Education, credentials, and philanthropy careers: By Richard Marker

A few weeks ago, a question I asked about getting an advanced degree to help your career in the world of philanthropy garnered 20+ comments, and generated parallel posts on a number of other sites. As a follow up, I asked a good friend of FLiP's, Richard Marker of Wise Philanthropy - www.wisephilanthropy.blogspot.com - to react to the question. He answered on his site in fine style, so I wanted to share his response here as well.

Will Schneider’s inquiry is a very helpful one.  Given where I sit (and have sat) I am asked that question all the time.  Based on at least five or more “careers” over a 40 year period, here are some thoughts – in bullet point form:

• Unless one is absolutely committed to a job where there are defined credentials (law, medicine, etc.), no graduate degree is worth anything unless you are interested in what the degree is in. Otherwise stated, any graduate degree can be equally useful in the general field of nonprofits, grantmaking and/or philanthropy IF you are passionate about the field you are studying and want to work in that area.  (A degree in international education would be of interest to some funders; a degree in environmental sciences would be of interest to others; a degree in urban studies to still others…)

• I had already been tenured and had a well established career as a college chaplain/faculty member when I decided to get a management degree.  By that time, I had been working for 13 years.  I ended up loving the management concepts and a year later changed career directions based on that management credential.  There is no doubt in my mind that I would have been absolutely bored if it had been mandatory that I obtain that management degree before I was interested and ready.

• I believe that one should be a lifetime learner.  But learning is not the same as compiling degrees.  One should spend one’s life following one’s interests and passions – which change, evolve, emerge, and even surprise over the course of a lifetime.  Frankly, I could never have imagined what directions my career has taken when I got my first graduate degree 40 years ago.  There is no way I could have known what degrees to get at that time since my interests and preoccupations were quite different than they are today.  Even now, when I am considered a national expert on philanthropy, I have learned more about this field over the last six or seven years when I have been teaching as well as advising than I did all the previous years when I was strictly a “practitioner.”

• But there are things one can learn about philanthropy when one becomes interested.  The issue, again, is not credentials – it is knowing that there can be structured imparting of information which can make one understand ethics, best practices, applied values, and constructive options for how to be a good, wise, and effective grantmaker.  (Only partially a shameless plug for the NYU program in philanthropy).  And I continue to learn from others even now – even many who are many years my junior.

• Bottom line – at this point in time, there is no one formal credential which guarantees a career progression in the field of philanthropy, although over time, having a graduate degree helps.  More important is that one is passionate about the work and open to following one’s heart and head in directions not yet known.