Foundation Meetings


Throughout our Hawken Project, Ella and I have met with a variety of different professionals working in an academic capacity. We have met with numerous high school staff and college faculty throughout the United States to gain their perspective and learn about what they are doing to help their school. After meeting with a variety of different high schools and colleges, we felt that it was important and necessary that we have conversations with established non-profit foundations. Mr. Biggar was gracious enough to connect us with some of his colleagues from two extremely successful Northeast Ohio Foundations. One of the people Ella and I had the opportunity to meet with was Pam Eichenauer from the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation is a private family owned non-profit with a large endowment of over $175 million. The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation reviews grant proposals from other non-profit organizations and financially supports awarded non-profits. Throughout our conversation, Ms. Eichenauer emphasized the importance of any board adhering to their mission and fundamental values. I really enjoyed speaking with Ms. Eichenauer, and I learned a lot from our conversation. Not only did we have the opportunity to meet and speak with Ms. Eichenauer from the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, but Ella and I also had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Brenda Cummins from the Cleveland Foundation. The Cleveland Foundation is the first and oldest foundation in the world. It has over $2 billion dollars of endowment. During our conversation with Ms. Cummins, she gave us great project and group ideas. Ms. Cummins emphasized the importance of the Hawken Philanthropy Leadership Board having similar philanthropy core values to insure that the board is successful next year. Ms. Cummins also offered the ongoing support from herself, her colleagues, and the Cleveland Foundation. Next year, the Hawken Philanthropy Leadership Board will most likely have a few workshops with Ms. Cummins and her team to discuss philanthropy and establish a moral compass the board will abide by. I really enjoyed our conversations with both of the accomplished and outstanding people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WRA Meeting (5/20/20)

I have really enjoyed my Hawken Project with Ella. We have learned a lot about boards, philanthropy, and alumni relations. A really unique and great opportunity we have had with this project is connecting with a variety of professionals in various capacities. Overall, we have met with two dozen different alumni, high school staff/faculty, college staff/faculty, board members, and professionals in the non-profit field. An interview I found especially meaningful and significant was with Ruth Andrews and Andrea Brechtelsbauer from WRA’s Advancement Office. During our conversation, we discussed a variety of different aspects of philanthropy. We talked about the importance of service opportunities and learned about a unique activity WRA has for its students. In March, the Advancement Office and a group of senior students create and implement a philanthropy week for the entire school. Throughout the philanthropy week, students are educated about WRA’s rich history with philanthropy through...
Read more

Project Ideas (06/02/20)

After meeting with dozens of professionals from a variety of high schools, colleges, and philanthropy oriented fields, Ella and I obtained numerous project ideas and initiatives to present to the Hawken Philanthropy Leadership Board next year. Ella and I thought that it was essential that we identified the top projects that would be both successful and feasible for the board to complete. After hours of feedback and deliberation, we selected seven potential projects that the board will focus on. These projects we identified would ensure that the board is accomplishing its two-fold mission (1. Educating the Hawken Student body, 2. Providing internal/external initiatives to allow students to participate in). Ella and I agreed that the most important project that the board should potentially focus on for next year was establishing and creating the Hawken Philanthropy Week. We believe that students need to understand more about Hawken and the greater Cleveland community in order to truly ...
Read more