This post is a collaboration between EPIP member Lora Smith, Communications Officer at Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation in Winston-Salem, NC, and one of MRBF's grantees, Charmel Gauden, an attorney and the former Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center (GCFHC).  We asked them to share their thoughts on leadership in the 21st century. In 2011 the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation hosted a trans-generational convening on the topic of Equity and Opportunity in the American South. We wanted to understand the needs of emerging nonprofit leaders in the South and what they saw on the horizon of their work. The conversation also included respected elders in the sector who helped ground the conversation in historical context and offered mentorship. We listened to the rich conversation and came away with beginning strategies to better support nextGen Southern leadership that we believe will help strengthen nonprofit infrastructure in the region as a whole. Hearing directly from young leaders within our grantee partner organizations was integrally important for our institutional learning and practice. Charmel Gauden was one of the participants. She shares what she hopes foundations learn about the needs of millennial leaders here. -- Lora Smith, Communications Officer, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

An Open Letter to Foundations from a Millennial Leader

Dear Foundations, (more…)