Abstract:

Philanthropic skills are increasingly important in today's higher education climate, especially among graduate students, alumni and faculty who have no previous philanthropic training. Such activities as fundraising and opportunities to network through community projects serve academics well in their future work. The Buckman Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy is a program administered within a university with the objective to cultivate emerging philanthropic leaders. The curriculum involves a year-long series of monthly seminars offered by experts in the non-profit sector. Each year a cohort of graduate students, alumni, and faculty who have a diverse range of interests and expertise in design education and human services are selected to participate in this noncredit Fellowship. Each participant must focus upon a project of social significance using their unique academic expertise that centers around a community-based effort to give back. Participants work independently to design, develop and implement their projects outside of the monthly seminars. However they engage with one another at the seminars to share their trials and errors, their ideas and questions, as well as their successes and breakthroughs. These projects begin to take form and then evolve throughout the year with the help of the Fellowship experience and are completed and reported upon at an end of year celebration.

In an evaluation of the Fellowship, participants told about their experiences and the outcomes of their projects that inform the program and its structure. We discovered professional and growth opportunities for the Fellows as they progress through the program. We also discovered the value of encouraging the cohort of Fellows to coalesce in order to brainstorm, analyze and work through obstacles that arise as a result of pursuing their philanthropic project. In this presentation, we will discuss the experiences of these emerging leaders in philanthropy, the structure of the program, and its outcomes.

Keywords:

Philanthropy, leadership, Higher Education, university setting.