Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

We were very fortunate to have Jeneen Hartley Sago, a program officer with Family Philanthropy Advisors, on a grantmaker panel at Being Grounded in Philanthropy, a program in MCF’s Effective Grantmaking Series.  We were also fortunate to record her thoughts on the field and advice for new staff for our “What I Wish I Knew . . .” video series, in which experienced grantmakers share their reflections on their journeys in philanthropy.

At Family Philanthropy Advisors, Jeneen’s role is to help families of wealth make decisions and engage in phenomenal work.  She says both the great pleasure and the challenge of working in the field is that there is no perfect way to do philanthropy.  She encourages new staff to reach out and form connections with colleagues in order to share best practices.  Jeneen also co-chairs Minnesota’s Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) chapter, and she strongly recommends joining a networking group like EPIP to learn from and commiserate with other new professionals in the field.  Thanks, Jeneen!

View other videos in the “What I Wish I Knew . . .” series:

• Ellis Bullock
• Claire Chang

-Stephanie Jacobs, MCF member services manager