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AlumniCorps' Newsletter
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Princeton AlumniCorps’ Emerging
Leaders professional development pro-
gram is launching this June in Wash-
ington, DC! The program has already
generated a great deal of interest from
area nonprofit employees and alumni
of the Project 55 Fellowship Program.
We plan to announce our first class of
Emerging Leaders over the 2011
Reunions weekend.
Emerging Leaders is designed to
transform young professionals work-
ing in the public interest into invested
nonprofit leaders. Participants will
develop the leadership capabilities,
management skills, and confidence to
accelerate their careers while yielding
tangible results and lasting value for
the nonprofit sector. Over the course
of ten months, participants will
develop leadership
competencies and
sector-specific skills,
benefit from mentor
and peer support,
and practice
―leadership-in-
action.‖
The program has
the twofold potential
to transform the ca-
reer trajectories of
those who show promise as future
leaders of the nonprofit sector, and, as
a result, to have a transformative im-
pact on the sector itself. Emerging
Leaders welcomes participation from
graduates of Princeton and other uni-
versities who are committed to innova-
tive leadership in the nonprofit sector.
The pilot program, set to begin on
June 5, will include full and half day
sessions taking place once a month
until April 2012. The curriculum in-
cludes a ―stretch‖ project where the
participants will plan, manage, and
execute a specific goal within their
organizations.
The lead facilitator and trainer for
the Emerging Leaders curriculum is
Hilary Joel ’85. Joel is an executive
coach and management consultant
with 25 years of experience across nu-
merous industries. With the program’s
promising outlook, AlumniCorps
hopes to develop a tested, scalable cur-
riculum that can be adapted for use
with future cohorts in cities around the
country.
Email :
In This Issue
New Emerging Leaders Program to Launch June 5
Visit Shared Effort online to read these articles and more!
blog.alumnicorps.org
2 Keystone Society
3 Interview with AlumniCorps Board Chair Kenly Webster ’55 and President Bill Leahy ’66
4 Regional Updates
5 Marty Johnson ’81: Volunteerism in Perspective
5 Development Update
Volume 14, Number 2 Spring 2011
Join us during Reunions 2011!
Alumni in Action: The Opportunity & Challenge of Public Service
With panelists Doug Borchard '82, Margarita Rosa '74 and Wendy Selig '86
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. • Friday, May 27, 2011 • McCosh 28
Princeton AlumniCorps Open House
Reconnect with classmates, former fellows, mentors, and other alumni. Celebrate 21 years of PP55 Fellowships, and our two newest programs for
alumni of all ages: Emerging Leaders and Community Volunteers!
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. • Friday, May 27, 2011 • 12 Stockton Street
Hilary Joel ’85, Stan Katz h’21 and Margarita Rosa ’74
Page 2 Shared Effort
Forward-thinking donors who include Princeton
AlumniCorps and Project 55 fellowships in their legacy
planning comprise the heart of The Keystone Society. In
order to become a member of the Keystone Society, one
indicates in writing that they have made a planned gift to
Princeton AlumniCorps. George Hackl ’55 is the Chair of
the Development Steering Group and a charter member of
the Keystone Society. As a charter member, George leads
the way for others to help sustain and grow our impact.
Young Princeton graduates, one after another, followed
John Fish and Chet Safian into inner city agencies in Chi-
cago and New York to learn what programs—whether in
education, housing, community or healing—work well to
lift society. The graduates number in the thousands now,
working in cities all around the country. They come from
universities far beyond Princeton. We know there are many
institutions in our society that don’t work well and these
young people are finding out why, taking responsibility,
and changing them. We need thousands more leaders just
like them.
I spent a good part of my retirement years with Project
55, encouraging and helping lead this work. It takes dedi-
cated people. It takes organization. It takes money. I see
how grateful these young people are for the experience, for
the knowledge it brings to their future civic roles. I have
heard many of them say, ―Project 55 changed my life‖, and
I realize this has been the most significant part of my
retirement years.
Embracing this 20-year endeavor is the way many of our
classmates responded to the questions ―If not us, who? If
not now, when?‖ And I ask myself, ―What better way is
there?‖ This has proved to be a remarkably successful
journey.
It is not a hard leap from
there to ask: ―How do we
keep this going?‖ Our
class has built a solid
organization. We have
brought younger alumni
and others onto the Board
of Directors to perpetuate
the process. There are
hundreds more volunteers
around the country playing
significant roles. These
younger people are taking
this work to a higher level
under a new umbrella
name, Princeton
AlumniCorps, serving
graduates of all ages. The
enthusiasm, the knowledge,
the inspiration, even the name, The Princeton Project 55
Fellowship Program, are the heart of Princeton Alumni-
Corps.
Time is running out for all of us. How do you keep this
work going? What better way? Ann and I decided to make
a bequest in my will to Project 55 and Princeton
AlumniCorps to cover my annual contribution from interest
payments.
It’s a gift that will make a real difference and will build
civic leadership indefinitely. What better way! A bequest
celebrates what we have done and what we can continue to
do long into the future. I hope you will join me in the
Keystone Society.
To learn more about becoming a charter member of the Keystone
Society, please contact Kathleen Reilly, Executive Director,
The Keystone Society — What Better Way!
Thomas D. Boyatt '55
Stephen M. Boyd '55
Charles W. Bray '55
Milton J. Deitch '55
Sara H. Deitch S'55
John H. Fish '55
James A. Gregoire '69
George C. Hackl '55
John D. Hamilton '55
Richard L. Herbruck '55
Peter Jefferys '55
William Leahy '66
Oral O. Miller '55
A. Chester Safian '55
John C. Tucker '55
Nelson H. Wild '55
Alan M. Willemsen '55
Keystone Society Charter Members
George Hackl ’55
Princeton AlumniCorps Board Chair
Kenly Webster ’55 and President Bill
Leahy ’66 were interviewed for Shared
Effort by Jim Lynn ’55. Plans are under-
way for Kenly’s replacement as Chair af-
ter his three year tenure expires this June.
Q: Kenly, you’re finishing up your sec-
ond hitch as Chair. How did the prob-
lems you had to deal with change be-
tween the first hitch and the second?
KW: Roughly three years ago we [then
Princeton Project 55] adopted a new mis-
sion statement that was the product of a
Board no longer dominated by Class of ’55
members, with the assistance of a PP55
President from another class. Transition
was a major new challenge. With transition
came a strengthening of the responsibility
of the Executive Director and much more
centralized control, which took patience to
accomplish.
Q: What was your biggest challenge as
chairman?
KW: The biggest challenge clearly was to
implement, without contention, the transi-
tion. Smooth transition was critical.
BL: I think that as President in this transi-
tion, my role was to assist in expanding the
board, looking for individuals from the
younger classes.
Q: Was there ever a time when you wor-
ried that this really might not work out
well?
KW: The doubt came about nine years ago
when we were experimenting with other
forms of succession that did not material-
ize. Mainly, we sought to identify another
class to pick up the management of PP55,
and that turned out to be a concept that
other classes were not willing to undertake
as a class.
Q: What’s the next big challenge facing
the organization?
BL: All of us were affected profoundly by
the economic downturn. Regardless of
how the transition was going, the reality
was that finances were going to potentially
affect what we could do to sustain and
expand the program. This was all beyond
our control, and it’s been heartening to
shore up last year – a year that could have
been a profound deficit – by establishing
the [20th anniversary] gala, which made it
a profitable year instead. This financial
challenge, of course, will continue into the
future.
The other challenge which we have
worked with over the last couple years has
been integrating individual classes with
Princeton AlumniCorps. It has been diffi-
cult because this organization began with a
camaraderie of a group within a class. This
is the kind of spirit the University kind of
instills in each class, and when you bring
institutions together and try to merge them
and their interests, sometimes you end up
not being able to do it because of individ-
ual spirits – ―we should be in charge‖ or ―it
has to be a class number.‖ The name
change allowed for other generations to
feel engaged with our organization.
We’ve initiated two new programs: the
Community Volunteers program, which I
think is going to be another way of engag-
ing people who have had no true relation-
ship with the original organization, and
secondly the Emerging Leaders program,
which should allow us to sustain many of
our PIP alumni into the nonprofit world –
which I hope in turn will bring them back
for Board positions with our organization.
Q: Is there any danger now that Prince-
ton AlumniCorps might be spreading
itself too thin with two new programs at
once along with a very well-seasoned
and successful Princeton Project 55 Fel-
lowship Program (formerly the PIP)?
KW: I do not think so. Financially, we
have, for 20 years, raised the money to do
what we wanted to do. There are many
supporters of the organization to draw
upon. From the standpoint of staffing there
are ways to ensure that projects have less
demand on staff and that staff has efficient
participation in the projects. In sum, you
have two safety belts: one is strong staff
organization (and hiring outside people to
help), and the other is a wide network to
attract funding.
Q: Now’s your chance to answer any
questions we should have asked but did-
n’t.
BL: Any organization goes through its
adolescence and into its early adulthood,
and this organization was doing that as
they approached their 20th year. What
happened was the development of disci-
pline within the Board – some very indi-
vidual subcommittees, with designated
rules and procedures, which are going to
be very important as we go forward, be-
cause an organization really can’t survive
when it meets on an ad-hoc basis and with-
out any kind of internal discipline. This is
very important for the issue of perpetuity.
KW: How is transition going to ensure
perpetuity? I think we have put in place a
very strong organization comprised of the
Board, board committees and staff. Al-
though we have the transition in place,
we’re going to have to fight each year to
keep it permanent. To do this we have tar-
geted programs that are designed to attract
leadership and financial contributions from
alumni classes from all decades after the
’50s.
A second force in perpetuity may well
be attracting leaders from graduates of the
PIP program. Almost all of the current
leadership comes from graduates of
Princeton, who as such have a common
bond. But there is a second common bond
among the PIP graduates who have all
vastly benefited from the program. There-
fore there is an additional fertile leadership
source from these program graduates. But
I would not expect a president of the or-
ganization to come from the PIP alumni
for yet a number of years.
Volume 14, Number 2 Page 3
An Interview with AlumniCorps Board Chair Kenly Webster ’55 and President Bill Leahy ’66
President Bill Leahy ‘66 and Board Chair
Kenly Webster ‘55
-Bay Area- The Bay Area is continu-
ing its efforts to grow its
program. Two new partner
organizations, including the
Boys and Girls Club of the
Peninsula, where Peter
Fortenbaugh ’89 is the Ex-
ecutive Director, are cur-
rently interviewing appli-
cants for fellowship posi-
tions next year. The local
committee has also begun
brainstorming possible seminars for
2011-12 fellows, and looks forward to
continuing its partnership with Stan-
ford’s SPIN and Harvard’s CPIC pro-
gram for these events.
-Boston-
Fellows, AlumniCorps supporters,
alumni and local members of the class
of 1955 recently attended a seminar at
The Food Project, where they visited
the organization’s greenhouse. Look-
ing ahead, AlumniCorps and the Har-
vard Center for Public Interest Careers
will be volunteering at CitySprouts’
school gardens in Cambridge, MA for
a half day of service. Boston is always
looking for new Project 55 partner or-
ganizations to increase the number of
placements! If interested, visit the
Boston area page on the AlumniCorps
website.
—submitted by Rebecca Nemec ’05
-Chicago-
Over the last few months, the Chi-
cago Area Committee has continued to
stay busy, organizing weekly seminars
with the Northwestern and University
of Chicago Public Interest Programs as
well as regular events for fellows. In
February, fellows explored the city's
emerging arts scene as part of the Chi-
cago Arts District Gallery Night. On
March 5, PP55 Fellows, mentors, and
Area Committee members gathered at
the home of Amanda Peluse '02 to dis-
cuss, over wine and cheese, fellows'
experiences thus far. Finally, we're
excited to announce our upcoming
joint AlumniCorps/Princeton Club of
Chicago precept on "The Future of
Education Reform in Chicago", organ-
ized by Committee members Erica
Jones ’06 and Stacy McAuliffe '98.
The precept will take place on May 17
and will feature a panel of local
Princeton alumni active in the educa-
tion sector. Executive Director Kath-
leen Reilly will be attending.
—submitted by Aiala Levy ’07
-Connecticut- Two fellows have already signed on
to be a part of the 2011-12 fellowship
year in Connecticut, both at Norwalk
Community Health Center. Two other
organizations are currently interview-
ing applicants and Harry Berkowitz
’55 is hopeful that we’ll be able to con-
tinue to grow the program.
-New York- On March 23, Dr. R. Gordon Doug-
las '55 moderated our seminar on Sus-
tainable Food and Public Health. Pan-
elists included Nancy Easton '88, Co-
Founder/Executive Director of Well-
ness in the Schools. We also invited
fellows from Harvard, Stanford and
Dartmouth to participate in the semi-
nar. On April 3, Mike and Lois Rob-
bins '55 hosted the first ever Princeton
AlumniCorps Alumni Fundraising
Phone-a-thon during which 136 suc-
cessful calls were made. We are also
looking forward to welcoming more
fellows to New York and participating
in our annual "Politics and the
Press" seminar which will
be moderated by the First
Lady of Princeton Alumni-
Corps in New York, Judy
Hole Suratt.
—submitted by Kristen Smith
’03
-Philadelphia-
Carol Rosenfeld ’05 and Ka-
tie Thaeder ’09 have teamed
up to strengthen the Philadel-
phia program. They met with
the Princeton Club of Phila-
delphia in February and Carol has led a
successful effort to recruit new partner
organizations for the 2011-12 fellow-
ship year. If you’re interested in volun-
teering in Philadelphia, visit the Phila-
delphia area page on the AlumniCorps
website.
-Washington, DC- After a workshop on "Career Next
Steps" in January, the DC program is
wrapping up its seminar programming
with a string of content-based sessions,
covering education reform, federal
government service, and health care
reform. In February, AlumniCorps
Board Member and Managing Director
of the National Council for Teacher
Quality, Arthur McKee ’90, joined
Shantelle Wright of Achievement Prep
Academy to discuss the challenges and
promise of DC public education. In
March, fellows heard from a panel of
alumni working across the federal gov-
ernment, and in April, they'll be join-
ing a health economist at the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services
and one of President Obama's senior
Page 4 Shared Effort
Regional Updates
49
The Project 55 Fellowship
Program is proud to welcome
new fellows thus far!
Visit Shared Effort online to see the current list!
Volume 14, Number 2 Page 5
Volunteerism in Perspective
Thanks to the AlumniCorps for orga-
nizing last month’s ―Engaged At Every
Age‖ (EAEA) Conference to explore
volunteering from a variety of perspec-
tives. While a schedule change pre-
vented me from joining as a panelist, I
enjoyed the chance to sit in on an after-
noon panel.
It triggered some thoughts about
what I’ve learned over the last 30 years
as a manager at Isles, a nonprofit com-
munity development and environ-
mental organization based in Trenton
that works with over 1,000 volunteers
annually. In addition, I serve as a vol-
unteer with organizations statewide
and nationally. AlumniCorps asked
me to share a few of those lessons
here.
Volunteerism in Perspective
Historians and social scientists write
about voluntarism as a uniquely
American concept. With over one mil-
lion private, registered charities across
the country, burgeoning numbers of
Baby Boomers reaching retirement
age, and millions in search of more
―mission-driven‖ and meaningful lives,
an entire industry of voluntarism has
arisen. A Google search of Volunteer
Opportunities offers over 15 million
hits.
No wonder that voluntarism often
becomes an end goal. Questions like,
―What’s a good volunteer opportu-
nity?‖ often quickly move to a discus-
sion of technique (Does the organiza-
tion make it easy for volunteers? Do
they manage them well? Are there
clear, identifiable objectives, etc.?). Or
the discussion will turn to the type of
organization that works best for volun-
teers. At the EAEA Conference for
example, some speakers suggested that
small organizations are better for vol-
unteers than big ones, ―staff driven‖
organizations are worse than
―volunteer driven‖ ones, or that organi-
zations that volunteers can really influ-
ence are better (at least for those from
Princeton) than those you can’t influ-
ence.
To me, this focus on technique or
type of organization is a part of the
picture, but not the main part. The real
goal for organizations is to perform at
the highest level in relation to the re-
sources (money, volunteers, etc) flow-
ing into them. The best organizations
are those that focus on being the best
organizations—not the best volunteer
opportunity.
What we hope, is that organizations
can perform highly while also effec-
tively involving volunteers—because
volunteers add to their performance.
In my experience, I have seen volun-
teers destroy organizations, and I have
seen staff do the same. I have wit-
nessed large organizations give volun-
teers better experiences than small
ones. I’ve been a volunteer board
member of a staff-driven organization
(think Princeton University) that func-
tions quite highly. And I have seen
―smart‖ volunteers that tried to control
organizations and systematically un-
dermined them.
So what’s the best advice for those
seeking to volunteer?
1. Keep your eyes on the prize.
Life is short, so try to find the best
organizations working on the things
you care about. ―Best‖ organizations
ask hard questions of themselves and
others, maintain continually improv-
ing systems to manage information
(financial, contacts, volunteers, etc.),
admit that which they are not doing,
and strive to get upstream or to the
―core‖ of the challenges they address.
2. Remain humble.
You may or may not know what the
organization should do. Be open to
being wrong. Be open to how volun-
teers can get in the way. The art of
managing nonprofit organizations is a
relatively young specialty, and bring-
ing your ―business‖-like approaches
may not be what’s needed. We are all
learning as we go.
3. Then ask about the techniques
and types of organizations out there.
There’s a place for this discussion.
It’s just at the bottom of the list.
Marty Johnson ’81 is President and Founder
of Isles, Inc., a nonprofit that fosters self-help
approaches to community development, educa-
tion, energy efficiency and urban environmental restoration. (www.isles.org)
2 Months Left to Reach Our Goal!
Thanks to those who have given, we are at 73% of our goal to raise $228,000 from individual donors this year. Make a gift today to help us reach 100% by June 30!
Amount raised as of April 15, 2011 Amount left to raise by June 30, 2011
Marty Johnson ’81
PRINCETON ALUMNICORPS
12 Stockton Street
Princeton, NJ 08540-6813
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
“You will be saying that shared effort to solve our problems is not a hopeless venture” — John Gardner
Princeton AlumniCorps Board of Directors
R. Kenly Webster ’55, Chairman
William R. Leahy, Jr., M.D. ’66, President
Jessica D. Johnson ’98, Secretary
Charles F. Mapes, Jr. ’55, Treasurer
Thomas D. Allison ’66
Illa Brown ’76
Margaret Crotty ’94
Andrew Goldstein ’06
James A. Gregoire ’69
John D. Hamilton, Jr. ’55
Stanley N. Katz h’21
Katie Ko ’09
James D. Lynn ’55
Kathleen McCleery ’75
W. Arthur McKee ’90
Dominic F. Michel ’70
Kathryn A. Miller ’77
Paula Morency ’77
Ralph Nader ’55
Anthony Quainton ’55
Michael D. Robbins ’55
Margarita Rosa, Esq. ’74
Marsha Rosenthal ’76
Warner V. Slack ’55
Samuel T. Suratt ’55
Scott Taylor ’75
Richard E. Thompson ’55
Richard O. Walker ’73
Lindsay Wall ’02
Princeton AlumniCorps Staff
Kathleen E. Reilly, Executive Director
Carrie Diaz-Littauer, Office Administrator
Sara Gordon, Project 55 Fellowship Program Manager
Arti Sheth ’08, Development Officer
John Shriver, Program Director, Community Volunteers
Please visit us at www.alumnicorps.org
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