The Philanthropic Family: Men vs. Women by Sharon Schneider

One of the cooler parts of running FLiP is going out for drinks/coffee with people who write in. One of those people, who I've now known for about a year, is Sharon Schneider (no relation). Sharon is currently the Vice President of Client Services at Foundation Source, a company which offers a variety of services for over 750 private foundations.

Separately from her job, Sharon runs a blog I've recently latched on to, the Philanthropic Family. I really enjoyed a recent post on her site, so I asked if she'd write a super short version of it for FLiP. If you like it, click over to her site for the full version. Why does Sharon blog (and why do I like her blog)? Read a quote from her first entry (followed by the post I asked her to write):

Most of America is not made of philanthropy professionals. It is made of individuals and families. The vast majority of charitable donations come from individuals. And individuals aren’t strategizing about whether providing clean water or selling insecticide-treated bed nets is a better strategy to reduce malaria.

As much as they want to improve the world, for many of these families a key motivation is to raise charitable children (my kids are only 2 and 4 and I am already thinking about this). Parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles and other influential adults want to provide an example for their children because charity is an expression of their core values. This blog will provide ideas, concrete examples and inspiration to nurture the philanthropic family. Rather than focus on the external mission of philanthropy (improving the world) it will focus on the internal mission (strengthening the family).

Thanks, Will, for asking about the latest post.  To summarize for your readers, Men vs. Women: Motivation to Give to Charity describes an article in the special June 2008 issue of Town & Country magazine about women and philanthropy that included some interesting numbers:

• 73% of women surveyed believe that men and women give differently.
• 99% of women reported that they make the decisions about charitable gifts for their household, either jointly with a spouse (71%) or alone (27%). 

Survey respondents shed more light on the perceived differences with comments like these:

• "Women = Heart.  Men = Tax Deduction."
• "Men give based on who is asking, women on who is benefiting."

So here's the question I ask on my site. Do FLiP readers think this is true?  Does it affect your work as a philanthropy/fundraising professional?  For more details and to add your two cents, check out The Philanthropic Family  at www.thephilanthropicfamily.wordpress.com.

MBA or MPA: Marie DiZazzo Wilson

FLiP continues to examine why some readers decided to get an MBA rather than an MPA or another masters degree. For more information on the subject, please enjoy the first and second interviews as well!

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): What experience did you have in philanthropy before you decided to go to graduate school?

Marie DiZazzo Wilson (MDW): Growing up, I was always involved with local organizations as a volunteer – from working the church’s annual “tag sale” to volunteering at local soup kitchens several times a year.  In high school and college I volunteered for mission-driven organizations – like recycling groups and participating in a monthly midnight run where we made hundreds of sandwiches on campus, took a bus into New York City and drove around town to hand out sandwiches and snacks to the homeless.  Professionally, I had worked for two small nonprofits for a total of about three years on every aspect of their fundraising – annual appeals, grant writing, event planning, and even donor acknowledgements.

FLiP: Why did you choose to pursue a graduate degree?

MDW: After about two years of professional experience, I decided I wanted to pursue fundraising – and organizational management – for other nonprofits.  I spoke with several of my colleagues as well as volunteers who donated their time to  the organizations with which I was affiliated, and most suggested pursuing some type of advanced degree to gain more knowledge about the field and to make myself more “financially marketable.”

FLiP: Why did you choose the program you ultimately attended?  Describe it for us.

MDW: I chose to pursue an MPA with a concentration in nonprofit management.  Overall, the program provided a broad background for someone to pursue a career in the public, nonprofit or private sectors.  It gave a good overview of how the three sectors interact with and influence one another.  Courses included general topics with a focus on these sectors, such as economics, statistics, and general management, as well as those such as law and public affairs, financial management for nonprofits, and a final capstone course.  There were also very specialized nonprofit courses like human and financial resources for philanthropy, ethics and values of philanthropy, nonprofit economy and public policy, human resource management in nonprofits, leadership and board development, fund development for nonprofits, proposal development and grant administration, etc. 

FLiP: Did you consider choosing an MBA instead?

FLiP TRiP Wrap

Good afternoon FLiPs! I’ve been asked a few times how the big trip went, so I wanted to post a quick update. For those who haven’t been keeping up - FLiP was invited to the University of Michigan to have a chat with the Michigan D-SIPs, and to welcome the newest (and maybe brightest) members of the FLiP community.

What’s D-SIP? Development Summer Internship Program (shown here in the middle of their first orientation activity - Speed Networking). Here are the basics – U-M students work for one of the University's development offices 4 days/week, and take classes on Fridays. At the end of the summer they have had both a substantive work experience in the development world, and a base of knowledge about the philosophy of giving, the world of philanthropy, and donor psychology. When they graduate, if they choose to work in the nonprofit world/world of philanthropy, they are far more prepared for the job than, dare I say, almost ANY college student in the country.

We had a great trip, and really enjoyed our time with the interns. If you work for a school and are potentially interested in hearing more about the program, shoot me wschneider@changingourworld.com or Kat Walsh katwalsh@umich.edu an email anytime.

I’m kind of, if you couldn’t tell, fascinated with the idea of a professional, organized, academic, entry point to the sector – so we’ll be revisiting the D-SIP program at various points during the year – including writing a profile of Kat (the program's organizer) and asking for articles from the interns themselves.

Have a good day – stay tuned for the continuation of our “MBA vs. MPA” series later this week.

The Second FLiPiversary and the First Ever FLiP TRiP (how clever are we?) by Will Schneider

Two fairly monumental things are happening this week – which I wanted to share with the FLiP community.

1) First things first: Yesterday, FLiP turned two! That’s right, we published our first-ever post on May 11, 2006. In that post I said, “In order to be successful as fundraisers, we need to create a standard of excellence for field professionals to aspire to.” We’re clearly not done yet, but I’ll say this: Between normal daily hits, forwarded emails, and our subscriber-base, between 2,000 and 3,000 people will read this post.

FLiP is just one of the forces pulling together a large, international community of young fundraising and grantmaking professionals. This community will share ideas, it will create educational standards, and it will reward talent and excellence. I’m happy to see FLiP is playing our small part in this process – and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen next.

There is no better example of the need for a community like FLiP to exist than the 841 members of the FLiP facebook group.  With virtually no promotion, people from around the world have found this group – and more people join every day.

So, our baby turned two! I think the endorsement below is a good example of the kind of impression we’ve made (and will continue to make) on the sector. This is from the blog, The Civic Minded Companion.

Turning 59 has sent me into a spin. I want to be young again. One of my favorite blogs is FLiP – Future Leaders in Philanthropy. The contributors are passionate, entrepreneurial, professional, and most of all: demanding. They have high expectations of themselves and the nonprofit sector. And, they will have more fun than I did!

2) But wait, I said two monumental things are happening. Thing two is the first-ever FLiP TRiP! If you happen to be at LaGuardia Airport at 6:00 tomorrow morning, you will see my bleary-eyed colleague Anastasia and I boarding a flight bound for Detroit, Michigan! From there, a short a date with the summer interns in the Development Office of the University of Michigan. We’ll be hosting a FLiP-on-Tap (minus the tap) event to welcome the (I assume) wide-eyed youngsters to the field.

Check back later this week for an event wrap-up. The success (or massive failure) of this event will help determine how and when we head to new cities and expand to new markets.

Wish us luck in the Big 10 – and happy birthday to all of us!

MBA or MPA: Shana Katz Ross

Please enjoy the second in our "MBA vs. MPA" series - started last week. Why did you get your MBA or MPA? Thanks again to Nina Sharma West for seeking out candidates and conducting these interviews.

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): Why did you choose to pursue a graduate degree?

Shana Katz Ross (SKR): The quick answer is that I needed to – both because I needed the credentials to make me stand out in the job market and because I needed the skills to move forward in my career.  A graduate degree was worth 15 years of working my way through the ranks. 

The slightly longer, personal answer is that I had come to realize that I liked my job, fundraising, but wanted to have a larger personal impact in the world by rising to a leadership position, quickly.  That said, I knew that I needed some more formal training to be able to make my next steps – I could see problems that I wanted to solve, things that I knew could be improved, but I needed to learn how to fix them.  Also, I wanted to go back to school.  I was working for a university, where the proximity to various programs of great learning was tantalizing.  It dangled graduate education in front of me…and an immediately useful degree like an MBA was the only choice for me.

FLiP: Why did you choose the program you ultimately attended?  Describe it for us.

SKR: I selected Yale SOM because while it was an MBA program, I felt that it put a huge emphasis on a well-rounded approach to business and strategy, combining academic and practical curricula.  That’s even more true now that they have overhauled their program.  There are some business schools out there that are more like vocational schools than graduate schools…at Yale, you read academic economics articles and the WSJ.  It’s taken for granted that you need to know why something works instead of just how to make it work.  And rather than teaching business subjects as unrelated (marketing as independent from competitive strategy as independent from finance), they ask that students consider all aspects as interconnected, from the beginning of your program.

When I was looking at schools, I narrowed my search down to a handful of schools where I could get the education I wanted.  Then, the campus visits told me everything.  At one school, I got lost on my way to the admissions office, and when I asked a passing student for directions, I got a withering look, and she said “Oh, I’m not going that way,” before turning on her heel and walking off.  At Yale, the promises that students studying nonprofit management were not seen as second class citizens to those on a more standard MBA track were clearly true, mostly because the majority of the student body is interested in philanthropy in some way – if not as employees in the sector, then as future donors!  PONPO, the program on nonprofit organizations, run by Sharon Oster, was also a huge draw, as was the ability to take classes around the University.

High-Engagement Funders by Irene Park & Shikha Dalal

The 2008 Cohort of the Student Social Venture Fund at NYU’s Stern School of Business recently hosted a panel discussion and networking session entitled, “Full Contact Funding: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of High-Engagement Funding Relationships.”  The discussion revolved around the positive and negative aspects of high-engagement relationships from both the funder and grantee perspective, and the strategy and evaluation processes that transpire when funders decide to finance these projects as capacity building initiatives.  To begin, let us take a deeper look at the current definition of high-engagement funders.

According to a 2004 report developed by Venture Philanthropy Partners and Community Wealth Ventures entitled “High-Engagement Philanthropy: A Bridge to a More Effective Social Sector,” the characteristics of ‘high-engagement philanthropy’ are defined as specific ways in which funders (investors) are directly or personally involved with their grantees (investment partners) beyond just providing financial support.  In addition to funding, a typical high-engagement funding relationship provides capacity building support by offering technical assistance, such as strategic planning, leadership development, external relationship facilitation, and programmatic development. 

Ultimately, funders are very selective, investing a great deal of time in understanding the inner affairs of each nonprofit to see if there is an alignment of core mission and values, and to ensure grantees have the capacity to utilize its financial assistance.  Nonprofits see a clear benefit with this type of partnership, i.e. resources and support to strengthen the infrastructure of the organization, which plays a large role in the successful program development and implementation of the funding they received.

The panelists included members from the nonprofit and foundation worlds; however, there was no representation from the for-profit sector.  As consultants who work with corporate funders who strive to be as engaged as possible, we questioned why companies were not included in the discussion let alone considered high-engagement funders. 

Getting Ready for Glamour by Rachel Doyle

                                
Editor’s Note: It’s the most wonderful time of the year…Glamour in the City time!  Our friend Rachel Doyle, President and Founder of hot nonprofit GlamourGals, is hard at work putting the finishing touches on her biggest fundraiser of the year.  After I initially thought to ask Rachel a few questions to guide my post, I thought better of it.  Who better to get us into the mindset of the event-planning, goal-reaching crunch than the President herself?  Without further ado, Rachel tells all – the gritty and the glamorous!

It is Wednesday, April 30th 11:48pm EST, and I’ve just finished up a two hour-long conference call with my advisory board.  It is a week before our biggest fundraiser of the year—Glamour in the City.  Needless to say, we’ve put together quite the to-do list! 

Glamour in the City is a fundraising and awareness evening for GlamourGals.  This year the event will be held at Loft 11, where chic philanthropists and inspired entrepreneurs will sip on premium cocktails accompanied by Rockstar or Pom Wonderful mixers, taste a decadent table of treats from Sweet Street Desserts, listen to the live jazz sounds of elizabeth (just last week she played five nights at Jazz @ Lincoln Center!), try their luck at raffles for spa gift certificates, Neissing rings or an urban getaway at the Loews Regency Hotel, peruse program scrapbooks, and view photos of inspiring women—and this is just the cocktail hour!  The cocktails will be followed by the GLAMMYS!, our awards presentation hosted by Tracy Smith, CBS News with special guest Susan Schulz, Editor-in-Chief of CosmoGIRL! Magazine.

As I mentioned, we have quite the to-do list (i.e. finding a place to store all 20 cases of those amazing treats in NYC before the event!). But the to-do list started with a plan, and now that it is in its fourth year, I thought that I would share some insight into planning the larger than life soiree, Glamour in the City.

MBA or MPA: Nina Sharma West

About a year ago I told my friend and former co-worker (from Carnegie Hall), Nina Sharma West, that I was thinking about going back to school, part-time. I couldn't (and, to be honest, still can't) decide what degree might be most useful for my career. For me (and for many of you, I imagine), it comes down to MBA vs. MPA. Which is better?

So, Nina got right on it and interviewed five of her friends, some in grad-programs, others recently out of school. So, she sent me the interviews, and I couldn't get FLiP's act together for over a year to publish them. However, with our recent partnership with Academic Impressions, and our impending trip to the University of Michigan, it seemed like the right time to finally acknowledge Nina's hard work. So, Nina, at long last FLiP is going to start publishing these interviews, one at a time, over the next two weeks. Without further ado, the first interview, with Nina!

Future Leaders in Philanthropy (FLiP): Why did you choose to pursue a graduate degree?

Nina Sharma West (NSW): I felt that after having been in the fundraising world for roughly six years, I was well on my way to a career path that had chosen me – not the other way around.  I wound up in fundraising because I needed a job.  I knew I was interested in the nonprofit sector, but at age 22, was willing to take the best thing that came my way, and that was a position in individual giving at the New York Public Library – a great start!  I continued on to positions at Carnegie Hall, Yale, and the Ad Council.  While at the Ad Council, I started asking around about graduate degrees – my boss was a guest lecturer for Columbia’s Masters in Fundraising program, and some other colleagues were students at Wagner and Stern at NYU.   

FLiP: Why did you choose the program you ultimately selected? 

NSW: I knew that I needed a part-time program.  I was very interested in Columbia’s SIPA program, but they don’t allow part-timers.  I also toyed with Columbia’s Master in Fundraising, but thought it was too much of a niche; I’d already been in fundraising for six years, and thought it would be too much time and money spent on the basics.  I ultimately chose the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU because it was a part-time program, because it was NYU, and because I had friends who had gone and enjoyed their experience.  I liked that there were options of taking policy, management, and finance courses, so I thought I could get a great smattering of everything they offered – even just through the core courses.  Also, I liked that it was at NYU – I’d gone to a small liberal arts college in a rural setting for undergrad, and I loved that the setting was basically the complete opposite of my current impressions of higher learning institutions.   

FLiP: Did you consider choosing an MBA instead?

NSW: I considered pursuing an MBA for a while, mostly earlier on when I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do… I thought that an MBA would give me more of an edge – it is perceived as a tougher, more rigorous degree, and I know that many people in the nonprofit world don’t pursue MBAs, so I thought it would help me stand out. 

FLiP: Why did you not ultimately choose an MBA?

NSW: I ultimately chose to pursue an MPA instead of an MBA for a silly reason – I am not a strong standardized test taker, and I was afraid of taking the GMAT!  More than that however, I wasn’t sure that I wanted the finance-heavy graduate education that comes with an MBA.  I knew that I wanted to continue in the nonprofit world – or at least work with it in some capacity.  I thought that pursuing an MPA instead of an MBA would allow me to really pick my own courses and wind up with an education that I had designed, rather than one that was chosen for me.  I also associate MBA programs with a competitive, cutthroat environment, where everyone is vying for the best summer intern spot – I didn’t really want to be part of that culture.   

FLiP: How do you think your program will help your future career prospects?

NSW: I think that pursing an MPA at Wagner will very much help in my future career prospects – I’ve chosen to specialize in international relations – a combination of finance, policy, and management for international organizations.  I’ve currently only had experience working in cultural or social organizations that are based in and focused on America – and I think that my exposure to other organizations, professors, lecturers, etc. through this program at Wagner will open doors for me that I otherwise would have struggled to get through.  Additionally, it will give me a great background of understanding when it comes to international politics, American foreign policy, and international finance when it comes to governing an international organization – I have never been a very politically-minded person, but Wagner makes me think about things differently, and that alone opens doors.

FLiP: What standardized test did you have to take for your program, if any?

NSW: None.

FLiP: Did you attend part-time or full-time?

NSW: I attend part-time

FLiP: How many schools/programs did you apply to?