Philanthropy center celebrates

Grand Valley's Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership celebrated its first decade with a significant new contribution from the foundation that helped it get started 10 years ago.

The Johnson Center's 10th anniversary celebration held this week coincided with the presentation by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of a $2.9 million grant for a new knowledge management initiative at the center.

William C. Richardson, CEO of the Kellogg Foundation, formalized the new grant with an oversized check presented to Grand Valley President Mark A. Murray. Special guests also included Dorothy A. Johnson.

The funding enables the Johnson Center to develop a new initiative to organize and disseminate information for the nonprofit sector. This new knowledge management initiative, directed by Distinguished Professor Joel J. Orosz, has already established the online Nonprofit Good Practice Guide (www.nonprofitbasics.org) and will be establishing a new grantmaking school to train foundation program directors across the country.

The Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership was established in 1992 with support from the Kellogg Foundation. Since then the center has worked with faculty members to develop curriculum in nonprofit studies, promote service-learning and volunteerism, and conduct research to benefit the nonprofit sector.

'We've accomplished a great deal in our first 10 years, thanks in large part to our partnerships with the Kellogg Foundation and the Grand Rapids Community Foundation,' said Donna VanIwaarden, director of the Johnson Center. 'This support has allowed us to move to the forefront of this new and tremendously important field of study.'

In 1999 the center was named in honor of Dorothy A. Johnson, president emeritus of the Council of Michigan Foundations and current chair of the GVSU Board of Trustees. At that time, the center also received an outstanding philanthropic studies library along with an endowment for its upkeep from the Council of Michigan Foundations.