Black MBA - Winter 2007/2008 - (Page 58) CAREER Profiles in Giving dustry looking to make the world better, nonprofits would seem prime locations for creative and innovative ways to improve diversity, the “nonprofit world’s ideal of inclusion is still a dream for many organizations.” But for those who do work in foundations, it’s an opportunity to influence how major dollars are allocated, and to encourage more Blacks to join the industry. Black MBA Magazine interviewed some African-American foundation executives about their experiences. “But he very patiently explained that he’d reached his level of success because of the generosity of others, and that really made an impression on me.” The Kellogg Foundation believes strongly in helping people help themselves to bring about long-lasting change, Weeks said. “In philanthropy, you have to be a lot more realistic about the need to engage people in change in their communities.” Giving money away is hard work if you want to be effective and strategic, she said, because it requires truly engaging people in the process and results of whatever is being funded. “I’m a fairly curious person,” Weeks said, “so there was no mysticism about how foundations made their decisions and how that whole process works. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could influence some of those decisions.” “I’m a fairly curious person,” Weeks said, “so there was no mysticism about how foundations made their decisions and how that whole process works. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could influence some of those decisions.” Wenda Weeks Moore, Treasurer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation As a trustee for one of the nation’s oldest family foundations for nearly 20 years, Wenda Weeks Moore helps the W.W. Kellogg Foundation, based in Battle Creek, Mich., make decisions that range from hiring a CEO to fine-tuning the foundation’s mission and direction. A former chair of the Board of Regents at the University of Minnesota (the first woman and the first African American to serve as chair), Moore came to the attention of the Kellogg Foundation and joined the organization’s board in 1989. Moore learned about giving as a child growing up in Los Angeles, Calif., when her father, a Howard University-trained physician, established a scholarship at the medical school. “That was a real eyeopener for me because we were giving away Daddy’s hard-earned money to people we didn’t know,” she recalled. Linetta J. Gilbert, Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation Linetta Gilbert was recruited by the Ford Foundation in New York City seven years ago, after she had worked in New Orleans, La., with a group of civil leaders on education issues. The Ford Foundation has given Gilbert a “ground-level” perspective in order to get accurate information on the needs and aspirations of a given community. She continues to push hard on equity issues with respect not only to race, but also to ethnicity and class. Resources Association of Black Foundation Executives: www.abfe.org National Center for Black Philanthropy: www.ncfbp.net The Foundation Center: http://foundationcenter.org Council on Foundations: www.cof.org 58 BlackMBA • Winter 2007/2008 • www.nbmbaa.org http://www.abfe.org http://www.ncfbp.net http://foundationcenter.org http://www.cof.org http://www.nbmbaa.org
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