Philanthropic organization set to hire 13 employees in 2007
Three senior executives and a fourth employee are leaving The Rhode Island Foundation in a shake-up at the state’s largest philanthropic organization.
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Departing by the end of the year, Providence Business News has learned, will be Karen Voci, senior vice president for program; David Karoff, vice president for grant-making; Rick Schwartz, vice president of communications; and Claude Elliott, a program officer.
Voci and Karoff, who headed the foundation’s grant-making division, and Elliot, who worked in their department, are leaving as the organization prepares to combine its donor and grant-making divisions into a single unit, Schwartz said.
The foundation is also preparing to hire 13 new staff, he said, most of whom will work in the combined department, handling both philanthropic donations and grant-making decisions.
The changes come as the foundation prepares to widen its focus in 2007. This year, Schwartz said, more of the grant-making staff will be placed at sites across the state.
He said the foundation also plans to launch a “nonprofit assistance center” to help not-for-profit groups with all organizational matters, including raising funds, appointing a board of directors and developing strategic plans.The changes also come at a time of rapid growth for the foundation’s endowment, which last year broke $500 million for the first time in the organization’s 90-year history, Schwartz said.
The Rhode Island Foundation has benefited in recent years from growth both in the stock market and in continuing contributions from local philanthropists. Its total assets stood at $509,852,928 at the end of October – a 14.5-percent increase over 2005’s end-of-year audit.
Though the greatest portion of that growth was in equities and alternative assets, President and CEO Ronald V. Gallo said in a statement, the foundation also continues to gain about 50 to 60 new endowments every year, adding $20 million to $30 million to its bottom line.
The foundation’s decision to meld its philanthropic and program divisions followed a strategic planning process in 2006 in which the group was aided by an outside consultant, Schwartz said.The foundation had one department that went out and raised money and one that spent it. It was decided – and this has always been an issue – that the two sides weren’t working together,” he said.
Schwartz has served as the foundation’s communications director for 13 years, establishing its communications department and Web site. Next, he said, he plans to launch his own communications and strategic-planning business, Rick Schwartz/ StraightTalk.
Voci, who joined the foundation as a part-time consultant in 1990, has headed its grant-making division since 2001.
Karoff, who began work at the foundation in 1998, has been its point person in Providence, overseeing overseen all grant-making and operational functions in the program department.
Claude, a former assistant curator at the RISD Museum, joined the foundation’s staff in 2000; he recently administered a new, $1.2 million endowment for artist fellowships. He plans to establish an African dance troupe in Washington, D.C., Schwartz said.
Voci, Karoff and Claude worked their last day at the foundation on Friday, Dec. 22, he said; Schwartz was staying on through the end of December.
