About Mike McClamroch:
A Knoxville, Tennessee native, Mike McClamroch has been East Tennessee Foundation’s chief executive since 2001. With his constant emphasis on excellent stewardship of the resources entrusted to the Foundation and on top-notch constituent services, Mike has overseen dramatic growth in the asset size and grantmaking of ETF.
Prior to leading ETF, Mike practiced law and was an active volunteer with a variety of charitable organizations in the Knoxville area. In 2019, Mike received The Legacy Award for outstanding philanthropic leadership, presented by the Great Smoky Mountain Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
In Episode 12, Kelly and Mary Beth welcome Mike, who talks about the combination of passion, focus and expertise community foundations like East Tennessee Foundation deliver to the fabrics of local communities nationwide.
Mike discusses:
- How and why philanthropy is relevant… now more than ever
- Why it’s so important to merge what you’re passionate about with your vocation (and how he’s personally accomplished this outcome through his leadership career path with ETF)
- How Mike’s personal collaboration with the late Lady Vols Head Coach Pat Summitt resulted in a national legacy through creation of the Pat Summitt Foundation (housed at ETF), to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s
- How charitable organizations serve strategic needs in any community (and how public relations professionals can broker necessary relationships and programs to meet those needs)
- The types of nationwide community needs that philanthropic donors should consider when undertaking the task of investing dollars for local community impact
- What types of communications challenges community foundations encounter, in seeking to advance their missions
- Why careers in philanthropy are a direct path toward action-based impact… making the biggest differences to the most people
- Why measuring impact is essential
- Top mistakes that well-meaning philanthropists can easily make in the process of participating in charitable work / giving
- What “the new model” of charitable giving entails
- Why it’s important for employees of companies to be involved in the corporate giving process – such as by serving on a grant panel
- How the power of endowment works as a core function of ETF to generate permanent grant-making opportunities, with benefits to grantees, donors and communities
- How Millennials and women are helping drive philanthropy today
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