Social Venture Partners Greater Tucson

 

Susan, whose daughter complains that she “loves everything” (which we just like to think means she is well-rounded) has many grand and simple interests and is an explorer at heart. Her roots are in Passaic, NJ, and she spent 30 amazing years in advertising, including for The New York Times. Now enjoying retired life surrounded by loving people, Susan is setting her sights on new ventures: finally writing a novel (she was an English major) and helping non-profits raise money. 

Q: Where did your journey in philanthropy begin?

A: I guess it began with volunteerism. When I was in high school, my friends and I joined a literacy program for deaf children at a nearby public school. We felt so good about it and had some very emotional ties to the elementary school kids we saw each week.

Q: What is your idea of the perfect day?

A: Walking in Tucson, a yoga class, seeing my daughter on Skype, eating food I don’t end up feeling guilty about, laughing with Stephen at our dogs, reading and writing a few good pages, watching another episode of a series we’re attached to and sleeping soundly.

Q: If you could go anywhere in the world right now and explore it for a month, where would you go and why?

A: Varanasi, India. I am completely fascinated by religious devotion and it is most vividly practiced there. If I focused my explorations in that one spot, perhaps I could figure out this universal mystery.

Q: Tell about a favorite community service project that you have worked on in the past.

A: I’m on the board of the Primavera Foundation — doing tours of their facilities for potential donors is at the top of my list. I have also completely enjoyed cleaning the beach on Long Beach Island, NJ.

Q: Who is your favorite philanthropist?  How does he/she inspire you? 

A: Stephen Golden {Her Partner and fellow SVPGT Partner}. Because he feels responsible to give to non-profits he believes in AND he dives into doing whatever work needs to be done to improve those organizations. He puts his money where his mouth. . .

Q: Tell us about a non-profit organization (besides SVP) that you are passionate about and your involvement/support of it.

A: I am attracted to organizations that help people move out of poverty; I am also naturally inclined to organizations trying to better the environment. I serve on the board of CEDPA, an organization that teaches women in the developing world to assume leadership positions; the Primavera Foundation which tries to give shelter to people on a pathway out of poverty, from homelessness all the way to home ownership. I am VP of their board and involved in board leadership development, fundraising and trying to be as good a board member as the organization deserves — a very lofty goal. I am also on the Rillito River Project board where I learn far more than I contribute. That organization aims to promote a better understanding of climate science through the arts. The most public display of their work is Bat Night, when over 5,000 people come to the rillito under the Campbell Avenue bridge to hear U of A lecturers, poets, dancers, musicians and more. Included in May’s event will be a dance performance by elementary school students from several public schools on the river. Rillito River Project is a testament to the power of collaborative creativity between science leaders and successful artists. I serve on the College of Fine Arts advisory board, too.

Q: What is the best aspect about living in Tucson?

A: Having wonderful friends in this beautiful place.

Q: What was the best piece of advice that you ever received? From whom?

A: ”Spirited cheer saves almost every day.” -My paternal grandmother.

Frank, who is now happily retired, went to Boston University on the GI Bill after serving in the US Air Force for four years, one of them in Korea. He worked as a reporter and editor at four New England newspapers, culminating 32 years at the Boston Globe, 16 of them as an editor and 16 as VP for Human Resources. While at the Globe, he helped found an exchange program between U.S. and Soviet journalists in the early 1980s. He shared his experience in journalism as a mentor to University of Massachusetts Journalism Department students. He has been extensively involved as a community volunteer. Frank is always up for a good show, good book, good movie, or good wine with a side of interesting people. He is a “Globe” trotter (forgive the pun, Frank) and hopes to spend some time in France soon with his wife, Cynthia Dickstein.

 

Q: What has been your most valuable experience with SVPGT thus far?

A: In addition to meeting a lot of really nice people, it would be learning first hand through the Investment Committee about the wide spectrum of literacy organizations in Tucson.

 

Q: Where is your favorite hiking spot near Tucson? What is unique about it?

A: The Rattlesnake Trail in Sabino Canyon … first trail where the incredible Gila monster lumbered across right in front of me.

 

Q: What was the best piece of advice you ever received? From whom?

A: As a young newspaper reporter, fresh out of college, my editor told me, “Keep your head down and work — don’t play office politics; it’ll hurt you in the long run.”

 

Q: If I could choose one new talent to instantly acquire, it would be ____.

A: The ability to speak French.

 

“As of January 2011, the SVP network had contributed nearly $41 million in grant investments to 500 nonprofit organizations and provided tens of thousands of volunteer hours in service and counsel. Today, there are more than 2100 people involved in 25 Social Venture Partners organizations in the United States, Canada and Japan.”

 

 

 How do you know you’re making a difference?

 

Cynthia Dickstein has worked in private sector, non-political international professional exchanges with the USSR and Iran since 1979. Cynthia until recently served on the Board of Access Tucson, was the founder and Chair of People for Access Tucson Foundation, Inc., and was the host of Access Tucson’s TV show “Political Perspectives.” In addition, she is a writer, having published most often on the Op Ed pages of the Boston Globe since 1980.

Q: What was the best vacation you ever took? Who was with you? What did you do?

A: My husband Frank (Grundstrom) and I have taken many wonderful trips. Two stand out, in large part because of the spectacular animal life…an Abercrombie and Kent camping safari in Kenya, back in the 1990′s, and a recent National Geographic/Lindblad polar bear expedition in the Arctic and Svalbard, Norway.

Q: What is your favorite place that you have ever lived? Why is it your favorite?

A: Tucson, because of the weather, and the closeness to nature….certainly not because of the politics!

Q: Have you ever met a celebrity or public figure? Tell about the experience.

A: Yes, many, since I lived in Los Angeles for quite awhile and routinely met people in the film industry. But perhaps most interesting to me were three people, all in the political sphere, all of whom I met while working in my field of international professional exchanges. George Soros….who through his foundation partially funded my visiting delegation of Iranian journalists in 1998 and invited us all to his home in Manhattan; Shirin Ebadi, who I interviewed while I was in Tehran, two years before she won the Nobel Peace Prize, and Eduard Shevardnadze, who I interviewed in Moscow when he was Mikhail Gorbachev’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Q: My ideal night on the town in Tucson would include…

A: A midnight walk in Sabino Canyon, just after a heavy rain.