We're in good hands with these young leaders..

What a great way to end a busy week.. This afternoon I got to speak and facilitate a discussion at a class for Leadership Triangle's College Edition. The topic: Civic Engagement. This is the first go-round of this program for Leadership Triangle and WOW. Impressive students. From all area schools: NC State, Duke, UNC CH, Peace, Meredith, St Aug, Central, Wake Tech, Durham Tech... 3 student body presidents. different majors, ages.. My small group discussed philanthropy and then, we were given a challenge- to address an issue faced by the NC Food Bank. My group decided on how to involve more corporations as donors to the Food Bank. The 'winner' of the challenge will be announced at the program's graduation April 17- and, well, i'm biased, but I think my group was the best!! Look at these great people! I've such a busy week preparing for our gala next week and dealing with a million other things, that to see some innovative thinking and fresh ideas, enthusiasm and leadership in action, and to be a small part of it, was a privilege. Thanks everyone!

And I must also here recognize Winkie..
That's her in the other picture. If you haven't yet met Winkie LaForce, the Executive Director of LT, then her name says it all. She's a force to be reckoned with.. Winkie and I first met when we worked on the Pan Am games together many many years ago and I've worked with her ever since... She's the reason why we are growing and connecting so many leaders in our Triangle region.

NOw, off to watch the heels.. it is march madness after all..

Fans of Joel

You've heard of FOBs, or FOHs-- Friends of Bill, Friends of Hillary. Well, today I'm writing about Fans of Joel. FOJs.

I'm fortunate and priviliged enough to be part of a group that gets to spend time with Joel Fleishman. That's him smiling in the picture. I am told it was taken in Germany. I am sure there is a story about his trip there. Joel: master philanthropist, world traveler, tea lover, Fayetteville-tied but Chapel Hill based, Duke fan but secretely loves the Heels, wine conossieur...

I started going to Joel's philanthropy seminars at Duke when I first started my job and role in Philanthropy- 4 years ago. This is my 'philanthropy school.' Heads of major foundations, leading philanthropic thinkers, and others come from around the nation to speak to a small group of us about different topics. It gives me a chance to slow down, THINK (sometimes I go a whole day without doing this), and learn.

And then, I am lucky enough to end the afternoon with a dinner with Joel- and most often Tom Lambeth (a post on him should come at a future date). And watch them pick on each other.. usually about the Heels.

Last night at one of these, I said, he's got a major fan club. Joel has done a lot to spread philanthropy, to keep it in check, to get us engaged. THANK YOU.

Quarterly Board meeting

I think I like this thing about taking pictures w my Iphone and posting them here on my blog. It certainly captures what I want to write about. Today, it's about our Foundation Board meetings- really, it's about our board in general. Of course, writing about our board would take more than one posting- and these blogs are supposed to be short, so I'll just briefly report/react to today's quarterly meeting.

First, the picture. Yes, that's our ILLUSTRIOUS CHAIR, Dr. Phail Wynn. We absolutely love Phail and feel very lucky to have him at the helm of the Foundation. He has a long history with us and has helped me, personally and professionally, quite a lot. He is a gifted facilitator. You can probably google him and learn about all his accomplishments. Frank Phoenix and Joel Sheer are also on the picture.

At this meeting, we approved our investment policies. Frank is our Investment Committee co chair. I can't say enough about the good work this committee has done, or the good timing of this- we certainly would not be in the good position we are in now if it wasn't for this committee's guidance. Frank did an outstanding job today laying out our new investment philosophy, new asset classes, new managers. How proud I was of all the work so many people have done.

We had some vital, some tough, but some needed discussions at our meeting today, but most importantly, we are so lucky to have such talent on our board.

It really does take a village....(Fred, I'm quoting you here, you see...)

Management meetings

Management team meetings here at the Foundation don't happen as often as we'd like= we seem to get too busy and Tuesday afternoons for some reason, get swamped! but when they do happen, they are golden opportunities to talk, debate, get feedback, do updates. Here we are- i captured this with my Iphone and I liked the picture because:
-it shows Fred's typical pose (he's thinking about his next question)
-you can see Ken's thinking (where have I landed??)

and then one can just imagine what the women on the management team are doing (Kelly, Lori and me)- Kelly: taking notes, Lori:Keeping up with the conversation, and me: who knows.

We have a great management team, and for that, I'm lucky. We're lucky. We don't always all agree on things, but I think it's helped us move the Foundation forward. I couldn't imagine working in a silo or in a place where it's only one person who makes all the decisions.

In PHilanthropy, we don't question things ENOUGH. I think here, sometimes we question things TOO MUCH, but it's healthy. It helps keep ourselves in action, and interacting.

Capital Awards

Capital Awards took place on Tuesday in Washington- our annual opportunity at NCLR (www.nclr.org) to honor leaders in Congress for their work on behalf of the Latino community. Sen Ted Kennedy and Sen Mel Martinez were awardees this year, as was the Miami Workers Center, for their efforts in registering new voters during the election. This bipartisan night is one of my favorite- it's at the core of NCLR's influence and this year, as I sat back and got a chance to take it all in (for not very long-- it was a busy night) I realize how far we've come in only the few years I've been involved on the Board (7). Looking at cabinet appointees, new administration staff, congressmen and women, nonprofit leaders, corporate CEOs- it truly is heartening.

There's so much more I can say about the night and its significance, but I'll end by including a link to Janet's Keynote address.

http://www.nclr.org/content/viewpoints/detail/56124

She delivered it with her usual powerful enthusiasm. Que bien! I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you don't (!)

This picture is one of my favorites- here, with Janet, Artie Rodriguez of United Farmworkers of America and Cid Wilson, both of whom are/were on the NCLR Board.

Si Se Puede.

Conferences, meetings- how important are they?

Hello from a snowed in Monday afternoon. Not a welcome change in weather. Too many meetings, travel plans, etc to figure out! And this is turning everything upside down..

Got a chance to attend a reception for the NC Governor's Tourism and Travel conference last night. Organized by the Dept of Commerce. Even in times like these, the state is trying to promote itself- which is good to see. The event was entirely paid for by private sponsors, and my old friend Lynn Minges (now assistant Secretary of the Dept) made a point of saying that, just in case anyone would make an issue of a state agency putting on a conference.

I suppose that's one of the casualties of this economic situations. Most groups are cancelling meetings. We cut back on such budget items at the Foundation, too. And are advising nonprofits to do the same if needed. But it makes me wonder- at what cost? Networking, sharing ideas, meeting others- is important. In the case of this gathering last night- tourism is one of our vital economic engines in North Carolina and we must continue to 'fuel it' if we are going to have a diverse revenue stream.

One of my concerns as we cut back to the basics is that we are eroding some infrastructure efforts that, one by one, may not seem that vital, but altogether make up the formula for advancement and continued progress.

We shall see..