Executive Director's Quarterly Report

DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

TO: Chapter and Board of Advisors Leaders

FROM: Rusty Stahl, Executive Director

RE: National Update for June 2006



Table of Contents

Introduction

National Networking

Leadership Development Programs

Advocacy Programs

Organizational Development






Introduction

This letter provides you with an update on national news from Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. Since this is the first of my Quarterly Updates, it covers the last nine months, from the start of our 2006 fiscal year, which began October 1, 2005.

This memo was originally prepared for an EPIP Chapter Network Teleconference on June 29, 2006, which brought together over thirty people from EPIP’s six recognized chapters and eight prospective chapters. The call re-launched EPIP’s regularly scheduled conference calls that offer idea sharing opportunities amongst EPIP leaders and chapters.

National Networking

Growth of the Chapter Network. This is a very exciting time, as EPIP is experiencing tremendous growth! New leaders joined steering committees at all our Chapters, and I want to thank them for all they do. Last fall, the national organization recognized its sixth chapter in Philadelphia, where organizing had been taking place for several years and a strong connection with Delaware Valley Grantmakers has been forged. We also helped to launch the North Carolina Emerging Leaders Working Group, a prospective Chapter that is affiliated with the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers. In addition to these successes, the EPIP staff worked with constituents to initiate vibrant new EPIP groups in Chicago, Indiana, Minnesota, and Seattle! And we are exploring interest in Atlanta, Denver, and New Haven. There is so much interest and momentum right now, the energy is almost palatable. The fact that so many people want to bring this unique network to their own communities is a testament to the good work of our Chapter volunteers, to the needs we meet, and to our overall mission itself.

Get Stuff: Chapter Leader Resources at Epip.org. This summer EPIP headquarters will launch “Get Stuff,” a password- protected section of Epip.org tailored especially for Chapter leaders. We will post documents here that will help you stay in touch with other local leaders across the country; organize and sustain Chapters; recruit members and leaders; borrow and share ideas for Philanthropology™ seminars and other events; and share successes and challenges. The site is currently under construction, and Chapter leaders will receive login information when the site is complete, and they will be able to post new items to share them across the network.

Conference Calls for Chapter Leaders. The call this Thursday will revive our efforts to provide regular contact and learning amongst chapters via telephone and through face-to-face events. The EPIP Board and staff plan to test out the effectiveness of monthly teleconferences for chapter steering committee members. These calls will offer a variety of information sharing specific to chapter needs. Some calls may be more customized start-up chapters; others may be more appropriate for long-established affiliates. Some calls may feature presentations by outside speakers and our partner organizations; others may be purely internal conversations. Board member Caroline Altman Smith (Lumina Foundation for Education, IN) will work with the Program Committee and staff to organize these calls. We may call upon you at some point to present information on a call, or to help in the planning process. More generally, we would love ideas about what would be most useful and interesting for you and your chapter!

2nd Chapter Leader Gathering. In addition to phone conversations, we are working to schedule our 2nd national gathering of Chapter leaders. We hope to announce a host site and set of dates late this summer or early in the fall. We will likely aim for mid-spring 2007. This face-to-face convening will offer wonderful networking, community-building, and movement-building opportunities. It will also provide concrete support for Chapter programming, and will include skills-building and professional development for the Chapter leaders in attendance. In February 2005, EPIP held its 1st such gathering with great success. Thirty leaders came together in San Diego for facilitated sharing, planning and learning.

Conferences Presence. In other Networking news, EPIP has had a strong presence at many conferences this year! Board member Danielle Hicks (Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, DC) coordinated an informational session and a lively Young People’s Reception (co-sponsored by Resource Generation, Jewish Funders Network and the Bronfman Foundation) at the Council on Foundations annual conference in Pittsburgh this May. This was the fifth year in a row that EPIP held substantive and social events at the COF meeting – A hearty Thank You to Danielle for making it happen. Last fall, I was pleased to co-chair the Young People’s Caucus at the National Network of Grantmakers annual conference; to recruit academic partners for EPIP at the ARNOVA annual meeting (Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Associations); to hold an EPIP reception and dinner at the Southeastern Council of Foundations annual gathering along with then-EPIP consultants Milano Harden (The Genius Group, GA) and Omisade Burney-Scott (Ananse Consulting, NC); and to address a conference organized by students on the Future of Philanthropy at the Yale School of Management.

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Leadership Development Programs

Professional Development Fund. In 2005 EPIP piloted a new program called the Professional Development Fund (PDF or the Fund). The overall goal was to enable emerging grantmakers, particularly people of color within this constituency, to “get out there” in the field – to learn the issues, gain skills, and network with leaders in the field. We believed this was a critical for the leadership development and retention of a diverse philanthropic workforce. Through the PDF, EPIP members could apply for partial funding to attend a philanthropic conference or training of their choice. We successfully encouraged employers to provide a 1:1 match and conference sponsors to offer discounted registration fees. By the end of last fall, ten EPIPers made it through a competitive selection process, and they attended an array of conferences and trainings! At Get Stuff, you will be able to find a report on the pilot year.

I am very pleased to announce that we will be launching a second year of the PDF program in fall of 2006! This year we will look to increase the number of discounted registrations available, so that we can offer more funding to awardees, or offer awards to more people. In keeping with EPIP’s commitment to strengthening diverse leadership in our field, in this second year PDF awards will be made available exclusively to people of color in the EPIP membership. Once this has been publicly announced and application materials are distributed within the EPIP network, I strongly encourage chapter leaders to spread the word about this wonderful resource.

Philanthropology™. Over the last nine months, EPIP chapters across the country have produced wonderful Philanthropology™ workshops that were customized for local interests and fit into EPIP’s national curriculum framework. You will be able to read about these workshops in the attached Chapter Update, as well as in a new Philanthropology™ Toolkit that we will be posting to Get Stuff this summer. The Toolkit will also include over 30 documents culled from these workshops (such as flyers, agendas, handouts, exercises, case studies, notes, etc.)

I just want to briefly highlight some of the workshops that took place in New York this spring. This year NYC EPIP has the distinct honor to be the first EPIP chapter to produce all four modules in the Philanthropology™ workshop series! Of particular note was Philanthropology™ 301 “Transforming Philanthropy”, which was co-sponsored by Resource Generation, and brought together 10 young foundation professionals (in both program and development) and 10 young donors and trustees to learn from one another about how power dynamics impact us all in our varying roles. This was the 2nd year that the chapter put on this session. Also very worthy of mention was Philanthropology™ 401 “Generations in Philanthropy”. This marked EPIP’s 1st inter-generational dialogue, and saw the EPIP crowd joined by an array of seasoned allies (including one retired leader who started working at the Ford Foundation in 1954, and a number of current and retired folks who started foundation work in the 70s and 80s). Many thanks to Christine O’Donnell (US Trust), David Perrin (Perrin Family Foundation), Marjorie Fine (Center for Community Change), Chapter Chair Toya Williford (Independence Community Foundation) and all the other volunteers who brought these unique workshops to life! You will be able to find out more about these NYC workshops in the Philanthropology™ Section of Get Stuff.

The Board’s Program Committee will continue to offer guidance and support for the Philanthropology™ program. Their efforts will include the launch of an Advisory Committee for Philanthropology™ composed of philanthropy scholar-practitioners. As a sign of great things to come for this advisory group, in the last year the following leaders have signed on as founding members: Douglas Bauer (Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and University of Pennsylvania), Erica Hunt (Twenty First Century Foundation), Ambassador James Joseph (Duke University and former President, Council on Foundations), and Ambassador Robert L. Payton (Indiana University and former President, Exxon Education Foundation).

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Advocacy Programs

At its annual in-person meeting, the EPIP Board formally approved the principles and framework for action behind the “advocacy” programs that EPIP has been experimenting with over the years. I place quotation marks around the term advocacy because the work involved is not what many think of as traditional advocacy. The approved agenda is composed of two initiatives, Transforming Philanthropy and Generating Change. Transforming Philanthropy is our effort to advance effective means and ends for social justice philanthropy, through creating learning opportunities across roles, race, class, ideas, and other barriers. Generating Change is a campaign to get EPIP members and other funders involved in strengthening the nonprofit workforce and social change careers.

Transforming Philanthropy. Early last fall, EPIP and Resource Generation (RG) inherited the work of the Young Donor Organizing Alliance, and turned it into the Dialogue Project. The Project, coordinated this year by Sam Stegeman, brings together EPIP and RG’s constituencies -- young foundation professionals, and young foundation trustees and individual donors -- to learn from one another in an effort to understand and alter the power dynamics of philanthropy through our leadership roles. The project held a National Gathering in February 2006 outside of Boston – the Gathering was highly successful with over 30 participants and substantive trainings on race in philanthropy and leveraging funding from friends and colleagues. The Project helped EPIP NYC to organize its Philanthropology™ 301 workshop in May (see Philanthropology™ section above). Last fall the Project sponsored a training session by Changemakers in San Francisco. The Dialogue Project has brought EPIP and RG closer together at the board, staff and constituency levels. We have great ideas for moving this work forward (especially adding new partner networks to ensure that young fundraisers and nonprofit leaders are in the dialogue), but the two organizations have been doing this work in a self-funded manner, and are now seeking grant support to move forward.

In another area of our Transforming Philanthropy work, EPIP has been engaged as a partner with Public Allies, a national organization that places diverse young people in year-of-service AmeriCorps groups in a variety of cities. The Kellogg Foundation has funded Public Allies for the Giving Change Program, which is adding philanthropy education, site placements, and giving circle activities to Public Allies sites in North Carolina and Chicago. EPIP is providing active support in developing curriculum for Corps members and alumni. This February I was part of the Public Allies delegation at a Kellogg Foundation grantee convening. In May, I presented an introductory training on philanthropy and foundations to the Public Allies Chicago AmeriCorps members. In August, I will participate in a curriculum planning meeting with Public Allies staffers.

Our final Transforming Philanthropy activity was an online survey of EPIP members and members of other affinity groups in coordination with the Alliance for Justice’s Foundation Advocacy Initiative. With over 100 responses, the survey helped us to understand what EPIP members want and need to learn about funding advocacy activities, and how and from whom they want to learn. It is my hope that this new information will lead to appropriate trainings run by the Alliance for Justice for EPIP chapters and members. If you are interested in bringing such a session to your chapter, please let me know.

Generating Change. The purpose of Generating Change is to get EPIP members and other funders involved in strengthening the nonprofit workforce, with particular attention to building infrastructure for the recruitment and retention of young people in social change careers. Currently in the research and development stage, Generating Change will offer EPIP Chapters and members an array of useful resources in this cutting-edge and much-needed funding area. You can find our initial observations and a list of websites and readings on the EPIP website at http://www.epip.org/generatingchange.php.

In the last nine months, EPIP has been a critical part of the formation of a new Nonprofit Workforce Coalition. Early last fall I was able to participate in a 2-day retreat that helped to formalize and focus this convergence of national nonprofits, higher education, and foundations. We will continue to play a leadership role in the Coalition, so that our work with funders remains grounded in a broader conversation. This spring Melissa Johnson and I attended a focus group-like meeting in Chicago on Next Generation Nonprofit Leadership put together by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The meeting, which brought about 50 young nonprofit executives and activists from across the country, was exciting because the young staff at the three sponsoring foundations intend to use what they learned to shape their own grantmaking programs on next generation issues.

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Organizational Development

Grants for EPIP. I am very pleased to announce multiple grant renewals and a new grant to EPIP! In January the Ford Foundation (New York, NY) – our major supporter – renewed its general support for the EPIP project at an increased rate of $100,000 for two years. The end of the grant period in December 2007 will mark five years of support from Ford for EPIP.

In June, the Charles Stuart Mott Foundation (Flint, MI) approved renewed support for EPIP at $70,000 for one year. This grant will allow us to implement the Professional Development Fund, provide budgets to EPIP Chapters, and get a little general support.

Also this month, The Lumina Foundation for Education (Indianapolis, IN) made a $15,000 grant to EPIP to help us support the launch of new chapters across the country!

The New York Community Trust renewed their $10,000 support for EPIP NYC with a grant managed by the national office.

We continue to seek new funding to grow our staff, and build our capacity for networking, leadership development and advocacy programs. If you know of any prospective opportunities, please do let me know.

Board Leadership. The EPIP Board of Advisors (the Board) took time this winter to establish officer positions, and to elect its first officers. Rohit Burman (JPMorgan Philanthropic Services, NY) and Melissa Johnson (Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, NC) were elected Co-Chairs. Molly Schultz (Jewish Funds for Justice, NY) is Secretary; Torin Koester (McKenzie Family Charitable Trust, MA) is Treasurer.

Melissa Johnson is stepping down as Co-Chair of EPIP as she transitions from her role as Program Officer at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. Melissa has served EPIP with great effectiveness and warmth since she joined the Board. She worked with EPIP staff and former consultant Omisade Burney-Scott to form the NC Emerging Leaders Working Group, a local EPIP partner and recognized working group of the NC Network of Grantmakers (NCNG). The group will now be chaired by Kisha Payton (The Duke Endowment, NC). Melissa was founding Chair of the Working Group, and led its events at the NCNG annual meeting and its first planning retreat. She helped to create and facilitate the monthly calls amongst chapter representatives that EPIP helped for several years. And Melissa has been a leader on the Board in EPIP’s efforts to strengthen the pipeline for young people into nonprofit and social change careers. Melissa helped to found the Fondue Fund, a young women’s giving circle in Greensboro; she served as an officer on the board of North Carolina Youth for Tomorrow, a statewide young nonprofit professionals network. Please join me in thanking Melissa for her ongoing service to EPIP and the field of philanthropy.

Board Committees. In addition to forming officer positions, this spring the Board has re-organized the way it does its business by forming three standing committees. In the long-term, we hope these committees may grow to include chapter leaders and others from the EPIP membership.

The four Board officers form an active Executive Committee, which oversees issues of governance, finance, and human resources.

The newly formed Fundraising Committee works with the staff to grow our membership program; secure grants; generate earned income; and increase donations to EPIP. Dolores Estrada (The California Endowment, CA) is chairing this committee. Other Committee members are Sonya Garcia Ulibarri (Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, CO), John Harrison, and Wanda Jenkins (Community Foundation of Chattahoochee Valley, GA).

Our new Program Committee assesses, advises and advances EPIP’s Philanthropology™ Curriculum, as well as our other leadership programs (such as the Professional Development Fund), networking programs (such as the EPIP Chapter network) and advocacy programs (such as the Dialogue Project). Alison De Lucca (Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, CA) is Chair of this Committee. Caroline Altman Smith is Vice-Chair for chapter services. Other Committee members are Danielle Hicks and Angelika Arutyunova (Global Fund for Women, CA).

Many thanks to all our Board members, who have stepped-up on behalf of EPIP!

Personnel. This month marks one year of staff service by Elizabeth Cuccaro, our NYC Chapter Organizer. During this year, Elizabeth has doubled the capacity of the Chapter’s Mentoring Program, to implement all four Philanthropology™ modules, and enhanced the overall professionalism and spirit of the Chapter’s governance and operations.

In December we wrapped up consulting contracts with Omisade Burney-Scott and Milano Harden, both former EPIP members and volunteers. Some highlights of their work were mentioned above. We owe them both a debt of gratitude for great contributions to EPIP in North Carolina and Atlanta, respectively, and to the thinking, energy and expertise they brought to our overall work.

This September will mark my fourth year of serving as your Executive Director, and I continue to learn much, relish my relationships with each of you, and enjoy my job immensely. I certainly hope this letter has provided you with a comprehensive (and comprehendible) overview of the very positive state of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. Enjoy your summer, and I look forward to our continued work together.

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