After adventuring around a bit -- moving to Switzerland, returning to work at the Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee, moving to New York City, working at the (very poorly paid) United Methodist Church Board of Global Ministries, getting remarried and having a baby -- I decided to get more serious about life. I took a job at the Aaron Diamond Foundation and became its grants administrator. The Diamond Foundation was set to last for ten years - it was in Mr. Diamond's will; so another job was on my horizon. Looking around at the field of philanthropy, with its leaps-and-bounds growth and its increasing professionalization, and realizing that I had learned everything I knew by necessity and the seat of my pants, I thought it would be great if there were a professional association of grants administrators. I knew of one other, Margaret Egan, so I called her and suggested lunch. We met and decided it was a good idea. We milked the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (now rebranded Philanthropy New York) membership list for other grants administrators and managers. I invited them to a meeting the Diamond Foundation hosted, and ten or twelve showed up.
Long story short: Now with more than 1,000 members across the US, Canada and a few in other countries, this organization is turning 20 this year. It hosts its own conferences and is holding this year's in Seattle, WA. Even though I'm now retired, Margaret and I are being reeled in to help celebrate this momentous occasion. More on all this to come.....
No comments:
Post a Comment