Monday, December 01, 2003

Thanksgiving vacation was good. Now it's back to the daily EPIP grind!

On returning to the office this morning today, I found two new memberships in the mail, from staff at the California Wellness Foundation and the Southern Californa Association for Philanthropy. Thanks, guys. It always feels great to get new members.

Later today I had a good talk with Marcelle Good from the Appalachian Community Fund (ACF). We talked about how EPIP could build a helpful regional network in the Southeastern US, and also about generational issues in progressive philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. We also talked about the different models of philanthropy, and how much they involve donors, grantee leaders and others in decision making. ACF is a member-institution in the Funding Exchange, a network of local public foundations that empower their grantee community to make grantmaking decisions alongside or in place of traditional donors. I told her that I hope EPIP can work with others in the field to develop case studies about these and other models, to help EPIP members think about how they could make innovative structural changes that fit the needs and missions of their own foundations.

Now I am off to sit in on a class at the New School University, a course about nonprofit advocacy. Today's session is about the role of funding -- and it should be fascinating to this philanthropy nerd.

Goodnight.

Rusty

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