NET GAIN Small Grants Make a Big Impact

THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG

Howard Heinz Endowment US POSTAGE

Vira I. Heinz Endowment PAID 30 Dominion Tower PITTSBURGH PA 625 Liberty Avenue PERMIT NO 57 Pittsburgh, PA 15222-3115

412.281.5777 www.heinz.org SUMMER 2006

NET GAIN Small grants make a big impact

The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments

public (art) works page 4

INSIDE: ARTS SEEN NONPROFITS UNITE h is printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks. Jason Cohn

FOOD FOR THOUGHT 29 Summer break can be a time of fun and excitement for HARDHATS many children, but it also can contribute to hunger among those who depend on subsidized school lunches for When the expansion of the Sarah Heinz House on nourishment, Chris Heinz told more than 500 diners at the Greater Pittsburgh Pittsburgh’s North Side is complete next year, the Community Food Bank’s 25th anniversary event June 1. community youth center will have a state-of-the-art, “We need to redouble our efforts to support the food bank, since the environmentally friendly facility. And helping to explain underlying safety net for our children quite literally goes on vacation for the next the “green” building concept to visitors has been a group inside of young ambassadors wearing appropriately green three months,” said Heinz, a member of the Endowments’ and Heinz Family Philanthropies boards and honorary chair of the dinner at the Hilton Pittsburgh. construction hats. Founded more than four decades Our fields of emphasis include “I can guarantee you, in a malnourished child, hunger works morning, noon and These “HARDHATS,” shown below at the construc- apart, the Howard Heinz Endowment, philanthropy in general and the night. It takes no time off.” tion site, are 16 middle school-aged students who have established in 1941, and the Vira I. disciplines represented by our grant- The event, which honors individuals and organizations that have supported been following the expansion since last year and working Heinz Endowment, established in 1986, making programs: Arts & Culture; the food bank’s work to stop hunger in this region, coincided with National Hunger with Dick Corp., the primary contractor, to learn how a are the products of a deep family Children, Youth & Families; Innovation Awareness Day. A network of nearly 350 agencies in 11 counties, the food bank “sustainable” building is designed and built. commitment to community and the Economy; Education; and the provides groceries to about 120,000 people each month. Recent Heinz Endowments’ grants of about $3 million common good that began with Environment. These five programs work for the new construction are part of the more than H. J. Heinz and continues to this day. together on behalf of three shared CITY HIGH CLASS OF 2006 $23 million the Endowments The Heinz Endowments is based in organizational goals: enabling has given to the Sarah Heinz Weeks before members of City Charter In fact, City High students—the majority House in nearly three decades. Pittsburgh, where we use our region southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace High School’s first graduating class donned of whom have met state and federal academic Suzanne Matoney, environ- as a laboratory for the development and realize a vision of itself as a their caps and gowns, they made it clear standards for the past two years—have mental director at the center, of solutions to challenges that are premier place both to live and to work; what they wanted in a graduation speaker. grown accustomed to being a different No mixed metaphors—or, better yet, no breed. They go to classes in a downtown says the HARDHATS program national in scope. Although the majority making the region a center of quality metaphors at all, one group of seniors told Pittsburgh office building and attend school is a unique complement to the of our giving is concentrated within learning and educational opportunity; Suzanne Walsh, Endowments Innovation in trimesters, separated by one-month expansion because it’s “the southwestern Pennsylvania, we work and making diversity and inclusion Economy program officer, and the students’ breaks. They have the same teachers for first program that we are aware wherever necessary, including statewide defining elements of the region’s choice for guest speaker. No grandiose four years and participate in part-time intern- of where kids have been so closely involved with green and nationally, to fulfill our mission. character. pronouncements of the graduates’ future. ships. And about the only interscholastic construction from the outset of the project.” And be brief. competition the students enter is a robot- That mission is to help our region thrive The students have already put their new knowledge “‘You got two minutes,’” Walsh recalls building contest, reflecting the school’s to work, giving tours of the site on April 22, Earth Day. as a whole community — economically, one girl telling her, only half joking. technology focus. Clad in safety apparel that included their signature hard- ecologically, educationally and Walsh took a little more than two minutes Intrigued by City High’s unique qualities hats, the students explained how the facility is being built culturally— while advancing the state to facetiously mix a few metaphors (“You and committed to offering education options in a way that limits toxins; conserves materials and energy; of knowledge and practice in the have stepped up to the plate and grabbed to families, the Endowments has given the bull by horns.”); accede to another nearly $1.3 million in support to the school and creates a natural light-filled space. The children fields in which we work. student’s wishes to stay under a “bajillion” since 2002. That’s the same year City and their families also have pledged to conserve energy quotes; and declare that “You, City High High’s first 156 students started as fresh- at home and to use nature-friendly cleaning products. Class of Class of 2006, can save the world men. This year’s 95 graduates include “In essence, the HARDHATS program is teaching from evil.” members of that first class and others who important scientific concepts, but also life lessons,” Matoney h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are On a more serious note, she com- enrolled later. says. “Not only are the members mastering basic concepts committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specific fields represented mended the graduates for being pioneers in “Just remember,” concluded Walsh, of sustainability, but also they are learning transcendent by our grant-making programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication attending City Charter High School, or City shown below with brother-sister grads Michael skills at the same time: outreach, advocacy and public is intended to share information about significant lessons and insights we are deriving High, as it is called, despite teasing from and Jamie Niedecker, “all that you have from our work. peers; for living diversity in their friendships learned at City High will get you through the speaking.” Editorial Team Linda Bannon, Linda Braund, Maxwell King, Carmen Lee, with classmates and not just talking about rest of your life.” The Endowments’ annual operating support to the Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design it; and for achieving academic excellence Sarah Heinz House helps fund youth activities such as About the cover Small grants that fund projects such as new recreation equipment while appreciating the value of learning, the HARDHATS program and staff positions such as for the Holy Family Institute’s youth home north of Pittsburgh can help change lives. regardless of the grade or the risk of being Matoney’s post, established last fall. Heinz Endowments’ program staff has seen the difference such awards can make and labeled “nerds.” To learn more about the Sarah Heinz House or the continues to include them as part of the foundation’s grant making. HARDHATS program, call 412-231-2377. 4 Pittsburgh Art in Public Places Pittsburgh’s new Office of Public Art is shining a spotlight on the city’s art in public settings. 10 A Smaller Slice of the Pie Some Endowments-supported projects are proving that small grants can go a long way.

Volume 6 Number 3 Summer 2006 22 Working as One Western Pennsylvania nonproﬁts and foundations are aggressively uniting their efforts to inﬂuence the region’s future.

2 Feedback 3 Message 28 Here & There

Working, page 22 feedback

Our Spring annual report issue examined new Pittsburgh Superintendent Mark Roosevelt’s vision for the school district and education improvement efforts by local foundations that led to his arrival. We also looked at how two community groups, with foundation support, developed strategies to preserve Pittsburgh’s hillsides. 2

Class Act we really do not. We pretend to believe that Hillside Story For me, as a pastor and education advocate in the playing field is level for all students of the There are many statements in Tracy Pittsburgh’s African-American community, district when some of us know better. Certo’s “Hill Side Story” article with which Carole Smith’s profile of Superintendent For a while, Roosevelt will have to continue any concerned Pittsburgher will agree: Mark Roosevelt, “Class Act,” highlighted to explain why he did, what he did, the way “We shouldn’t be so anxious to develop the many questions that were raised when he did. He will have to deal in a meaningful everywhere.”“The city’s slopes…are intrinsic Roosevelt was appointed to lead the way with perceptions that are real, whether to the identity of the city.” Pittsburgh Public Schools. they are true or not. For example, there are Developers are concerned with Pittsburgh’s Among them: How does a person with no those who believe that there was racial viability, and their work is key to its continued public school administrative background take inequity in Roosevelt’s school-closing plan. success. They provide a valuable service to on the position of school superintendent? They feel the burden was placed on the back the public by creating places to live and work. Without that background, how is he going to of the black community. Done well, their developments also enhance close the ever-widening racial achievement There are those who say that African- the value of nearby homes. gap? How will Roosevelt be received by mem- American administrators are disappearing. As a developer in this region, I know bers of the African-American community If African-American students look around there are many factors that could inhibit who supported former Superintendent John their schools, some of which are predomi- widespread construction on our hillsides. Thompson and felt Thompson was given a nantly African American, and see few or no Slope development is very expensive and raw deal? How will he be received by the African-American administrators, teachers in many cases completely infeasible due to foundation community that at one point or counselors, then they begin to believe what stabilization costs of roads and building pads. withheld financial support from the district they have heard all their lives, that African One also can argue that developers left because of the schism between Thompson Americans are underachievers. That is not unchecked will strip the hillsides bare, and and the board? the message this district wants to send. The legislation is necessary to control the amount While some of the questions remain superintendent and school board must make and nature of hillside development. unanswered, Roosevelt has set as his No. 1 a concerted effort to ensure that African- But does the legislation as enacted by priority closing the academic achievement American students see African Americans in City Council prevent appropriate hillside gap between white and African-American their schools performing meaningful tasks, development? The regulations favor detached students. He says this is the No. 1 civil rights setting healthy examples in a healthy learning single-family, two-story homes built on larger issue of the day. He has made changes that environment. lots. This type of development utilizes more he says will make positive things happen Roosevelt and his proposals for improving green space and requires more stabilized over time. That remains to be seen. He and the district are going to be scrutinized and roadways than multi-family buildings. Besides everyone else know that time is of the tested. I trust the board will let him do the using more open space, single-family essence. We can no longer be satisfied with job he was brought here to do. I trust the detached homes are far less energy efficient a school district in which a large percentage community will support him when he is right than townhouses or even multistory apart- of African-American students are not and tell him when he is wrong. I trust that he ment buildings, both of which are not learning and not graduating. will face the tough issues and build bridges allowed by the legislation. If the Pittsburgh schools are going to of goodwill and partnership with all sectors So how does this legislation affect the tax turn around and be the best for all children, of the community. base of a cash-strapped city? Will it prevent Roosevelt must build consensus among All of us must work together for the developments that would be assets to board members, administrators, teachers, success of the most important commodity Pittsburgh? These are some of the questions parents and community residents. He must that we have—our children. that must be considered in public forums be a good listener. Dr. Johnnie Monroe required by the hillside legislation for Then the superintendent must be willing Senior Pastor any proposed developments in the future. to meet the race issue head-on if the achieve- Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church Let’s hope they get a fair hearing. Pittsburgh ment gap is going to be eradicated. No one Ernie Sota wants to deal with race in Pittsburgh. We President pretend to live in a color-blind society when Sota Construction Services Inc. Pittsburgh message Barry Lavery

By Teresa Heinz Chairman, Howard Heinz Endowment

3 “To do a common thing uncommonly ” well brings success. Henry John Heinz

n reading our stories for this issue, I was reminded of a imagine Pittsburgh, a place that time and again has turned to saying from the Chinese Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu that its nonprofit community for leadership and support, without I“great acts are made up of small deeds.” that vibrant assembly. The power of “small deeds” is evident everywhere in these I am often asked how much money it takes to make a pages. Take, for example, our story on public art, which notes genuine difference in philanthropy, as though there is some the impressive collection of artwork to be found in Pittsburgh’s magic number that tips us into efficacy. Implicit in the question public spaces. is what seems to be an increasingly common assumption that Individually, much of this artwork is diminutive relative to only big deeds count, and that big deeds require big money. the scale of the city surrounding it. Each piece offers a small But you don’t need to be a Warren Buffett to have a material and isolated moment for reflection amid the hurly-burly on impact on the world. Even his unprecedented gift to the Gates busy streets —cars honking, buses wheezing past, passersby Foundation illustrates the point. He knew his genius lay in focused on their next appointment. making money, not giving it away, and so he entrusted it to an Together, however, those small moments add up to a wholly organization expert in dividing a massive fortune into smaller different experience of urban life, and a different perspective pieces that could be focused more effectively on the work of on the city itself. They give it flavor and texture, seasoning it local and global community—and thereby create a whole with a splash of color, a whisper of beauty, a hint of difference, greater than the sum of the parts. a touch of whimsy, a taste of human experience and potential. Every large mosaic is fashioned from small chips, and what- They interrupt the glass-and-granite sameness, the onslaught ever the scale, there is value in focusing on the chips. That’s of asphalt, chrome and steel, and remind us why we value the point of our cover story, “A Smaller Slice of the Pie,” which cities— as centers not just of business but also of creativity, looks at how smaller grants can be effective, even for a relatively expression and aspiration. large foundation such as ours. In our work at the Endowments, Thus do small deeds of public art join together to become we are always mindful of the systems we need to affect in order one great act of urban vitality. to produce lasting change, but we also know that large systems A similar dynamic can be found in “Working as One,” our are made up of small parts — and the parts matter. story on a new alliance of the region’s nonprofit organizations. Mother Teresa once commented, “We can do no great While Pittsburgh is home to a number of sizable nonprofits things, only small things with great love.” Far less important that have become major contributors to regional economic than the size of our resources — or even the size of the task growth, most of the area’s thousands of social-sector we are taking on— is the personal investment we are willing organizations are relatively small—and therefore relatively to make of the best we have to give, including our passion, easy to take for granted. our intellect and whatever wisdom life has given us. That would be a tragic mistake. The not-so-small deeds I believe Mother Teresa’s point was that, when we do performed each day by these organizations, large and small, things in that way, even things we consider small, they aren’t add up to a great and irreplaceable mosaic of educational, small anymore. They contribute to a larger whole, which by cultural, economic and human services. It is impossible to definition makes them great. I can think of no better work. h Artist Jenny Holzer’s “For Pittsburgh,” her largest LED project in the United States, serves as the signature artwork for the cover of “Pittsburgh Art in Public Places,” a walking tour booklet published this year by the city’s Office of Public Art. The piece includes quotations from novels by Pittsburgh authors that are illuminated and scroll across the roofline of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, downtown. 5

he day begins with coffee and conversation on the South Side. Then, it’s off to the studio—the cavernous shell of Bar Mill 9, one of the few surviving structures on the grounds of the former LTV Steel Hazelwood mill. Here Tim Kaulen and a band of fellow artists known as the Industrial Arts Co-op spend the rest of the day working I-beams, heavy scrap and other mill artifacts into a public art tribute to the steel industry, one rivet at a time. They clearly enjoy the work. They just never imagined this Sunday ritual would last so long. Or involve so many setbacks. The sculpture is imposing: a salvaged hot metal ladle weighing five tons and two 18-foot representations of steelworkers built from the steel trusses of the original Hot Metal Bridge that joined the Hazelwood mill with its sister plant across the Monongahela River. It should have been completed years ago. But on this June morning, Kaulen cannot pin down the finish line. Already seven years in the making, it might take another two, he says, depending on the hours the artists are able to donate. None of them are drawing a paycheck from the project. PITTSBURGH’S ARTISTIC The budget set in 1999 by the City of Pittsburgh, which had commis- LEGACY IS GETTING sioned the work, was exhausted long ago. To make ends meet, Kaulen has A MUCH-NEEDED BOOST elevated scavenging into an art form itself, securing additional funds, steep FROM ITS NEW OFFICE discounts, and donations of materials and equipment ranging from angle OF PUBLIC ART. WITH iron to a used forklift. SUPPORT FROM THE But even if they were to finish the sculpture today, it has no place to go. HEINZ ENDOWMENTS, The city has yet to find a home for it. THE OFFICE IS PROVIDING “We didn’t know what we were doing,” says Jeremy Smith, the city RESOURCES TO PRESERVE Planning Department’s zoning administrator. “We funded a project at AND EXPAND THE $25,000 that realistically required about $140,000 to implement. The artist CITY’S ARTWORK IN THE was overly optimistic about what he could achieve, and we didn’t have the PUBLIC REALM. foresight to say, ‘You’re getting in over your head.’ We should’ve had a site BY JEFFERY FRASER for the piece before entering into an agreement. The result has been this PHOTOGRAPHY BY cascade of additional funding requests, leases that expired, work progress JOSHUA FRANZOS being stopped and sites being lost.” The consequences run even deeper. Not knowing where the sculpture would be placed altered the artists’ creative approach. “It’s hard to design something of this scale without knowing where it’s going to live,” says Kaulen, whose local work includes a series of inflatable creatures for the

Jeff Fraser is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and a frequent contributor to h. His last story ran in the Spring annual report issue and reported on the merger of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. started as a pilot project last year with a $50,000 grant from The Heinz Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Endowments. It already has begun to of Public Art, was on hand to assist with “We finally had to let go of the notion bring stability to the field as both an the next phase of installations for the that it needs to have a direct relationship advocate and a resource with the time project, which received $75,000 in support with its surroundings.” and expertise to lend technical support to from the Endowments. She helped with Yet, as he works in the light-deprived government officials, artists, developers, writing the call for artists, selecting those Bar Mill 9, Kaulen sees a brighter future business owners and others interested in who would participate and developing for public art in Pittsburgh. And Smith, promoting art in the public realm. the contracts. She also sat on the review in his paper-choked Ross Street office, Some early indications of its potential panel for the design development. concurs. “I’m confident we’re on the can be seen in the solar-powered music Jonathan Cox, vice president of right track.” transmissions and incandescent images operations for the Pittsburgh Downtown

6 Much of their confidence is grounded of human and animal eyes that for more Partnership, which commissioned the in the potential of the year-old Office than a year have enlivened a downtown Strawberry Way project, says Piechocki of Public Art to help the city avoid the pedestrian throughway known as later pulled together panel discussions missteps of the past and enable Pittsburgh Strawberry Way. about the installation and about how to build upon its long tradition of The multi-phase, $250,000 public architects and artists can work together supporting public art. art project was conceived in 2002, and to enhance Pittsburgh’s image. “She has The office, a partnership between illuminated street signs and colored convened meetings of people interested the city Planning Department and the panels were set up in 2004. Last year, in promoting public art in the city, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, was Renee Piechocki, director of the Office providing an opportunity to share ideas.” Jack Wolf John Sanderson Noting Piechocki’s guidance with the begun last year is being expanded. A Strawberry Way installations, Cox pre- public art component is being added dicts that “the Office of Public Art will Under Piechocki’s direction, the Office to the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council contribute to the vitality of Pittsburgh, of Public Art is making its presence felt online artists registry. Artists who in general, and downtown, in particular.” with projects such as the publication work in the public realm will be able to Kaulen agrees, though the benefit earlier this year of “Pittsburgh Art In upload images and information about may come a bit late for the steel industry Public Places,” a self-guided walking tour their work to be included in the registry, tribute. “Ours suffered by not having of public art in downtown Pittsburgh. which is intended to help developers direct contact with the city to keep it It is part of an effort to raise awareness and others looking to commission public moving,” he says. “I think that oversight of the breadth and quality of work art find local artists. An assessment of will be really important and will be commissioned by public and private the condition of existing works of public very instrumental for future projects by benefactors as far back as 1865, when art to identify those in need of mainte- artists in the city.” stone reliefs of Abraham Lincoln, nance also is planned. 7 Their expectations are fueled by George Washington and others were Financial support for such projects Piechocki’s long experience as a public sculpted into the side of the Arbuckle increased significantly this year with the art professional. An artist herself, she has Coffee Building off Sixth Avenue. In office receiving a $33,000 grant from spent more than a decade commissioning May, the office launched its Web site, the National Endowment for the Arts and implementing public art in several www.publicartpittsburgh.org, to anchor and an additional $120,000 grant from cities and served as the Public Art news and services related to public art. the Endowments for second-year funding. Network manager for Americans for Several other initiatives are also in From the Endowments’ perspective, the Arts from until 2004. development. A successful lecture series a finely tuned mechanism for promoting

A group from the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania gets a lesson on downtown public art as it follows the map in the “Pittsburgh Art in Public Places” guide on the opposite page. Included in the booklet are photographs and descriptions of artwork such as Louise Bourgeois’ bronze fountain and eyeball- shaped benches at the Agnes R. Katz Plaza, opposite page. Another stop during the June 6 walking tour: artist Penelope Jencks’ “Pittsburgh People,” above left, a series of figures in the Dominion Tower plaza designed to reflect the city’s relationship with business and the arts. In the Strawberry Way pedestrian throughway, above right, Renee Piechocki, director of the Office of Public Art, explains the art installed along the four-block alley. “These can be very tricky projects and people tend to underestimate the and supporting public art would help technical skill you need to do them.” advance Pittsburgh as a cultural center, In 1998, the Endowments joined diodes—display that streams text from which is one of the goals of its Arts & several other local foundations to lend the works of Pittsburgh literary luminaries Culture Program. Public art also is part private support to one of the largest along the edge of the center’s cantilevered of the foundation’s cross-disciplinary public projects in the region involving roof and across the night sky. focus on civic design. public art and civic design principles— “Public art is a way to express the “Although there had been a lot of the wholesale renovation of the David L. unique character of our community,” public art activity and money spent in Lawrence Convention Center. The says Piechocki. “We aren’t buying art Pittsburgh, we hadn’t created a body of Endowments was among the sponsors of from a catalog. We’re asking people to knowledge that could be accessed and the competition that led to the selection make something specifically for us.”

8 that we could grow and learn from as of architect Rafael Viñoly’s design with Kenneth Snelson’s “Forest Devil” in projects were done,” says Mary Navarro, its distinctive swooping, cable-suspended Mellon Square, for example, was the Arts & Culture senior program officer. roof inspired by the city’s bridges. result of the Three Rivers Arts Festival’s “Without a system or a repository of The foundation also contributed to a 1977 Sculpturescape project, which knowledge, every time someone wanted public-private fund used to commission paired local companies with artists to to undertake a project we had to start art for inside and outside the convention create works for the city. Snelson created anew. How do you issue a contract? center. Some two dozen works were the freestanding structure of 16 cable- How do you issue an RFP [request for commissioned, including Jenny Holzer’s linked stainless steel tubes that reflects proposals]? Who are the advisors? “For Pittsburgh,”an LED—light-emitting his interest in the patterns of physical Grant Street. “It’s a wonderful piece, and I had no idea it existed,” says Taylor, who is now program director for forces with materials and labor donated national initiatives at Arts Midwest in to advise officials on the acquisition and by Allegheny Ludlum Steel and two local Minneapolis, Minn. placement of public artwork. fabrication plants. Piechocki says she has seen enough In the city, the Planning Department Pittsburgh has acquired a broad encouraging developments in her is now encouraging developers to include collection of public art, much of it com- short tenure as director of the Office of art in their Pittsburgh projects as a missioned by the arts festival, corpora- Public Art to believe the region will be matter of policy. And officials are poised tions, developers and other private able to sustain its tradition of enriching to begin overhauling the city’s century- interests. The breadth and quality of the public spaces with quality artwork. She old ordinance that sets guidelines for work detailed in the Office of Public testified as an advocate of public art art on public property. 9 Art’s downtown walking tour booklet during hearings last year that resulted “If it does nothing else,” says Smith, has even surprised city arts professionals. in Allegheny County adopting its first “the Office of Public Art has been a For example, Christine Taylor, former public art ordinance. The legislation great forum for us to engage the issues, director of arts services at the Greater creates a funding mechanism for public think about what we want to achieve and Pittsburgh Arts Council, discovered art by setting aside 2 percent of the cost the best ways to achieve it. And that’s “Fortune On Her Wheel,” John La Farge’s of county-financed building and park important. It’s hard to sell the value of 1902 opalescent glass illustration of the projects—up to $100,000. The new law public art—to make that pitch—when Roman goddess in the Frick Building on also establishes an appointed art board you are fumbling.” h

In the Wood Street T station, opposite page, the Grantmakers tour group passes Sol LeWitt’s “Thirteen Geometric Figures,” a series of simple, abstract shapes along the transit station’s wall. Above left, the aluminum bird sculptures in Mary Callery’s “Three Birds in Flight” appear to soar overhead within the Sixth Avenue entrance to the Regional Enterprise Tower. People enjoying a sunny afternoon in the One Oliver Plaza courtyard, above right, are reﬂected in a window of the building’s rear lobby where the tour group examines the colorful shapes and patterns of Virgil Cantini’s “Aerial Scape, Skyscape.”

Jack Wolf, a freelance photographer for 26 years, used his expertise in capturing Pittsburgh images to photograph public art for “Pittsburgh Art in Public Places.” Examples from the booklet helped illustrate this story. John Sanderson

SMALL GRANTS CAN YIELD LARGE RETURNS, AND SOME ENDOWMENTS-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS ARE DEMONSTRATING HOW GOOD INVESTMENTSBY CHRIS COME FLETCHER IN ALL SIZES.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOSHUA FRANZOS A SMALLER SLICE OF THE

PIE 11 The jackpot. The mother lode. The bonanza. The gold. We’re taught to think big, the bigger the better. And so it is in the realm of foundation donations where mega-grants often garner the attention—both of the public and of the organizations seeking to raise money. In 2003, The Heinz Endowments committed about $1 million over three years for the Small Arts Initiative. This year, the Riverlife Task Force received $500,000 from the Endowments to support development of design plans to renovate Point State Park. These grants grab headlines. But many foundation program officers working in southwestern Pennsylvania believe it’s often the smaller, under-the-radar grants that stimulate program growth. “They have huge value,” says Janet Sarbaugh, senior program director for Arts & Culture at the Endowments. “T hese grants are the seed corn that helps fledgling projects ge t started. If you plant a lot of seed, some of it takes root. And the size of the grants forces organizations to think creatively, to find partnerships to stretch further and to make sure that programs reflect morethose directly dollars on their missions.” In sports terminology, it’s eschewing the home run for the single. String a few hits together and you score. That strategy is important in the foundation world, says Sarbaugh. Not-for-profits can leverage smaller hits for larger results. For example, funding from the Endowments or some of the region’s other foundations brings a “stamp of approval” that can be But even when judged on its own, a grant’sused insize attracting isn’t necessarily additional directly grants. proportional to impact, as the following stories about awards ranging from $10,000 to $58,000 point out.

Chris Fletcher is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer and the former publisher and editor of Pittsburgh Magazine. This is his ﬁrst story for h. 12

ost people my age don’t time to serve as trainers for volunteers. The foundation “ realize what the philan- then gave the organization an additional $13,000 to pro- Mthropic world does,” says vide the students with an opportunity to award grants. 20-year-old Carson Bruno. “They tend “The youth philanthropy program at The Heinz to see it as rich people writing checks. Endowments dovetailed nicely into our youth leadership However, the research, cooperation and strategic initiative to teach children how to share and time spent on each grant are amazing. care through volunteering,” says Community Outreach It’s not just giving money away; it’s find- Executive Director Fay Morgan. ing a purpose for it.” Four high school students from northern Allegheny Thanks to the Endowments’ Summer Youth County were hired and charged with using the $13,000 to Internship—Youth Philanthropy Program, provide funding to other groups that would perform proj- Bruno now has a first-hand appreciation of how ects benefiting youth in the area. But before Community money moves from a foundation to a grantee. Outreach student leaders received any proposals, they During the eight-week program last year, Bruno led a project of their own—rehabbing a cottage for the and two other high school graduates, Addriene social services agency Glade Run Lutheran Services—so Atterberry and Kathryn McCaffrey, served as grant they could better understand what it takes to deliver. officers with a single purpose: Fund youth groups Then the students identified seven projects, ranging that create programs to benefit other youth. from buying recreation equipment to refurbishing a com- Their work had a domino effect, sparking opportu- munity kitchen at the Calvert Memorial Presbyterian Church nities for other young people in communities north of to sending a group from the New Community Youth group Pittsburgh to learn about grant making. Before making to Biloxi, Miss., to perform hurricane relief work. any funding decisions, however, the Endowments interns One of the projects looks to be self-sustaining. Deer Lakes got a crash course in philanthropy. High School senior Maria Mercuri oversaw the grant given to “It’s an intense program,” says Children, Youth & Families her school’s National Honor Society, which established the Program Officer Wayne Jones. “The students learn a lot about Deer Lakes Community Foundation. The fledgling organiza- the Endowments’ approach to philanthropy, network with tion held a banquet in April, raising $4,000 for scholarships. other youth philanthropy programs and examine community “The scholarships went to 11 students who exemplify issues.” excellence inside and outside the classroom,” explains Mercuri, Armed with that training, the students reviewed 32 submis- adding that the experience will have a lasting effect on her as sions before making their recommendations to Endowments’ she heads off to George Washington University in the fall. “I President Maxwell King and program staff. One project that made was able to learn a lot about myself and my community. If you the cut was a proposal from North Hills Community Outreach, Inc., give of your time and solidly commit to a worthy cause, those a human services organization with a strong history of youth-focused around you will benefit and your community will improve.” volunteer programs. The Endowments interns awarded the group $16,000, which enabled it to hire high school students for the first

The St. John Neumann youth group in Franklin Park, north of Pittsburgh, is scoring more than points with a grant through the Endowments-supported youth philanthropy program at the North Hills Community Outreach. Alex Oltman, 17, top center, is the youth leadership coordinator for the St. John Neumann’s group, which used its $1,250 award to provide recreation equipment and sports instruction to the Holy Family Institute residential program in Emsworth, north of Pittsburgh. Youngsters who live at the home include, from left, Derrick Brice, 11; Brandon Satolli, 12; Zachary Chapman, 11. north hills community outreach setting a legacy for giving

13 komen pittsburgh race for the cure embarking on a new course Ninety-one-year-old Irene Braddock, seated center, has reason to cheer. A breast cancer survivor for 37 years, Braddock, of Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, celebrated that milestone at this year’s Race for the Cure in May.

t’s Pittsburgh’s sign of For example, research is showing that higher estrogen levels spring. Pink is everywhere— increase breast cancer risks, raising the possibility that house- Ion T-shirts, on ribbons, on hold products containing chemicals that act like estrogen might baseball caps—as more than be linked to escalating cancer rates. In the United States, one 33,000 cancer survivors and their of every seven women will get breast cancer in her lifetime; supporters run, jog, walk and 50 years ago, that number was 1 in 22. With some 85,000 syn- roll through Schenley Park for thetic chemicals in commercial use and an additional 2,000 the Komen Pittsburgh Race for introduced annually—most without undergoing testing for the Cure. their effects on human health—Meier fears the number of It’s a Mother’s Day tradition. women who develop cancer will continue to increase Many of those who gather on unless risk factors are identified. a crisp spring morning, in pink “The grant has enabled us to hold forums as we enter to honor those who have had a whole new area of programming,” she says. Komen breast cancer, are following a volunteers are trained to lead community meetings that familiar course: For 14 years the present risk factors and alternatives. race has been run to raise aware- Meier pulls out her lunch, some pasta from the night ness of the disease diagnosed before, neatly packaged in a glass container rather than in more than 210,000 people a plastic one (as an example of the practical informa- each year in the United States. tion the educational outreach covers). “Microwave “The focus of the event is to safe just means the plastic won’t melt,” she says. remind people how breast can- “But the heat could release harmful substances cer has affected their families from the container into your food.” and friends,” says Jo Ann Meier, In addition to moving the local Komen founda- executive director of the Pitts- tion into new areas programmatically, the out- burgh affiliate of the Komen reach is pushing the organization into new Foundation. geographic territories. Meetings in Elk, Venango However, the organization and other outlying western Pennsylvania is leading its supporters on a counties have connected rural communities new pathway, with help from a $58,000 Endowments grant. The to the foundation, expanding its base in money has allowed the Komen Foundation’s Pittsburgh affiliate to terms of awareness and fundraising. expand its focus to include breast cancer prevention. The Komen Most important, “women are staying Foundation has partnered with The Collaborative on Health and the around after the presentation and asking Environment–Pennsylvania, the Center for Environmental Oncology a lot of questions,” Meier says. of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Endowments Similar questions also are being asked to alert women to possible environmental causes of cancer elsewhere around the country. For the through seminars, brochures and a Web site, www.reducingrisk.org. first time, the national Komen office “We’ve created a grassroots program, something designed not commissioned a white paper on the to be too forceful, but rather to present information to women effects of environment on breast can- about household products we use, foods we eat and how chemi- cer. “It’s an exciting territory that fits cals in our environment may have links to causing cancer,” says into our mission that we were able Meier, herself a cancer survivor. to pursue. And it can be explored nationally,” says Meier. 16

oi Derricotte thinks back to a defining moment in The grant money also allowed Cave her life. A young poet enrolled in graduate school Canem to increase its fundraising efforts, Tat New York University in 1984—the only African says Director Carolyn Micklem. “Because American in the poetry program at the time—she recalls of the Endowments, we were also able to asking her professor in the hallway why the class wasn’t get support from the Grable Foundation reading any works by black poets. and the Multicultural Arts Initiative. It also “And I got this answer, ‘We never go down that low,’ ” allows us to provide the workshop for free to she recalls. The remark fueled an ambition that began the poets. They only need to pay for the room burning deep within her to create a forum where African- and board for the week [about $500].” American poets could fully explore their craft. For the next Since its inception, more than 215 fellows 12 years, Derricotte sought funding for such a program. She have enrolled in Cave Canem, with participants linked up with Cornelius Eady, a fellow college instructor and allowed to attend the program three times within African-American poet, and the pair succeeded in making the five years. Each year, more than 150 applicants vie workshop a reality in 1996. for the 10 to 15 spots that open up. The name for the program was inspired by a chance obser- The workshop calls on participants to write a vation during a joint vacation in Italy with their respective poem each day and to share it with the others in an families. Visiting Pompeii and the ruins caused by the erup- atmosphere where risk is supported and nurtured, tion of Mount Vesuvius, the two came to the House of the says Reginald Flood, a third-year fellow and professor Tragic Poet. On tile Derricotte saw CAVE CANEM—Latin for at Eastern Connecticut State University. “It allows you to beware of the dog—along with a mosaic of a large black dog be daring and try new things… lyrical poems, sonnets, breaking free from its chains. free verse,” he says, “but most importantly, it allows voices “I started yelling, ‘Cornelius, I found it!’ ” Derricotte remem- that might not otherwise be heard to come together.” bers.“The image was perfect.Our poets would be freed to express The workshop concludes every year with readings open themselves and their inner feelings. They would no longer feel to the general public. In mid-June, a packed house at the isolated by being the only African Americans in the room.” Mattress Factory on Pittsburgh’s North Side listened to a Cave Canem was originally a summer workshop based in collection of poetry that was honest, sometimes combative upstate New York, on the shores of the Hudson River. Organizers and always gripping. were looking for a new home when a $10,000 grant from the For Derricotte, now a professor of English and poetry at Endowments enabled them to move the program to the Univer- the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus in the city’s Oakland sity of Pittsburgh’s Greensburg campus and cover the cost of section, it’s a source of great pride that Cave Canem’s workshops scholarships for those who otherwise couldn’t attend. are being held in this region. “For black poets, it’s the most important program of its kind. And it’s here.”

Lucille Clifton shares her work at the Cave Canem poetry reading in June. Clifton, who has been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and served as Poet Laureate of Maryland, was the featured guest poet for the event at the Mattress Factory on Pittsburgh’s North Side. She currently is a distinguished professor of humanities at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. cave canem bringing a powerful voice to a region homeless children’s education fund finding new focus– and new stakeholders Fourteen-year-old Tyler Ketter dances in his chair to music he’s listening to from an Internet site. The Homeless Children’s Education Fund provided the computers to a Salvation Army shelter in Pittsburgh, where Tyler and Heather Deshantz, 15, seated at a computer, live.

oseph Lagana had been side—designing their own amusement park on the computer,” struggling with the mission says Program Manager Judy Jackson. She adds with a smile, “They Jof the organization he helped just don’t realize they’re learning.” found. A lifelong educator and Across town in the Strip District, Myra Powell, program former executive director of the supervisor for Three Rivers Youth, The Hub, needs online GED Allegheny Intermediate Unit—a —General Educational Development—degree-prep and job- regional educational agency that readiness programs since most of her constituents are 18 to provides teacher training and 21. “We provide safe Internet and e-mail access and resume curricular support to Allegheny writing, which are essential for people looking for a job,” County school districts—Lagana she explains. launched the Homeless Children’s Lagana credits the Endowments grant with enabling Education Fund in Pittsburgh’s the Homeless Children’s Education Fund and its board to Strip District in 1999 to supple- rethink how the computer labs were created. “We dis- ment federal funding and provide covered that all shelters aren’t the same,” he says. educational services to home- “They have different resources, different staffs and less children. different needs by their occupants.” But what exactly did that In response, the fund has set up a central com- mean? And drawing from his puter to deliver program options that range from experience at the intermediate educational-readiness seminars to local library unit, he wondered if there was a access to conflict-resolution training. The net- way to replicate services across work reaches into the shelters, which then pick the region. In 2001, bolstered by and choose the modules to use. “We’ve created a $30,000 grant from the Endow- a menu of educational services,” Lagana says, ments, Lagana discovered the “where the staff of the shelters can best deter- answer. mine the mix of programs they need.” Initially, the grant was to The fund received an additional grant support computer-learning cen- from the Endowments in 2003—$50,000 ters in four housing shelters in spread across two years—and now serves Allegheny County. These com- nine shelters in Allegheny County. Lagana, puter labs would provide Internet however, stresses the importance of that access to a transient population initial investment. of nearly 3,000 homeless children for whom establishing a connec- “First, it helped focus us,” he says. tion to schools was a difficult proposition. But even when such link- “Second it allowed us—in fact forced ages could be made, the children would have limited access to the us—to leverage that money by going computers in their temporary “home” environment. And while the to other foundations. Because Heinz need for computer services crossed many of the county’s 17 shelters, believed in us, Eden Hall [Foundation] it became apparent that exact replication wasn’t the solution. and Grable [Foundation] came on For example, the downtown Pittsburgh Salvation Army Shelter, board, and we were also able to one of the fund’s installations, focuses on educating 6- to 16-year- get some government grants from olds using computer study aids and games. “There is homework and The [Pennsylvania] Department basic study help along with ways for kids to explore their creative of Education.” Stewart Sutin, Community College of Allegheny County president, mingles with students at the Allegheny campus on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

eismic shifts shook the Community College of Allegheny Sutin says he has County in 2002. That year, the Allegheny Conference on learned more about pub- SCommunity Development called for the community college lic perceptions because system to play a greater role in workforce training. At the same of these disputes. What time, state and county funding eroded sharply. Oh, and CCAC he already knew were prin- needed a new president when Roy Flores announced that he would ciples of financial manage- be leaving to take the lead position at Pima County Community ment. And his skills have College in Tucson, Ariz. helped right an organization The college’s trustees knew that its new top official would need that was barely teetering on some nontraditional skills to deal with increased demands as the edge of survival, let alone resources dwindled. “We could no longer point to someone from meeting the requirements of academia,” recalls board Chair Paul Whitehead. “We needed some- an expanded mission. From the one who would be outward-bound and have a strong financial start, Sutin had to rely on what background, a best-in-class leader.” he learned in 29 years of banking. But given the organization’s budget, it would be difficult to con- “Our needs were more serious than I duct a national search to find such a candidate. Whitehead realized,” he recalls. “We did a pro approached the Endowments to serve as the lead foundation in forma that showed that unless we putting together a consortium for the recruiting effort. The changed our ways, there was going to be Endowments pledged $25,000 and was instrumental in getting a major deficit at the college.” other stakeholders on board, says Whitehead. The Pittsburgh Part of the solution was to increase Foundation and The Richard King Mellon Foundation each matched the organization’s fund-raising efforts. the Endowments’ investment. Sutin also revamped the CCAC leadership and The search identified Stewart Sutin, who certainly fit the bill as reorganized it to operate as a single college a nontraditional leader for the school. Although he did have some rather than as four branch colleges. background in education—lecturing at the University of Texas, the Then Sutin visited many of the region’s University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and hold- employers to get their ideas on improving ing college advisory board positions—Sutin was a businessman. CCAC’s workforce development offerings. Out of A senior vice president and international department head for those meetings came a number of initiatives: The Mellon Financial Corp., his appointment was seen as possibly the school’s Center for Health Careers addresses the beginning of a national trend for community colleges. It was even region’s nursing shortage. A Center for Professional the focus of an article in the respected Chronicle of Higher Education. Development strives to offer regional companies Going outside the safer universe of academia has had its trade- cost-effective training. And a new program geared offs, however. Sutin has been enveloped in controversies that toward African Americans is looking to encourage more threaten to overshadow his accomplishments. of the region’s minority population to pursue higher Critics say the corporate world didn’t prepare him for the public education. sector. Three-fourths of the faculty signed a letter to the new But given the swirling controversies, are these accom- president, noting their lack of involvement in changes made at the plishments enough to secure Sutin’s position? He acknowl- college and criticizing raises given to administrative staff when edges the problems. “I came in with strengths in putting faculty were being let go. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato together strategies, managing change and putting in performance and County Council members were angered by $48,000 spent on drivers,” he says. “I didn’t come in with skills in public informa- relocating two newly hired executives at CCAC. The college’s deci- tion and politics. I’ve been getting some coaching on matters of sion not to release its budget to the public added to the outrage. transparency, and we’re establishing rules for disclosure.” Revelations about unexplained, albeit modest, travel expenses And the region and the community college system will be increased the reproaches. In the private sector, these actions watching to see how this all plays out. might have caused ripples, but at CCAC, they set off a political storm. community college of allegheny county a new leader’s growing pains WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA’S 2,700 NONPROFITS ARE KNOWN FOR BEING WELL PREPARED TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. NOW, THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE JOINING FORCES TO LEVERAGE THEIR NUMBERS AND EXPERTISE TO TAKE A LEADING ROLE IN THE REGION’S DEVELOPMENT. BY CHRISTINE H. O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNIE O’NEILL

working as

he massive projection screen, the glowing laptop onedisplays, the handheld electronic voting pads T and the expectant buzz of a well-dressed crowd at Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center last spring suggested a battle brewing: a proxy ﬁght, or perhaps a party endorsement. In fact, the March 7 meeting debated neither corporate nor political power. It convened a group that is just beginning to step up to the regional leadership plate. The 1,000 guests gathered around 100 color-coded tables for a day to answer a single question: “What are the next big steps the nonproﬁt sector can take?” 23

“At the nonproﬁt summit, we ﬁnally had the right people sitting at the table. For a stronger voice

in regional planning, we all need The group at Table 79 waded into a rapid-fire exchange. each other now more than ever.” Jumping professional boundaries, a historic preservationist, a theater director, a radio producer, a consultant, a neigh- Fred Just Executive Director, Society of St. Vincent de Paul borhood activist, a conservationist and three human services managers brainstormed ideas to benefit all of the region’s 2,700 local nonprofits. “Avoid duplication of services with asset mapping,” suggested Cynthia Bradley-Pugh, director of the Homewood- Brushton YWCA. “Measure the gross domestic product for our nonprofit sector,” recommended radio producer Larry Berger. “Change school and transit funding,” said Lee Haller, a nonprofit consultant. Within minutes, suggestions were fed into laptop computers at each table, synthesized by a team of editors and presented to the full room. The onscreen recommendations were ranked in importance, using the electronic keypads. Winning strategies advanced fiber-optically from priorities to collective strategies to alignment with other sectors’ agendas and, finally, to specific steps for action. Emerging as the favorite was one ambitious idea: “Collaborate with business and government to get a place at the table to impact public policy.” With its gee-whiz town meeting technology, the conference sponsored by Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania

Chris O’Toole is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer. Her last story for h was about how the Endowments-supported Pittsburgh Civic Design Coalition is getting tips from officials in Chattanooga, Tenn., on how to revive Pittsburgh’s downtown. “As a membership organization, the partnership will provide an opportunity to advocate collectively on big issues facing us like state budgets and charity regulation. demonstrated local nonprofits’ ambition to grab some of the spotlight. Armed with strategic plans, Web sites, crack staffs It can also educate the community and now, a rough agenda for a brand-new advocacy group, broadly about the importance of Pittsburgh-area agencies and funders are demanding credit for the leadership and services they provide and for their influence charity in our lives, both giving on the region’s future. and volunteering.” The attention is overdue, says noted researcher Paul Light, a New York University professor who has written extensively Gregg Behr President, Forbes Funds about nonprofit management. “Everywhere I go, I look for evidence that funders and nonprofits are pulling together,” he says. “They’re doing it in Pittsburgh. It’s the only major city I’ve been to where everyone seems to be cooperating and addressing questions systemati- cally. The sector here understands the issues it faces.” Grant Oliphant, vice president of programs and planning for The Heinz Endowments, attributes the region’s progress to its strong history of public-private partnerships. “There is also a tradition here of working at the intersections of organizations and disciplines. That reflects a collaborative regional atmosphere. Interesting things happen when we get together.” The Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership is the latest and largest example for that collaboration. Established last summer as an alliance of western Pennsylvania’s diverse nonprofits, the partnership asks the various social service agencies, youth organizations, arts groups, education associations and foundations to develop and support a regional agenda for the sector. The March 7 summit was the first step toward creating that consensus. Skeptics might say that organizing thousands of Everyone at Table 70 is engrossed in the discussion during the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania’s 2006 Nonprofit Summit in March. Group members representing different nonprofits, businesses and government agencies shared

ideas that would be entered into a laptop computer and Courtesy of the Tribune-Review later projected on a large screen in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

25 nonprofits, already grouped into dozens of alliances and summit, we finally had the right people sitting at the table. coalitions, might be similar to herding cats. In fact, says Gregg For a stronger voice in regional planning, we all need each Behr, president of the Forbes Funds, which oversees the other now, more than ever.” Partnership, the summit “nailed down obvious places to work Also encouraging those partnerships has been The Forbes together as a community. It was an affirmation of 1,000 voices.” Funds, a 24-year-old institution founded to strengthen Local nonprofits have already done some successful cat- nonprofits through research and technical assistance. The lassoing. Arts groups have scored a win in collaborating on Endowments has supported Forbes with $4.65 million since benefits and an agile marketing database (see h, Spring 2004). its inception in the Reagan era, when Forbes created a loan Other nonprofits are learning that sharing resources makes guarantee fund for hard-pressed community agencies. good business sense and reduces duplicated efforts. Since then, “The Forbes Funds has evolved to do something Eighteen months ago, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul much more proactive, to help the foundation community and on Pittsburgh’s North Side formed a coalition with eight other the agency community anticipate trends in the field,” says nonprofit stores that also sell used clothes and household 33-year-old Behr, who will be leaving Forbes this fall to head goods. Members of the group share information on the best the Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh. resale prices per pound, marketing techniques and delivery Using small planning and management improvement systems. Recently, they expanded the collaboration to include grants, Forbes has encouraged nonprofit efficiency. “Nonprofit the used cars they receive. businesses are often starved for resources,” says Timothy Snyder “We get $50,000 a year from car donations, and the of the Parental Stress Center. “Research, staff development, other groups do, too,” explains Fred Just, St. Vincent de Paul’s public policy—these are things that people don’t pay you to do.” executive director. “Meanwhile, a local volunteer group, And through a series of research reports on the demographics Community Auto, is looking for cars to put back in the hands of the sector, Forbes has provided up-to-date data, instead of of low-income workers. So now the alliance is working anecdotal information. together to supply Community Auto with rehabbed vehicles.” For example, it has compared nonprofit CEOs’ credentials Just also has partnered with six other organizations in a in western Pennsylvania with other similar regions. Locally, first-ever attempt to strategize fund raising by sharing a more than 60 percent of nonprofit executives have worked in marketing pitch to those best able to direct bequests: 500 local the sector for more than 15 years, compared to 46 percent CPAs and estate planners. “Even if people don’t choose one of elsewhere. They direct larger-than-average staffs. They’re also us, people will get to know us. We got the idea from a similar better educated: Seventy percent have master’s or doctoral project in Wisconsin a few years back.” degrees, the highest proportion of any region surveyed. Across town, three organizations that support homeless and Nonprofits spend $12 million annually on the region and hold struggling women recognized that they spent too much time $23 billion in assets, though two out of five in Allegheny wrestling with human resource issues. So Bethlehem Haven, County operated at a deficit in 2001. the Center for Victims of Violent Crime and the Pennsylvania “With 2,700 organizations, we’ve got 11.1 nonprofits per Organization for Women in Early Recovery decided to share 10,000 residents. That’s in the exact same range as Baltimore, a human resources manager. Indianapolis, Cleveland or Philadelphia. And now, I have the As a former Catholic Charities executive, Just has been a data to prove it to you,” says Behr, laughing. longtime local champion of collaborative efforts. “In the past However, the emerging facts and figures also have informed we’ve tried to organize leadership within human services his Rodney Dangerfield-style complaint: In an aging region agencies or other areas, like the arts. The problem is, those with a slow-growing economy, nonprofits are serving more groups are only a fraction of all nonprofits,” he says. “At the people than ever, but get no respect. 26 That lack of appreciation was evident last year when best practices in the country. This fall, partnership members government officials gave voice to the vague public perception will launch a voter registration drive modeled on the Minnesota of featherbedding nonprofits and called for the city’s non- Nonprofit Council’s sign-up campaign. The Forbes Funds’ DC profits to pay property taxes during a severe budget crisis. Days in Washington have allowed local nonprofit leaders to Through the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, charities and learn from national and international experts. foundations donated $12.1 million to city government last Also helping with the partnership’s development will be December. But the public finger-pointing took Pittsburgh’s the annual nonprofit summits sponsored by Grantmakers of nonprofit leadership by surprise. Western Pennsylvania, which offer a smorgasbord of professional “It made us realize that some people, including some of our development workshops and networking opportunities. This leaders, don’t really understand the value that nonprofits bring year a $20,000 grant from the Endowments allowed the summit to the community,” says the Endowments’ Oliphant. “If you to include an electronic town meeting to begin debate on the just view nonprofits as taking up real estate, you miss their true sectoral agenda. value as providers of essential services that government would The idea grew from a presentation by Carolyn Lukensmeyer, be hard-pressed to replace. founder of AmericaSpeaks. When she addressed Pittsburghers “And Pittsburgh’s nonprofits are some of our best and in Washington last fall, she offered examples of how the large- most valuable engines of creativity, innovation and growth in scale discussions facilitated by her firm advanced debate on a region that sorely needs those things. Just try to imagine civic issues in Cleveland, New Orleans and other U.S. cities. downtown without its cultural district, or our technology and Her audience immediately saw the implications for the nonprofit health care sectors without our universities and medical community here. research centers. The reason that nonprofits don’t pay taxes is “I believe in cross-sectoral accountability and collaboration,” that they deliver value that is often intangible. So the attacks says Lukensmeyer. Her Washington-based firm has helped leveled against the nonprofit community were a wake-up call. New Yorkers debate the redesign of the World Trade Center, Our sector needs to raise its profile and make sure its value is hurricane victims strategize post-hurricane development in acknowledged.” Louisiana, Britons improve health care and world leaders Seeing that need, Heinz and other core donors, among prioritize World Economic Forum issues in Davos, Switzerland. them the Pittsburgh, Grable and Jewish Healthcare foundations “We do see, in pretty much every project we work in, that tough and the Post-Gazette Charitable Trust, have recently backed issues absolutely require participation of business, government, the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership. Revenues for the the nonprofit sector and citizens themselves. Civic problems first-year operating budget of $40,000 came from minimum like education can’t be solved only by government. We’ve got dues of $100 per member, matched by Forbes, and some larger to do this in a cross-sector way.” foundation grants. The group has garnered 252 members in AmericaSpeaks framed the March 7 discussion of common its first year, with plans to triple membership by 2009. priorities. Agreement on the need for nonprofit cooperation “As a membership organization, the partnership will and increased visibility for the sector came quickly, as did a provide an opportunity to advocate collectively on big issues commitment to education and retaining young workers. facing us all, like state budgets and charity regulation,” says “Based on the feedback I received, people were inspired to Behr. “It can also educate the community broadly about the move to action,” says Judith Donaldson, executive director of importance of charity in our lives, both giving and volunteering.” Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. “We’re now moving The Nonprofit Partnership is borrowing ideas from other forward to encourage nonprofit leaders to think about how statewide advocacy groups and national associations to find the they can work together more effectively to take a leadership role in the region’s next renaissance. In addition, we are “Based on the feedback I received, people were inspired to move to action. We’re now moving forward to encourage nonprofit leaders to think about how they can work beginning to work on a 2007 conference that will build on the momentum of the 2006 summit.” together more effectively to take Creating the strategies to meet those priorities and a leadership role in the region’s evaluating their implications, however, have proved daunting. Grantmakers is still analyzing the database of suggestions next renaissance.” from summit participants. Judith E. Donaldson Lukensmeyer acknowledges the difficulty of creating a group Executive Director, Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania agenda in six hours. “Doing everything in one day is tough,” she says. “The next step, analysis of the raw data, is as important to collaboration as the issue area.” Behr is determined to keep a sense of urgency on the Nonprofit Partnership’s agenda. “I worry a lot about our social service agencies, whose support from government continues to dwindle,”he says. “They’re being forced to find different management approaches or consider fees for services.” He worries, too, about meeting the basic human needs of the community. “Of the 120,000 people that the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank serves each month,” he reminded the summit in a closing address, “approximately 40,000 are kids — more than PNC Park could hold. Nearly 50,000 children under the age of five live in low-income families. “No longer can we look to such larger-than-life characters as [Mayor David] Lawrence or [Richard K.] Mellon to lead us forward…And the status quo has yielded blah, blah and more blah. Instead, we must look next door, across the pew and down the hallway.” h 28 28 Suellen Fitzsimmons

Schenley Plaza’s makeover was unveiled officially in PARK June with a four-day party, complete with a stilt walker, LOT human statues, circus per- formers, a caricature artist and a marching band. The $10 million transformation of the 240-space parking lot into a park-like plaza took about a year to accomplish. Gone are the rows of driverless vehicles and the lines of idling ones, spewing exhaust fumes between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie libraries in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. In their place are a one-acre “Emerald Lawn,” small gardens, food kiosks, Hall Foundation, Hillman Foundation, PNC Financial Services movable table and chairs, a big tent for shelter, wireless Group, the Oakland Task Force and the federal Department Internet access and a Victorian-style carousel that’s the of Housing and Urban Development. The Pittsburgh Parks plaza’s centerpiece. Conservancy also raised $2 million for construction and On hand at the June 8 grand opening ceremony were operations. several local officials and dignitaries including Mayor Bob Sasaki Associates’ Boston office redesigned Schenley O’Connor, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Plaza, modeling it after Bryant Park in New York. The plaza’s Endowments President Maxwell King and philanthropist new look comes after decades of vacillation by city officials Elsie Hillman. torn between trying to develop an impressive entrance to State officials awarded a $5 million grant for the plaza Schenley Park and attempting to accommodate the ever- project. The Endowments contributed $835,000 as part growing need for parking in a densely populated neighborhood of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development’s that includes colleges, hospitals, museums and churches. Oakland Investment Committee that raised $3.1 million for Parking appeared to have won out in 1990 when the the renovation. Other member organizations included the city removed an oval island in the center of the plaza to Richard King Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, create more parking spaces. Then in 2003, the Pittsburgh Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Kennametal Inc., University Parks Conservancy and the Oakland Investment Committee of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh. put forth the Sasaki redesign and began raising the money Additional support came from the Buhl Foundation, Carnegie to bring it to fruition. Library of Pittsburgh, Dominion, Duquesne Light Co., Eden Jason Cohn