Jason McGill Profile

Patrick Nicholas
October 24th,2010

Jason McGill. Does the name ring any bells? Probably not. Should it? Well, that is up for debate. Jason is vice president at Philanthropy New York a non-profit management group that helps operate and manage over 280 non-profit foundations in New York City. Some of the member foundations his company works with include The Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Mellon and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation. At first it was hard for me to grasp what exactly Jason did or even who exactly he was. As I walked into his office he jokingly said “ are you sure you can get enough out of me to write a story”. His modest attitude did a great job of disguising his work. Jason heads Philanthropy New York member services, delegating who and what these foundations spend their money on. In total he pumps 4.5 billion dollars into the New York Public specter, this allows groups such as the cities education system and the United Nations to function the way they do.

It would not be a stretch for me to say Jason is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met. Before we engaged in conversation ranging from nuclear non-proliferation to Juvenile justice system reforms, he had me tell him my life story. Never once glancing at his blackberry or having his secretary update him on member group spending. To Jason the knowledge he was transferring on to me was as important as his work its self.

Hiding behind his humble self Jason then told me his life story. The nearly 7 years he has had at Philanthropy New York has allowed him to work with the city state and federal government on a variety of levels as well as the UN and EPA. He has guided member foundations to donate billions of dollars to benefit the people of New York. Perhaps it is the lack of knowledge the public specter has about non-for profit groups that fuels Jason’s modesty about his profession because it is obvious to me at least that what he does helps the city of New York.

As the pieces began to come together I slowly began to realize how important the work Jason does actually is. The word non-profit can disguise its importance at times, yet in reality the foundations Jason works with contributes 15% of the cities spending money, whether its on the justice system, law enforcement or the education systems, a majority of there functions would be crippled if they suddenly did not receive the 4.5 billion dollars the member foundations at Philanthropy New York gave them.

After the big picture was exposed, I was curious to see how his work affected individuals that live in New York City. Jason said, after a chuckle or two. “ It affects them in every way possible, the money that our member foundations spend is all about the individual. Whether its funding projects to increase art education in the public school system or simply funding the work of the United Nations, it all in some way comes back to the men and women of New York”.

The mood of the interview then made a stark change, Jason turned off his charismatic and bubbly personality to focus on a serious issue at hand. The recession has had a major effect on the non profit field, “it essentially striped foundations of the money they had” said Jason, “ I had a handful of foundations close because they literally could not stay open, the major contributors survived by making lay offs and pay cuts but the scary thing is, is that the worst is yet to come”. I was stumped. All signs point to the economy going in the right direction, so how could the worst be yet to come?

“ The investments and stocks of each company has not had time to show what exactly the effects of the recession are” said Jason “ in time its full effects will be seen, and I think a lot of companies whether its non for profit or not will have a serious problem on their hands"

I stopped taking notes after Jason started to talk about how severe the recession affected him as well as the company. The look in his eyes was not one of sadness but rather relief. Jason was just happy to still maintain his position at Philanthropy New York. His job allowed him to be the change he wanted to see in this world.

“ What could be better then bridging the gap between the individual and government? I help maintain that each project I work on betters someone in every facet of society”