Oct 03, 2002

YNPN-NYC NEWSLETTER: THE BEACON

*In this inaugural edition:

      *Welcome!
      *Spotlight Article on Lara Jayasanker
      *YNPN-NYC Testimonials
      *Spotlight Article on Rusty Stahl
      *Ten Resources for Young Nonprofit Professionals
      *Career Corner
      *Upcoming Events

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WELCOME TO THE BEACON!
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Dear New York City Nonprofit Professional,

For me, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of New York City
(YNPN-NYC) was born on March 1st, 2002, the date of its first social
networking event, what has come to be called the "Get-Together." Before
that, it was a list-serv known to a few connected individuals and those who
caught the Chronicle of Philanthropy article about the expansion efforts of
the founding YNPN in the San Francisco Bay area. Even before that, I will
metaphorize: YNPN-NYC was a gleam in its mother's eye, a vision for a
national organization serving the interests of young nonprofit
professionals.

Since that first March Get-Together, the YNPN-NYC Steering Committee has
planned seven more networking events to which many of you have come and
come back for. Additionally, we are hard at work building the
infrastructure for the national association and local affiliate that we are
in the process of becoming. My fellow Steering Committee members and I
believe strongly in the work we are doing for YNPN and hope that you will
take an active role by volunteering your time and expertise, passing along
this newsletter and other announcements, and attending our events. If you
have questions or comments, or to volunteer, please contact me via email at
chap-@gag.org or phone (212) 791-3400 ext. 104.

It is my pleasure and honor to present The Beacon to you on behalf of the
Steering Committee members who have helped to conceive and bring it to
fruition. Like other resources and tools YNPN-NYC has and will be offering
you, our members, The Beacon has two guiding lights: to provide resources
for your personal and professional development and to support and celebrate
our leadership in the nonprofit community. To this end, read on to find a
selection of resources that our members have found helpful and spotlight
articles about the outstanding leadership of Lara Jayasanker at Asian
Americans for Equality and the new organization, Emerging Practitioners in
Philanthropy, and its founder, Rusty Stahl.

To all and sundry to whom this comes: Greetings! Welcome to The Beacon,
YNPN-NYC's e-newsletter, in this our premier issue.

Warm Regards,
Jen Lieberman

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SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE ON LARA JAYASANKER
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There is a feeling among older generations that activism went out with the
'sixties and the young people of today are complacent and apathetic. Lara
Jayasanker is living proof that nothing could be further from the truth. A
Chicago native and graduate of the George Washington University Law School,
Lara is the Immigration Program Manager at Asian Americans for Equality
(AAFE), a 28-year old civil rights organization. She has a background in
legal immigration issues and manages (and co-manages) a number of
initiatives at AAFE.

Lara has been involved in social justice and activism for several years.
As a child of an immigrant parent, she learned early on how difficult it is
for this population to navigate the system and receive treatment that
American citizens take for granted. While in law school, a mentor from the
Asian American Bar Association introduced her to the field of immigrant
law. Lara became increasingly interested in issues faced by immigrant
groups in the U.S. After graduating law school and doing a brief stint at
a pan-Asian advocacy group, she moved to New York, in pursuit of the
numerous opportunities available within the city's immigrant activist
community.   She has been at AAFE for the last year and a half, supervising
programs that assist clients with the citizenship process, ESL and civics
classes, and obtaining public benefits, including World Trade Center
disaster relief.

Although Lara's current work is primarily administrative (with some
opportunities for technical legal assistance), her real passion lies in a
related area: the status and protection of immigrants, especially South
Asians, in the post-September 11th era. She feels that there has been a
resurgence in anti-immigrant sentiment, even among so-called liberals, who
support racial profiling, prosecution and detention without regard for
civil or constitutional rights. Lara stressed the importance of public
opposition to these troubling issues. "It's a real struggle right now,"
she says. "It's all the more important for people to take a stand [against
this]?It's crucial for maintaining our democracy."

Lara is trying to encourage other law school grads to join the nonprofit
sector, especially people who come from various immigrant backgrounds. She
believes the field is both dynamic and intriguing and hopes that people see
that the rewards outweigh the lower salaries assigned to nonprofit
professionals. She also suggests that new nonprofit lawyers can enjoy a
higher level of responsibility than their private sector counterparts, who
have to work their way up from the bottom of the totem pole. While she
still has to justify her involvement in social justice to some naysayers,
she has managed to surround herself with a network of supportive friends
who understand the value of her contribution to society.

Lara intends to remain in the field for the long haul. Eventually, she
would like to engage in more law practice and policy work. She also wants
to incorporate more of her creative side into her work and perhaps produce
documentaries about immigrant life in America. Whatever she decides to do,
Lara is already a nonprofit superstar and an inspiration to professionals
and hopefuls.

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YNPN-NYC TESTIMONIALS
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"Great networking opportunity! Easy, comfortable way to meet new people
and expand your professional network! Moreover, the list-serv is fabulous,
an invaluable resource that could not be duplicated!"

"The YNPN-NYC Get-Togethers are chill and fun. I eat and drink, schmooze
and meet new people. I even got a date out of one of the Get-Togethers!"

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SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE ON RUSTY STAHL
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Rusty Stahl has public service in his blood. He grew up with a deep and
meaningful legacy of social activism. His grandfather was a union labor
organizer; both his parents were dedicated to community organizing and
development. So Rusty has always known that he would follow in his
family's footsteps. Inspired by the lessons in service passed onto him
from his own family, Rusty seeks to encourage the "inter-generational
transfer of knowledge and leadership" from the more experienced and
established to the younger and emerging members in the civil and nonprofit
community.

To realize his vision, in April 2001, Rusty founded the "Emerging
Practitioners in Philanthropy" (EPIP): a professional development affinity
group for new and junior foundation executives and young donors. As a
graduate student and fellow at Indiana's Center of Philanthropic Studies
who attended national conferences on foundations, Rusty experienced a sense
of isolation from other young people in philanthropy. This was partly due
to a relative scarcity of young adults in the field, but more so, because
of what he assumes is insufficient access and dialogue between those young
people who were already studying and practicing philanthropy.
Subsequently, despite a generally fulfilling two-year stint as a Ford
Foundation program associate, Rusty still felt a nagging sense that he and
others like him were working in some kind of "vacuum." The nature of
foundation work, Rusty speculates, tends to be inherently ethereal and
non-transparent. Neither does this have to be, nor as Rusty emphasizes,
should be the case. This is where EPIP comes in.

Rusty believes that EPIP can help fill the vacuum of philanthropic work by
connecting the diasporas of its young practitioners. Not only would EPIP
constituents obtain access to the resources and advice of more established
mentors in the philanthropic field, but they would also be able to talk
amongst themselves to see what each other are doing: i.e., in different
foundations or, for that matter, even different programs within the same
foundation. EPIP's unique professional development program will
incorporate a liberal arts curriculum in philanthropic studies so as to
provide a historical and social context for the work that its constituents
carry out. According to Rusty, meaningful philanthropic practice must be
grounded in theory.

Rusty hopes that these developments will serve as a catalyst to EPIP's more
innovative goal of reforming foundations from the "inside-out." He calls
this "liberation" philanthropy, whereby access to philanthropic power and
decision-making ability could be shared amongst the disenfranchised and
marginalized communities for which grantmaking is supposed to serve. In
other words, the traditional "top-down" allocation process of philanthropic
resources should be counter-balanced by a more equitable and inclusive
"bottom-up" approach. Ultimately, Rusty wants EPIP to play a role in
"democratizing and diversifying American philanthropy."

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TEN RESOURCES FOR YOUNG NONPROFIT PROFESSIONALS
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Please note: The resources listed below are not formally endorsed by
YNPN-NYC. They reflect the opinions of individual contributors ONLY. (Many
thanks to those of you who submitted items for this list!)

*Nonprofit Infrastructure and Management:

Fund for the City of New York
http://www.fcny.org/
Introduces new programs, technology, and methods to government agencies and
nonprofit organizations, and helps to implement them.

Mayor's Voluntary Action Committee
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mvac/home.html
Provides agencies with volunteer assistance and operates a clothing bank
for use by nonprofit agencies that distribute resources to low-income
clients.

The New York City Nonprofits Project - Service Atlas
http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/nycnonprofits/
This online directory offers exposure and networking information to New
York City-based nonprofits via its listings.

Support Center for Nonprofit Management
http://www.supportctr.org/
The New York City-based Support Center for Nonprofit Management strengthens
the capacity of nonprofit and public interest organizations to fulfill
their missions and vitalize their communities. The Support Center provides
management training and consulting, disseminates information and practical
resources to the sector, and works to build strategic alliances.

Knowledge Hub:
http://www.newschool.edu/milano/hub/
This Internet portal, run by New School University's Robert J. Milano
Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, links nonprofit
professionals and researchers to useful free websites, resources, and
full-text articles.

*Personal Finance for Nonprofit Employees:

IRS guidelines for claiming student loan tax credit:
How to obtain a tax credit for your student loan interest:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/display/0,,i1%3D50%26genericId%3D11533,00.html

      FAQ's on the same subject:
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/display/0,,i1%3D54&genericId%3D15776,00.html

      The IRS's withholding calculator:
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/page/0,,id=14806,00.html

Homestore.com's moving-related tools and calculators:
http://homestore.com/moving/tools/default.asp
Homestore.com includes many interactive features that help people cut
expenses when moving and make informed financial choices.

*To assist those working with low-income populations:

Partnership for the Homeless
http://www.partnershipforthehomeless.org/
A nonprofit agency that provides critical services to homeless people in
New York.

Housing Works
http://www.housingworks.org/
Housing Works' mission is to fight the twin crises of homelessness and
AIDS. The agency provides housing, health care, advocacy, and job training,
and support services to homeless and formerly homeless persons and families
living with HIV/AIDS.

styleWORKS
http://www.styleworks.org
Offers free comprehensive grooming services to women who are moving from
welfare to work.

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CAREER CORNER
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Please note: The resources listed below are not formally endorsed by
YNPN-NYC. They reflect the opinions of individual contributors ONLY. (Many
thanks to those of you who submitted items for this list!)

Professionals for Nonprofits - Nonprofit Salary Survey:
http://www.pnp-inc.com/salary_survey_main.asp
Provides information about nonprofit salaries for various types of
positions and experience levels.

Salary.com article on career transition to the nonprofit sector:
http://www.salary.com/advancedsearch/layoutscripts/asel_display.asp?filename

&path=/destinationsearch/advice/part_par149_body.html
A nice article geared toward private and public sector people who might
want to transition into the nonprofit sector. It's an interesting read for
those already in the nonprofit sector as well as those considering making
the switch.

The Foundation Center's Job Corner:
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/jobs/
Lists job openings at nonprofits nationwide, and also links to other
nonprofit job sites.

Chronicle of Philanthropy - Philanthropy Careers:
http://philanthropy.com/jobs/
Includes an extensive archive of articles especially geared toward
nonprofit jobseekers, as well as listing specific job openings.

Association of Fundraising Professionals
http://www.nsfre.org
One of the largest national trade associations for professionals in the
development/fundraising field, the AFP provides its membership with
training opportunities, philanthropic research to guide fundraising
efforts, a code of ethics for fundraising practices, and professional
certification, as well as advocating for legislation favorable to
philanthropy.

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UPCOMING EVENTS
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November 6th Get-Together
Location TBA