We will assess how various types of potential grantors from different sectors look at potential grantees and analyze critical determinants. We explore these perspectives with guest panelists Westina Matthews-Shatteen, Managing Director Merrill Lynch; Jacob Lief, President & co-Founder Ubuntu Education Fund; Elizabeth Sackler, President & CEO Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in the NYU graduate course I created and teach annually.  Watch two- to three-minute video clips of each and if you have interest in seeing more of the discussion contact us. Also, post your comments on the philanthropic perspectives of corporations, foundations, individuals or others.

Development does not take place in a vacuum; it is intertwined inextricably with every aspect of the comprehensive institutional integrity. The whole always is greater than the sum of the parts: leveraged synergy advances specific sub-objectives. We will explore how to create and sustain horizontal and vertical collaboration for integrated organizational leadership. With guest panelists Kofi Boateng, COO of Africa America Institute, Bill Bohnett, Board member of Synergos Institute and Kona Goulet, Devlopment Director of EnlightenNext we explore this topic in the NYU graduate course I created and teach annually. Watch two- to three-minute video clips of each and if you have interest in seeing more of the discussion contact us.

The purpose of the course I created for and teach annually at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is to create a framework to conceptualize and subsequently engage in development as an integral component of capacity building. Development conveys the significant scope of strategic planning and creative yet disciplined execution required for effective sustainable results. I designed the course for those who engage in development from any perspective: as a grant maker or seeker – individual, corporate, foundation, NGO or other – at global, national or local levels. My premise is that development is most successful when approached within the synergy of overall institutional organizational coherence. This principle holds true at all times, but is particularly significant during difficult economic times... more

After saying goodbye to Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who I’ve known since we worked together in the 1980s, I reflected. All of us who participated in this historic Colloquium reconnected with friends we’d known from our work over the decades on behalf of gender equity and a more just world. We made new relationships with wonderful advocates from the public, private and civil society sectors of many countries. We had intensely in-depth discussions about where we’ve been, where we now are and where we are determined to be with the status of women in our respective nations, regions and the world. We had innumerable poignant insights about opportunities and challenges we each face: often the same ones, sometimes quite unique... more

The first two days were focused on international issues; the third day, with support from the women of the world, was focused on Liberia’s National Plan of Action. Today continues drawing the relationship among national, regional and international efforts to advance women’s rights in all arenas. This morning we had exactly the powerful start needed to make that connection. We saw a production of Speak Truth to Power. Right after the performance, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and presented awards to representatives of the Liberian women’s organizations that had made peace possible and now continue to press for gender equity in every sector of society. I was deeply moved by the gorgeous symmetry of global and national commitment to basic human... more

Leaving lodging now to sounds of music coming from every direction and vendors in full swing everywhere: how wonderful to see Liberia returning to its past vitality after enduring such a devastating war.  While I know all people of this nation still are deeply traumatized, I am profoundly moved by everyone’s spirit of generosity and hope.  They so believe that with the US having a new administration, there is renewed promise for their nation.   We can not let them down: Liberia is a model of possibilities of post-conflict recovery, ripe with opportunity and fraught with challenges. We must encourage international support from nation-states, NGOs, the business community and the continued presence of the United Nations Mission in Liberia.  We can not... more