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The 2023 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey is open to participants now through May. Since 1980, the annual Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Survey has provided the philanthropic sector with the most comprehensive data on foundation staff and board compensation. Grantmakers rely on this annual report to inform budgeting, talent recruitment, retention strategies, and personnel policies and practices.

Your participation in the GSB survey is needed—the greater the participation, the greater the insights for the sector and for your fellow Philanthropy Southeast members. Through a partnership with the Council on Foundations (COF), Philanthropy Southeast provides custom salary tables for grantmakers from our region each fall (typically early October).

What are the benefits for participating organizations?

All survey participants (both COF members and non-members) will receive:

• Free access to the GSB Report
• Early access to the report’s data tables
• Access to create custom benchmark reports

Reports and data are expected to be released in fall 2023.

How can your foundation participate?

Visit the COF website to learn more and for detailed instructions on how to complete the survey.

First time completing the GSB survey?

See this page for answers to frequently asked questions as well as a list of documents you’ll need to complete the survey. The Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey lives in Benchmark Central. If you have never participated in a GSB Survey, email your first and last name, title, and email  address to communications@cof.org in order to obtain a Benchmark Central account. 

The deadline to complete this year’s GSB survey will be May 16, 2023. Thank you in advance for your participation!

Before he officially started last month as Philanthropy Southeast’s director of meetings and events, Chris Yueh had the opportunity to engage in some early learning by attending last year’s Annual Meeting.

It was certainly a learning experience – though not the one Chris was expecting.

While the cancellation of the conference deprived Chris of the chance to see the Annual Meeting in action, he says the experience provided invaluable insights about the organization he was about to join.

“As disappointed as I was to see the cancellation of the Annual Meeting, it was evident that the Philanthropy Southeast staff, Board of Trustees, and member volunteers are among the hardest working and passionate people that I have witnessed,” he said. “It was impressive how everyone came together in support of each other to overcome an unthinkable situation.”

Now, as he turns his attention to planning the 2023 Annual Meeting and a full calendar of other programs and events, Chris says he’s focused on the members who make those convenings come alive.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always strived to look at events and meetings through the lens of the attendee,” he said. “I slowly learned that people meet to network and/or exchange ideas. What drew me to the opportunity at Philanthropy Southeast was the chance to improve the attendee experience at the Annual Meeting – to make it more engaging and experiential.”

Chris’ career includes nearly a decade of events and meeting planning. Most recently, he served as director of programs for the Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Over the holidays, the latest issue of Philanthropy Southeast's Inspiration magazine was mailed to each of our member organizations, as well as Hull Fellows alumni. If you haven't had the chance to read the print copy, you can access a PDF copy now at our Inspiration archive page.

Highlights of our Winter 2022 issue include:

• The story of the cancellation of the 2022 Annual Meeting and how it provided an example of Philanthropy Southeast living its values while offering important lessons, perspective and inspiration for the future.
• An in-depth look at the Healthcare Georgia Foundation's Two Georgias Initiative, winner of the 2022 Truist Promise Award. The initiative made a sustained commitment to rural health equity while working with partners throughout the state.
• Highlights of Leading With Courage: Reshaping Southern Philanthropy for a New Era, a new report from Philanthropy Southeast that explores the people and ideas transforming the giving landscape and communities throughout the region.
• A spotlight on the exhibitors for the 2022 Annual Meeting. Thank you to all our exhibitors for their support!

As usual, Inspiration also includes a letter from President & CEO Janine Lee, a review of the latest hirings and promotions in the region, and a list of the newest Philanthropy Southeast members.

You can access this issue, and previous issues, now on our Inspiration archive.

Due to the cancellation of this year's Annual Meeting, we were unable to convene our Business Meeting, where we review the highlights of the past year, receive updates on finances and governance, and vote to elect new members to the Philanthropy Southeast Board of Trustees.

Instead, we will conduct this year's Business Meeting online, allowing all Philanthropy Southeast members to attend! Please join us at 1:00pm ET on Tuesday, December 13, as we meet to review the past year and prepare for a successful 2023!

Our agenda will include:

I. Year in Review
Janine Lee, President & CEO, Philanthropy Southeast

II. Financial Update
Jen Algire, Philanthropy Southeast Secretary-Treasurer and President & CEO, The Greater Clark Foundation

III. Governance Update & Election of Trustees
Philanthropy Southeast Governance Chair and President, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

IV. Chair's Closing Reflections
Philanthropy Southeast Board Chair and Co-Founder, Ujima Legacy Fund

Even if you cannot attend the Business Meeting, we encourage you to vote on this year's slate of nominees to the Philanthropy Southeast Board. Cast your vote online now!

Last week, we found ourselves in a previously unthinkable position: needing to cancel the Annual Meeting due to a mandatory evacuation order at our host hotel in Amelia Island.

While weather is always a concern at this time of year in the Southeast, not once in our 53-year history had we faced this situation before. The closest we had ever come was 2005, when our meeting in Marco Island came two weeks after a hurricane that made our overflow hotel unavailable.

This time was different: Hurricane Nicole was set to make landfall while the meeting was taking place. Flights in and out of Jacksonville were being delayed and cancelled. Weather forecasts called for severe coastal flooding – a major concern at a hotel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The double red flags snapping in the strong winds, signaling the closure of the beach, provided a clear warning that these conditions could not be ignored.

We are so sad that we were unable to come together – and we know that many of you feel the same way. We have literally been moved to tears reading the many messages we have received from members following the Annual Meeting's cancellation.

Planning for the 53rd Annual Meeting began a year ago and required the work of our entire staff plus dozens of member volunteers. We want to thank each of them for what they brought to this process – your work is deeply appreciated, and you should be proud of what you built!

We are beyond grateful that our entire team and all our attendees were moved out of harm's way before the worst effects of Hurricane Nicole hit northeast Florida. We appreciate the staff at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island who stayed in constant communication with our staff and helped facilitate a quick, yet calm, evacuation and relocation.

We also want to thank everyone who chose to not make the trip to Amelia Island as it became clear weather could be an issue. Your decision made taking care of those already on-site a much easier task.

Southeastern Soundings, a regular feature of our Inspiration magazine, highlights new hires, promotions and board appointments by our members. For this issue, we had more announcements than would fit in our print edition, so we’re publishing an extended roundup online. Congratulations to all the people mentioned here!

If your organization has welcomed a new staff member or trustee, or promoted an existing staff member, we want to know! Please email the information to David Miller at david@philanthropysoutheast.org.

Jennifer Gray is the new executive director of the Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation, taking over from Jera Stribling, who has stepped down following 26 years at the foundation. Gray was most recently program manager at the Daniel Foundation of Alabama. Stribling will continue to serve as executive director of Alabama Giving.

The Duke Endowment has elected Allyson K. Duncan to its board. Duncan served as a judge on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 2003 until her retirement in 2019.

Dr. Eduardo Ochoa, a pediatrician, Dr. Jack Porter, a retired dentist, and Lisa John-Adams of Nucor Steel Arkansas were recently elected to the Arkansas Community Foundation’s board of directors. The foundation has also hired Annetta Tirey, formerly with the NorthWest Arkansas Community College Foundation, as program officer.

The EyeSight Foundation of Alabama has named Barbara Evers as executive director, succeeding Torrey DeKeyser. Evers most recently worked at the accounting firm of Truitt Tingle Paramore & Argent.

The Harvest Foundation board of directors has three new members: Travis Hodge, Sharon Ortiz-Garcíaand Anne Smith. Smith is the chief administrative officer and president of domestic upholstery at Hooker Furniture. Hodge is the human resources director for the City of Martinsville. Ortiz-García is the senior epidemiologist at the Martinsville office for the Virginia Department of Health.

Sara Bell is the new president and CEO of the Polk County Community Foundation. A co-owner of two local businesses, she had previously served on the foundation’s board.

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg has welcomed four new board members: Michèle Alexandre, dean and professor at the Stetson University College of Law; Stacy Conroy, attorney and Florida Holocaust Museum board member; Kevin Sneed, dean of USF’s Taneja College of Pharmacy; and Nichelle Threadgill, chief medical officer at the Community Health Centers of Pinellas.

Utoia Wooten, Philanthropy Southeast’s new Senior Programs Associate, comes to the organization with a clear commitment to courageous leadership.

“Courageous leadership requires a vision,” said Utoia, who joined the staff earlier in March. “It means you are willing to ask and answer difficult questions. It means you have the humility to admit what you don’t know and the openness and willingness to listen and learn from the people you are leading.”

Philanthropy Southeast’s own Courageous Leadership strategy was one of several factors that drew Utoia to her new role. Another was a familiarity that grew during her time at the Foundation Center, now known as Candid. At the Foundation Center’s Atlanta office, Utoia served as a community outreach manager and training manager.

“During my time at Foundation Center, I developed issue-specific programming for nonprofit leaders and served as a connector among grantmakers, nonprofit leaders, and other community stakeholders,” she said. “Philanthropy Southeast was a significant resource when I was new to issue-specific programming.”

Programming will be a critical part of Utoia’s work at Philanthropy Southeast, especially with the return of in-person events like next month’s CEO Forum and the upcoming Hull Fellows spring retreat. Utoia will also support Philanthropy Southeast’s resource development work, something she has plenty of familiarity with as a resource development consultant for the Georgia Family Connection Partnership.

“As I support core programming efforts and partnerships initiatives, creating a space for listening, learning, and collaboration is always at the forefront,” she said. “I view my role as setting the stage and providing the resources. Our members are doing the work that will keep me inspired.”

The 2022 Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey is now open to participants. Since 1980, the annual Grantmaker Salary and Benefits (GSB) Survey has provided the philanthropic sector with the most comprehensive data on foundation staff and board compensation. Grantmakers across the U.S. rely on the survey findings to inform budgeting, talent recruitment and retention strategies.

Your participation in the GSB survey is needed – the greater the participation, the greater the insights for the sector and for your fellow Philanthropy Southeast members. Through a partnership with the Council on Foundations (COF), Philanthropy Southeast provides custom salary tables for grantmakers from our region each fall.

How can your foundation participate?
Visit the COF website to learn more and for detailed instructions on how to complete the survey.

What are the benefits for participating organizations?
All survey participants (both COF members and non-members) will receive a copy of the full GSB report (a $598value), early access to data tables from the report, and access to COF’s benchmarking platform to create custom salary reports. Reports and data are expected to be released in fall 2022.

First time completing the GSB survey?
See this page for answers to frequently asked questions as well as a list of documents you’ll need to complete the survey.

The survey will close on May 10, 2022. Thank you in advance for your participation!

Today, Philanthropy Southeast released its 2021 Annual Report. Read the introduction from President & CEO Janine Lee, then view the full report!
 

Looking back on the past year, I see many contrasts. We saw vaccines save countless lives, yet the pandemic that necessitated them is still with us. On one day, the state of Georgia sent a Black man and a Jewish man to the U.S. Senate for the first time – and on the very next day, a violent attack on the Capitol, fueled by disinformation, showed that we cannot take progress, or even democracy, for granted. In philanthropy, our words and actions demonstrated a clear commitment to addressing long-running disparities and systemic inequity – but actual progress for marginalized people and communities remains elusive.

Yet in a year of mixed signals, there was no mistaking that Philanthropy Southeast, both as an organization and a community, is moving purposefully and bravely into the future:
 

• Even though our members spent most of the year unable to come together in person, they remained strongly engaged – with our organization and with each other – and eager to continually improve themselves and their organizations.
   

• The commitment to equity first outlined in our Equity Framework led directly into last year’s adoption of a new Courageous Leadership Strategy, numerous offerings that attracted strong interest from members, and internal changes that integrate equity, as a value, into our governance and operations.
   
• Our members accelerated this work through their volunteer leadership – and validated it through the support they provided to our Sustainability Campaign and first in-person Annual Meeting in two years.
   
• Our new name, Philanthropy Southeast, reflects our embrace of an inclusive vision of philanthropy – a big tent that welcomes many forms of giving by many types of organizations. This broad view of philanthropy is critical to mobilizing the people and resources necessary to build an equitable, prosperous South.

The progress and achievements of the past year could not have been done without you – your work in communities across the region motivates our staff, Board and committee leaders every day. Thank you for what you do – and for inspiring all of us!
 

Since last year’s Annual Meeting, the Philanthropy Southeast team has been working to roll out our new name, along with a new look and feel that captures the inclusive, courageous community we are today.

Next week, the most visible step in this change will take place as we switch to a new website, PhilanthropySoutheast.org!

Our new site will go online the morning of Monday, January 31. Any bookmarks you have to the SECF.org homepage should automatically redirect to PhilanthropySoutheast.org. However, if you have bookmarks to other pages on our site, you will need to change those to reflect the new URL. Your login and password will not change.

Along with a new website, our team will also begin using new email addresses on Monday. These will have the same format as before but will end in philanthropysoutheast.org. If you send an email to an secf.org address, it should automatically forward, but please update your contacts!

While we have made every effort to ensure this transition is seamless, it is still possible there will be some downtime or reduced access on Monday. Beyond our website, this change may also temporarily affect the functionality of our Member Listservs and Mobile App. However, we will work to keep any disruptions to a minimum. You will also be able to reach our team anytime by calling (404) 524-9011. We will also post updates on our Twitter account as needed.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make these changes – thank you for your support of Philanthropy Southeast!