By ANN RICHARDS
Since 1998, Dorothy “Dottie” Reynolds has provided coaching and technical assistance to small and emerging community foundations in the U.S. as well as the United Kingdom, Central/Eastern Europe, Southern Africa and Mexico. Her 20-year career in philanthropy started in the mid-1980s, when she accepted a position as vice president at the Columbus (Ohio) Community Foundation. That experience, and later, her eight years as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Michigan, provided the launching point for her current career as a consultant.
In 2008, the Mott Foundation commissioned Reynolds to write a series of monographs, published as
The Balancing Act: The Roles of a Community Foundation
. The monographs explore the roles of community foundations as grantmakers, as vehicles for local philanthropy and as community leaders.
Recently in Michigan, Reynolds sat down with Communications Officer-New Media Ann Richards, to reflect on her motivations for writing the monographs as well as to share some observations on the importance of community-based philanthropy.
Dorothy "Dottie" Reynolds |
Mott: Dottie, your monographs have gone into a second printing and Mott has received orders from as far away as New Zealand. Why do you think these publications have been so well received? Reynolds: There’s been very little written about community foundations and I think the field -– particularly the smallest and newest of these foundations -– is hungry for the kind of information that will help them conceptualize their work. Aside from Richard Magat’s book,
An Agile Servant: Community Leadership by Community Foundations, there’s not much out there that provides guidance for directors of small foundations who have been charged with developing an effective board, motivating volunteers and raising dollars to deal with community-based problems.
Shannon Lawder, Mott’s director of the Civil Society grantmaking program, initially came up with the idea of writing the monographs. She thought there was value in sharing my experiences with community foundations in a variety of different settings all over the world. The title -–
The Balancing Act -– comes from my own attempts to juggle the responsibilities inherent to directing a community foundation. Those roles -- grantmaker, leader, and vehicle for local philanthropy -- aren’t always companionable. They require a certain nimbleness and flexibility to work.
The publications are my attempt to respond to questions that people have asked me through the years -– and in turn, I’ve included useful information they’ve passed along to me. Thanks to a good editor, I think they’re reasonably simple and easy-to-read.
Mott: Tell us a little about your background and how you became involved in community philanthropy. Reynolds: It might sound odd, but I think that early in my working days, my experience as an assistant buyer for Neiman-Marcus, a Dallas department store, was great preparation for philanthropic work. I graduated from Southern Methodist University and went right to work for Neiman Marcus, when the Marcus family still ran the operation. In the mid-1950s, there were a lot of very wealthy Texans who patronized Neiman Marcus and they expected top service. And the Marcus family provided that. A very high level of customer service went hand in hand with sales. In that accidental, serendipitous way, I received really great training in selling a product and leaving people happy with the outcome.
Life is a cumulative experience. Like a lot of women, I took some time off in mid-career to raise children. But I kept active as a volunteer and I served as the executive vice president of a county mental health board in Ohio, where I was in charge of planning, evaluation and budget activities. I also worked for the president of the Columbus Foundation at the Academy for Contemporary Problems -- so when he asked if I’d be interested in becoming their first, full-time development director, I decided I’d give it a try.
After a few years -– in 1990 -– I was approached by a search firm to see if I was interested in taking over as president of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint in Michigan. I worked in Flint until 1998. I became acquainted with the Mott Foundation during my years there, and when I decided to retire, Mott -– which has a history of funding in the field -- offered me the opportunity to work as a consultant.
Mott: In these difficult economic times, why do you believe community foundations can make a difference? Reynolds: Community foundations have a lot to offer -- even when their assets are impacted negatively as they are now. Most of them work close to the ground –- consequently, they understand the needs of block clubs just as well as larger organizations, such as the local symphony. They’re ideally positioned to help groups when a small amount of money can make a big difference.
With less money for grantmaking, I’m also seeing more community foundations step up as leaders to help communities deal with some very thorny issues. One of the issues I’d like to see them address is the proliferation of small, one-purpose nonprofits. Rather than working with big, multi-purpose nonprofits to figure out how to serve clients better, funders -– philanthropic and governmental -– have been guilty of supporting the start-up of too many organizations. The pressure of tight grantmaking budgets could start helping correct this. It could drive efficiency and help cut competition for a smaller pool of funding.
Mott: What do community foundations need to do to build a secure future?
Reynolds: I think it’s important to remember that the community foundation movement had it start in 1914 and survived the Great Depression. The field grew so dramatically in the 1990s that the endowments of most community foundations are large enough to allow continued –- if reduced -- operation and grantmaking despite the economy.
So that brings up the question: when an organization is set up to operate forever, what should they do to demonstrate their worth to the community? I would suggest that one way to do this is prudent management of resources. It may be a little ghoulish, but wills and estates will continue to be a major resource for community foundations and no matter what the economy, people will continue to die. It makes good sense to work with attorneys and trust departments to make a case for gifts.
But the key to a productive future -– I think -– is to continue to work on the ground level. Community foundations can make a big difference at the neighborhood and community level. That small-scale approach to grantmaking is just as important as the grand scale.
Mott: What has been your most satisfying experience as a community philanthropist? Reynolds: There have been many satisfying experiences, but one in particular stays in my memory. It happened in Flint, when the community foundation was fortunate to receive a $6 million grant from the Mott Foundation. That same year, an elderly man approached me with an envelope in his hand -– it didn’t contain much more that a couple of dollars –- but he wanted to contribute to our neighborhood grantmaking fund. It hit me that both gifts were genuine expressions of the value of community foundations. They are the vehicles through which ordinary people, local organizations and big funders can own the future of their community.
Mott: What value do community foundations add in their communities?
Reynolds: They are the entity through which ordinary people can become involved in grantmaking decisions. They are the entity through which small grants can be made effectively. I believe they help transform the way people view giving: they help people understand the power inherent in giving away money -– that great sense of empowerment that comes from knowing your money makes a difference.