Here Comes the Sun, Part 2
This month, I want to pick up where I left off in my last column, “Here Comes the Sun." In that piece, I wrote about the inevitability of transparency. I focused on how citizen anxiety and powerful new technology tools are creating a Transparency Revolution that will force dramatic changes in how we operate in our public, private, and nonprofit worlds.
I focused on the positive—that is, how the new transparency will enable great things, from allowing consumers to make more-informed decisions to giving citizens the tools to hold their elected leaders more accountable.
The Dark Side of the Sun
But it is also important that we acknowledge the dark side of the sun—that is, the ways in which the same mix of anxiety and technology can produce explosive harm. For each application that expands transparency in positive ways, there are a like number of anti-social uses of the same technologies.
- The online database technologies that allow citizens to get more data than ever before on pollutants in their communities are equally useful for giving violent vigilantes access to the home addresses of doctors who provide abortions.
- The video and photo sharing tools that allow activists to bring human rights abuses out of the shadows are equally valuable to networks of pedophiles lurking in the shadows.
- The filtering technologies that allow us to customize our news feeds are equally effective for screening out views we don’t share and facts we don’t want. “The Polarization of Extremes,” by law professor and Obama official Cass Sunstein, is an excellent brief on how this self-sorting is so likely to accelerate the hyperpartisanship that has hamstrung our political system. “When people end up in enclaves of like-minded people,” he writes, “they usually move toward a more extreme point in the direction to which the group's members were originally inclined.”
- The message boards and social networking sites that allow consumers to report on faulty products or blow the whistle on unethical corporate practices are equally useful for inciting violence and ruining careers. A recent law review article by University of Maryland Law Professor Danielle Keats Citron is packed with chilling accounts of how Web 2.0 technologies have made it easy for people to form digital mobs that hide behind anonymous online identities the way Klansmen hid behind their white hoods. These mobs prey on individuals—often women—with “a destructive combination of threats, damaging statements aimed to interfere with their employment opportunities, privacy invasions, and denial-of-service attacks.”
Anticipation and Mitigation
So, yes, there’s a dark side to the Transparency Revolution and the Web 2.0 tools that are powering it. We need to face that reality squarely—as many failed to do at the dawn of Web 1.0. I’ll never forget a meeting we hosted in 1995 to help a leading activist organization working to integrate the Internet into its arsenal of tools. I spoke of the opportunities and threats of the Internet—and the room was shocked by the latter concept. A well-known and highly effective political operative in the group asked, “What do you mean ‘threats?’” The dark side just hadn’t dawned on him or his colleagues. And he was by no means an outlier.
Fortunately, the organization’s leaders didn’t blow off the notion of threat. I’m convinced that the understanding they developed of both the bright and dark sides of the Internet made them far more effective in advocating for positive change in America over the next decade and a half.
Today, the message is the same: Those of us who care deeply about creating positive social change must devote time and energy to anticipating the dark-side subversion of the new tools. We can’t banish anti-social applications; history shows that’s just not possible. But we can be smart about mitigating the consequences and educating citizens about potential harms and how they can protect themselves and their children. A very good example of this is the way that children’s advocates such as Common Sense Media have worked constructively to address objectionable images and messages in popular music, films, television, and the Internet.
Seizing the Positives
As important as it is to be proactive about anticipating and minimizing the negatives, we must also work to seize the many positives.
Transparency done right can help us be more effective in achieving our missions. We often think about transparency for playing defense—that is, responding to attacks, being compliant for compliance sake, and defending our reputation. We need to spend more energy focusing on transparency for offense—that is, sharing information proactively in a way that gives us a better chance of meeting our goals.
For example, one of the most common aspirations of foundations and philanthropists is to be “catalytic” in their giving. Even the world’s largest givers, Bill and Melinda Gates, readily admit that their giving alone is far too small to solve the problems they care about. So explicitly or implicitly foundations build “theories of change” that require other actors—including governments and the private sector—to join the fight and help “scale up” solutions that work.
Yet most foundations are far too opaque about what they’re doing, what works, and what doesn’t. They make it needlessly hard for others to join their causes. And even when they do share some of this information, it’s often late in the game. Those few foundations that take the risk of being open about their strategies and results from the start have a much greater chance of engaging others and building broad ownership.
In the spirit of transparency, I should acknowledge that this is something I learned the hard way. Had I been more forthcoming in the formative years of Venture Philanthropy Partners, my colleagues and I would have engaged better with other foundations and public funders and benefited from their engagement. But better late than never. We learned our lesson, and now we find ourselves sharing candidly what has worked and what hasn’t.
The following suggestions represent an amalgam of what I’ve observed from some of the country’s most forward-thinking grantmakers using transparency to play great offense. No one grantmaker—certainly not VPP—does all of these things.
- Share your goals and strategies. If you want other public and private funders to join you in addressing a major goal, you need to be transparent about the goal itself and how you’re trying to address it. As super-smart consultant Lucy Bernholz noted, the Lumina Foundation was remarkably open about the strategic planning process behind its goal of increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality post-secondary degrees by 60 percent by 2025. The Center for Effective Philanthropy has concluded that clear communication of a foundation’s strategies is rare—despite the fact that it is one of the three most important drivers of quality relationships between funders and grantees.
- Share your results—good and bad. If you want others to join your efforts, then show them where you drilled holes and found water—and, just as important, where you came up dry. We at VPP have worked hard to do this, as CEO Carol Thompson Cole wrote about in her column last month. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation has justifiably earned a great reputation for transparency on performance—both the performance of grantees as well as its own performance. This is one important reason it has been successful in attracting co-investors. Another great example comes from Sean Stannard-Stockton and his blog Tactical Philanthropy, which I read regularly. Sean reported on how Kjerstin Erickson’s remarkably honest blogging about her mistakes as a young Bay Area social entrepreneur resulted in an outpouring of financial and strategic support. (One point of caution is essential: be extremely careful in how you discuss “bad results” to avoid inadvertent harm by placing blame on others. I will offer suggestions in a future column about how to find an appropriate balance between being fully transparent and “doing no harm.”)
- Support efforts to create common methods for reporting results. Unquestionably, there is great value in individual foundations reporting more openly on their results. There is far greater value when multiple funders plowing similar fields report results using the same basic metrics, enabling meaningful comparisons across hundreds or thousands of grantees. The Acumen Fund, working with Google engineers and a host of other partners, has invested more than four years and $1M in developing PULSE, a system for comparing the performance of its investment partners. As FSG Social Impact Advisors reported in its excellent report on shared measurement systems, “A key factor driving Acumen’s effort to build the PULSE system was its belief that the lack of comparative performance data available in the social sector limited its effectiveness and potential for growth.”
- Use transparency to tap the wisdom of crowds. This is the ultimate example of using transparency to play offense rather than defense. When the Packard Foundation was considering an initiative to stem nitrogen pollution, it created a wiki to seek innovative solutions from researchers around the world. The Packard Foundation and many others have also tapped the wisdom of their existing grantees, using the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Grantee Perception Reports. The GPR has sparked improvements in foundations’ operating procedures by allowing foundation leaders to see their grantees’ anonymous (and therefore pretty honest) perceptions of their practices and impact—and to benchmark these results against other, similar foundations. And thanks to the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Keystone Accountability, and others, foundations are getting smarter about tapping the wisdom of those they hope will be the ultimate beneficiaries of their work.
- Be transparent with applicants you choose not to fund. This is a hard one, because it can be unpleasant, time-consuming, and delicate. But it can be enormously beneficial to applicants to explain openly why they didn’t merit funding. This is as true in grantmaking as it is venture capital funding. I have had the good fortune of working with several venture capital and growth equity firms that have been deliberate about explaining to aspirants why they were not selected for funding. The results are not always well received initially. But when the VC shares the results with respect and candor, executives generally come around to understand and value the VC’s point of view.
Like the sun, the new transparency is incredibly powerful. It can and will burn. It can and will disinfect. It can and will give us energy to accomplish great things. The ratio of each is up to us.
- Mario Morino
Singing, Dancing Lead to Mentor Relationship
Editor’s Note: Jimmy Lynn, Managing Partner at JLynn Associates and VPP donor, contributed this first-person account of his rewarding experiences mentoring a student from VPP investment partner AALEAD.
A few years ago, Mario [Morino] asked me to host a dinner for some friends who might be interested in learning more about VPP. At that dinner, I clearly recall Mario telling us not just to write a check but also to get involved with one of the VPP nonprofit organizations. Since Mario is one of my mentors and I listen intently to his advice, I reviewed the list and came across Asian American LEAD (AALEAD). I joined their board a couple of years ago and also serve as the co-chair of the development committee.
But, I like to do more than board work; I also like to mentor and help the students.
This past December, at the AALEAD holiday party, the students performed skits and sang holiday songs on the stage. But there was one young student with the guts to do a solo performance in front of everybody. After she finished, I congratulated her, and then I asked where her parents were. She replied that they were both working.
Fast forward to our AALEAD annual party in February 2009, at the China Garden. Chancellor [Michelle] Rhee was our honored guest speaker, and she delivered a tremendous speech that resonated with everyone. The students provided the evening’s entertainment, and, once again, this young student had the guts to sing solo…in front of 450 people!
Who is this student? She's a 10-year-old fifth grader named Sally. (I saw her first brave performance when she was only nine.) I told her I was impressed with her performance and asked her if she was seriously interested in singing and dancing. She answered with a resounding “Yes!”
So, I took her and her mother to a dance performance with the Capitol Movement Project (I'm on the board of directors of this urban dance company) at the Lincoln Theatre in March. Sally loved it, especially when I took her backstage to meet many of the performers.
 Jimmy Lynn and Sally prepare for Sally's performance as a Junior Redskins Cheerleader.
In June, I had dinner with Sally, her mother, and Rosetta Lai (AALEAD's Executive Director) . Since Sally's mother doesn't speak English, Rosetta interpreted for us. I told her that I thought Sally has a lot of talent and offered to pay for her dancing and singing lessons as well as tutoring. The mother asked, “Why would someone want to help a family from a small town in China?” I explained how my mentors, Mario and Ted Leonsis, taught me about the importance of "giving back" and helping others. I told her about the many other DC young people that I mentor. Once she heard the explanation, she expressed her gratitude and accepted the offer.
Since then, I've taken Sally to dance classes at the Capitol Movement Studio as well as signed her up as part of the Junior Redskins Cheerleaders. She'll be performing in front of 90,000 fans at three Redskins games this year!
I go to dinner regularly with Sally, her mother, and her 14-year-old brother, Da-Zhi, who is also part of AALEAD and a freshman at Woodrow Wilson Senior High. I'm starting to play a mentor role to Da-Zhi as well.
At dinner last week, Da-Zhi told his mother that he'd like to be like me when he grows up. I took that as a huge compliment. I told him that's why it's important that he studies hard so he can do well in high school and go to college since education is the great equalizer. Sally reiterated her desire to become a doctor.
At that point, Sally's mother looked sad and said she didn't think they could send their children to college, primarily due to financial reasons. I immediately told her to erase that thought. I promised I will do all I can—through a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, my personal donation, etc.—to ensure that her children go to college. The happiness on her face was priceless.
Soon, I'm going to take Sally and Da-Zhi to the classes I teach at Georgetown University, as well as walk them around the campus so they can start to get a feel for what college is like. I'm also going to have a couple of my friends who attend Georgetown University Medical School show Sally around their school and the hospital.
Friends who know about this mentorship tell me that Sally and Da-Zhi are lucky I'm now part of their life. Well, it’s a two-way street since I feel fortunate that they're part of my life.
This relationship would not have come together without VPP and it’s just one more reason why VPP is so important—we can truly make a difference in the lives of these deserving children in the Greater DC Region.
-- Jimmy Lynn
VPP and Year Up Enter Partnership
VPP and Year Up recently announced that VPP will invest $4.5. million—the largest single investment in VPP’s 10-year history—in Year Up National Capital Region (NCR). Year Up, a national organization, provides career training to low-income adults and helps them secure internships with top US companies, including Bank of America, Perot Systems, and Houghton Mifflin. Year Up’s proven, innovative model has been praised by President Barack Obama, who visited the Year Up NCR site in June of this year.
The VPP investment will help Year Up expand its proven model to reach more youth in the National Capital Region, change workplace hiring practices locally and nationally, and influence how governments at all levels support workforce development programs.
“In the National Capital Region alone, there are an estimated 33,000 young people with high school diplomas or GEDs who are not in work or college,” said Carol Thompson Cole, President and CEO of Venture Philanthropy Partners. “There is an urgent need for a radical rethinking of how to harness this unrealized talent and energy. Year Up has enormous potential to reshape workforce development policy and practice in our region and beyond.”
One of Year Up’s innovative programs is a partnership with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). All Year Up students who successfully complete the Year Up NCR program can also earn 18 transferable credits from NOVA, providing a direct path to higher education. This pilot program is applicable across the country, and Year Up is already looking to expand the model both regionally and in its other sites around the country—San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Providence, and New York City. Ron Buchanan, acting Provost of NOVA’s Alexandria campus, said, “NOVA’s leadership stands alongside Year Up’s in our joint commitment to closing the ‘opportunity gap.’ Through our co-enrollment alliance, Year Up students can earn 18 college credits to give them a significant headstart on a degree at NOVA, credits which also readily transfer to dozens of DC-area four-year institutions and beyond.”
Year Up students follow a year-long program consisting of six months of classroom training and a six-month apprenticeship with local partner companies. The curriculum includes technical IT and administrative skills, as well as a focus on the “soft skills” that students will need to become successful adults, such as business writing, communication, conflict resolution, and work/life balance. This unique combination of intensive, practical classroom learning and hands-on work experience, in the framework of Year Up’s “high support, high expectations” model, is producing impressive results: to date, 87 percent of graduates were placed in full-time positions within four months of graduation and were earning an average of $35,000 a year.
VPP’s investment will provide funding and strategic assistance over a four-year period to support Year Up in achieving three goals:
- Support Year Up NCR in meeting its goal to double the number of youth served by 2013, as well as graduate more students annually who are either employed in a professional position or enrolled in college;
- Increase the capacity of Year Up NCR to affect the way services to young people are delivered, ultimately improving the life prospects of thousands of young people by:
- demonstrating Year Up’s scalable model;
- changing workplace hiring practices in the private and public sectors by opening up a new pipeline for talent; and
- influencing how federal, state, and local governments view and fund workforce development programs
- Refine and continue to advance a pilot program with NOVA that demonstrates a nationally relevant partnership model with community colleges that can create a viable pathway for low-income youth to enter college.
Through this partnership with VPP, Year Up NCR will be able to help more young people like Bryan Holston, a member of the Year Up class of 2006, achieve successful, sustainable careers. After graduating from the Year Up program, Bryan is now a Deskside Support Technician at Perot Systems. And he has no plans for stopping there: “My apprenticeship at Perot was a motivating experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work and learn from such a talented team. I am now building upon my skills and plan to expand my passion for IT by hopefully managing my own IT team of professionals some day and, with any luck, a software development company.”
Mission & Goals
 BGCGW Completes Restructuring Plan
Thanks to Ezabel Abraham, Volunteer Coordinator & Interim Communications Specialist, for this update.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW) has completed the final phase of its April 2009 restructuring plan by meeting a number of its strategic goals including presenting a "stay-in-place" budget for approval by the Board, strengthening the Senior Management team, and restructuring the Board governance model. The FY 2010 balanced budget allows BGCGW to continue operating at its current level and capacity.
President & CEO Pandit Wright has created a new Senior Team structure reporting directly to her, including: MJ Morrow, Chief Administrative/Financial Officer; Leah Lamb, Chief Development Officer; Jim Almond, Vice President of Branch Operations; and Dr. Khalid Randolph, Vice President of Programming and Outcomes.
The final phase of BGCGW's restructuring plan was passed on September 15 with a unanimous Board vote on a new model for governance. A series of Board roundtable meetings led by Wright helped determine the most effective Board structure to support BGCGW's plans for fiscal stability and greater program delivery.
The new Board will include up to 50 Directors, including a Board Committee, responsible for financial support and service; a Leadership Council, committed to financial support but without governance authority; and Honorary Directors consisting of those longtime supporters unable to serve on the Board but who continue to contribute to BGCGW.
"The new Board structure supports a more effective means of governance, while encouraging participation on different levels for all those who are supportive of our region's youth," Lamb said.
Announcements of Note
AALEAD Student Shares Magazine Cover with First Lady
Thanks to Rick Chen, Manager of Development and Communication, for this update.
Asian American LEAD student Tammy Nguyen has been making some very special friends lately.
As a part of Bancroft Elementary School’s Green Thumb group, Tammy was busy this spring planting vegetables in the gardens at her school and the White House alongside First Lady Michelle Obama. Both initiatives were created for students to learn more about the environment and make better food choices. The White House Garden opened on March 20, and Tammy and her classmates visited the plot four times. The First Lady also visited Bancroft to talk about the importance of making healthy food decisions, and a select group of students, including Tammy, read essays about working in the White House Garden.
 AALEAD student Tammy ( far left) participated in a photo shoot with First Lady Michelle Obama for Children's Health magazine.
Tammy's essay explored the history of carrots:
"I want to thank the First Lady so much. We had an idea that we might exchange a few recipes that our parents and teachers have with some you use in the White House...unless that is TOP SECRET, of course! My mother is very happy to see me choosing to eat more fresh vegetables now. Mom is an excellent cook, and she uses a lot of carrots. I even eat them straight out of the ground, after a good washing, that is. I researched the carrot and learned that carrots, like people, have a history. The carrot's begins in Eastern Asia near Afghanistan thousands of years ago. They have migrated all over the world, changing their color from purple to orange. When you pull a carrot and eat it fresh you can't help but feel good as you crunch and munch it. It even feels like it cleans your teeth. Here at Bancroft, we are big fans of carrots! We are also big fans of the First Lady! When I describe her to all of my friends who ask, I tell them that she is tall, beautiful, and always smiling."
Tammy also joined the First Lady for an exclusive cover photo shoot for Children’s Health, a new magazine from the editors of Men’s Health and Women’s Health, which hit newsstands on September 15.
LAYC Artwork Promotes Programs
Thanks to Lori Kaplan, Executive Director , for this update.
Decades ago, LAYC youth created the first murals on public buildings in Washington, DC, and they have expanded their involvement to public art projects in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
The mural at Casa Zol, LAYC's home for teen girls, provided inspiration for t-shirts and tote bags.
As a way to share the public art with national and international audiences, LAYC has begun designing t-shirts and tote bags with images from the murals. A series of coffee mugs, each depicting a youth-designed mural, is up next for production. For more information about the murals and the products based on them, visit LAYC’s website.
DOE Official Visits CentroNía
Thanks to Mark Duer, Director of Communications & External Relations, for this update.
CentroNía hosted Charles P. Rose, General Counsel for the US Department of Education, on October 22, as a part of its "Lights On" celebration of the Out-of-School-Time program. Rose visited CentroNía classrooms to learn more about its community school model, which he said is of special interest to the US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. According to Julia Howell Barros, Chief Development Officer, Rose was intrigued by the lively design of the building and the array of resources provided for children and families and promised to visit again soon.
"College to Kids" Summit Advances College-Going Culture
Thanks to Trineka Greer, Director of Development & Communications, for this update.
Heads Up hosted a “College to Kids Summit” on October 7 at American University. The Summit was developed to advance the culture of college attendance throughout the District of Columbia by: fostering a college-going culture both inside and outside of the classroom; highlighting university/K-12 partnerships; leveraging college students to promote higher achievement among District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) students; sharing tools and lessons about how out-of-school-time providers can encourage K-12 student success and college attendance; and encouraging college student service commitments to K-12 students in Washington, DC.
“The disparities in college access are staggering in Washington, DC. Many people simply do not realize that in DC’s wealthiest communities 80 percent of adults have college degrees and in its poorest less than 1 out of 10 have finished college,” Robin Minter, Executive Director at Heads Up, said. “In our city, only 9 percent of public and charter school students graduate from college. The goal of this Summit was to provide a space for educational partners and concerned individuals to develop creative strategies to effectively address the various reasons why DC students are not fully prepared to transition to college after high school.”
With more than 175 out-of-school-time providers, DCPS teachers and staff, college tutors, and university partners in attendance, the day began with a keynote address from DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Participants at the all-day event attended expert panels and workshops led by Dr. Carol Schneider, Heads Up Board Chair and President of Association of American Colleges and Universities; Dr. Jonathan Guevarra, CEO of University of District of Columbia Community College; Dr. Katherine Bihr, Executive Director of Tiger Woods Learning Center; Jessica Heard, Heads Up Youth Program Director; Veronica Nolan, Executive Director of Urban Alliance; Jason King, President of Turning the Page; Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, Dean of the School of Education at Howard University; Robyn Lingo, Program Director of Posse Foundation DC; and Professor Elizabeth Dedmond of George Washington University.
Future Summits are planned.
Maria Gomez Joins New Congressional Latino Council
Thanks to Lyda Vanegas, Communications and Advocacy Officer, for this update.
Mary’s Center President and CEO Maria Gomez was recently invited by DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to join her new Congressional Latino Council. Gomez joins 11 other prominent community leaders serving the Latino population, including Lori Kaplan from the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) and Beatriz “BB” Otero from CentroNía. The Council will work with Congresswoman Norton to address the most concerning issues affecting the Latino community.
 Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton presented certificates to Council members at the October 16 Gala.
“The new Congressional Latino Council is an important step that Congresswoman Norton is taking to demonstrate her interest in working on finding solutions for our community’s most critical issues, and I am honored to support her in this effort,” Gomez said.
The members of the new Congressional Latino Council, officially introduced on October 16 at a Gala at the Hispanic Theatre, have had an initial meeting with Congresswoman Norton, and will soon begin outlining an agenda for the coming months.
"These distinguished members of my Congressional Latino Council will assist me in drawing a more coherent and extensive agenda to serve my Hispanic constituents, who come from many backgrounds, and have diverse needs, and I am very grateful for their willingness to serve," Norton said.
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