The name of the presentation was "Creative Strategies in a Difficult Economy"! Well does this sound like a timely topic . . . . standing the test of time 27 years later?!!! Back then General Motors was laying off employees and we had started a program called the Care and Share Food Program for GM workers and others. We organized an effective program in Grand Rapids.

Gleaners was a new organization in our community at the time (now is Second Harvest Gleaners covering a huge area of Michigan) but the need created by the Care and Share Food Program helped get it on the map! We created boxes of food for a family of four for distribution every week. This went on for months - plus an emergency program to help with utility payments as well as the blossoming days of what is now "411". Plus so much more. The Emergency Needs Task Force was created by Ev Vermeer the then Director of the Kent County Department of Social Services now the Department of Human Services which led to various task force groups that exist yet today!

So now it is 2008 - - - and even after the energy crisis of the 1970's that led to building smaller cars for a short period of time, we saw the rise of SUVs and trucks. Now with gas prices hovering around $4.10 a gallon, hybrid cars are looking quite good!

The stock market is shaky however I am hopeful! I'm dusting off that presentation - after 27 years it is just as important as it was back then. I'm sorry that it has remained a relevant presentation!

This brings me to last Thursday evening when Juan Olivarez was honored and "roasted" on the occasion of his leaving the Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) as president. As noted in a previous blog entry, Juan is moving into the president's role at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation as Jack Hopkins retires. I was honored and pleased to be asked to be one of the roasters. I have known Juan for more than 25 years and he is an exceptional leader and will continue to provide this tremendous leadership in Kalamazoo and throughout the state!

In my presentation I laughingly referenced the fact that if Juan thought he was going to a cushy job running a community foundation, that he had another thing coming! Community politics, knotty issues, keeping tabs of legislative and regulatory changes affecting philanthropy, raising awareness along with financial support, and a long list of other items fill the days of a President of a community foundation - far from a relaxing job but it is an exciting and frankly the best position to hold in any community!

There were lots of laughs as many of the presenters enlightened the crowd with wonderfully humorous stories and references to Juan's very successful career at the GRCC. He is a beloved leader in Grand Rapids and will be missed here!

As the presentations were winding down, a friend asked me why I thought Juan was moving to the position in Kalamazoo. I was a little stunned and just said it was a good move and something Juan will likely enjoy. My sense was that this was a "fishing expedition". The next thing this person said was that it seems like a job that was like retirement. I glowered at this comment and was really offended. To add to this, this person has known me for years. Knowing I was not happy, there was much stammering and a slew of words followed which essentially noted that Juan was moving to a less demanding job. My comment is that the work is just different work.

First of all, this is no job for folks thinking they are going to coast to get ready for retirement. I was 35 years old back in 1987 when I started at this Foundation and it was hardly a time for relaxing! It still isn't a time for relaxing. I simply love what I do and I'm passionate about it and the Foundation! I am honored to be in this position and at the GRCF, all the staff make the most of every moment we have to strive for the betterment of our community! It is exciting and challenging work!

Here's a blog entry from over a year ago that tried to dispel the myth of the "simple life" of a foundation executive "giving away all that money". I wish Juan the best of everything and look forward to working with him as I have in the past. As he moves to his new position in Kalamazoo, I know he will relish the demands of the position and will be rewarded for the great job he will do!

The reasoning behind the denial had to do with using public funds that would be used to potentially create competition with other for-profit catering services and the museum was encouraged to explore those options first.

My purpose here is not to comment on this decision but to underscore that a great of deal of writing and thought has been put into how the nonprofit sector is financed particularly in the past five years. Trying to find revenue sources is increasingly challenging and I question if we are tying the hands of the sector by limiting our notions of funding mechanisms that may or may not help keep organizations healthy and vital. All funders - governmental, foundations, and others - need to take more seriously the challenge that befalls the nonprofit sector in its efforts to find sustainable revenue sources - which is actually an oxymoron these days!

In Jim Collins' monograph entitled Good to Great and the Social Sectors (with the subtitle that is important here: "Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer") he made many astute observations but one notion in particular has stayed with me since I first read the monograph back in 2005. (This publication is available on Jim Collins' website.)

"I find it puzzling how people who clearly understand the idea of investing in great companies run by the right people often fail to carry the same logic over to the social sectors . . . social sector funding often favors "time telling" - focusing on a specific program or restricted gift . . . But building a great organization requires a shift to "clock building" - shaping a strong, self-sustaining organization that can prosper beyond any single programmatic idea or visionary leader. . . If an institution has a focused Hedgehog Concept and a disciplined organization that delivers exceptional results, the best thing supporters can do is to give resources that enable the institution's leaders to do their work the best way they know how. 1

Clara Miller, the president and CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, addresses another interesting aspect of this in an article entitled The Equity Capital Gap found in the Summer 2008 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review . (A subscription is required to read the article.)

Ms. Miller explores the premise that current methods of revenue generation for nonprofits are short sighted. These methods may include traditional grants, debt financing, and donations. She is encouraging funders like this foundation to find ways to tackle this challenge collectively. As she states, "Creating an equity capital equivalent - and an equity ethic - for nonprofits is a critical first step in this process." 2

As I stated before, all funders - governmental, foundations and others - need to THINK harder about what we can do to strengthen the financial standing of the social sector. This has been on my mind for quite some time and I am still trying to grasp how to address this challenge.

1 Jim Collins, Good to Great and the Social Sectors (Jim Collins, 2005) 24-25.
2 Clara Miller, "The Equity Capital Gap," Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Summer 2008): 41-45.

All this said, I try to make sure that this community foundation continues to be relevant, is in the forefront of key issues and uses the collective brainpower of our great staff, board members and volunteers - AND our donors to be innovative in our approaches that may or may not attract the attention of people locally or beyond West Michigan. It is the impact that is important - not the accolades. But the accolades are appreciated!

Which brings me to critical roles of marketing, public relations and communications and how GRCF has been fortunate to have the leader on our staff to successfully communicate complex ideas and at times intangible information. This leader is Roberta King who is our Vice President for PR & Marketing. This past March we were informed that this foundation won an unprecedented SIX communications awards from the Council on Foundations through the Wilmer Shields Rich Awards program.

In fact, GRCF won 4 Gold awards and 2 Bronze awards. The Gold awards were for our website, our 2006-07 Annual Report, a special report honoring the 10th anniversary of the Lowell Area Community Fund and our quarterly publication Current. The Bronze awards were for a special marketing piece entitled the Elements of Planned Giving and for a very unique public information campaign involving our Youth Grant Committee.

This is not just the standard run of the mill "hey aren't we something because we won these awards" commentary. Community Foundations many times do not have the resources that other types of foundations or businesses do to produce high level publications, sophisticated public awareness campaigns and the expertise to sustain a well thought out marketing program. I have found that when I study how other foundations are communicating their messages through the lens of this awards program, I am exposed to great ideas for sharpening our approaches that I would not have been aware of otherwise. Thankfully, we have the talent to accomplish this remarkable feat and not necessarily the financial resources in our budget that others may.

Roberta and along with PR & Marketing Associate Amanda St. Pierre have done this extraordinarily well and they are indeed exceptional leaders whom I admire and applaud!

This past Thursday evening, Roberta and her team were honored once again receiving 5 PRoof awards from the West Michigan Public Relations Society of America. One Gold award was given to the publication Current and 4 Silver awards in areas that were given awards in the previously noted program with honor also being given to the year long awareness effort that Roberta orchestrated for our 85th anniversary in 2007. The PRSA program involves businesses, major corporations and nonprofits - all pooled together - so it is competitive to say the least.

Congratulations to our "hot" marketing staff of Roberta and Amanda and their entire team!

One of the concerns I'm picking up around our community is the thought that the GRCF is pretty well set and is "well-heeled". In fact, this notion was amplified during a session this past week with an opinion expressed by a community representative that we didn't deserve to receive a grant from a particular source because we are a "well-heeled organization" not "poor" like other nonprofits and don't have the same level of risk at being successful as a for-profit business.

Here's a little known fact - a nonprofit corporation is not all that different than a for-profit corporation. Trying to address the "too rich" concern is not all that tough. The Community Foundation is this community's endowment - which means we raise resources that will be invested and will grow so we can spend the income for many projects and programs in and around the greater Grand Rapids community. So the more that the GRCF grows through the generosity of our donors, the more we are able to support the multiplicity of programs and organizations into our community! Pretty simple!

We serve all of Kent County and a small corner of southeast Ottawa County and support our affiliate in Ionia County (that is always going gangbusters by the way!). The GRCF, while primarily an philanthropic endowment not tied to any particular entity but is for the entire community, is a nonprofit corporation that seeks its support from many sources and we need community support for this building as well.

Does this community deserve a "well-heeled" and supported community foundation? YES! We all deserve a resource that can fulfill the dream of our founder Lee Hutchins who stated proudly in 1922 that he wanted the community to be a millionaire 50 years hence! What he meant was he wanted a resource for the entire community and for it to grow so it could address many of our area's issues, programs and great ideas!

For me a grant from a non-philanthropic source - which this grant is - also helps us in our quest to NOT be in competition with other nonprofits that are raising money for capital efforts or other efforts. And any amount of money that can be tapped for our "new to us 104 year old" building is so appreciated and needed.

In the next few weeks, we will be announcing our campaign plans and our goal. We have great plans for this building. But this building is not just a community foundation asset as it is also our deeply rooted commitment to this city, to our entire county and to place a more visible stamp on our belief that the greater Grand Rapids area is indeed a wonderful place to be!

A resourceful, dynamic community foundation is just what this community deserves! We promote philanthropy and are proud of what the generations of people have supported through us in the past and are inspired by what the future promises!

Maria's "day job" is a research coordinator at my second favorite organization (the 1st being the GRCF!) - GVSU's Johnson Center's Community Research Institute - and she successfully completed her 30 day test on Friday, May 9th and an open house was held at Blandford to honor her accomplishment.

Maria hosted a great blog about her experience that is well worth your time to read through her entries, look at her references and informative and entertaining videos. She also experienced media attention which included a radio interview with Mitch Albom at the beginning of her "food" journey as well as two articles in The Grand Rapids Press by Beth Loechler the second of which is here.

I hope that Maria will forgive me but her letter to her co-workers is understated, humorous and gives a hint at her rules!

Hello Everyone,

Until May 10, I remain yours in semi-starvation,
Maria

Maria epitomizes the philanthropic spirit - the strength of living her message, doing a fantastic job to help shine a light on the global food crisis, understanding food systems and how fortunate we are to have choices in our diet. And she did do a great cooking demonstration on dandelion greens. Look out Maria the Food Network will be calling you! Congratulations and thank you for doing this!

What I am particularly thrilled about is the focus on the Next Generation and the sessions that are designed specifically to focus on this! This has also caught the eye of one of our millenials at the GRCF, Amanda St. Pierre, who is working on developing other ways to attract the younger audience not only to the GRCF but ideas for attraction and keeping 'em here in the most beautiful part of the state of Michigan!

I wrote about the Youth Grant Committee a few posts ago and we are honored to have so many bright young people from across our county involved with us! So keep it going!

Do I feel the pang of not being there? Not necessarily as part of the reason I'm not there is due to the press of business going on here on the home front. For those who don't know me or our great staff, we are usually front and center at many of our field gatherings - leading sessions, teaching classes, providing leadership on key issues so it isn't that we don't understand the strong dynamic of sharing information and networking.

In fact, what surprised me after being in this field for more than two decades was the look of disdain from one of our larger Community Foundation CEOs when it was learned I was not going. Oh please! And added to that was a mini-lecture from another prominent CEO who actually told me that he was disappointed that I chose not to go because "it is so necessary for our private foundation colleagues to see that community foundations do regard themselves as part of the larger field of philanthropy". As if I didn't know that! He did hear my perspective after that comment!

In spite of the "peer pressure" and the daily emails from the Council designed to promote attendance, we all decided to take a pass on this important Summit. The good news is that there are a number of bloggers who will be reporting on the conference which while not the same as being there, will provide a variety of perspectives. Sean Stannard-Stockton in his Tactical Philanthropy site, Lucy Bernholz's Philanthropy 2173, as well as the Chronicle of Philanthropy's blog.

I am off to enjoy my day of philanthropy from my perch in GR! I look forward to learning from our colleagues from around the world as to what new discoveries, insights and networks will rise to the top.

Where is this going you are asking yourself? For some time I have wanted to address the obvious about the inner workings of this Foundation but somehow I held back. Should I or shouldn't I? The monotony of my indecision is over and here it is: We are an all female staff. Yep all 21 of us are female. We have had males on our staff and we also have had male interns who have joined us from time to time.

This has not been by design I will tell you that. We pay competitive salaries that are not extravagant by a long-shot but we do attract the best of the best. We have worked hard on this and it is paying off quite nicely. Years ago a board member noted that we needed some men to even things out. I sighed and just kept moving forward. We are a very collaborative group of professionals and our respect for one another is apparent. We value innovation and while this could be questioned, we do value inclusion.

In a previous post I wrote about our work with another organization regarding cultural competency. A couple of comments were posted on another site that noted our femaleness and that I had no room to make comments on this topic. Not wanting to defend our record, I know we need to address these issues and yet I am not going to back down on my view. We are working to continue to diversify our staff in a variety of ways along with moving the needle on the gender issue.

The interesting thing I have experienced is the possible perception of this organization looking through the lens of knowing that we currently are led by me - a female - joined by 20 other females. Are we viewed as an organization to be taken seriously? I'd like to think so given our remarkable track record as a funder, community leader and builder and successful resource developer! Would a male leading this organization help with the perspective? I have no idea but there is an increasing amount being written about how female leaders are marginalized, many times in subtle ways and sometimes not so subtly!

Of course these issues are getting national attention now with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fighting for the Democratic Presidential candidacy. And the feelings that people have in that regard can bleed over into other areas. But I have not experienced that yet or that I know about.

I am aware and I am working to demonstrate our commitment to inclusion, cultural competency and diversity. And no I am not going to launch into "I am woman hear me roar." However, I am not going to play second fiddle either. The Grand Rapids Community Foundation is a dynamic organization working to help grow our area, our region and indeed the state in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Periodically I write about the work that we do and try to point out why this work is so important and why I am so passionate about the value of this community foundation not just in a financial sense. This can be overlooked which is understandable and I need to make this much more clear. This isn't just charity - it isn't just philanthropy - it is bold community leadership.

This entry was inspired by the actions and tenacity of Ruth Bishop who is our Education Program Officer and who has been with the Foundation for more than 15 years. I'm convinced that Ruth never runs out of great ideas and "stuck in a rut" is NOT something that anyone would say about her! She is completely devoted to her work that encompasses our ever expanding array of Scholarship offerings and programs, the Youth Enrichment Scholarship Program that brings experiences to elementary students who would not have otherwise have the opportunities offered them, the Excellence in Education program honoring great ideas from students and teachers in the public and private schools in the city of Grand Rapids and much more. Her work does not begin and end with these programs. However, at the time of students applying for scholarships, our website is at its most popular!

Ruth was recently telling me that she has a particularly difficult problem to resolve involving a bright and engaging student at one of our area high schools. This student wants to become a physician and has the dream of attending a renowned state university. She has the academic standing, the moxie - that indefinable "thing" that is a good predictor of success and much more. And she also has Ruth's attention.

All good ingredients you might say to make this story have a happy ending. Well not quite. It seems that this student is lacking a foreign language and that is the stated barrier to gaining admission. This student grew up in a home where the Spanish language is the primary language. According to Ruth, she has overcome barriers before and certainly speaks English probably better than many. My bet is that both languages are like her primary languages.

Ruth is not resting on her laurels on this one and while we do not get this involved with every student applying for scholarships - don't have the time nor the person power to do so - it does point out that there is something not quite right here. Whether this will turn out the way it should remains to be seen.

What it does demonstrate though is how our staff team is trying to bring together the power of our education programs to aid in achieving some key goals in our community and in our state:

* Student achievement in the city schools will match or exceed those of the suburban schools including raising the graduation rates.
* Preparing students for admission to college/university/higher education and to graduate successfully.
* Attracting and retaining college graduates to the West Michigan community.

No more study is needed. No more strategy development is needed. No more "let's take another few years and see how we are doing".

Ruth wants action and results now. She wants to ensure that all students have access to the right guidance to point them in the direction of college and what is required prior to applying and receiving the disappointing news that they don't meet the requirements.

Her passion - her smarts - her knowledge along with being supported by the Foundation will make remarkable strides for all students. We just need to make sure that all the tools, resources, and will are there to make it all happen. Thank you Ruth!

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation has a long history of encouraging community development including neighborhood improvements as well as supporting large community efforts including the Van Andel Arena, the DeVos Place, and much more!

And we know that we can do more and certainly investing in a 100+ year old building on the corner of Oakes and Grandville makes a strong statement for our belief in core city development!

But what about the West Michigan region and what about the region beyond the borders of our state? We are looking at all of it and as we make some sense of what we may actually be able to do, others may have some ideas.

Not unique ideas but those that we may consider might include:

* Encouraging innovation for new products/industries/ideas
* Working in concert with other community foundations and other private foundations
* Learning from organizations that know better than we do about economic development - not reinventing the proverbial wheel
* Honoring our history of funding and community work around this issue
* Investing in projects that hold promise for our region in terms of spurring on new industries and businesses

As our vision statement proclaims: We envision a magnetic, interconnected West Michigan community. Moving into this realm during this time of great concern about the economy certainly seems to make sense and can help develop new ideas and industries. There is a role for the GRCF that much is for sure - the journey is continuing.

This was done as a matching grant effort through the encouragement and wisdom of Russ Mawby the President of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation at that time, developed more fully by Joel Orosz who was a Program Director then and Kathy Agard who wrote the grant as the Director of Community Foundation Services at the Council of Michigan Foundations. It has resulted in a phenomenal program that has launched many youth philanthropists around our state for the past 16 or so years! Wow - talk about looking to the future, Russ, Joel and Kathy are visionaries and now we are all reaping the benefits and will be for decades to come!

We view this program as an integral and critical part of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation (GRCF) and one of the reasons that it has been so effective is due to the leadership of our staff member Cris Kooyer who is one of our Program Officers. A few years ago, our YGC leaders presented a proposal to our board of trustees to include a youth member on our board. It has been a fantastic experience for our board and for the YGC member. This year we are thrilled with the leadership and intelligence demonstrated by Margaret Kennedy a senior at Catholic Central High School. She is an amazing young woman from a very supportive and involved family. Her two older brothers served on the YGC and her younger brother is currently on it as well. A well rounded YGC family!

Last year the YGC held a news conference to announce the results of their needs assessment on which their grants are based and it received broad coverage. It gave the YGC leaders an opportunity to learn how to write releases and promote their activities. They were very successful! In fact, the public information campaign received a Bronze award from our national organization, the Council on Foundations through the Communications program known as the Wilmer Shields Rich awards. More on these awards in a future post - GRCF won six awards!

So the next time you are "compelled" to watch the TV program Oprah's Big Give and witness the "contest" between the participants on giving away money with some abandon, think of how it diminishes the importance of charitable giving. I am proud that the young people of the YGC are learning that giving away money is truly a serious responsibility and one that requires due diligence! Giving away money is not easy, nor should it be even when deciding on charitable gifts out of your own resources. It takes thought and an idea of what you would like to have happen with your gift.

Here's to our Youth Grant Committee and the leadership demonstrated through the years!

So from the "Center of Universe" comes the announcement today that Dr. Juan Olivarez will be stepping down from his position as the President of the Grand Rapids Community College to become the President of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation! We all know Juan to be an exceptional leader, innovator and really just an outstanding individual.

He has served on our board for the past six years and will be coming into his new position well-versed and positioned to continue the great work of Jack Hopkins who is retiring as President of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation in a few months after serving there for 25 years! Jack has been a great colleague and friend of mine. We did concoct quite a few ideas for our region as well as ideas for leading our field which we both did a few years ago through the Council on Foundations. I will miss him and I know that his legacy will be felt for quite some as he focused on economic development, education and embracing diversity which are just a few of his gifts to Kalamazoo.

This is a bittersweet situation - we will be saying best wishes to Jack and to Juan yet I know that Juan's influence in our community will live on also. And I know that there will be new opportunities for our region to work together to grow and prosper as Juan is not going too far away and in fact he will be a strong partner in our regional efforts!

Congratulations to Juan! And I'm not saying goodbye to Jack just yet as it will be a few months! I look forward to the future and seeing West Michigan become even stronger!

Nothing seems to spark a reaction like race. And now that cultural competency is taking center stage as a process to embrace diversity and to embrace differences. Understanding cultural differences is critical! As a person whose core values were developed primarily during the tumultuous sixties with a loving family that honored having an open mind, I have been always been eager to learn more about people and their backgrounds. It is an insatiable journey.

We have been delving into our individual and group's understanding of all cultures and backgrounds as staff of this Foundation. First and foremost we are focusing on how we interact with one another as well as the entire community. This isn't just one event. It is an ongoing process.

We ask all of the nonprofits we fund to report on their diversity in terms of staff, board members and either the people being served or the people who participate in the organization. If a grantee organization does not demonstrate its commitment to being open to all, then we do identify contingencies designed to help them. If they do not try and ultimately show positive progress, then we will not be inclined to provide funding.

This may be totally blown out of proportion by the recipient organization as they make arguments about this issue or they may use it as a good way to improve on their outreach and understand how they may be perceived in various communities.

Recently one of our staff and I invited some members of our Resource Committee (the group that makes grant decisions) to visit an organization that did not follow through on a promise they had made a few years ago that would help them be more welcoming to the many diverse cultures in our community and a contingency had been developed. The meeting was difficult as it became clear that the leadership was defending its record in spite of the fact that one of our volunteers pointed out that while representational diversity was noted in their publications, the sense she got from our conversation and their other external pieces reaching out to the community, that they couldn't see "what face" they may have been projecting. There was the reference to "we tried and we couldn't attract people" so what else do you expect us to do.

The Resource Committee member noting the concern is African American and she pointed out that the representation of diversity in one of their brochures was laudable but that the manner of presenting their programs to all persons still needed work. Her comment was if her daughters were still of an age to take advantage of this organization's offerings, she would have a difficult time sending them there. The response from the board leadership was immediate and sharp - "look at the faces noted in our brochure. What else do you expect?"

Our volunteer very calmly and carefully stated the following: "What you have just done to me is ignore my statement and the cumulative effect of ignoring and discounting my opinions and comments is something referred to as a micro-inequity or micro-aggression."

I personally had never heard of this concept before and wanted to learn more.

But back to the meeting. It definitely ended without the understanding needed to make change. In fact, we have since received a letter from the organization's board chair who stated that they would not be following our recommendations even though we released the balance of their grant with the hope that they would try. The result will likely not be positive as the next time they do come to us for funding, we will have to either refuse them or ask them to help us with understanding what they have done to address the issues we raised. And then their supporters, board members and ultimately their patrons will never know what was at the core of this issue.

The upside is that we learned about a concept regarding not being heard or ignored- it has a name and further study is being done to help us in our journey. It is time for all of us to listen and learn for understanding especially me and especially this Foundation.

However, I am concerned when giving back is depicted as a contest - - - - okay I hear another possible comeback - "But isn't that what applying for a grant from the GRCF or any other funder is like?" NO! This isn't a popularity contest.

So here's what has me going on this one. I do not like the depiction of giving as a commercial act of charity and the show seems to be a takeoff on "The Apprentice" in its approach to giving. Good and responsible philanthropy examines needs, tests various approaches to address the needs and measures the relative success. It is long term - not necessarily depressing or sobering but frankly sometimes it is.

I hope that people are inspired more by what happens in their own communities and giving to organizations that can make a difference. Don't be afraid to give and always ask what has happened because of your generosity.