10 Questions or Less for Charlotte Anheier

10 Questions or Less is a feature through which we get to know regional association staff members a little better—their work, what drives them, and more. If you would like to suggest someone for a profile through 10 Questions or Less, contact Dan Brady. This week, Charlotte Anheier, Online Community Manager for Southern California Grantmakers.

Congratulations on launching your new site. It looks great! You’ve clearly put a lot of work into it. What do you hope to accomplish with the new site that you couldn’t do before?

The goal was to create a site that is easy to navigate, provides great resources and news to members, and functions as an important member benefit. I also hope that the site will provide a strong platform for future developments like collaborative workspaces and all those other great ideas we haven’t thought of yet!

From your perspective, what is the best part of working with the Forum and other regional associations on a common Drupal-Salesforce platform?

The amount of knowledge shared within the group is really incredible. When you’re really lost and have no idea how to create that formula field in Salesforce or how to set up a mandrill template, you have 50+ experts to email or call about it. Also, having the Forum staff (especially Val) available on the Saturday afternoon before you launch the site to assist with the inevitable “everything is going wrong” moment is priceless.

Staff Meeting: Meg MacIver

Staff Meeting is a feature here on the Forum’s Forum through which we check in with Forum staff members to find out what they’re working on, how you can get involved, and what they do in their off-hours.

Name: Meg MacIver
Position: Communications and Member Services Intern
Years with the Forum: 2 days

What are your primary responsibilities at the Forum?
I help with website maintenance by keeping it up to date with new content. I will also be assisting with other online communications, knowledge management, and analysis of membership surveys. I am around to help out with wherever I can.

What part of your job are you most excited about?
I am excited to learn more about the philanthropy world. The Forum is in an interesting position, collaborating with many different people at regional associations across the country. I look forward to learning more about how people share information and what issues are important to them.

PolicyWorks Spotlight: Stacy Carlson, Helios Foundation

Stacy Carlson is is the Vice President and Program Director – Florida of Helios Education Foundation in Tampa, Florida and a member of the Florida Philanthropic Network.

This interview was conducted over email by Dan Brady at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers as part of our PolicyWorks for Philanthropy interview series.

Helios Education Foundation is focused on creating opportunities for individuals in Arizona and Florida to succeed in postsecondary education. Accomplishing that vision requires strategic investment along the entire education continuum with a focus on creating a college-going culture and advancing academic preparedness  for all students. Investment for Helios doesn’t stop at financial investment. The Foundation recognizes that the opportunity for lasting, sustainable change requires financial investments, as well as expertise and leadership. Within that purview of activity, we also see the opportunity for engaging in public policy issues. When appropriate, the opportunity for sustainability rests in building a public policy platform that supports the depth and breadth of evidence-based practices to positively influence broader reform.

What does working with Florida Philanthropic Network allow you to do together that you couldn’t do yourself? What does working with FPN make possible?

The Florida Philanthropic Network provides a network of funders who can come together in a safe space to learn, test new concepts and consider opportunities for collaboration. Through its statewide presence, FPN elevates the collective work of the philanthropic sector which gives the sector more credibility and influence in the statewide issues we support. The organization takes the individual priorities and actions of a disparate group of foundations and finds common ground from which to build a relevant case for why the philanthropic sector matters.

PolicyWorks Spotlight: Kim VanPelt, Arizona Health Futures, St. Luke’s Health Initiative

Kim VanPelt is is the director of Arizona Health Futures at St. Luke’s Health Initiatives in Phoenix, Arizona and a member of the Arizona Grantmakers Forum board.

This interview was conducted over the phone by Dan Brady at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers as part of our PolicyWorks for Philanthropy interview series.

How does collaborating with Arizona Grantmakers Forum improve your own organization’s work around public policy issues?

Arizona Grantmakers Forum (AGF) provides a conduit for funders to not only understand important policy issues but also to understand how their own existing contributions or potential contributions in the realm of public policy might connect with the work of other funders or other work that’s happening in the community.

We know that systems change of any sort requires a broad array of approaches with a number of different partners. The more we can use AGF as a forum to develop better shared understanding about not only the issues but the work, the better.