Grand Rapids Community Foundation

What was your first job? What summer jobs did you have? How did this impact your life?

January 10^th, 2012

Shelley Irwin, host of WGVU Radio Morning Show as well as WGVU-TV programs, has had me on every month on her radio show in a segment known as “Perspectives in Philanthropy” for a number of years.  It is a great way to delve into topics of interest in our community as well as highlight key aspects of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

This past Monday on Shelley’s show, I talked about the key accomplishments of the Community Foundation in 2011 and provided a glimpse into what I thought would be happening in 2012 overall in terms of charitable giving and the local economy.  We got to talking about an important  effort that was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation last May focusing on summer youth employment opportunities focusing particularly on youth of color.  That sparked a quick conversation on air about our summer jobs back in the day!

Shelley is younger than I am and frankly these days it seems like everyone is younger than me!  A testament to my age is that my first job was that as a want-ad checker at The Detroit News.  The ad copy would be on sheets of paper that looked like Western Union telegrams that would be filed alphabetically by classification of the ads by a group of high school students, mostly children of News employees.  This was so long ago that there were separate categories for jobs for women and jobs for men!  Frankly when you think about it – it wasn’t THAT long ago.  No wonder women still are trying to climb the ladder of equality!  But that’s a blog entry for another time.

The radio program conversation made me curious so I went on Facebook and posed the question - what were the first jobs or summer jobs of the friends I follow on that social media site.  Very interesting results!  Is there a correlation between those first employment forays and the careers or jobs that people hold today?  AND most importantly, how this does relates to young people who are eager to enter the job market and their future success? Here’s a wonderful journal written by our Public Relations Intern Molly Murray last summer who interviewed some young people who participated in the summer program.  This is well worth reading!  

In case you are curious, here are only some of the results of my Facebook inquiry regarding first jobs or summer jobs: 

• Worked in food service in a nursing home.  I was an expert in pureed veggies!
• Ice cream scooper at a small joint on Grand Rapids’ NE side
• Gas attendant at a gas station at Breton Village.
• Babysitting was my first paying job.  I worked at Dunkin’ Donuts and Sally’s Beauty Supply.  I also started my own cupcake business with a good friend.
• Mowed lawns for $1 a yard. Started when I was 14 in the neighborhood.  Had a nice little business and made $12 a week!
• Pruned trees and worked on watersheds for the Youth Conservation Corps.
• “Tool Crib Girl” at Lear Siegler!
• Salad Girl at the Pen Club
• And many more! 

The point of all this is that we all had opportunities to develop our skills, learned how to “go to work”, and developed an appreciation for what it takes to be employed!  I know from reading the journal compiled by Molly Murray that the young people employed last summer through the efforts of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and many wonderful nonprofit partners in our community that they also had the good experiences to help catapult them into future occupations and careers -  and key to this was that they were given the opportunity !

Kind of makes you wonder  . . . how did a want-ad checker become a Foundation President?  Hard work, perseverance and knowing how to relate to many different people in many different situations!  Onward we go!

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You Poor Souls! ;-)

December 2^nd, 2011

It's time for Diana's Soapbox!

For years, I have been on a mission to help people understand that the nonprofit sector is not second class! While the sector has been hit hard by the recession, what sector hasn't? Well, MiBiz is featuring a section of their publication now focusing on the nonprofit sector and frankly I couldn't be more pleased.  I am not trying to promote this publication over any other but I am just making a point that with all the focus on how the nonprofit sector should be more businesslike and other uninformed comments like that I've heard over the years, frankly this is refreshing.

In the November 28th issue, the section on nonprofits was introduced and in that section was an article that featured my opinion on the nonprofit sector and its role in helping to revitalize our state of Michigan.  As a sign used to proclaim in my office, "everyone is entitled to my opinion", please feel free to open this link and be greeted by my thoughts! 

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Joint Statement on the Charitable Tax Deduction

November 17^th, 2011

Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Heart of West Michigan United Way have issued a joint statement regarding the possible threat and erosion of the charitable tax deduction. This is an important issue and could have negative implications for our community.

We have forwarded this to Rep. David Camp and Rep. Fred Upton who are on the SuperCommittee and represent districts in Michigan with the following message:

"Attached you will find a combined statement from Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the Heart of West Michigan United Way regarding the charitable tax deduction.
In your Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction deliberations please keep in mind the repercussions of any change in the charitable tax deductions. We believe that preservation of this incentive for giving is vital to the work of both the Community Foundation and the United Way. Our ability to make grants and provide programming depends on charitable gifts. The economic downturn has made our work more challenging, not only from a service provision standpoint but from a fundraising perspective as well."

Please read and take action!

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Threat to the Charitable Tax Deduction

October 17^th, 2011

Over the years, I have either participated in or witnessed the "great debate" around why people give to causes and various nonprofit organizations. Recently, I had a lively conversation on Facebook with a woman who was adamant that people would give to causes regardless of having a tax incentive or not. I acknowledged that while many do give because they believe so strongly in the cause, if we lost the ability to offer a charitable tax deduction frankly I do believe that would have a tremendous negative impact on the nonprofit/social sector.

Given the fact that both at state and federal governmental levels, there exists a serious deficit problem, it is no wonder that many proposals and legislation are being introduced to try to stem the tide of financial woes. For the 4th time, President Obama is proposing a change on the charitable tax deduction for households with income greater than $200,000 or net worth greater than $1 million. This is part of the President's formal recommendations to the supercommittee charged with developing a deficit reduction plan by November 23rd.

According to the Council on Foundations:

"The administration has proposed disallowing any charitable deduction to the extent such a deduction reduces the income tax liability of the donor by more than 28% of the donation. Individuals subject to the highest tax rates - currently 33 percent and 35 percent, and scheduled to increase to 36 percent and 39.6 percent in 2011 - would see the tax benefit of their charitable deductions reduced significantly."

This is a big issue for the philanthropic community! I believe that this proposal could be the beginning of a slippery slope; merely the start of undoing the charitable tax deduction which has been in existence for more than 100 years. I am wary that if the charitable tax deduction is reduced once, it will continue to be whittled away over time. Even if a small portion of donors take advantage of itemizing their charitable donations, we don't need a reason to take away giving particularly at this moment in time! We need to encourage people to give! I will write more on this issue - this could have the impact of billions of dollars to the philanthropic sector across the country.

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Kudos to our community's leaders!

October 31^st, 2010

What a week this has been! We hosted our annual Donor Reception this past Friday, October 29th at UICA. Thank you to all the wonderful sponsors of our event and to the great Heartside area restaurants that made the best food ever! And thank you to Jeff Meeuwsen and his great team providing the space when we had to change the venue due to the fact our elevator is out of commission. Much appreciated!

At the event we gave John Canepa the Jack Chaille Community Philanthropy Award which is given each year to a great leader who has given their time and resources back to our community. John certainly is one GRAND leader. We were proud to give him this award! He embodies all the key strengths of leadership - former President of Old Kent Bank and Trust which is now Fifth Third Bank. He consults with the firm Crowe Horwath and has led major development efforts in our community. Grand Action is led by him along with David Frey and Dick DeVos.

This week also saw the Grand Rapids Business Journal (GRBJ) release their annual listing of "40 Under 40" - those leaders who are indeed 40 years or younger and are truly making good strides in making our community the best ever!

I was amazed by their accomplishments and while I am not going to list all the winners, I will list those I know and/or may have a relationship with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. I am so very proud of these leaders and their accomplishments and thank the GRBJ for honoring them! I have also linked their names to the websites of the businesses/organizations they represent.

* Bridget Clark Whitney: Executive Director of Kid's Food Basket
* Emily Stoddard Furrow: Partner, DVQ Studio
* Darius Quinn: Human Resources Manager, County of Kent
* Elissa Hillary: Executive Director, Local First
* Matthew Downey: Director, Nonprofit Services & Development, Johnson Center for Philanthropy
* Latricia Trice: Marketing Communications Director, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
* Rachel Hood: Executive Director, West Michigan Environmental Action Council
* Rosalynn Bliss: Director, Residential Services, D.A. Blodgett/St. John's Home and a City Commissioner, City of Grand Rapids
* Rachel Mraz: Wealth Management Advisor, Merrill Lynch
* Stacy Stout: Education Director, Hispanic Center of Western Michigan
* Steve Faber : Executive Director, Friends of Grand Rapids Park
* Lorissa MacAllister: President, Enviah
* Jason Paulateer : VP and Development Advisor, PNC Bank
* Amy Ruis: Owner, Art of the Table
* Ryan Slusarzyk: Marketing Programs Manager, Amway Hotel Corp.

Also, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Greater Grand Rapids hosted their annual Leadership awards program and their website notes that this is "an annual opportunity for local nonprofit and community leaders to come together and celebrate their accomplishments."

Congratulation to all the winners:

Edison: Jamiel Robinson Open Book Project, Executive Director

Exemplary Executive: Elissa Hillary Local First & Local First Educational Foundation Executive Director

Good to Great: Denise Cheng Grand Rapids Community Media Center -The Rapidian Citizen Journalism Coordinator

Grantmaking Guru: Nicole Notario-Risk Kent County Nonprofit Technical Assistance Fund / Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation Program Manager / Program Consultant

DoGooder: Janelle Hill Arbor Circle Community Services Coordinator

Advocate: Ashley E. Nickels Grand Valley State University; National Organization for Women Women's Center Assistant Director; Grand Rapids President

Resource: Grand Rapids Community Media Center

Young Nonprofit Professional of the Year: Janay Brower Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness Coordinator

The future is in great hands! Congratulations one and all!!!!!

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