to leveraging young professionals (and their funds) to raise money and awareness about breast cancer.  The organization hosts events and participates in other fundraising activities (ultra-marathon, anyone?), sending all funds raised to Susan G. Komen for the Cure affiliated organizations. Below, read all about Marisa’s secret life as an i-banker, how Grey’s Anatomy shaped the organization, and perhaps you’ll be inspired too.

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): Tell us a bit about Saving Second Base.  How did you come up with the idea? And once you had the idea, how did you actually create an organization?

Marisa Lee (ML): My mother has been living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer since May of 2005, and unless someone finds a cure in the near future, the disease will surely claim her life.   Daily, I face her diagnosis and my life decisions are based, in many ways, on the disease.  After a particularly dramatic episode of Grey's Anatomy, and one too many cocktails, I decided that facing the diagnosis on a personal level was not enough; it was my responsibility to do something on a larger scale.

The initial idea was to simply host an event. Essentially, throw a really fun party for a good cause.  Then we got our first substantial donor and realized we had no name to put on the check.  With that (and the support of friends willing to contribute time, money and effort!), Saving Second Base was born. My roommate filed incorporating documents and 501(c)3 forms and we haven’t looked back since.

Our hope is that by spreading awareness about breast cancer at a young age, women and men will know where to go for support and resources if ever faced with a breast cancer diagnosis.

FLiP: Word on the street is that you’re a Banker. True? 

ML: Yes. I work for Brown Brothers Harriman, a small, privately held bank where I specialize in Commodities Finance.

FLiP: How do your two worlds connect with each other?

3 special guests to attend FLiP event!

I promise we'll be back to normal posting later this week, this is our last event promo this week!

In addition to speaker Sharna Goldseker - Vice President at the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies – FLiP has invited three additional special guests to our next event.

Why? Well, here’s what we were thinking: For the first two events, a very ambitious and engaged group of FLiPs showed up. We want to keep you all engaged and coming back for more, so we invited some people a little further along in their careers to offer some perspective, advice, and guidance.

They have agreed to come to the Black Sheep (583 3rd Avenue at 38th Street – 2nd Floor) on November 14 from 6:00 to 8:00, hang out, listen to Sharna's remarks, and meet some FLiPs.

So, without further ado, here are FLiPs first-ever special guests (when you see them on the 14th, be sure to say hello!):

1) Teresa Vazquez – Vice President of the Not-for-Profit Desk at the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

Specifically she is responsible for addressing individual nonprofit needs by serving as an information clearinghouse; providing real estate guidance; connecting nonprofits to business and financial resources and attracting new nonprofits to New York City.

2) Steve Sagner - Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. 

From 2003-07, Steve was Director of Development for NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  He has also been the Director of Development for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national, community-development support organization, and the Director of Programs & Contracts for Good Shepherd Services, a renowned NYC youth development organization.  Steve ran Good Shepherd's John Jay High School Liberty Partnership, a college readiness program for at-risk Brooklyn high school students, from 1988 to 1992.  He earned his BA at Columbia and his MPA in public finance at NYU Wagner. 

Finally, he’s the husband of Jennifer, the father of Denali and Sarah, the walker of Red the beagle, and a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan.

3) Carolyn Cavicchio - Senior Research Associate, The Conference Board.

Carolyn founded and led the Philanthropy Division at Changing Our World prior to joining The Conference Board in 2007. With almost 20 years of experience in the field, Carolyn is a national expert in corporate community involvement and philanthropic programs, as well as a strategic planner, facilitator, analyst and program developer. She has co-authored several publications dealing with philanthropy and public-private partnerships. Carolyn earned her Masters degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and her BA from Temple University.

If you want to join us at the Black Sheep, please shoot an e-mail over to Lyndsay Reville - lreville@changingourworld.com - or go on FLiP's Facebook Group to RSVP. Space is limited and filling up fast!