MARCH  Member  Spotlight

"Once upon a time, I worked at a peer philanthropic regional association – the Gateway Center for Giving (now Philanthropy Missouri). It was there that I came to understand the immense value of philanthropy servicing organizations. So, when I moved back to Florida in 2012 to be closer to family, my first outreach in my job search was to FPN. Maggie Osborn, then VP at FPN, welcomed me to the FPN community with open arms and helped make me a number of connections across South Florida. I ultimately landed at the Community Foundation of Broward before moving to Knight Foundation, and ultimately The Miami Foundation.

I have been an active FPN member for the last 14 years, participating in their Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy Program (Thank you to Teri Hansen for being my amazing mentor)! I also served on the FPN Summit Planning Committee and chaired the Grants Administration working group for a number of years."

"The philanthropic community is incredibly welcoming and generous with its time and resources. There is no competition among the Foundations in the region, only a true spirit of collaboration. You can reach out to any foundation in the FPN network, asking for their time or for a template, and you will always get an immediate “yes!” In the past year alone, my team and I have leveraged the FPN member network across the state in a variety of ways – visits to the Collaboratory and the Jessie, strategic visioning conversations about regional scholarships platforms with the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay and DeLuca Foundation, and so many more examples."

"The Miami Foundation is the founder and home of Press Forward South Florida, and we are proud to stand with five local FPN members as we work to strengthen our region through local news and information. We have come together to ensure everyone in South Florida has the news and information they need because we know that when people have access to reliable, relevant information, they can take action on the issues they face, together. We are also heartened to see other Press Forward local chapters take root across the state and are looking forward to coming together with them in March at the first-ever Florida Natural Disaster and Journalism Summit at the University of Florida in Gainesville."

"The challenge The Miami Foundation faces is the same challenge that probably every philanthropy organization faces – there are never enough financial resources to serve the vast needs of our community. With often limited resources, we have had to find creative ways to serve our community. Over the past few years, we have transformed our giving to embrace multi-year, unrestricted grantmaking. Doing so has helped us build immense trust with our local nonprofit partners while simultaneously freeing up more staff time to be out in the community (and less time leading high-cost grant cycles annually). We have also expanded beyond traditional sources to support our core grantmaking work. Instead of solely relying on our endowment for community grantmaking, we tapped into the resources of local government, family foundations, and corporations to more than double what we would have been able to give on our own."

"I love making big, bold ideas a reality for our Miami community. Working alongside an inspiring, powerhouse leader like Rebecca Fishman Lipsey is what keeps me going in this work. Together, we have helped grow the reach of the Foundation in incredible news ways – serving more nonprofits and Miamians every single year through our work and creating new innovative ways to work collaboratively with our philanthropic peers. There are no dull days in this work – it is what has kept me inspired at The Miami Foundation for the last 9 years."

"There are so few jobs in philanthropy that it may feel impossible to find a way into this field. If your end goal is a job in philanthropy, focus on building skills in other areas that are highly sought after by foundations – exceptional project management, subject-matter expertise in an issue area, operational excellence, and strong writing skills. There is nothing that staff members at a Foundation do that can’t be taught, but these are some of the skills we at The Miami Foundation look for in every single person we hire (in addition to a deep passion for Miami)!"