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.