We asked: What’s one philanthropic trend in the community that excites you?

by Business Record Staff

A Business Record Power Breakfast earlier this year focused on the business of nonprofits and corporate giving. We asked them: What’s one philanthropic trend in the community that excites you? Panelists included: Teree Caldwell-Johnson, CEO,  Oakridge Neighborhood; Melanie Campbell, chief donor engagement officer, United Way of Central Iowa; Angie Dethlefs-Trettin, chief community impact officer, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines; Cherian Koshy, director of development, Des Moines Performing Arts; Kristin Schechinger-Camper, director of corporate citizenship, Nationwide; and Tray Wade, president and CEO, EveryStep

Caldwell-Johnson: I think about the way corporations are now, supporting nonprofits, it really does excite me because it gives us opportunities to engage with their employees. I think corporations are really taking their social responsibility and civic engagement opportunities for employees to a different level. And I love the opportunity that our organization has to not only engage with employees, but to create opportunities to not only identify volunteers and potential board members through those engagements, but also to identify ways that we really use their time and their talent to advance our organizational mission. There are any number of ways that we see organizations becoming involved with Oakridge and with any other nonprofit. But I do think that it’s not necessarily a new trend. But it is certainly a way for us to really expand not only our opportunity to expose our organization to others, but also to get them to invest their resources back into our organization.

Campbell: I think this is a really interesting time in the nonprofit industry, in terms of technology; not unlike many other industries that have been upended by apps and communication tools and different ways to purchase your, you know, items off of Netflix or Amazon or things like that. And that’s what’s happening in the nonprofit industry as well. And so it’s really hard for nonprofits because it’s like that stuff is very expensive and takes a lot of resources. ... And so this is where we’re really leaning on our volunteers who bring those skills to the table. But also, it’s just a really new and interesting time for nonprofits that are trying to catch up and trying to adapt so that our donors and our volunteers are able to connect with us on topics that are really interesting and important to them, but also are able to make their donations, track their volunteer hours, and all of those kinds of things in a digital way. Just like they do all the other things in their life. So I feel like we’re to this new kind of revolution in the philanthropic marketplace. And so it’s just a really interesting and exciting new place to be. 

Dethlefs-Trettin: I think one of the things that comes to my mind in terms of a really exciting trend in philanthropy is perhaps more at the institutional philanthropy level. When you think about our Greater Des Moines community, we have been very fortunate that philanthropy is not a seat that is added as part of community conversations down the road. We have very much embraced the concept that the philanthropic landscape, the charitable sector, whatever you want to call it, is a critical seat that must be present when a table is first formed. And I think that nationally that is something that is not the case in communities. And when that philanthropic seat is not there, I think the community suffers for that. So I’m excited that that is a trend that not only continues to manifest itself here, but also is a trend that I think we lead in, and we challenge other communities to come alongside us. And that being said, I think not only is it the traditional philanthropic seat, I think we have a lot of wonderful examples in our community where philanthropy is about very much engaging cross-generation. And I think about some of the new initiatives that are happening in our community right now, where we have perhaps more historically significant families or corporate investors that are truly bringing along additional folks to be a part of that philanthropic equation. And I’m excited about that. Because if we were to lose sight of the importance of that, I think our community … would not be as well positioned as we are right now.

Koshy: If you think about the trend in your own life, whether it’s personal or professional, that is inescapable. It is change. The speed of change that is occurring in every aspect of your life is inevitable. What I’m excited about is — and how that relates to the philanthropic sector is — that at a nonprofit level, we are evolving. Twenty-some years ago, when I started in the sector, the sector looked very, very different and how we operated looked very different. Now we are embracing tools like data and business intelligence and some of the advanced marketing tools that our for-profit colleagues have adopted. And we’re engaging with those pieces just like you are in your businesses or even in your personal life. I also think that the evolution of corporate funding is exciting. As we think more along the lines of overarching programmatic investment in nonprofits to fund staff and fund what has traditionally been called, like 30 years ago, overhead. Now realizing that that funding is necessary in order to move organizations and causes forward. So the exciting part of the time that we live in is the change that we will inevitably embrace and how we are shaped and moved by that. 

Schechinger-Camper: For us in the corporate world, I think what really excites us about what we’re seeing today, across where we have offices, where we where we operate, is collaboration opportunities. Collaborations with government entities, our own competitors, as well as nonprofits in the community to establish and find the things that are happening in that community and help create lasting change as well. And it’s making those types of investments that really help move a needle in a community to greater good. The second thing is change. I think that’s an exciting part of not only what we’re seeing internally, but we are in an industry that is changing constantly, and we are always having to be on our toes. And we want to see that. We’re seeing that with our nonprofit partners and others. Community change is inevitable, and it’s embracing that change and living in it and saying it’s OK. It’s not going to kill us. It’s OK to change because that’s just what’s going to help us continue to identify the issues that are happening in the community and really push them to make the lasting change that we know we need to see in the communities.

Wade: I’m continuously awed and somewhat relieved at the continued vibrancy of the community and how they support nonprofits. I think a lot of us on the stage 12 to 18 months ago, when there were some tax law changes that impacted corporate and individual giving, really were sitting in a room talking a lot about how is that going to impact us in our business. And while I’m sure we all have had some impact, for the most part of that community, both personal and corporate, giving has just remained strong and remained willing to support our nonprofits. And I think that’s amazing. The other thing I would say is the willingness of the community to be innovative, and really the open-mindedness that we often receive when we approach our funder for the new idea, something that we think could positively impact the community. I don’t know if a lot of other communities have that. So I think that that’s somewhere where we’re very strong. And we’re very fortunate that we have forward thinking both in the nonprofit world and in corporate giving work.