|
Coastal Community Foundation CEO uses science background to understand ‘ecology of donors’
By Kristen Poland
George Stevens had been coming to Charleston for 25 years before he finally became a resident two years ago.
His wife, Kathryn “Kit” Matthew, is a fifth-generation Charlestonian whose grandmother was the first woman elected to Charleston City Council.
“In Iowa, we don’t have those kinds of lineages,” Stevens said. “You don’t realize when you marry a Charleston woman that you will end up living in Charleston, but here we are, 25 years later, living in Charleston.”
A quarter century of summer vacations and holiday visits turned out to be serendipitous for Stevens, who found his extensive knowledge of the Lowcountry and its storied history beneficial in his current position as president and CEO of the Coastal Community Foundation.
A scientist by trade, Stevens began his professional career as a community ecologist, or biogeographer, studying how latitudinal changes result in ecological changes.
That is, he explored why southern ecosystems are much more diverse than northern ecosystems.
Ecosystems in Panama, for example, have drastically more species of trees, plants, birds and other animals than ecosystems in Alaska.
New type of ecosystem
Studying the behaviors and patterns within those communities proved helpful when learning to study a new type of ecosystem — one with charities, donors and beneficiaries.
“It was a very natural transition to go from studying natural communities to studying how the community of philanthropy works,” Stevens said.
Applicable skills
Stevens’ work as a scientist gave him experience in learning how to raise money to fund his research — another skill he’s been able to use in his current position.
“As a university faculty member, you learn pretty quickly how to raise money, how to work with donors,” Stevens said. “You learn the ‘ecology of donors.’”
Stevens has been working in fundraising in various capacities for more than 10 years.
At the CCF, Stevens assists donors in establishing endowments and deciding to which charity or charities the money will go.
The foundation’s mission of educating the public about nonprofits is an important service for the communities it serves.
Learning about nonprofit organizations is important because cuts in government funding have caused communities to become increasingly dependent on nonprofit organizations to provide many social services that in the past had been provided by governments, Stevens said.
“We (as a community) need to better understand how the nonprofit sector works and why people give to who they give to.
“Should the wealthiest people in the community determine how to distribute quasi-governmental funds?” Stevens said.
Invisible services
“How do we help people understand that many of the services provided by nonprofits are invisible? The way the system is set up, it’s better for them to be invisible.”
The Coastal Community Foundation serves eight counties from Beaufort to Georgetown.
It conducts research and provides information on charities, such as how the charity spends its money, whether a charity is faith-based or secular, how large or small the charity is, whether it is nationally or locally based and other pertinent information, based on donors’ interests.
Eye-opener
Part of that research is visiting the different organizations. A visit to Crisis Ministries was an eye-opening experience, Stevens said.
“I didn’t know what to expect. Would it be dirty? Would the people there be psychotic? I didn’t know. But I came away saying, ‘I’d spend a night there,’” Stevens said.
“It was very good for me. I was really struck,” he added.
“I was told 80 percent of the people I saw would never be there again. We can learn by reading, listening and observing but what’s most powerful is living it — when all your senses are engaged.”
Kristen Poland is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kpoland@scbiznews.com.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version
