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Special Report
August 2001: The NonProfit Times Power and Influence Top 50
Oh, what a year. Top executives at some of the largest nonprofits either jumped ship or were pushed overboard during the past 12 months. So much for influence, huh?
In this, the fourth annual NPT Power and Influence Top 50, we turn the spotlight on people who have moved the sector not only during their careers, but more importantly during the past 12 months.
There is a nearly 50 percent change in the NPT Power and Influence Top 50 compared to last year's class. There are 18 new faces and four who return after a short hiatus. That's what happens when there's a lot of transition at the top. For example, there's no United Way representation since Betty Beene left and has not yet been replaced. While replacements are in place at other nonprofits when a P & I members resided, they have not yet gotten to the top of the field.
New leaders have risen up during the past year, and some old war horses got the fires burning again. There are many bright executive flames in the nonprofit sector.
There are leaders who blaze trails while others, just as importantly, provide that stability and fertile ground from which the sector will continue to grow and flourish.
A five-member tribunal comprised of NPT staff and a few hand-picked members of the nonprofit community narrowed a field of more than 200 nominees through private conversations and a very long conference call.
The panelists were not permitted to be part of the list, although several very well could have been included in the selection process. The NonProfit Times editor-in-chief was the last bastion of scrutiny in the selection and held veto power over finalists, which was not exercised this year, as it had been in past years.
While there were recipients last year who did not make the list this year, that should not reflect negatively on their contributions to the nonprofit world. It only gives credence to the fact that narrowing a cramped field of movers and shakers is an arduous one.
So, here they are, The NPT Power and Influence Top 50, Class of 2001.
Edward H. Able, Jr.
President and CEO
American Association of Museums
Washington, D.C.
Despite fragile economic times, smart marketing and education have this organization's members humming. Able is a smart administrator with vision for this financially powerful membership.
Alan Abramson
Director, Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program
The Aspen Institute
Washington, D.C.
Abramson continues to be a leader in developing bridges to all facets of the sector, particularly on funding practitioner-friendly research and rallying the sector through dialog.
Audrey Alvarado
Executive Director
National Council of Nonprofit Associations
Washington, D.C.
It's clear that the sector can't rely on the national advocacy groups to protect its interests. Initiative is going to have to come from the state level. While she's still fairly new to the job, Alvarado is proving she's a leader who can muster a coalition.
Gary Bass
Founder and Executive Director
OMB Watch
Washington, D.C.
Bass and OMB Watch read the fine print of everything flowing in and around Washington, D.C. Bass has become a better warning signal than a Texas twister whistle. He's made the key federal watchdog group a strong voice to be feared.
Susan V. Berresford
President
The Ford Foundation
New York, N.Y.
Sure there are flashier foundations waving money around, but Berresford has pushed the organization's agenda, which will still be funding projects long after tech moguls go broke.
Shay Bilchik
Executive Director
Child Welfare League of America
Washington, D.C.
He became CWLA's executive director in February, 2000, following six years as an administrator in the U.S. Department of Justice. He has already made his mark in the public policy arena, championing child welfare reform and the Younger Americans Act.
Elizabeth Boris
Director, Center for Non-Profits and Philanthropy
The Urban Institute
Washington, D.C.
More and more of the important measuring of the sector of being done at the Urban Institute. With IS looking for a research vice president -- again -- the Urban Institute's work becomes even more important.
Kelly Browning
Chair
DMA Nonprofit Federation
Washington, D.C.
Browning was a major player in the merging of the DMA Nonprofit Council and the National Federation of Nonprofits. While many expected the membership number to decline because of overlap, it has actually grown.
Robbie Callaway
Senior Vice President, Government Relations
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Rockville, Md.
Callaway has led BGCA's government relations efforts since 1983 and is considered one of the top human service lobbyists among national nonprofits. He has helped to acquire $220 million for the clubs during the past five years alone.
Emmett D. Carson
President and CEO
The Minneapolis Foundation
Minneapolis, Minn.
As leader of one of the most effective community foundations in the nation, Carson has wisely used his influence to advance the study of minority participation in philanthropy. Minneapolis seems to be a hot spot for nonprofit activity, and Carson is generally in the middle of it.
Raymond G. Chambers
Former Chairman (retired)
Amelior Foundation
Morristown, N.J.
Nobody believed Chambers when he said the Newark, his hometown, could be reborn. It's taken a lot of money, much of it his, but now a national punchline for decay is starting to breathe. He's never afraid to write the check, whether it's for Newark, the Points of Light Foundation, the Presidents' Summit or America's Promise.
Harvey P. Dale
Director
The National Center on Philanthropy and the Law
New York, N.Y.
A controversial figure via his foundation work and his teaching, Dale has been in the forefront of nonprofit education long before it was glamorous. You don't have to agree with him. But, you do have to give serious thought to his views.
Morris Dees
Co-Founder, Chief Trial Counsel
Southern Poverty Law Center
Montgomery, Ala.
This is a man of guts. He faces down those who seek to steal the rights of others and attacks them with money, wit and the force of law. Most of the time his efforts are taken at great personal, physical risk.
Neal Denton
Executive Director
Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers
Washington, D.C.
If there is one person guarding the sector's back when it comes to the mail, it's Denton. He doesn't win every fight, but he extracts flesh every time be battles with the United States Postal Service or Congress. He's a coalition builder, even if some of the teammates don't realize it.
Marian Wright Edelman
Founder and President
Children's Defense Fund
Washington, D.C.
Children's issues are hot again and this veteran is right back in the middle of it. A leader and author, she challenges, prods and gets the work done without compromise when it comes to children's rights.
David Eisner
Executive Director
AOL Time Warner Foundation
Dulles, Va.
The AOL Foundation is bringing e-philanthropy to the masses -- roughly 24 million potential donors. While helping.org has brought in less than expected, the foundation is driving where donors and the sector will meet in cyberspace.
Karl Emerson
Executive Director, Bureau of Charitable Organizations
State of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pa.
Pennsylvania is without a doubt a leader in the investigation of nonprofit activities. And, the former president of the National Association of State Charity Officials, has a major says into what attorneys general across the country begin sniffing.
Sara L. Engelhardt
President
The Foundation Center
New York, N.Y.
The Foundation Center becomes more indispensable to the sector every year and that's because of Engelhardt's leadership. The resources now available are better than ever and that means access to money for organizations.
Millard Fuller
Founder and President
Habitat For Humanity International
Americus, Ga.
A legendary role model for neighbor-helping-neighbor, forget for a minute all of the countries in which Habitat works and the 100,000 or so homes built. He's the pillar of everything good in the sector.
Bill Gates
Chairman and Chief Software Architect
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Wash.
A few hundred million here, a few hundred million there, and you know what, things do get remedied. Villages have been freed of yellow fever and kids in the United States have computers. Microsoft's troubles have not stalled his head-on philanthropy.
Tim Gill
Founder & Chairman
Gill Foundation
Denver, Colo.
His leadership on gay and lesbian issues, and his willingness to fund them, not only makes him a role model, but also a visionary. It isn't about sexual orientation. It's about human rights and evolution to one day when people will just be people
Kenneth L. Gladish, Ph.D.
National Executive Director
YMCA of the USA
Chicago, Ill.
The YMCA hasn't missed a beat under Gladish's leadership. Newly on the job, Gladish has used the clout of the best-funded human services network to advance childcare causes.
Peter Goldberg
President and CEO
Alliance For Children and Families
Milwaukee, Wisc.
He is a national leader in not just children's issues but also sector-wide concerns in his role at Independent Sector. He's an innovator who is not afraid to rattle some cages just to get people thinking.
Stephen Goldsmith
Special Advisor to the President
Chair, Corporation for Public Service
Washington, D.C.
The former mayor and district attorney of Indianapolis, is the new chairman of the board of the Corporation for National Service. His "Front Porch Alliance" with faith-based organizations in Indianapolis has made him one of the president's primary advisors on faith-based and community initiatives.
Robert K. Goodwin
President and CEO
The Points of Light Foundation
Washington, D.C.
As predicted here last year, he is the last major volunteer leader standing since the Presidents' Summit. Sure there's a guy who gets more ink, but Goodwin is actually cobbling together networks that may make POL the first and last stop for national and local volunteering.
Bill Gray
President & CEO
United Negro College Fund
Fairfax, Va.
Already a respected leader within the sector, he's grown UNCF's donor base through traditional means as well as via its Web site. Under Gray's watch UNCF keeps advancing its educational message while zipping up the revenue charts even in a slower economy.
Max Hart
Director of Fundraising
Disabled American Veterans
Cincinnati, Ohio
He's the dean of nonprofit direct response and a member of the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame. Sure he's raised a ridiculous amount of money. But, the reason he's on this list is what he's given back to the industry. He's a mentor like no other.
John Havens
Associate Director/Senior Research Associate
Boston College Social Welfare Research Institute
Boston, Mass.
Havens is largely responsible for data analysis for SWRI. He, along with Paul Schervish, have broken down certain firmly and widely held misconceptions about giving. He is also one of the first researchers to insist on using wealth in addition to income as a measure of capacity to give.
Paulette V. Maehara
President and CEO
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Alexandria, Va.
She's breathing some signs of life into an organization that seemed confused about what it was and why it existed. AFP is now starting to get into the fights it should have been in years ago about couldn't figure out why or how.
Jan Masaoka
Executive Director
CompassPoint Nonprofit Services
San Francisco, Calif.
What technology downturn? Masaoka continues to innovate in Silicon Valley, getting tech, and non-techs working for the good of the sector. The Bay Area remains an idea factory.
William C. McGinly, Ph.D., CAE
President, CEO
Association for Healthcare Philanthropy
Falls Church, Va.
If you're in fundraising at a healthcare institution, you owe this man -- big time. He read the fine print in federal guidelines that would have prevented use of some internal information and led a sometimes one-man crusade to block their implementation.
Sara E. Melendez
President, CEO
Independent Sector
Washington, D.C.
For better or worse, IS remains the advocacy organization national leaders use to test nonprofit waters. While IS has taken some lumps lately, i.e. the bad tax legislation, Melendez can still locate and bend a powerful ear when necessary.
Doug Nelson
President
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Baltimore, Md.
Few organizations have had more to do with bettering the lives of disadvantaged children than AECF. Nelson leads the way by reminding people, while waving data and developing programs, that functional families are the best foundation for American communities.
Judith O'Connor
President and CEO
National Center for Nonprofit Boards
Washington, D.C.
Oh yeah, boards are important. There's a renewed zeal in board activity and effectiveness, and the NCNB is positioned as the organization that can help. That wasn't always the case. O'Connor has led the organization to this new, practical esteem.
Michael S. Olson
President and Chief Executive Officer
American Society of Association Executives
Washington, D.C.
The organization's strength on Capitol Hill has never been better. Internally, ASAE is constantly reinventing itself to better serve its members. Olson has been the firm hand guiding the evolution from sleeping giant to force within the Beltway.
David E. Ormstedt
Assistant Attorney General
State of Connecticut
Hartford, Conn.
A prosecutor who thinks, therefore he is (here). The nonprofit world isn't black and white in many cases and Ormstedt is a voice of reason on what regulators should be watching and what they should be leaving alone.
Marcus Owens
Member
Caplin & Drysdale
Washington, D.C.
Though he hasn't worked at the IRS in more than a year, Owens is the de facto voice on what's happening inside the bureaucracy since there's no clear and cogent voice coming from within the agency. And he knows better than anyone what information nonprofits aren't getting.
Hugh Price
President & CEO
National Urban League
New York, N.Y.
Price is a quiet leader who puts organization before his personal notoriety. And, more and more that organization is being heard from. While other organizations are more camera-sensitive, NUL is actually working and getting things done.
Loren Renz
Vice President for Research
The Foundation Center
New York, N.Y.
Renz has shepherded the center's research department firmly into the 21st Century. She has kept pace with donor and recipient organization needs and has been responsive to practitioners while maintaining a pristine, meticulous approach to research methods.
Dorothy S. Ridings
President & CEO
Council on Foundations
Washington, D.C.
Foundations are often very secretive about what they do and resent government oversight. Ridings has worked hard to move many such organizations from the dark ages and has been effective in lobbying for disclosure and effective governance.
Lester M. Salamon
Director
Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies
Baltimore, Md.
Many scholars have attempted quantifying the worth of the nonprofit sector in a civil society. But, he warns that "marketization" has exposed nonprofits to the steady penetration by for-profit firms into domains that were nearly exclusive preserve of nonprofits.
Paul G. Schervish
Director/Professor, Department of Sociology
Boston College Social Welfare Research Institute
Boston, Mass.
Few researchers have the human touch and insight of Schervish. Research is just numbers until he interprets it and then makes the keen insights available to practitioners.
Arthur (Buzz) W. Schmidt, Jr.
President
GuideStar & Philanthropic Research
Williamsburg, Va.
A lot of people talked about putting the Form 990s on the Web. Schmidt and his organization got it done. Now consumers can easily do the initial tire-kicking before looking deeper at an organization to which they want to donate.
Bill Shore
Founder and Executive Director
Share Our Strength
Washington, D.C.
He is the pied piper if ever there was one for the sector. Not only is SOS a well-run organization, Shore's inspirational messages confirm to leaders that anything is possible. The Cathedral Within is a must-read.
Stephen Solender
President & CEO
United Jewish Communities
New York, N.Y.
Umbrella organizations have been having their problems lately. Throw in a huge merger and the complications deepen. Solender has been able to make both work effectively. UJC is a powerhouse organization when it wants to flex its muscles.
Deborah Strauss
Executive Director
IT Resource Center
Chicago, Ill.
Despite all of the better funded, West Coast tech organizations, the IT Resource Center consistently receives high marks for training and useful support within the sector.
Gene R. Tempel
Executive Director
Indiana University Center on Philanthropy
Indianapolis, Ind.
The Center on Philanthropy has grown in stature year-after-year since he took the helm. The coup during the last 12 months was snaring the research and publishing contract for Giving USA, the widely cited pulse check of charitable giving.
Linda Chavez-Thompson
Executive Vice President
AFL-CIO
Washington, D.C.
A top lieutenant to union AFL-CIO President, John Sweeney, and the highest-ranking woman in the labor movement, she represents the AFL-CIO on a variety of nonprofit and human service entities, including the Board of Governors of United Way of America and the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Thus, she's a force for workplace giving.
Bennett M. Weiner
Chief Operating Officer
Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance
Arlington, Va.
His influence as a watchdog has always been strong, but now it has grown since the BBB consumed the National Charities Information Bureau last year. He's also a reasonable regulator, which is not easy to find these days.
Roy L. Williams
Chief Scout Executive
Boy Scouts of America
Dallas, Texas
To succeed in the nonprofit world, you must be a true believer and stick to your beliefs. Whether or not you agree with the organization's stand on gay scout leaders, the organization is weathering the storm and credit starts at the top.
© 2002 The NonProfit Times
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