Doonesbury marks a philanthropic generation gap. Way ... cool!

While BC Business extols the new face of philanthropy in British Columbia, Doonesbury notes a benchmark.

The image links to Sunday's strip, then you can read the exchange between the characters.

[A nod to Lucy for beating us to the post.]
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Interested in learning more about social enterprise? Take a browse through the Vancouver Social Enterprise Book Store (Vancouver | United Kingdom | United States) and see what other social entrepreneurs recommend reading.

Tags for information about: for:vsef, Social Economy, Nonprofit, Philanthropy

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[Opportunity] Relationship Analyst - SeaChange Capital Partners

You might not know about SeaChange, but this New York Times article will help you understand the pedigree.

SeaChange is seeking a "Relationship Analyst", here are the details:

SeaChange Capital Partners is a new nonprofit established by former leaders of Goldman Sachs. Our mission is to enhance the flow of growth capital from wealthy donors to select high performing nonprofits and help contribute to the vital long-term effort of creating more efficient financial capital markets for the social sector. We intend to identify nonprofits with records of measurable success and to present opportunities for supporting them to a network of potential donors, including wealthy individuals, foundations, and others.

Job Summary:
The person we hire will be enthusiastic, self-motivated, and able, preferably someone who is fascinated by innovative philanthropy and the world of nonprofit organizations and who is keen to help nonprofits expand their contributions to society.

We are looking for a confident, energetic, articulate, and talented individual to work with the small but growing SeaChange staff. The person we hire will have a desire to grow personally and professionally, and will see this as an opportunity to learn about philanthropy and nonprofits and to develop important transferable skills.

This position requires the individual to work one-on-one and collaboratively with everyone involved in SeaChange, including our partners and other staff members, donors and potential donors, and nonprofit organizations. The individual must speak clearly and write quickly and well, must be analytical and organized, and must be facile with a computer and basic word-processing and other kinds of software.

Some of the regular responsibilities will include:

• - Managing administrative needs like scheduling meetings and maintaining the staff calendar, updating a database of contacts, making travel arrangements, completing and submitting reimbursement vouchers and purchase orders, and assisting with research on a variety of projects, as well as answering the phone, sorting mail, and handling day-to-day office details;


• - Managing and helping to build relationships with key donors, funders, and other outside supporters;


• - Assisting with the creation of presentations (often using PowerPoint) for various audiences, including the Board of Directors, staff, donors, and others;


• - Managing aspects of events hosted by SeaChange and other speaking engagements, and major fundraising events and trips; and


• - Coordinating details associated with SeaChange Board Meetings, included scheduling meetings, handling correspondence with Board members and their assistants, creating advance materials; and creating presentations for meetings.


• - Taking on projects that an investment banking analyst would be tasked with, as needed. While we need clerical and administrative help, we have much to do and need a superstar who will view this as a tremendous growth opportunity.

Qualifications:

• - B.A. or B.S. degree; preference for two years of similar work experience in a nonprofit, philanthropic, or business organization


• - Meticulous proofreading skills


• - Excellent written and oral communication and organizational skills


• - Command of MS Office, including superior knowledge of PowerPoint and Excel; knowledge of Salesforce database or another contact management system desired


• - Preference for someone familiar with nonprofit accounting basics and for someone able to perform simple calculations in Excel and other financial programs


• - Demonstrated ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, lead projects, meet deadlines, organize time and priorities, and work well as a member of a team


• - A demonstrated passion for our work


• - Creative thinking and diplomatic skills


• - A demonstrated work ethic and a sense of humor

The firm is headquartered in South Norwalk, Connecticut. This position is for our Midtown Manhattan office in New York City. Unfortunately, we cannot offer to pay relocation costs for this position.


To Apply:
Send your cover letter and résumé to the attention of Tom Hyland and Sarah Chiles.


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Interested in learning more about social enterprise? Take a browse through the Vancouver Social Enterprise Book Store (Vancouver United Kingdom United States) and see what other social entrepreneurs recommend reading.

Tags for information about: for:vsef, Philanthropy, ESG, SeaChange

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[Worth Hearing] Finding Philanthropy's New Sweet Spot: What Is The Future Of Venture Models?

If you follow the Stanford Social Innovation Review you already know about the March 20th event, Finding Philanthropy's New Sweet Spot: What Is The Future Of Venture Models?

If you don't read it, here's a good reason ...

At the forum, Finding Philanthropy's New Sweet Spot, the focus was on philanthropy's role in the evolving landscape of how donors can achieve social change. Some familiar names highlighted lessons learned from existing philanthropy models and offered perspectives on a rapidly changing landscape.

The best part ... there's audio. Enjoy courtesy of SSIR and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

Keynote — Venture Models: Past and Future — Katherine Fulton, President, Monitor Institute (44:48 minutes)

Katherine Fulton looks back over a decade of rapid change in the field of philanthropy, and she challenges foundations to find the new sweet spots that will enable them to deliver social change in an ever-changing world.

Thought Leader Response to Keynote — Matthew Bishop, Chief Business Writer/American Business Editor, The Economist (12:49 minutes)

Matthew Bishop, author of The Economist special survey supplement "The Business of Giving" looks at the industrial revolution taking place in philanthropy and reacts to Katherine Fulton's remarks about the past and future of philanthropy.

Thought Leader Response to Keynote — Clara Miller, President and CEO, Nonprofit Finance Fund (15:14 minutes)

Clara Miller shares her views on the limitations of venture philanthropy today and reacts to Katherine Fulton's remarks about the past and future of philanthropy.

Thought Leader Response to Keynote — Kim Smith, Co-Founder, NewSchools Venture Fund (12:34 minutes)

Kim Smith shares her organization's approach to delivering impact and comments on Katherine Fulton's remarks on the past and future of philanthropy.

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Tags for information about: for:vsef, Social Enterprise, Nonprofit, SSIR

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The New Philanthropy

This graphic is attached to a LA Times story reporting on another LA Times story - Dark Cloud Over Good Works of Gates Foundation - questioning the ethical calibre of the Gates Foundation investments. That's a mouthful.

If you're interested in mindful comments on Gates or "Dark Cloud" please look here, here, or here, and try this one for something pithy.

We're not interested in either LA Times story. We are interested in the Gates Foundation response and the opportunities to engage with foundations on their investment protocols.

We suggest to appreciate the scope of the "New Philanthropy", listen - as MP3/Vorbis - to this SALT presentation given by Katherine Fulton.

Here's a summary with full credit to Stewart Brand:

Katherine reported:

10,000 families in the US have assets of $100 million or more. Up from 7,000 just a couple years ago. Most of that money is "on the sidelines." The poor and the middle class are far more generous in their philanthropy, proportionally, than the very wealthy.

Philanthropy across the board is in the midst of intense, potentially revolutionary, transition, she said. There's new money, new leaders, new rules, new technology, and new needs. Where great wealth used to come mainly from inheritance and oil, now it comes from success in high technology and finance--- and ideas and expectations from those business experiences inform (and sometimes over-simplify) the new philanthropy. Some of the great older institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation are radically reorganizing around new ideas and opportunities. But still the greatest amount comes from individuals, many of whom are now "giving while living" instead of handing over the task to heirs.

One major new instrument for philanthropy are the community
foundations, "the mutual funds of philanthropy, where donors can outsource their strategy." There are 1,000 such organizations in the world, 700 of them in the US, led by innovators such as Acumen Fund, Social Venture Partners, New Profit Inc., and Women's Funding Network.

Online giving is growing rapidly, including the development of
philanthropic marketplaces for direct, selective, fine-grain giving. Give India, for example, is a national marketspace of charity exchange. "By 2020 we will see a headline, OPEN SOURCE PHILANTHROPIC PORTAL TOPS $1 BILLION IN GIFTS."

An important trend is from local and short-term toward global and systemic, exemplified by Bill Gates' move from bringing computers to American schools to bringing health to Africa.

The trait most often missing in philanthropy, including the new philanthropy, is stamina, patience. "Instead of rewarding success with continued funding, the givers get bored and look for something new. Really effective giving requires deep contextual understanding and tolerance for ambiguity. My advice to new donors is, 'Pick at least one difficult and complex issue and stick with it, and join with others to work on it.'"

The greatest needs require philanthropic stamina but will also reward it. She quoted Danny Hillis: "There are problems that are impossible if you think about them in two-year terms--- which everyone does-- but they're easy if you think if fifty-year terms."

donors have to visit up close with whatever they're giving toward. Dr. Rockefeller supported that, describing how different his view was of Doctors Without Borders once he had worked with the physicians in the field in Peru and Nigeria. He said that direct experience helps free you from lots of theories that are just wrong, and from philanthropy that is a projection of your own neuroses.

Questions from the audience revealed a continuing problem with the whole social sector, which is the lack of clear mechanisms of self-correction and accountability. Government has checks and balances. Business has the bottom line. But "it's hard to speak truth to philanthropy," Katherine said. Richard said he looked closely at a $20 million effort by the Robert Wood Johnson to evaluate its programs and was unimpressed by the result. Larry Brilliant added, "And the new philanthropy is even less accountable than the old."

The generation of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller had a strong religious tradition that inspired public generosity and inventiveness. Those who came of age in the 1960s and early '70s had their experience with political activism as a driver for later philanthropy. "But I notice that many who became adults during and after Ronald Reagan seem to have no framework at all for giving."

Ahem: That's right ... Larry Brilliant and Richard Rockefeller join Katherine.
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Tags for information about: for:vsef, Philanthropy, Nonprofit, Society

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