A Philanthropic Journey Across the US

I am preparing to go on a big journey, a sort of road trip (by air) across the philanthropic U.S. I'm headed to Washington DC first, to meet up with a professor who teaches the history of philanthropy at Georgetown. I am gonna sit in on his class - I hope its full of gossip and juicy factoids. Then I'll meet up with EPIP leaders in the DC area for lunch. Nice folks, and we are headed to Kramer's on Dupont Circle, one of my favorite restaurants in that city.

Then I head to Baltimore for the Fall Conference on Community Foundations. I went to this conference for the first time last year, and it was interesting to learn about how much the community foundations struggle with issues of diversity (in terms of staff, trustees, who gets funding, and who they fundraise from). It was pretty eye-opening.

Then, on my way back up the Northeast Cooridor, I get to go home to Philadelphia for a few days, to see my little niece and the rest of my family, which I am really looking forward to. Then I get back to NYC. But I barely get to rest -- that is just the beginning of a three-week journey! I feel kinda like Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit when he is about to leave the Shire for the first time on his big journey...

I will try to keep you updated on this trip.

Rusty