Last Entry

This project had ended, and so I'm retiring this blog. I can't say my blog was terribly coherent, jumping between how I felt about trying other journalistic mediums and what I actually found when I was reporting. Also, many times I felt uncomfortable putting my reporting in a public forum. It's not that I have anything to hide. Maybe I'm just territorial about my notes. Either way, it's time to go on to other subjects.

GNews Audio Podcast

And finally, the audio podcast. Anne Noyes made some suggestions this morning, and under the conditions (this being my first time creating an audio podcast; I never listen to audio podcasts) I think it turned out ok. In the future I'll definitely put more time into both listening to podcasts and editing them.

Producing the Audio Podcast

I haven't listened to the radio since high school, and even then I never tuned into news programs. So when working on my audio podcast, I had the most difficult time. Quite simply, I didn't know how to put a story together in this form.

A while back I had gone to PS 328 to capture some audio. My classmate Anne Noyes was kind enough to give me a quick lesson on what to look for: ambient, ambient, ambient (getting close to the sound to record, meaning if people are stomping their feet get down to the ground with the mic). So that day I went to the gym and got some sounds of kids playing basketball in the gym, interviewed a few of the younglings, sat in on a magazine club, and then interviewed the director of the program. Luckily, a parent had come and I got her on tape also. In theory, I have multiple sources and background sounds, all the parts I need.

Stitching these together wasn't so easy. Audacity, the free audio software, proved easy enough to use (but again Anne gave a tutorial). Still, with a near zero idea of audio storytelling, I had to resort to the most basic structure. I edited down my audio to blocks, with each person speaking in turn, mixed with some ambient. Nothing revolutionary here, but still a fun endeavor.

New Video

The video's about David Adekoya, a native East New Yorker, who had gone through Groundwork's college prep program and still works there now.

My original idea was to follow him from East New York to City College in Harlem, an hour and fifteen minute commute. Then jump back to East New York and talk about his work there. I thought it would illustrate how far he'd come in life, which would say something about Groundwork.

Well that didn't really work out narrative-wise. My rough cut was six minutes plus and it really dragged. The version I posted here earlier was just a quick cut so I could post something.

This version uses more of a back and forth between David and Mary Adams, Groundwork's college prep program director. I think the story is more clear, I use the b-roll better, and it's an improvement over the previous versions. Thanks to Adrian and Ed for all their suggestions.

Photos for Slideshow

For my slideshow I went back to East New York to take some more photos and so have had more opportunity to see the children and teenagers in the Groundwork environment. Groundwork has elementary and middle after school programs at three local schools and also their own building for their high schoolers. I visited the high school site, a former Catholic school that has been remodeled but retains much of its old look, from the red bricks to the cross above the front doors. Instead of going to all three elementary and middle schools, I choose the campus where I had spoken with the principal and some students before. The principal had arranged for me to meet a couple of six graders and three fifth graders, and today I saw some of them in their Groundwork clubs. Apart from helping the students with their homework and literacy skills, the non-profit also offers sports and clubs that work on writing a magazine or art or drama. The students all seemed to be enjoying themselves, though some of the teachers did yell to quiet down the younger students, something I don't think it entirely appropriate (based on my work with young children). But apart from that, the kids were generally engrossed in whatever activity they were doing.

As for my picture taking, I've never been much of a photographer and often times I didn't have any idea of what to take pictures of. Today, during the long subway ride over, I mulled over what I wanted to tell with the pictures and had more of a plan. Still, once in the room with the children I had to think of camera angle and how to get authentic shots, since the younglings like to mug for the camera. My main tactic is just to take a lot of photos. In the end I had 60 plus shots, from which I selected maybe five or six useable pictures.

Interviewing in East New York

To strengthen my story, I went back to East New York today to interview some of Groundwork's former students to provide further proof that the program works. The two I spoke with today, Renee Warner and Skakaya Slay, both 18 and college freshmen, still work at Groundwork. Rather than students though, they are tutors/teachers assistants. The fact that they both work for Groundwork obviously makes their opinion of the program somewhat biased. They liked the program enough to return, and I assumed they would have mostly positive responses. But at the same time their experiences matter. It turns out they have very different ideas of what they liked or disliked.

Renee's family is originally from Trinidad, and she now lives in Queens. Groundwork had visited her classroom when she was a high school sophomore. She had a lot to say about the peer groups that are part of the program (along with the academic help and job training programs). She felt the gatherings, where students can talk about anything and none of it would be repeated (at least that is the promise), gave her and her friends in the group an outlet to discuss matters that they might not be able to bring up elsewhere, like a fight with a mother. Renee also mentioned how the adults at Groundwork seemed to really care, and would not give up on their students. She specifically mentioned a former Groundwork counselor who has since left but still keeps in contact with her. Renee talked alot about how they are a family there, and how people at Groundwork really believed in her and that made her work harder.

Shakaya, a fast talker, speaks with a certain equanimity that belies her age. She talked alot about the financial opportunities that Groundwork offered: fee wavers for college applications and SATs. Rather than just a way to save her money, Shakaya looked at these subsidies as opening new doors (if I'm allowed to use trite metaphors). Where as her classmates in high school had to wait months to get their fee wavers, a delay that set back their college plans because they couldn't apply to the schools they wanted to right away, Shakaya had the luxury of applying to multiple colleges. More than money, she found that Groundwork made things seem more possible. For example, she had won a state oratory contest, and could attend the national competition in Orlando, Florida if she could pay for the flight, hotel, food, and other expenses. Her high school could not help her. Originally she thought there was no way she could afford to go, but a Groundwork friend convinced her to ask the program if they could help. The deputy director of the program found her a sponsor who paid for everything--the hotel, food, and even a trip to Disney World--except the flight. Shakaya didn't win any awards at the national competition, but the trip included her first flight, first trip to Florida, and also first trip to Disney World, a place her mother had talked about taking her before but they never went. None of this would appear as a quantifiable result about the impact of Groundwork, but I think it's a telling story of opportunity afforded these teenagers that wouldn't otherwise be there without a group like Groundwork.

Slideshow, Video and Podcast

Since my original idea for the slideshow--a tour of East New York narrated by my video subject--didn't amuse my professor, I've decided to change tack. Since my video and podcast focus on individuals in the non-profit, the slideshow should probably cover some subject on the venture philanthropy side. I'm thinking about going back to the Blue Ridge Foundation office and taking photos there. This could give viewers a sense of what a venture philanthropy foundation does for its "portfolio" companies. Not ever venture philanthropist works as closely as Blue Ridge does with the companies it supports--Blue Ridge shares an office with most of its companies--but the situation could illustrate the close engagement that VP is known for. Now I have to think of a way to do the slideshow without making it a PR vehicle.

I've got to reedit my video, and have a new approach. I want to incorporate more of why my subject, who went through the Groundwork program, joined the group in the first place. It's not a romantic beginning--he wasn't looking for a college prep program but wanted a job--but really came to like what Groundwork does. The director of the high school program, Mary Adams, is also very articulate and straightforward.

As for the podcast, I'm still debating whether to go back to get comments from the principal of the elementary school where I interviewed some students, a parent, and the Groundwork director of programs. The principal's very hard to get a hold of and may not be necessary for the podcast, as I already have many characters.

On Venture Philanthropy

Exploring the world of "venture philanthropy" has been one of the more frustrating parts of this whole project. I started knowing practically nothing about this type of philanthropy, and certain factors complicated my education.

The mass media gave venture philanthropy plenty of hype but most of the coverage was rather facile. The journalists went with the familiar formula of finding supporters and a few detractors but didn't really delve into the lasting impact of this business-meets-philanthropy approach. That being said, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which covers the philanthropic field, did have Mark R. Kramer, a former venture capitalists-turned-philanthropy consultant, write some interesting articles about venture philanthropy's shortcomings and influence (I'd link articles but you can't read them without a paid subscription to Chronicles of Philanthropy). I'm planning on contacting Kramer this week as I finish up my article.

That venture philanthropy goes by several names, "high-engagement" philanthropy being one. This confused me a bit. Thankfully Michael Moody, who teaches at USC, wrote a paper that explains it all (I've put a link in a earlier blog posting, but here it is again). Moody has been extremely helpful in answering all my questions and I appreciate the academic perspective. Here's an except from an email response he gave me regarding the future of venture philanthropy:

"The idea of VP had probably reached a point of stability in terms of the amount of and type of attention it gets and influence it has. There was the time of great buzz there for a while and then the time of considerable backlash, but now I think the idea continues to be a sort of iconic shorthand for lots of different things happening under the broader label of "new philanthropy." I've recently heard it used a lot as a way to describe "the changes that happened in the field" in those boom years, and the critique of it as "not so new" and as "too brash for its own good" are still around but they are not given as harshly as before and they seem to recognize that now any lasting effect or benefit of this new approach can be seen. So in that sense, there is a hope that in the future this might help the field improve, but a firm conviction (even among proponents) that it won't revolutionize the field. The question is how much of the change in the field that has or will happen can be attributed to VP, and will it be acknowledged as a force of broader change or not. That is a difficult question that we wont' really be able to answer, though most people probably will probably say that there was an overall shift toward things like more accountability and performance measures, and more focus on capacity-building, and more engagement of donors/grantmakers with their grantees, and that VP was one of the influences steering and pushing this change (though not the only one). WHich brings me then to the idea of influencing traditional foundations. I don't think there will be much widespread agreement that VP has had much influence on traditional foundations, even those that changed in the ways I just mentioned. Some of them will certainly see VP as an influence--and certain VP proponents will claim this--but in general the people who run traditional foundations won't likely say that VP was a major influence on any changes they make. They'd point to larger trends, and also attribute any changes to their own long-standing objectives to focus on "making an impact" and being "strategic" about attacking "root causes" and so on. They won't say VP was what made them suddenly focus on impact measures, evalution for accountability, and so on."

As for other resources I've found, I've previously mentioned the help Sean Stannard-Stockton of the blog Tactical Philanthropy has given me.

The Future of Philanthropy, a website run by the Monitor Group, also has a great page on "high-engagement" philanthropy with links to academic and other articles about venture philanthropy. Monitor Group partners with Fast Company to put out the Social Capitalists Awards.

What have I learned about venture philanthropy at this point? I think it's a good complement to other types of charitable giving. Some of the traits of venture philanthropy-- building infrastructure, the giver and receiver working closely, the performance targets--may have existed among charitable foundations before, but venture philanthropy emphasized these points. With the non-profit I reported on, Groundwork Inc., the managerial and technical assistance provided by its venture philanthropists funders really helped. While some people at Groundwork didn't agree with the metrics these funders used, they liked being pushed to meet performance targets (one source said government grants were worse, because they allowed for less days off). And I also want to add that the executive director of Blue Ridge Foundation, the venture philanthropy foundation that gave Groundwork its start, told me that not every foundation should be as hands on as they are, or the non-profit would have too much to deal with.

Making a Slide Show

I thought our audio slideshows were due this week so I raced to get it done. I've never done one before but have always enjoyed them, so I looked forward to this assignment even though I didn't know a thing about taking pictures or using the slide show software.

The first thing was deciding on the plot. I had recorded a walk and talk with a East New York resident and wanted to use that audio--edited and rearranged--with some pictures. So I worked on the that on Avid and then tried doing the slideshow on Avid also. That took a lot of time but ultimately proved unsuccessful. So I switched to Soundslides, which is fabulously easy to use.

So I laid down the audio tracks and arranged my pictures and put in some captions with more information about East New York. I thought it was interesting: a narrated tour of the city by a resident, so there's an authentic voice; scenes of this community; and some notes.

Then my professor Juanita Leon took a look and pointed out what didn't work. One, there were no people. My roommate pointed out the same problem. But more important, Juanita asked the most simple but relevant question: what is the story? And I guess I lost sight of that. I just loved the personal way my subject talked about his city that I forgot the fundamental need to tell a cogent story.

So thank you Juanita, and back to the drawing board for me.

This Semester and Another Reporting Trip East New York

This blog began with a focus on the givers in the field of philanthropy. Just look at the bombastic title. I've always been interested in how old institutions fit into this century, so why not explore philanthropy. After all, when has the world ever been so prosperous.

But slowly my project evolved into a journal of my reporting and my multimedia journalism class. It was silly of me to think I could tackle so expansive a subject, but I'm still glad I tried. Even though I wasn't really able to tackle the issue on a more global level, address the state of change in charity, this semester gave me the chance to take a closer look at venture philanthropy, which I had always read about and never really understood. In the end there is nothing particularly revolutionary about it. Still, if nothing else venture philanthropy has helped some families in East New York.

This past Wednesday I went back down to East New York to do some more reporting. I wanted to take some pictures for my audio slideshow and also to record some interviews for a podcast. The weather didn't quite cooperate for photo taking. The sky had been gray all afternoon, and the cold kept many people off the streets. I haven't taken pictures in a long time; I don't have a camera and don't care for pictures anyway. But work is work so I went with my list of sites. For my video I filmed my subject walking about East New York, but the footage was too shaky to use. These pictures would go with the edited audio from that walk and talk. As the only Asian person around taking pictures can be a little daunting. I look like the world's most obvious narc. That's probably another reason my pictures don't have many people in them: I didn't want to antagonize people. This was dumb though, because I had an assignment and I chickened out. But the experience proved valuable. I picked up a camera again, it was kind of fun, and next time I know to make sure I get my shots.

On my way over to East New York, I missed my stop and so had to backtrack, wasting 20 minutes. This left less than 30 minutes to grab all the pictures for the slideshow before my 3:30pm meeting with a Groundwork staff at PS 328, a combined elementary and middle school. Before going Anne Noyes gave me a lesson on how to use the Marantz digital recorders that the radio students use. I'd intended to interview the principal of the school, Groundwork's on site director, some students and also parents. For a podcast, ambient sound like kids talking and laughing or playing sports would be necessary too.

On a quick digression, there's something about walking in the halls of a school as an adult. I've been out of elementary and middle school for a while, but the memories of anxiety over fitting in linger still. Though the kids do treat me better because I'm now an adult.

The Guerilla News class makes us try new tools, like the video camera. This week the challenge involved a digital recorder. It's a different mode of recording information. I have to consider the kinds of questions to ask to get answers I could use in a podcast. I need to think of the sounds I need to tell my story. And the recorder and mic are much more intrusive than the reporters notebook, especially around children, who seem to love to yell into things. Also, kids aren't great interview subjects. They have way of reducing everything to one word. So what do you like about this program? Dodgeball. Why do you come here? It's fun. To be fair though, the kids who gave me these answers haven't yet finished the 2nd grade.

Luckily I got to talk to a parent also. I've been unsure how to find one without going through the non-profit that I'm writing about. That day a parent happened to come in because her daughter had some disciplinary problems. She agreed to speak with me and seemed to really like the program, even saying that it was her daughter and not the program that brought her to campus.

Later I visited a middle school class where the students were in a magazine club. Five kids sat with an adult teacher and talked about putting together a magazine. They debated whether they wanted to do individual magazines or work together on one. The amusing thing was one of the girls would sort of pout and mutter that she wanted to leave but when we stepped outside to do an interview she had nothing but good things to say about both her teacher and the program.
I left the school around 5:30pm. It was dark already. But having visited East New York quite a few times now, I wasn't too worried. The last time I went over I realized that women and children live there and walk those streets. So why shouldn't I be able to also.

Interviewing Kids and Learning to Use the Radio Equipment

This week I ran down to PS 328 in East New York to speak with the principal and also interview some kids in the Groundwork program. The principal said his voice was a little hoarse and that we could do the recorded interview next week, which I intend to do along with going to some record at some of the Groundwork classes, guided by the program's communications contact Monte Givhan. But this week I was able to speak with the kids, a trio of 5th graders and a 6th grader and 7th grader, directly. Interviewing kids can be tricky because they tend to move around a lot and get restless easily. They are demonstrative and opinionated but not necessarily the most articulate. In the beginning of the interview they seemed to be giving me a rehearsed line - that Groundwork is great for kids. It's hard to say whether this is sincere or not. But soon the conversation became more casual, and they all expressed a love of dodgeball, which they can play at Groundwork but not in regular gym. As expected one of the girls didn't like a teacher (she screams too much) and the core curriculum--basically the academic part--wasn't the main attraction for them. But they did seem to enjoy it and they preferred it to other after school programs they've been in before, where "you just go upstairs and do your homework." Groundwork offers academic help but also alot of other activities, like sports, which the girls loved, and for the older kids a magazine and arts group.

Also this week, I got a quick lesson from the ever so lovely Anne Noyes about how to use the digital recording equipment that you can rent out at the equipment room in the journalism department. I will have to do a test run to make sure I know how to use the recorder well, but I should be ready for next week when I'll do all the leg work for my podcast. Will probably head over to take pictures for the slideshow as well. And I'll storyboard the stuff this weekend.

Podcast or Slideshow

In addition to trying to put my feature together, I've spent the last few days considering whether I want to do the podcast or slideshow for my next class project. I personally love the slideshows. Besides video, slideshows and maybe interactives are usually the multimedia options that I try on websites. For some reason, podcasts have never really interested me. This could be because most aren't particularly good - it's just a bunch of talking heads, and I'd rather read a story. At least this is how I am at ESPN.com.

But obviously I'm not just going with personal preference. Juanita always makes the wonderful point that the story should exploit the full capabilities of the chosen medium (though I thought she was wrong about the karate podcast played in class - I've seen a thousand martial arts movies and never just encountered it through sound, which made it a very new and interesting experience). So for my project, there's no real circumstances that would make a podcast--pure sound--a good vehicle. Maybe I could get some kids talking, like mini-testimonies, but that would be mawkish and video would be better anyway. So my idea is a slideshow of East New York, partially narrated by me. I've reported on East New York for another class, on the community gardens there, and maybe I could do a little community walk kind of thing. Also, for my video I recorded my subject David doing a walk and talk from the storefront of the non-profit I'm covering to the non-profit's building for its high school program. I really liked some of the things David said--about the projects, the liquor store, the pharmacy--which had an authenticity, candor and humor to them. But the footage was bad because I had to walk and talk and turn and shoot all at once with that tiny camera.

So for the slideshow, I could take some photos of the neighborhood, maybe of some of the class rooms where the non-profit runs its after school program, and narrate a it there, and then end with the walk and talk voice over by David, accompanied with pictures of the things he was talking about. This sounds awfully complex and may be structurally tenuous, but I guess this is the time to try out things. After all, last Friday we were told it's ok to fail. So here I go.

Principals and Churches

One of the principals I spoke to was very enthusiastic about the program, but in an honest way (at least it sounded honest on the phone). He mentioned how many programs promise a lot of things but end up only doing one thing, but that Groundwork has delivered. I'll need to speak with parents of Groundwork students there to confirm this and get those personal stories that I at least need to have in my notes. I am not excited about the idea of having to write in a poor kids finally getting some help how inspirational tale, unless I can do it ironically. But the effectiveness and parent response to the program is important to report on. I have to think of a way to reach parents directly though. I've been calling churches this morning, and only one responded. And they didn't know anything about Groundwork even though the church is around the corner from the Groundwork head office. It could be that the person on the phone personally didn't know anything about the organization, or I'm wrongheaded in looking for opinions from local churches, but I think it's an avenue worth exploring since in many low income communities the churches provide many social services and would have parishioners connected to community programs like Groundwork.

I've also gotten an email from a principal and left messages with two others.

Complicated Story

So many sources, so little time. At its core the story is simple: how a guy came back to his old neighborhood and started a non-profit, helped by a "venture philanthropist" funder. But my story tries to touch on so many things at one time -- the backstory of the non-profit, which I think is interesting; what start-up non-profits need to survive; the guy who returned, Rich Buery; the interaction with the venture philanthropists; commenting on venture philanthropy; whether the program works; and the neighborhood, East New York. So I have to talk to students and parents, principals and funders, community groups and maybe the police, an urban studies expert and a non-profit expert, a philanthropy expert who knows venture philanthropy, and then of course the protaganist and other people in the organization. Then I've got to crunch the numbers and double check them. So alot to do. I've already spoken to most of the people in the organization and most of the principals, have done research on venture philanthropy and can get a few quotes when I need to, the other experts I only need to speak with for a few minutes, but I still need to crunch the numbers and speak with one of the important funders.

I'm going to continue writing my drafts anyway, and then plug in the hole as I can.

Searching beyond the first six search pages

I had done hours of research on venture philanthropy -- I really had. I first googled it, read those articles, then searched for material on the websites of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a leading industry philanthropy magazine, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and the Foundation Center, the web pages of the philanthropy departments at the City University of New York and Indiana University, and the blog Tactical Philanthropy. To this I added the websites of known venture philanthropists: Venture Philanthropy Partners, Robin Hood, Blue Ridge Foundation, Social Venture Partners - International, and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. This research provided useful if often times divergent information. Some were too specific and others - especially media reports - too reductive. But it all still left me unsure about what venture philanthropy really is.

Then I searched the term "venture philanthropy" on Google once more, this time going past the sixth search page, like Professor Penenberg suggested. That's when I found a 2006 report by an associate professor from the University of Southern California's Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy. The 28-page analysis on "venture philanthropy" -- "The Construction and Evolution of Venture Philanthropy" -- touched on all the questions I had, namely what the hell is venture philanthropy:

"Offering a succinct and encompassing definition of venture philanthropy is difficult" because the "field is in some ways defined by its distinctiveness as a "new" approach to grantmaking, there is a range of different activities taking place under the venture philanthropy banner, and recently some organizations have decided to label their work under different, less controversial banners."

It would have helped if I read this weeks ago.

But that's not the point here. The lesson is that I should have searched further into Google the first time. And even though I eventually looked through 30 search pages and the only real find came on the eighth page, I should have kept searching.

Week in Interviews

On Tuesday I met up with Matt Klein, executive director of Blue Ridge Foundation New York, which funds Groundwork. And today I had a phone interview with Rich Souto, former associate executive director at Groundwork and now executive director at New Heights Youth. Both interviews went well and in fact are a good complement - one the venture philanthropist and the other on the non-profit organization side. Matt and Rich were with Groundwork in the beginning, so they are valuable sources who can talk about what it's like to build up the work of a social entrepreneur. Matt tended to use technical terms more often - saturation and community organization - while Rich gave plenty of colorful anecdotes about the group that started Groundwork. Both had great things to say about Groundwork's co-founder Rich Buery. Matt noted that even if he had not known Buery (they were classmates at Yale Law, but had met before then), Blue Ridge would still have invested in Groundwork because of Rich. Souto talked about how fun it was to work for Buery, especially when it came to kaoroke nights.

Making of the Video

There are two things I don't know how to do: swim, and shoot and produce a web video. In both, learning the skill would have been much easier and more fun if I had done it when I was 12, when failing didn't feel so pronounced. Well, that didn't happen, and for GNews I had to do the video.

We were basically given a few lessons and then sent out to film and edit. I'm a big boy so I didn't mind, but I did do things to hurt my learning curve. The most prominent handicapping was not buying a camera and playing with it before going to shoot. So essentially every time I went out to film I had to learn how to use the camera at the same time. And with video, the interview and first draft are one in a way that's different from writing. At the interview stage you already need to frame the picture rather than just gather information.

This being said, most of my video came out like decent home video, which is really all I could ask for. I had a great subject and I actually thought out how my story would unfold before filming, that way I could go get what I needed. That's why I got up at 730am to get from Sunset Park in Brooklyn to East New York to follow my subject, David Adekoya, from his home to school. Of course later this turned out to wasted because this portion of the story didn't test well, but it was still interesting. If nothing else, I planned out my footage.

There's nothing to say about editing accept that it takes a lot of time, is annoying in the beginning, but when I got the hang of it I quite enjoyed it. Part of this is because I am not as invested into video as I am into writing. I read well, which makes writing difficult because I can see how hard it is to produce very good work. But with video I can't really say I can judge it with much authority. And so I try to keep my video simple, and that doesn't annoy me like it would with writing. I found video a fun storytelling media also.

What I put up is a mess. I needed to post something, so I took my long piece and just cut bits away so I could upload it. It's not pretty, and I'll retool the whole thing before the end of the semester. I don't intend to do anything fancy - no zooms and music or parlor tricks. Just a simple story, with pictures.

Video - Rough Cut!

Ok, this isn't pretty but here is the rough cut to my video, cut to an economical 2'24''. My feature article will be on the non-profit Groundwork and its funders, but the video follows one of the teenagers who went through the program. He's now a freshman at City College of New York and still works at Groundwork. So without further introductions, David Adekoya...

Groundwork Inaugural Fall Benefit

This past Wednesday I attended Groundwork's inaugural fall benefit. For those that don't know, my feature article will focus on Groundwork, a East New York-based non-profit that provides services to community youth and families, and the venture philanthropists that provided the organization with its seed money. Groundwork is now in its fifth year of operation and the benefit represented an opportunity to reach out to new funders, an important moment that I wanted to document for my story.

The benefit was held at the Allen Room on the fifth floor of the Time Warner Building. It began with a cocktail reception where those who came would bid on items for a silent auction. This was my first chance to meet Rich Buery, founder and executive director of Groundwork. Rich grew up in East New York, went to high school in Manhattan, before going to Harvard then Yale Law. As you'd expect on a night like this, Rich was in constant motion, greeting attendees, nodding and talking, shaking hands and taking pictures. There was a diverse crowd there, and some of the teachers, administrators and even students from Groundwork had come (the students came in from East New York with some teachers on a bus). David Adekoya, whom I filmed for my web video and was a keynote speaker that night, came in a brilliant white suit jacket. I remember David telling me that many of the kids in East New York spend all their time in their neighborhood, and that Groundwork is a way out, an avenue to see something different, even what they see is only another part of New York. He even recounted how some of the things he saw in Mahattan surprised him - he'd expected everyone to be in business and therefore dressed up in suits and the like, and didn't expect that there would be people dressed like how people in East New York were dressed, casually. I can't imagine what it was like for the high school students there that night - I'd never gone to this kind of thing when I was their age.

After a while the crowd moved into the actual room, where tables were set out on the tiers of the half circle that looked toward the stage, behind which was the most magnificent view of Columbus Circle, Broadway, and Central Park, all brightened by the nighttime lights of cars and fountain lights and lit buildings and lamp posts. Against this backdrop Rich, Silda Wall Spitzer (The governor's wife) and a few others spoke, before the crowded reconvened back in the reception area for more drinks.

New Sources

In my last entry I wrote that I emailed Sean Stannard-Stockton from the philanthropy blog Tactical Philanthropy to ask about venture philanthropy. He was kind enough to get right back to me with some organizations I should check out. Here's his email:

I think the best thing for you to do is explore the websites of Social Venture Partners - Seattle, Social Venture Partners - International and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. All of them are at the forefront of venture philanthropy. You can also list to my podcast with Paul Shoemaker, the president of Social Venture Partners - Seattle.

He also recommended that I try contacting Paul Shoemaker. A few days later Sean emailed me again and said he read this blog, which was I'm kind of embarrassed about because my blog is a bit of a mess.

Reaching out to Sean has been a relevatory experience. As a journalist I have to contact people all the time. Some are friendly, most are professional, and a small minority would rather not speak with me. Usually the relationship is I am the journalist - I call and ask my questions - and the experts/subjects answer my questions tell me their stories. And then I write the story and I usually don't talk to the people again.

In class my professors always talk about networks, the interconnectivity of the web, and the community there. About how it's no longer just the journalist producing news and the reader consuming. And I think I'm starting not only to understand that, but also experience it.

Big Week

With the web video almost behind me, I have a big week ahead in terms of my venture philanthropy/social entrepreneur project. Groundwork Inc. - the East New York-based non-profit that I'm covering - holds their inaugural fundraising gala this Wednesday. The event comes as Groundwork has reached its fifth anniversary, and has reached a certain scale so that it can approach a different set of funders. Also, this should be my first opportunity to meet Groundwork's founder and executive director Richard Buery. David Adekoya, the 18 year old college freshman whom I profiled for my web video, will be a keynote speaker, which I'm excited about.

While this is all happening, I still need to do more background research. I keep reading about venture philanthropy but am not altogether sure how to define it yet. Measurable results certainly is a part of it, but I've also read traits of venture philanthropy include long term funding and a greater level of involvement than just giving money. Blue Ridge exemplifies this mode of philanthropy. Additionally, I still not quite sure if giving seed money to socail entrepreneurs is a defining characteristic of VP.

The blog Tactical Philanthropy has been a great help. It gathers together a lot of useful information and has a very welcoming tone about it. I've just emailed the blogger, who actually went to the same college I went to, and hopefully he can give me some direction.

Groundwork

Groundwork in a East New York-based youth achievement program. It began with seed money from Echoing Green, and then Blue Ridge came on as a funder. Founded in 2002, the program set up after school programs in certain East New York elementary and middle schools, and also offers a four year college prep program. Groundwork's communications director, Monte Givhan, a Yale Law graduate, explained to me yesterday how they focus on literacy but have a holistic approach to helping their target group. Their services include family assistance and even lifestyle lessons for the children, such as on etiquette and diet. Groundwork itself has a storefront office on Sutter street, within walking distance of some of the schools it serves. The organization was recently chosen to be part of a new city project, Opportunity NYC, an incentive program where families and children will be paid for good attendance, getting a library card, etc.

It's likely that for my multimedia project I'm going to focus on three organizations: Blue Ridge Foundation, Echoing Green, and Groundwork. The former two are the venture philanthropists, the latter the social entrepreneur. The relationship between the groups could prove illuminating on what venture philanthropy can actually do.

The Venture Philanthropist and the Social Entrepreneur

I've actually spoken to a few organizations this week. iMentor is an online mentoring program that receives funding from Blue Ridge Foundation of New York. I interviewed Caroline Oh Kim, iMentor's president, who had quite a few interesting comments about Blue Ridge Foundation. She said that from her experience, more traditional funders are less willing to gamble on a non-profit until its established itself, and that iMentor probably wouldn't have grown as fast and achieved as much without Blue Ridge, which has continued to fund the company plus give it access to its other partners. She also mentioned that Blue Ridge really supported the organization from the very beginning, not only finacially but also in devising systems to see results and really setting up iMentor to succeed.

Lara Galinsky, VP of Strategy at Echoing Green, another venture philanthropist, also talked to me about how the companies it's funded have produced such good results. As one would expect, the selection process is very important, but the Echoing Green also holds many activities to help its fellows, as the funded groups are called, network and form connections, which is terribly useful as they can share informatoin about fundraising and in general support each other. Oh Kim of iMentor also said that the network at Blue Ridge was a vital part of their support.

New Philanthropy Article in Details Magazine

Details Magazine recently had a story on the young and venturous in philanthropy. The article doesn't really go in depth into venture philanthropy but spends most of its energy on creating a divide between old philanthropy of society parties and giving money without demanding results against venture philanthropy and social entreprenuers, many of whom come from the new wealthy class (much from technology). It's very Details: get some young people to talk about their grand ambitions, ambitions that depart from the old way of doing things. But Matt Klein form Blue Ridge Foundation told me that the idea of being focused and accountability - though sold as brought on by venture philanthropists - were always there.

Blue Ridge Foundation of New York

On Tuesday I went by the office of Blue Ridge Foundation of New York, a venture philanthropy organization based in Brooklyn, to speak with its executive director, Matt Klein. The office is on the second floor and behind its rather unimpressive wooden door is a modern facility with high ceilings. A meeting room sits at the center and along the sides are rooms housing the different social entrepreneurs that Blue Ridge funds - they are required to spend their first few years working out of the Blue Ridge office so they can form a network and support each other. Matt Klein's office is at the back.

Never having filmed an interview, I found the set up process quite complicated and awkward. Usually I pull out a notebook and a digital recorder and can start talking and interviewing right away. But with the camera, I have to get the interviewee to sit in a good spot and set up the camera. I rushed through the whole process, worried that Matt would think I'm wasting his time and cancel the interview. Also, I hadn't taken the time to see which input - red and yellow - was the one for the external mic. So I just plugged it in and started my interview - not knowing if I would get any sound.

About Blue Ridge (from the interview): they review about 100 applications by social entrepreneurs a year, on a rolling basis, and usually pick two or three, though this year they may not even have so many. This isn't because there aren't good companies out there, but sometimes it's a matter of fit. Those that are chosen receive both funding and a place to set up - the Blue Ridge office - plus supplies and so forth. Selected companies are receive help from Blue Ridge partners, who help with technological and other kinds of consulting services. Blue Ridge supports a range of companies, what it calls its Portfolio. Most are youth-oriented, but the venture philanthropy firm also has a program for senior citizens. Matt said the Portfolio isn't entirely coherent.

On where venture philanthropy fits into the philanthropy field, Matt said that many of the larger foundations usually give money to organizations that have a track record. Venture philanthropists try to find ideas that come with a good plan and get them started. This simplification is mine - obviously foundations have also started new projects - but my generalization captures the general difference between the older foundations and the new venture philanthropy.

Lost in Philanthropy

I started with an incredibly vast and vague idea for my project: philanthropy in the 21st century. In the beginning, I wanted to profile the new president of the Ford Foundation and also look at how his appointment represented greater changes in philanthropy. It didn't take long to realize that I had neither access or the time to write that story. And it should have occurred to me earlier that philanthropy is too large and complex a subject to grasp for a quick semesters story.

There are some tremendously helpful websites though. Tactical Philanthropy is a blog by Sean Stannard-Stockton, who, apart from being a UC Davis alum like me, philanthropy consulting firm in California. He also writes a column on philanthropy for The Financial Times. Reading through his site has been helpful like all blogs are helpful: its archives entries by topic, so I can research specific areas of philanthropy; there are links of related articles, and most important the blog has the latest in the debate.


At the same time, reading Tactical Philanthropy shows me how difficult it may be to grab on to an interesting and new angle about philanthropy. I've already decided to write on venture philanthropists, with my video on the social entrepreneurs they fund. Tomorrow I'm visiting the office of Blue Ridge Foundation of New York and speaking with its executive director, Matthew Klein. Blue Ridge Foundation only gives grants to New York City companies, and engage non-profits from their start. It's a small outfit: only a few full time workers, one of whom graduated from NYU's graduate journalism program. One problem that's already come up is that there may be little to film. A lot of the social entrepreneurs that Blue Ridge funds have a strong Internet component or relate to legal services, which don't make great video. I will see tomorrow. For now, more research about social entrepreneurs and venture philanthropists.

Ford Foundation and its New President

Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor of philanthropic studies at Indiana University, wrote in the August issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy about the Ford Foundation and its new president, Luis A. Ubiñas. Lenkowsky - highlighting Ubinas's corporate credentials - remarked that appointing the former McKinsey executive represented a move by the Ford Foundation to adopt a more "businesslike approach" to the tackling its philanthropic causes. He then cautioned that the history of exporting business discipline to charity foundations runs back to Carnegie, and in recent year the philanthropy emerging from tech wealth - much of it venture philanthropy - has run in that vein.

I think it would be interesting to profile Uribas as well as examine the Ford Foundation as it enters the 21st century. Uribas is just starting so there's no way to gauge results, and he has stated that he doesn't intend any wholesale restructuring. But Uribas could be a good segue into what Lenkowsky calls "an important debate occuring in American philanthropy today," that of foundations picking up business techniques to help the poor against the older model of the wealthy leaving great monuments, or "elite institutions" as Lenkowsky writes (he doesn't generalize as much though).

The problem is getting access. Also, this may be such a large project that I'm getting in over my head.

The Vast Field of Philanthropy

The idea of exploring philanthropy in the 21st century started with a New York Times article on the recent announcement that the Ford Foundation appointed a new president, Luis A. Ubiñas. The headline says it all - "Ford Foundation Selects Its New Leader From Outside the Philanthropic World." Ubinas had come from McKinsey Company and was described in the article as a "a dark-horse candidate with little experience in institutional philanthropy."

I remembered that a couple of years ago I had read about venture philanthropy - also in the Times - and how they applied business discipline to the non-profit arena. And of course there was the announcement last June that Warren Buffet would be giving most of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and that Gates would one day retire and focus on the foundation. On the surface, the world of philanthropy seemed to be moving into a different era, one where foundations and non-profits would increasingly tap into business management expertise to further their effectiveness. From there, the question would be how does the world benefit.

Up to that point, I seemed to have a solid lead for a story. Then the research began. As expected philanthropy is a wide field with hundred of different strands to follow. Luckily there is The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which covers the industry and offers new information and a database of articles. But it's difficult to jump into something as complex philanthropy without a guide. One place I may start my search is the Council on Foundations, which was mentioned in the Times Ford Foundation article and conveniently enough had the stated mission of "defining philanthropy for the 21st century." They are based in Washington DC so I can't drop by but that's what email and the phone are for. I also nexised "venture philanthropy" and found that most of these organizations are on the West Coast - not surprising since that is where most of the technology wealth emerges from. But I was also able to unearth some more potential contacts, like Kathleen McCarthy, the director of City University's Center on Philanthropy. The next step would be to talk to talk to some of these sources, whom I hope can help me find a defined and manageable topic for my guerrilla news project.