(Vol. 114 No. 1) Text (PDF) - Spelman College: Home

MessengerF E A T U R ESPELMAN WOMEN HEADINGNONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONSPhilanthropic Service Borne Out of a Rich HistoryB Y B ARBARA B UCKLEY W ASHINGTOM, C’72Jane Smith, C’68, President/CEO of the National Council ofNegro Women.Jane Smith, C’68 (center)as a Spelman freshmanclass officer.10The very foundation of Spelman College is reflectiveof a call to service, initially enacted by SophiaPackard and Harriet Giles, missionaries from NewEngland who, on April 11, 1881, started a schoolfor black women in the basement of Atlanta's FriendshipBaptist Church. In fact, the first student body included 11women and girls, just out of slavery, eager to learn the skillsthat would help them take advantage of opportunities tolearn to read and write for self-improvement and service.Today, Spelman women continue to labor in the worldof nonprofit organizations as they bring to society a moreefficient, generous and well-targeted allocation ofresources to those they serve. They work tirelessly, poweredby the same convictions expressed by MotherTeresa when she accepted the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize:At the end of life we will not be judged by howmany diplomas we have received, how muchmoney we have made, how many great things wehave done.We will be judged by “I was hungry and yougave me something to eat, I was naked and youclothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.”Hungry, not only for bread — but hungry forlove. Naked, not only for clothing — but naked forhuman dignity and respect. Homeless, not only forwant of a room of bricks — buthomeless because of rejection.Dr. Jane E. Smith, C’68Dr. Jane E. Smith had always expectedto attend Spelman. She chose it becauseshe knew the exposure to scholars, leadersand inspirational speakers woulddevelop her own leadership skills.“When I went to Spelman I was interestedin national leadership models,” said Dr. Smith, thefirst appointed president and CEO of the National Councilfor Negro Women (NCNW) in Washington, D.C. “And Spelmandidn't fail. From my first day there to my last day, therewere so many people that I had the opportunity to see.”In her early activist days at Spelman , she remembersjoining seven other classmates in forming Sisters in Blackness.While at Spelman, Dr. Smith won the Whitney Youngand Woodrow Wilson Fellowships and served as assistant tothe College’s president, Donald M. Stewart. She earned hermaster’s degree in sociology from Emory and her doctorateof education in social policy analysis from Harvard.“I was pleased to be part of that group (Sisters in Blackness)because we dealt with far-reaching issues that affectedAfrican Americans, both in the United States and around theworld,” she said. “I knew that Spelman could prepare mefor leadership better than any other environment. There wasno competition from gender or race. You could be anythingyou wanted to be.”Her leadership abilities attracted the attention of organizationslike INROADS, a career development organizationfor minority students, where she became the first managingdirector of the Atlanta and Detroit affiliates; the MartinLuther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where shebecame development director; and the Carter Center, whereshe served as director of the Atlanta Project. Her appointmentin 1998 to her current post at the NCNW — a multifaceted,community-based international organization witha potential outreach of more than four million women —is a natural outgrowth of her stature as an accomplishedleader in the nonprofit arena.“The major issues facing NCNW in the past dealt withbasic rights and access,” said Dr. Smith. “Although there aresome of those issues today, they are more subtle. And indealing with them, we have to be more conscious aboutmeasuring and evaluating our outcomes. It is no longerenough just to do the right thing.”Like Dr. Smith, many Spelman alumnae have beendrawn to careers in nonprofit organizations, where they areS P E L M A N M E S S E N G E R