New classes in global giving, the use of the mobile Internet as a fundraising tool and nonprofit leadership in difficult times are among the Heyman Center's expanded classroom offerings this summer, reflecting what Academic Director Doug White says is a critical need for leaders in today's charitable sector to create new strategies for sustainability that consider global outreach and evolving online technologies among key initiatives. "The outlook for the charitable sector continues to be challenging, making it imperative for philanthropy leaders to harness innovation and global initiatives to remain viable in the decade ahead."

  

Also being featured are two Summer Intensive programs. The first is a rigorous,  fast-track session for fundraisers coordinated by Center faculty member Davida Isaacson to prepare students for a career in fundraising or advancement in the field. Students who successfully complete the July 5-29th program will receive a Certificate in Fundraising.  Taught by Center experts in new media, planned giving, ethics, marketing and board governance, the program includes a site visit to a major New York City nonprofit, a guided tour of the Foundation Center and a survey of employment and career options.

 

The second program is a one-week, mini-intensive session for new philanthropists and grantmakers, featuring classes designed specifically for independent philanthropists, members of philanthropic families and professional grantmakers with just a few years of experience in grantmaking. Coordinated by lead instructor Richard Marker, the session features faculty members and guest speakers from throughout the philanthropic world and stresses immersive learning through presentations, discussions, graded assignments and individual/group problem-solving exercises. "This is an immersive experience designed to fuel one's passion for grantmaking and private philanthropy," Marker says.

 

Please click here for general information about the summer programs or call 212-998-6770 to speak with an advisor prior to enrolling. To schedule an appointment, please email us.    

 

BUZZ

 

Heyman Center in the news and on the move:

 

 

 

* The Heyman Center's New Media Advisor and social media faculty member Marcia Stepanek has been invited by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and the Institute for Media and Global Governance to address an international conference on Internet Freedom June 8-11th in Geneva, Switzerland. The gathering convenes experts on social media, top bloggers who write about humanitarian causes, NGO leaders and the Mission's Internet Freedom Fellows to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using social media to affect change around the world.  

 

* Heyman Center Academic Director Doug White will interview Shelly Banjo, the author of The Wall Street Journal's Donor of the Day column, at this year's Fund Raising Day in New York conference on June 10th. Faculty members Davida Isaacson and Robin Rosenbluth also will be conducting sessions at the event;  Poonam Prasad is the event's Research Track Chair. Speaking as a panelist will be Casey Rotter (Master's 2008), the manager of UNICEF's Next Generation program.  

 

* Doug White will be speaking on the topic of international philanthropy at a conference sponsored by the Spanish government in Andorra la Vella, Spain, on June 16-17th.

 

* Fundraising faculty member Laura Fredricks was a guest speaker in early May at a Women's Democracy Network event in Moscow. She gave a presentation on the challenges of raising money for businesses and NGOs. While in Russia, she delivered a Master Class on fundraising communications at Moscow State Humanitarian University for the Russian NGO School Foundation. 

 

* Evaluation expert and Heyman Center faculty member Mirele B. Goldsmith moderated a panel at the 2011 Climate, Buildings and Behavior Symposium at the Garrison Institute May 25-26th.  

    

* Davida Isaacson conducted a workshop on planned giving at the German Fundraising Congress in Fulda, Germany, in April.  

 

* Faculty member Poonam Prasad has been promoted to Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philanthropy and Fundraising.

    

QUOTABLES

 

"In the absence of the Rapture, we may be witnessing something as important and much more real: a rupture in the nonprofit world as it grows to accept anything (that claims to be a charity) -- no matter how unintelligent or irrelevant that entity may be to the advancement of society."

 

-- Heyman Center Academic Director Doug White, writing June 2nd in The Chronicle of Philanthropy that the IRS may be getting too lenient about the types of groups and organizations to which it grants tax-exempt status  

 

Faculty Spotlight:

Elizabeth Ngonzi 

 

One might say that Elizabeth Ngonzi was fated to have a career as a global fundraising consultant to good causes. Ngonzi, who is teaching a course for the Center this summer on the use of smartphones and wireless technologies in fundraising, was born in Uganda, the daughter of a diplomat in the Ugandan Mission to the United Nations. "With my mother being a diplomat, I grew up in a home in which I was exposed to public service and community investment principles from a very young age," Ngonzi says.

 

Attending the United Nations International School in Manhattan from kindergarten through high school also gave her a unique, early education in cultural differences and global humanitarian and environmental issues. At the age of 10, she recalls, she accompanied her mother to the Second World Conference on Women in Copehagen -- an experience that catalyzed her passion for causes that promote the welfare and self esteem of women and girls globally.

 

Ngonzi earned her undergraduate degree in Information Systems from Syracuse University in 1992 and, after 10 years in private-sector marketing, shifted her focus to the giving sector. Since 2004, she has been drawing on her tech experience to help nonprofits better and more efficiently connect with their supporters.  Her course, Always On, Always There: Leveraging Mobile Applications and Engaging Supporters, will be taught online. "I appreciate how technology facilitates the sharing of vital information and resources, and provides a more even playing field for all causes to engage supporters, irrespective of size and geographical location," she says.

 

Adds Ngonzi: "In our existing economic climate, competition is even greater than in the past and those organizations that make it easy for supporters to engage with them are those that will survive the impending shifts towards mergers and acquisitions in our industry." 

MASTER'S CORNER

Three talkers

Want to know more about our Master's program in Fundraising and Grantmaking? We'll be on hand at an information session June 15th to answer your questions about courses, financial aid and degree requirements. Please contact Mayelly Moreno for more information.

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