Having worked for a few years in nonprofits, both Janet McLaughlin and Emily Boer found themselves ready to make deeper commitments to the field.

McLaughlin had graduated from Harvard University in 1999 and served three years as the development director for a women-to-work program called the Women’s Bean Project in Denver, Colorado. Her position required her to do everything from coordinating fund-raising efforts to training the program’s clients in computer skills. The job ended, but, still enthusiastic for the work, McLaughlin decided to pursue a graduate degree in nonprofit management at Maxwell’s top-ranked M.P.A. program.

“Although I had real life work experience in a non-profit organization, I never had time to pursue the core nonprofit management skills needed to successfully run an organization,” says McLaughlin.

Boer, a 2000 graduate of Williams College, worked two and a half years as the management assistant for Community Legal Services and Counseling Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a small legal aid organization. Like McLaughlin, she felt she lacked the in-depth management skills and experience required for managers in nonprofit roles. She, too, entered Maxwell this fall intending to specialize in nonprofit management.

For McLaughlin and Boer, plans worked out even better than they’d hoped. They were selected as this year’s John Ben Snow and Vernon Snow Fellows in Nonprofit Management.

The Snow program provides full-tuition scholarships and a living stipend to two M.P.A. students committed to working in nonprofits. “The fellowships are a way to attract the best and brightest students with high commitment levels to nonprofits,” explains Christine Omolino ’96 M.P.A., associate director of public administration. “Since most people going into nonprofit careers do not have large salary potentials, the fellowships eliminate the burden of a sizeable graduate school debt.” By the same token, of course, the fellowships are also a way attract top students to Maxwell and P.A.’s nonprofit management concentration.

But the web of mutual benefits only begins there. The Snow Foundation, which has funded the program since 1990, also views the fellowship as a way to put classroom theory to practice in the region. Fellowship recipients perform hands-on, nonprofit work through the Central New York Community Foundation.

“The goal of the Snow Fellowship program is to foster a three-way partnership within the Syracuse community,” explains Jonathan L. Snow, Snow Foundation vice president and treasurer. “Maxwell provides the educational instruction and opportunities, the Community Foundation provides access to the vital programs and initiatives as well as guidance and oversight, and the Snow Foundation provides the funding.”

For her part, Peggy Ogden, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, is happy to play a role in the partnership. Because Snow fellows work at the foundation, the Syracuse community benefits.

“Effectively serving the community is the key purpose of nonprofit organizations,” she says, explaining that M.P.A. students bring a particularly business-like approach to their craft.

“I share Vernon Snow’s vision of professionalizing nonprofits,” she says, referring to the former Maxwell faculty member honored by the program, “which allows us to even better serve our community.”

Meanwhile, she points out, the Snow fellows themselves benefit from a sort of über-internship at the foundation. “Not only do they coordinate programs, but they also have the unique opportunity to sit in on board meetings, truly learning the inner workings of a foundation,” says Ogden. “This experience gives the students a real feeling that Syracuse is their community.”

She says that hosting the Snow fellows has been vital to the Foundation’s continued success. “The quality of work from the Snow fellows is second to none. Each year, they just keep getting better and so do our programs.”

As Snow fellows, Boer and McLaughlin are working together on a Community Foundation literacy program, as well as a financial literacy initiative.

Additionally, McLaughlin manages a neighborhood leadership program that focuses on empowerment and capacity building. It encourages neighborhood associations to better assess and utilize the resources and skill sets of people within their communities.

Boer coordinates Syracuse’s Parent Leadership Connection, which gives mini-grants to parents who wish to create new programs within their children’s schools. (Last year one group sponsored an event promoting healthy eating. This year, parent-teacher teams are working on project designs.)

Boer is pleased with how well the Snow fellows partnership works. “This is such a tremendous opportunity,” she says. “The experiences in the classroom and at the Community Foundation mesh well. They are perfect complements to each other.”      

—Rachel Roberts

This article appeared in the Fall 2003 print edition of Maxwell Perspective; © 2003 Maxwell School of Syracuse University. To request a copy, e-mail dlcooke@maxwell.syr.edu.