Thursday, December 06, 2007
Speaker refines the perception of giving
Shanna Flowers
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Like a cup of hot chocolate on a late fall afternoon, Johnnetta Cole is warm and inviting.
The distinguished former president of Spelman College in Atlanta and Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., has a way of connecting with people that makes them realize she's one of them. And that we're all in this -- the betterment of people -- together.
"My sisters all," the eminent educator and humanitarian said in a greeting Wednesday afternoon at a luncheon of the Roanoke Women's Foundation at the Maridor Bed & Breakfast. Then in her powerful yet affable voice, Cole noted the "few righteous brothers with us."
Cole's acknowledgement to the three men wasn't just a speaker's ploy but a nod to her lifetime of teaching and living the values of diversity and inclusion.
Cole was in Roanoke as the guest of the women's philanthropy group and Hollins University.
She knows about philanthropy, both giving and receiving. As president of Bennett from 2002 to 2007, she raised $50 million for the college.
At Spelman, from 1987 to 1997, she raised $115 million -- including a $20 million gift from entertainer Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille.
The Roanoke Women's Foundation is an organization of 87 women, who contribute $2,000 each year. The foundation awards the money, $170,000 this year, in sizeable grants to a few groups in the Roanoke Valley.
This year's recipients were $30,000 to Project Access; $30,000 to the Community Youth Program at St. John's Episcopal Church; $70,000 to Apple Ridge Farm and $40,000 to the Family Service of Roanoke Valley.
In her speech, Cole talked about the necessity of giving, bettering and uplifting the lives of others.
She let the audience know up front that her message would be familiar.
True to her word, she didn't tell us anything we didn't know. But she gave us a wonderful and powerful affirmation of everything we already know.
Cole sprinkled her speech with wit.
First, she said drawing laughter, society has to expand its image of a philanthropist: "Some straight, rich white guy."
"Any individual has the capacity to be a philanthropist," she stressed.
As an educator, Cole illustrated her point with the story of Osceola McCarty.
In 1995, the 87-year-old Hattiesburg, Miss., woman, who earned a living washing and ironing other people's clothes, donated $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi.
Unlike wealthy benefactors who can effortlessly dash off a check, McCarty sacrificed and put away a few dollars each time she got paid over many years.
"Oseola McCarty is a philanthropist," Cole said. "Philanthropy comes in multiple, multiple ways."
She lauded the Roanoke Women's Foundation for the work it does. Cole emphasized that women want involvement in the issues they support. They want a voice and to share the authority in how their giving is distributed.
"If you expect us to give and have no role, we ain't giving," she said.
Cole made so many important points but one of my favorites was that philanthropy isn't solely about money.
Of course, money is essential. But giving also comes in donating "time, talent and treasure."
"It didn't say how much treasure you have to have," Cole told me later.
That, for many of us, is an important point. Too often, people will shy away from a needy cause or effort because they can't donate stocks and bonds.
Philanthropy may be a gift of time to mentor a child or deliver meals to the elderly or volunteer at a soup kitchen.
What you do certainly will come back to you. Cole called it the "boomerang" effect.
"What comes back is substantially more than what you put out there."
Shanna Flowers' column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
