MAY 1996
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9/ $5.00
Philanthn^yJqmpal
A Tar Heel model
Wilmington getting teen health center
With a recent major grant and
another pending, a community
coalition in Wiii^gton is near
ing its goal of opening a free
standing health clinic for teens.
The new center will be pat
terned on a successful program
in Charlotte.
By Merrill Wolf
Wilmington
Just five months after its first
board meeting, a proposed teen
health center in Wihnin^on is about
to have a growth spurt.
In March, organizers of the cUnic -
incorporated as the New Hanover
Adolescent Health Care Center -
announced a $225,000 grant from the
Charlotte-based Duke Endowment.
The grant from the $1.6 billion-asset
foundation is the first installment of a
YOUTH
projected three-year gift of $550,000.
The center is also one of only 19
projects nationwide being considered
for funding by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, based in
Princeton, N.J., under its Local
Initiative Funding Partners program.
The program encourages innovative,
collaborative approaches to improv
ing access to basic health-care ser
vices.
In late March, after narrowing
down the original field of 250 appU-
cants, foundation officials visited the
Wilmington planning team, which
includes representatives of 19 pubUc
and private youth-serving agencies. A
final decision on the team’s request
for a three-year, $455,000 grant is
expected later this spring.
Look for WILMINGTON, page 9
President Clinton visited Charlotte's Teen Health Connection last
August, calling it an example of "what is right with America." In
Wilmington a community-wide coalition is planning a similar clinic.
Photo courtesy of Teen Health Connecfion
Linking up
Funders
urged
to back
Internet
access
By Sean Bailey
Foundations in North Carolina
should make it their goal to see that
nonprofits are connected to the
Internet and not left behind in the
telecommunications revolution, the
governor’s top policy adviser says.
“I think the foundations in this
state need to get the nonprofits con
nected,” says Jane Smith Patterson,
adviser to Gov. Jim Hunt on budget,
policy and technology and a board
member of the Z. Smith Reynolds
Foundation. “They should take this
on as a goal for the 21st Century”
Patterson made her comments to
the second meeting of the Nonprofit
Users Group, a group examining
technology issues for the nonprofit
sector. The group was established to
support the North Carolina
Information Hi^way
Nonprofits play an important role
Look for INTERNET, page 13
More job seekers migrating
to nonprofit sector
Corporate downsizing and govern
ment cutbacks have created
more interest in the nonprofit
sector as a locus for new jobs
and careers.
By Barbara Solow
When Allen Mast told his col
leagues at a large Charlotte law firm
that he was leaving to pursue a
career in the nonprofit sector, the
reactions were mixed.
“The older
lawyers
thou^t I was
a complete
fool,” says
Mast, who is
executive
director of the
North
Carolina State
Bar’s Interest
on Lawyers
Trust
Accounts program. “But the younger
lawyers were unbelievably envious.”
Despite a reduction in pay. Mast
says he is much happier in his new
position as head of a nonprofit pro
gram that generates about $2.5 mil
lion a year for organizations that pro
vide legal services to the poor.
“At the law firm, I was working
very very hard,” Mast says. “I never
had time to think or to plan. Here, I’m
working hard but I also have the lux
ury of looking ahead and really tak-
Allen Mast
ing time to have meaningful conver
sations with people about the work
that we do. I’m really happy about the
decision that I made, not only
because I have a great lifestyle rela
tive to what I used to, but because
everything! do helps other people.”
A commitment to helping has
always been part of the attraction of
nonprofit work. Now, as corporate
downsizing and government cut
backs have made jobs in other sec
tors appear less secure, experts say
interest in the sector is growing for
practical reasons as well.
“We have had a lot more people
coming to our center as potential job
seekers,” says Trish Lester, assistant
director of the North Carolina Center
for Nonprofits in Ralei^. “We were
especially aware of it in the last year
or so, as corporations began to down
size and people were being given the
opportunity to retire early”
Elizabeth Curtiss Smith, director
of executive search for The Sheridan
Group in Arlington, Va., also has seen
growing interest in nonprofit careers
among lawyers, accountants and for
mer government workers.
“A lot of people are taking a look
at industries and trying to find out
where they can hang their hat where
there’s not going to be a lot of down
sizing,” she says. “I also think people
are starting to take a look at quality-
of-life issues. The nonprofit area is
one where, to some degree, you can
have a better quality of life. “
The difference in pace played a
big part in convincing Evon Smith to
make the switch from her job in cor
porate banking to her current posi
tion as 'Triangle mortgage loan officer
for the Durham-based Center for
Community Self-Help.
“Corporations are requiring so
much more out of people,” she says.
“In my old job, I was not able to vol
unteer the way I used to.
“Here, nobody is breathing over
my shoulder,” Smith says. “If my
dau^ter wakes up and notices a red
bird, I can sit there and take the time
to talk to her about it. It’s those
important moments that I felt like I
was missing in corporate, where you
have to be in your seat at 8:30 a.m.,
even if you have nothing to do.”
Susan Snyder had been working
in a large accounting firm as an office
manager until her position was cut
because of a corporate merger.
“At about the same time, I had
been asked to come on the board of
'The Women’s Center in Raleigh,”
says Snyder, who is now business
manager for the nonprofit North
Carolina Community Land 'Trustees
in Durham. “I became enthralled with
the workings of nonprofits.”
Her nonprofit job requires more of
a team approach than did her past
experience in the for-profit sector.
“In the corporate sector, you pret-
Look for JOB SEEKERS, page 5
Messenger of change
South
Caroliiiiaii
leads
United
Way
The new board chairman of the
United Way of America heiieves
iocal affiliates must confront the
tough issues. She also believes
in angels.
By Sean Bailey
Hilton Head, S.C.
'To begin to understand how the
United Way of America is changing,
just look at the new chairman of its
board of governors.
Her name is Paula Harper Bethea
and she brings a bouquet of firsts to
what is probably one of the nation’s
top volunteer posts.
She is the first woman ever to
direct the United Way’s board of gov
ernors. At 43, she is the youngest ever
to hold that job. And as a business
developer for a
Hilton Head law
firm, she is the
first chairman
not to head a
Fortune 500
company.
Her back
ground repre
sents a clear
departure from
past United
Way traditions
and helps reinforce her message.
“When I get up and talk about
change that must be made for us to
survive and prosper over the long
term, when I t^ about making
change, my friends, I represent that
change and I take that seriously.”
Like it or not, Bethea will be trav
eling the countryside this year, visit
ing local affiliates and delivering her
message of change: It includes these
points:
• Donors who give through work
place campaigns must be given the
freedom to choose which charity wUl
receive their money
• Local affiliates must move
beyond the traditional role of raising
money and distributing it and become
more involved with working within
Look for UNITED WAY, page 13
Paula Bethea
INSIDE
Connections 3
Grants and Gifts 16
In May 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
Professional Services.... 18
[ NONPROIffS
1 FOUNDATIONS
' VOLUNTEERS
CORPORATE GIVING
1 FUND RAISING
House committee
finishes work
A house committee will rec
ommend that state lawmak
ers approve new legislation
to increase charitable giving
and cut red tape for nonprof
its.
Babcock foundation
continues experiment
Staff and trustees of the Mary
Reynolds Babcock
Foundation didn't stop
remaking themselves when
they announced a new grant
making strategy in 1994.
Medical schools
highlight service
A growing number of medical
schools in North Carolina
and throughout the U.S. are
making community service an
integral part of the training of
new physicians.
Glaxo Wellcome plans
nonprofit forum
The pharmaceutical company
is encouraging partnerships
among nonprofits to help
make them more efficient
and productive.
Convicts send kids
to camp
For the fifth year running,
federal inmates in Butner will
help send kids to summer
camp.
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