PM Philanthropy: A Mutual Opportunity

Kevin Coleman is a highly skilled senior level project and program manager/advisor with experience leading projects with labor budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to multi-million dollar budgets across multiple industries.

  Career Development  

Philanthropy has been a popular topic in any number of online or print articles in the past few years. Corporate executives like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, sports figures like David Beckham and Eli Manning, Hollywood stars like Ryan Seacrest and Sumner Redstone, and many other high-profile individuals celebrate their success by giving back.

There are online publications on the topic, and you can find causes on social media--for example @philanthropy on Twitter, and there is even the recent “Giving Tuesday” (or, if you prefer, #GivingTuesday)--the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the United States. In addition, there is a National Philanthropy Day that is observed annually on November 15 (you can check out #NationalPhilanthropyDay if you would like more details). It was created as a day set aside to focus on the act of giving.

But philanthropy does not come close to stopping there. “Regular” citizens actively participate in philanthropy, giving whatever they can. Many contribute to local causes, while others use online help as well as conferences on philanthropy. There have even been studies about the benefits of giving back that also address the value to businesses. All of this is very positive--these activities spawned a number of professional efforts such as PM philanthropy.

But there is a general misconception that philanthropy is all about donating money. PM …

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