To The Editor:
I find your paper to be of great value to the nonprofit sector of greater Hartford. Your timely news articles, insight into the current business environment and detailed journalism on key executives, have been educative, enlightening and an essential resource to those of us you make our services available to and rely on the philanthropy of, the corporate arena. I rarely disagree with your presentation of material and even have adjusted and found gratification in your new format and online offerings.
However I must write to express my disappointment in your choice for Nonprofit Executive of the Year. Personally, I do not know Anthony Sisti nor do I dispute that what he accomplished this past year was significant. However, as a nonprofit volunteer, Sisti is not a candidate for an honor entitled, appropriately, to be bestowed upon individuals who make their livelihood from and fulfill their personal work mission through employment in the nonprofit sector as executive leaders.
Nonprofits rely heavily on the philanthropic culture surrounding volunteerism on NPO Boards. However, the leadership of the nonprofit organization, the strategic vision implementation, and the management of the financial and human resource issues, as well as the relationship management of boards, volunteers and donors, not to mention the marketing and policy oversight, is done daily by nonprofit executives. These individuals, for whom your honor is named, work diligently, at vastly reduced rates of pay, to employ the same skills and keen sense of business acumen as other for-profit corporate professionals. I am certain behind, around, under and in front of Sisti, is an ever-present nonprofit executive, without whom none of the good works of this man’s heart and soul’s desire would have been accomplished.
I hope that in the future the Hartford Business Journal can find someone in the NPO world that can exemplify the very appropriate, high standards exacted in your honor for Nonprofit Executive of the Year.
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Sondra Lintelmann-Dellaripa
Vice President, Development
Eastern Connecticut Health Network
Manchester
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