Chamber, Community Foundation team up for YPs in Philanthropy

Matt Swope and John Herbert Cranford Jr. look over a presentation for the Young Professionals in Philanthropy, a new organization they are leading for the Newnan-Coweta Chamber and the Coweta Community Foundation.

Coweta County’s philanthropic and business communities are teaming up to help grow the next generation of givers in Coweta through a new group, the Young Professionals in Philanthropy. A partnership of the Coweta Community Foundation and the Newnan-Coweta Chamber, the YPs in Philanthropy will hold its first quarterly meeting on August 15, 2017 at the University of West Georgia in Newnan.

Two Coweta attorneys, John Herbert Cranford Jr. and Matt Swope, are leading the new group. Cranford is an assistant district attorney who sits on the board of the Coweta Community Foundation. Swope, a former legal advisor to the Chamber and a board member of both the Newnan/Coweta Boys and Girls Club and Communities In Schools, is an assistant solicitor at the Coweta County Solicitor General’s Office. The two hope to tap a reservoir of young professionals—those under age 45—who are eager to serve in Coweta County but don’t know how to get plugged in.

The goal of the YPs in Philanthropy is simple, “to engage and educate young professionals in volunteer community service and philanthropy.” Cranford and Swope said they plan to accomplish this with short, productive quarterly meetings. In fact, the two said they are committed to having only 30-minute meetings. The YPs in Philanthropy will learn about an array of local nonprofit agencies, and they will have the opportunity to gain practical experience, perhaps by attending a board meeting or committee meeting or even helping set up at an event. Various opportunities will be offered, and once the participant checks off a certain number of these items, he or she will be connected to a nonprofit agency for further service.

Cynthia Bennett of the Chamber said the new group shows some of the many ways that Chamber membership and support of the Foundation benefit the community. She said, “The Newnan-Coweta Chamber Young Professionals program was seeking a way to positively impact Coweta County, and the Coweta Community Foundation was hearing of a need for volunteers to serve on local nonprofit boards and committees. The discussion moved quickly into a commitment for collaboration, and rather than create two separate outreach mechanisms, the YPs in Philanthropy were born.”

The next meeting of the Young Professionals in Philanthropy will be August 15, 2017 at 6 p.m. at the University of West Georgia Newnan Campus, Room 140, at 80 Jackson Street. The topic will be “Conducting due diligence on the nonprofit agency.” For more information, contact John Herbert Cranford Jr. at jherbertcranford@gmail.com or Matt Swope at msswope@gmail.com.