A recent change at Grand Valley State University’s philanthropy department will allow GVSU to reach new heights in public service. The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy launched a new institute this month that combines three previously separate programs. The Institute for Foundation and Donor Learning will combine the Foundation Review journal, the grant making school and web-based portal LearnPhilanthropy.

“This is really a chance for GVSU and the Johnson Center to have a really important influence nationally on philanthropy, and I am very excited to help with that work,” said Teresa Behrens, who was chosen as the director for the IFDL. 

According to Behrens, the new institute will encompass GVSU’s set of national services for foundations.

“We focus on providing training and learning resources for people who work in foundations,” she said.

The IFDL launched on Nov. 6. Since then, they have gotten to work using their new resources and streamlined processes to improve services for their customers.

“We are beginning to look at ways that we can create new products that will work across all of our different platforms,” Behrens said. 

One of her first priorities is addressing racial equity, and the IFDL is currently looking at new courses and tools to help foundations in that regard.

According to Behrens, the creation of the IFDL was something that the Johnson Center had been interested in for a while, and they quickly set the ball in motion.

“It was something that we started talking about early in the year, January or February,” she said. “We all agreed that it really made a lot of sense to bring focus to all of our national work with foundations.”

Although the three components of the IFDL have slightly different audiences, there is a big overlap, and the merging of programs will not only be beneficial for customers, but allow the IFDL to have more versatile people to assist foundations.

“People who work in foundations in particular would be using all three of the resources,” Behrens said. “We have staff that we can use differently; one person will be able to manage multiple partnerships.”

Currently, the IFDL has three full time employees, as well as several part-timers. Although there are student workers, there is currently no formal internship program available, but Behrens said that it’s something they’ll be looking into.

Though Behrens worked for the Johnson Center previously, she still had to apply for the position, which searched for a director on a national scale.

“I have been the director of the foundation review and have been an instructor at the grant makers school,” she said. “I was pretty familiar with the LearnPhilanthropy resources and have taught graduate classes, so I had a unique mix of skills that were needed for this position.”

Behrens said she has always been interested in improving the philanthropy efforts at GVSU, and this position brings together the different parts of her career in an unprecedented way.

“This is just the perfect opportunity to bring together a lot of things I’m passionate about and help the Johnson center solidify its role at helping foundations become more effective,” she said.

[email protected]