May 1994
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Connections
Federal links
Clinton
names
nonprofit
liaisons
/ n a move urged by nonprofit
leaders, President Clinton has
designated 25 officials of cabi
net departments and other agencies
in his administration as liaisons for
the nonprofit sector.
In a White House meeting with
200 nonprofit and foundation lead
ers, Clinton said the role of nonprof
its “has never been more important.”
He said the nonprofit liaison net
work he was forming would “create
better collaboration between the
administration and advocacy and
service groups in a mutual effort to
solve the problems of crime, housing,
health care” and other needs.
Nonprofit leaders have been
working to persuade Clinton to cre
ate a formal link with the nonprofit
sector. As governor of Arkansas,
Clinton worked with nonprofits as
partners of government. During his
campaign for president, he named a
liaison for nonprofit issues.
And his wife, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, has been deeply involved
with nonprofits, including her chair
manship of the Children’s Defense
Fund.
StUl, at a huddle before their visit
to the White House, some nonprofit
leaders voiced concern about the
degree to which Clinton had acted on
his promise to work closely with the
sector.
Tom Lambeth, executive director
of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
in Winston-Salem, attended both
meetings. He said some leaders felt
the administration had not been as
aggressive as it might have been “in
pushing for tax changes or treat
ment by the administration in postal
regulations.”
The private meeting among non
profit leaders, however, apparently
led to an upbeat meeting with the
Clintons.
“If we’ve got any concern,”
Lambeth says, “it’s to make certain,
not that the president and first lady,
but that the people in the agencies
understand the importance of non
profits in areas in which nonprofits
are involved.”
Philanthropy
Journal
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Reaching out
Duke expands nonprofit studies
Nonprofit management courses
will be available throughout
North Carolina. Duke’s continu
ing education program also will
encourage colleges, universities
and community colleges to
accept nonprofit course credits.
By Todd Cohen
A # onprofit managers in
/\ / search of professionai
/ V training soon will have a
resource within easy driving dis
tance.
Thanks to a $711,000 grant from
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in
Battle Creek, Mich., the continuing
education program at Duke Univer
sity will begin by early 1995 offering
its courses in nonprofit management
throu^out North Carolina.
The five-year grant will enable
Duke to set up as many as six new
centers, in addition to those in
Durham and Greensboro, that wili
offer classes. New centers may he in
the Asheville area, Boone, Charlotte,
Fayetteville, Greenville and Wil
mington.
“We are waiting to hear from
communities that would like us to
come to them and we will be there,”
says Marilyn Hartman, director of
Duke’s nonprofit management pro
gram.
The program is seeking a
statewide coordinator for the expan
sion.
The program, begun in
September 1989, offers courses in 80
subjects ranging from strategic plan
ning and fundraising to marketing
and voiunteer management.
Roughly 950 people have enrolled
in the program. Students must be
involved with a nonprofit as a staff
member, volunteer or hoard member.
They receive a certificate after earn
ing 50 course credits. Courses typi
cally last three to eight hours and
cost $10 per credit-hour. Courses are
tau^t by people in the nonprofit sec
tor, and homework assignments are
based on the student’s real nonprofit
work.
In 1992, when it applied for the
Kellogg grant, Duke set up a center
to offer nonprofit management cour
ses in the 'Triad.
'The idea was to provide a model
for expanding the program. The
'Triad center has attracted about 400
students.
Courses also have been offered in
smaller cities and towns and in rural
locations such as Hiddenite north
west of Winston-Salem; Whiteville
and Goldsboro in Eastern North
Carolina; and Little Switzerland in
Western North Carolina.
Tlie grant by Kello^, the second-
largest U.S. foundation, also will
enable Duke to offer its annual
Institute in Nonprofit Leadership
twice a year. 'The institute, to be held
Sept. 26-29 at the Wildacres retreat
in Western North Carolina, offers 15
hours of courses for 75 nonprofit
leaders.
'The Kellogg grant also will allow
Duke to offer scholarships to the
Leadership Institute for rural non
profits.
And at least one-fourth of the
courses offered through the continu
ing education program wiil be
offered in rural communities.
In addition to making profession
al training available there, Duke
hopes to connect managers of rural
nonprofits with one another and with
managers of urban nonprofits.
Duke also has ambitious plans to
encourage community colleges to
accept the nonprofit management
certificate as a credit so that commu
nity college students can earn an
associate’s degree in nonprofit man
agement.
Hartman also hopes eventually to
encourage public and private coi-
leges and universities to accept the
study of nonprofit management in
exchange for graduate study so that
students in professional schools
would be encouraged to consider
work in the nonprofit sector.
For information, call Duke’s non
profit management program at (919)
684-6259 in Durham or (910) 334-
5677 in Greensboro.
Connecting nonprofits
Spate of fall
conferences
scheduled
A Jl ark your calendars;
/\// At least five philan-
/ r I thropy conferences
are scheduled in September,
October and November.
Community Foundations in
North Carolina will hold its annu
al meeting in Winston-Salem,
Sept. 8 and 9. A national work
shop for community foundations
will be held Oct. 17-19 in Min
neapolis, sponsored by The
Council on Foundations in
Washington.
Also in October, The News
and Observer Foundation and
the Philanthropy Journal of
North Carolina will hold a
statewide conference, to be held
annually. This year’s conference
will focus on stewardship. Duke
President Nannerl 0. Keohane is
the key-note speaker. It will be
held Oct. 21 in Durham.
Independent Sector, the
national organization for non
profits, will hold its annual con
ference Oct. 23-26 in Chicago.
Finally, in November, the
Southeastern Council of Founda
tions will hold its annual confer
ence in Charlotte. That confer
ence wUl be Nov. 9-11.
Plowing new ground
African-Americaii endowment
launched in Charlotte
The Foundation for the Carolines in
Charlotte last month became
one of a handful of community
foundations in the United States
to establish a fund to benefit
nonprofit programs in the Af
rican-American community.
By Barbara Solow
Charlohe
O rganizers of a new
African-American Endow
ment Fund at the Founda
tion for the Carolinas in Charlotte
say an unusual convergence of forces
led to its creation.
“On one side is the strategic plan
ning effort of the foundation, which is
attempting to become more repre
sentative of the community,” says
Isaac Heard Jr., chairman of the new
fund.
On the other is a change in the
“concept of philanthropy in the com
munity, beyond work or your church
or sorority.”
The new fund, which was
unveiled to the public last month, has
been in the planning stages tor
almost two years. It is designed both
to attract donors whom the founda
tion previously might have over-
iooked, and to promote long-term
solutions to the increasingly complex
problems facing the city’s black com
munity.
1110 goal is to raise $1 million for
the endowment by 1998. While the
fund is being developed, 70 percent
of annual contributions will be used
to build the endowment and 30 per
cent will be used to support commu-
Marian Wright Edelman, president of Children's Defense Fund,
spoke at a reception to introduce
the African-American Community Endowment Fund.
Photo courtesy of the Foundation for the Corolinas
nity projects.
^entually, the foundation hopes
to award $50,000 in grants each year
from the proceeds of the new fund
Organized philanthropy has only
just begun to tap donors in African-
American communities.
A recent report by the Council on
Foundations in Washington cited a
general lack of awareness of the
activities of community foundations
among donors in minority communi
ties.
The report, “Donors of Color,”
praised the Foundation for the
Carolinas as one of the few commu
nity foundations in the United States
with outreach programs aimed at
minorities.
Others were in Dayton and
Lorain, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Miami;
Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Lisa Eaves, a program officer at
the Charlotte foundation, says an
advisory committee planning the new
fund contacted officials at some of
those foundations for advice.
‘What we heard was tor our foun
dation to contact members of the
African-American community to
make sure they had full ownership
and input into the development of the
fund,” she says.
John Cra^ord is among those in
Charlotte who feel they have been
given just that.
Crawford, who works as human
resources manager for General Steel
Drum Corp., cites his 10-year history
with the community foundation as
the reason for his faith in the success
of the new endowment fund.
In the early 1980s, he started a
scholarship fund for children in pub
lic housing developments in
Charlotte under the umbrella of the
community foundation.
“To see a fund start with no
money and grow to where it has an
endowment of its own with enough
money to send 40 to 50 kids to col
lege each year, is something” says
Crawford, who is chairman of the
development committee tor the new
African-American fund.
“1 realize the success has been
our connection to the [community]
foundation. Here in Charlotte, it has
such credibility that people know
their money is safe and will be used
for good causes.”
Founding members of the new
endowment fund are being asked to
contribute $500. Donations of any
size may be made in the form Of
cash, life insurance policies, real
estate, trusts or bequests.
A kickoff reception at
NationsBank Corp. headquarters in
March raised about $12,()00 for the
effort.
In addition to awarding grants,
organizers hope the new endowment
will provide a structure to expand
giving from other sources.
What’s the greatest challenge fac
ing fund supporters?
“The biggest thing is educating
the African-American community on
the benefits of an endowment,” says
Eaves. “We have to be sure tW the
community foundation is not seen as
Imposing itself on the community.”
For information on the African-
American Endowment fund, call
(704) 376-9541.
Kay McFadden's technology column will return in the June is^ue.