Jan. 21, 2003

Fostering Philanthropy

National Leader in Nonprofit Management Joins Faculty

By Greg Licamele

When Sara Melendez was a young girl in New York City, her mother earned a meager seamstress’ salary and could not afford dental care. So the three Melendez children visited a free dental clinic in the city. Melendez’s faith community, housed in a small storefront building in a Puerto Rican community, also planted seeds of philanthropy for her. When somebody lost a job or was sick, the congregation took up a collection.

Melendez, former president of the national coalition Independent Sector (IS) and now a GW visiting professor of nonprofit management, understands service and philanthropy from her childhood, her education, and her career.

“I wanted to be a lawyer, but my mother died when I was a senior in high school so I didn’t have anyone to support me,” says Melendez, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College — because it was free. “I didn’t think about it then, but I benefited from philanthropy.”

Melendez succeeded in college and beyond due to the generosity of a nonprofit sector that awarded her two fellowships toward her doctoral degree from Harvard University.

“I could not have earned a doctorate if somebody hadn’t supported me,” Melendez says. “I still had four part-time jobs (at Harvard), but by then I was a divorced mother with a little boy.”

After all of her education and her most recent position as president and CEO of IS, Melendez will work at GW teaching students the practical aspects of the nonprofit world, and help move the program forward to meet the demands of an ever-evolving society.

“Washington is the nonprofit capital of the world,” Melendez says. “There has to be a huge market for nonprofit management. GW can make a significant contribution to both the scholarship and the offerings for people managing nonprofits.”

Leading IS for eight years was no task for the faint of heart. Instead, it’s a job for someone like Melendez with a big heart, fighting for philanthropic purposes that benefit a young Sara Melendez somewhere in America. A nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of more than 700 national organizations, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs, IS collectively represents tens of thousands of charitable groups across the nation. Its mission is to promote, strengthen, and advance the nonprofit and philanthropic community to foster private initiative for the public good.

Melendez, who is no stranger to academia having taught at the University of Hartford and the University of Bridgeport, notes that people may not realize the significance of the nonprofit sector in their lives, just as she did not immediately recognize when she was growing up.

“It employs about 8 percent of the labor force and contributes about 7 percent of the GDP,” Melendez says. “I ask people to imagine what their community would be like without the Boys Club, Girls Club, Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries, the local museum, or the local shelter.”

Melendez cites other examples like the 911 telephone system and reflector lines on highways as examples of initiatives that began at private, nonprofit foundations and are now commonplace (and government funded) in America.

“Whether you’re rich or poor, we all benefit from this sector,” Melendez says. “So unless we all want to be paying much higher taxes than we do now, or diminish the quality of life considerably, then we all have to support these foundations.”

Kathryn Newcomer, professor of public administration and chair of the department, welcomes Melendez’s comprehensive expertise that covers significant facets of nonprofit management such as administration, planning, fundraising, human resources, and communications.

“The public administration faculty members are thrilled to have Sara joining us,” Newcomer says. “She brings unique expertise in nonprofit management that will be extremely useful in our curriculum.”

Michael Worth, professor of nonprofit management, says, “The nonprofit sector has an ever-expanding role in our society and it is increasingly the career focus of young men and women. This is reflected in the burgeoning growth of GW’s nonprofit management program. Sara Melendez has been the leader of the nonprofit sector for the past eight years and her joining our faculty will help to move our nonprofit management program to the top ranks nationally, as well as in Washington.”

 

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