EPIP GREATER BOSTON


Purpose

EPIP Greater Boston works to strengthen the next generation of grantmakers and advance the field of philanthropy in the Boston area. We provide local philanthropy professionals with opportunities for networking and professional development, connecting members with their peers and providing access to senior leaders for learning and development. EPIP particularly serves those under the age of forty or who consider themselves new to the field, especially staff associated with foundations, giving programs, and philanthropic support organizations, foundation trustees and donors, and students studying philanthropy.

Paid Membership

Join EPIP as an individual or institutional member! Individual dues start at $150 and can often be covered by your employer’s professional development budget. Members receive free admission to all Greater Boston events, unique access to members-only events, discounted rates on courses from The Grantmaking School and GrantCraft, and access to interactive, members-only video briefing on the web. Member dues help this chapter cover the expenses of local events, and help support EPIP’s programming and advocacy for the next generation of grantmakers nationally.

Questions about Membership? Contact EPIP Director of Membership, Rebecca Schumer, by emailing Rebecca@epip.org or calling 212 584 8249 x4.


Your EPIP of Greater Boston Steering Committee

The EPIP Greater Boston Steering Committee strives to be responsive to the ideas and needs of local participants, and we welcome suggestions about future event topics or feedback about current programming. Please email boston@epip.org and one of us will respond quickly.

Steering Committee Members
Melanie Damsker - GreenLight Fund
Haley Gordon - City Year
Sarah Grosvenor - Mott Philanthropic
Zach Kahn - Center for Effective Philanthropy
Andrea Martinez - New Profit Inc.
Amanda Northrop - State Street Foundation
Caitlin Wagner - Hunt Alternatives Fund

Updated July 2011

Our Activities

Events: EPIP Greater Boston sponsors 4-5 regular events each year to support the work of our local members through professional development and networking. Formats vary and have included speaker panels, small-group discussions, roundtables, volunteer events, social mixers and distinguished guest speakers.

Newsletters: We publish a monthly newsletter with upcoming programs of interest, research from the field, local job opportunities, and other news. To read about the recent EPIP Boston experience at the 2011 EPIP National Conference and COF Annual Conference see below

To sign up for any of these activities, please email boston@epip.org

EPIP Boston Reports Back from Philadelphia: EPIP National Conference and Council on Foundations' Annual Conference

The 2011 EPIP National Conference
Philanthropology: Understanding Foundations, Democracy and Power Across the Generations
April 7-9, 2011
Philadelphia, PA

The 2011 Conference theme was Philanthropology - Understanding Foundations, Democracy and Power Across the Generations. Philanthropology is EPIP's unique curricular resource for learning philanthropy. The conference was organized into four main learning tracks, according to the modules of Philanthropology:
Understanding Philanthropy - Exploring the history, trends, knowledge and systems that shape the foundation community
Social Impact - Sharing cutting-edge ideas and practices that help philanthropy to effectively bring about social change
Managing Power Dynamics - Successfully navigating the roles, relationships, and perspectives of trustees, foundation professionals, and grantees
Generations in Philanthropy - Gaining insight into the lessons-learned, strategies and challenges of foundation leaders across generations

Summary: This conference marked EPIP's 10 year anniversary. It was founded informally by a small group of young foundation professionals who sought to transform philanthropy and confront generational issues in the social change community at the Council on Foundations Conference (COF) in Philadelphia in 2001, so it was fitting to be back in Philadelphia to celebrate this anniversary. Many of the workshops were compressed versions of the actual Philanthropolgy curriculum or were being used to test out additions to the curriculum.

Plenary sessions included:
1. Understanding Foundations in Context
2. Power Dynamics in Philanthropy
3. Experiments in Democracy: The Federal Government and Philanthropy
4. Learning Across Generations: A Multigenerational Dialogue on Philanthropy

Take-Aways

EPIP Impact Assessment

With the first ten years under its belt, EPIP is appropriately in the process of thinking strategically about its impact and vision for the future. As part of that they recently conducted an impact assessment survey of its members and other stakeholders. The survey was conducted by Kris Putnam-Walkerly, founder and President of Putnam Community Investment Consulting, who presented some of the major findings at the conference.

Major Findings:

A. EPIP has expanded opportunities for emerging practioners, including:
- increased occasions for visibility at a younger age than they would without EPIP
- increased opportunity to build networks
- increased opportunity for peer learning
B. EPIP has been effective in building visibility for multigenerational issues within the sector
C. EPIP has been valuable in reducing isolation for young people in the sector that helps members stay engaged and advance their careers in philanthropy
D. Employers also indicate that they see a positive return from their young employees participation in EPIP in the form of opportunities for learning, network development, and leadership opportunities

Major Learning Moments from Plenary Speakers

- While there have been some significant changes in philanthropy, the sector also remains very much the same.
- We haven't moved the needle on major social issues despite decades of investment
- There are more career paths and staff diversity than there used to be in philanthropy, but leadership is still concentrated with white males
- Philanthropy is still wrestling with some of the same questions and challenges, such as how to responsibly acknowledgeand handle power dynamics between foundations and grantees
- As such some of the speakers urged patience, emphasizing that it takes a long time for things to change, but that doesn't mean there aren't some concrete and meaningful things we can do now, the question is how are we going to make changes knowing where we want to go as individuals and where we want the sector to go
- Begin by realizing you have power based on your role, so consider yourself a leader no matter where you sit in an organization
- Think about how you can personally make a difference - things like being collaborative, building your own content knowledge, build allies within your organization
- Create authentic relationships and build your own network - philanthropy is all about relationships
- Find a mentor and cultivate allies
- Start small, learn, and build large
- Don't be afraid to fail and talk about failure. - Take risks, share failures, publically articulate learnings, make new mistakes instead of repeating them

Networking

- Networking is something that you need to do to be successful in philanthropy, especially when thinking about changing jobs
- You're the average of your 5 closest colleagues - so make sure you have a variety of levels, generations, races, etc. to help you maximize your development
- You should be doing ongoing informational interviews - at least 1-2 per month- even if you're not looking to make a job change in the short-term
- Builds your network
- Deepens your understanding of the landscape
- Enhances relationships
Note: Although with informational interviews, be clear on the front end about what you want, only ask for 30 minutes and stick to it, ask for suggestions about other people you should be talking to
1. You don't necessarily have to have the perfect mentor, instead build a strong network where you take a little bit from many people
2. It's important to continually ask yourself, who do you want to be in philanthropy?
3. The EPIP Conference is one of the best opportunities for networking and building meaningful relationships with generational peers. For us the opportunity to spend meaningful time with peers and build relationships was one of the most important take- aways.
- We should get more people from the Boston chapter to attend next year.

Some of the reading materials that were distributed include:

Information about degree programs in philanthropic studies from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Monitor Institute's: What's Next for Philanthropy.

How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar: Top nonprofit bloggers Rosetta Thurman and Trista Harris have co-authored the first book of its kind to offer career advice beyond just getting your foot in the door of a nonprofit organization.

The Council on Foundations' Annual Conference
April 9-11, 2011
Philadelphia, PA

Summary:The conference theme was "Windows" and focused on encouraging a spirit of transparency, honesty, openness, and candor in the field of philanthropy. This is one of the premier grantmaking conferences and the only one that brings together grantmakers of all types. The conference provides an important opportunity to stay abreast of national trends and issues and if it's possible for you to attend in the future it's good positioning for you and your respective foundation to have a presence there.

Take-Aways from Opening Plenary Session featuring Claire Gaudiani, Tony Proscio, and Dan Pallotta

1. Our sector has become increasingly focused on jaragon and we run the risk of valuing ideas over action. We can't let language distract us from action and making things happen.
2. As grantmakers, the fundamental question we should also be able to answer about any of our initiatives of grants is who's going to do be doing what to whom for how much?
3. We've made virtually no traction in addressing big social problems (poverty rate hovers around 12% for last 2 decades, same number of people are dying of AIDS annually, etc.) and that's because philanthropy is largely focused on being a band-aid versus focusing on solutions
4. The sector is forced to do this because of fundamental flaws in the way we are structured. Dan Pallotta's premise is essentially that the sector is capital-starved because society won't let charities compete the way businesses do in the free market. Consequently, we're unable to generate scale despite mandates to solve huge social problems
5. Charities and donors need to learn more lessons from the for-profit world. They should be investing in marketing and advertising, compensation, and risk taking. However, there's such a reluctance and stigma attached to this for charities. Pallotta proposes focusing instead on what organizations are doing to move the needle on solving large social problems as opposed to upholding some kind of an ethic, an ethic that's more about its own purity than solving a problem.
6. One of Dan's suggested remedies is to significantly invest in fundraising in order to multiply money available for programs. In essence more investing in fundraising will generate more resources coming in the door which will ultimately mean more dollars for programs. We need a venture fundraising movement in philanthropy.
7. How do people feel about this notion of fundraising investment? How do you asses if charities are being effective if flip paradigm to how are they solving social problems when given complexity of issue, takes long time to adequately address.


Return to Networking