Foundation Experience
Rick has been engaged with grantmakers since 1987. He began by serving as director of communications of the second largest state arts commission in the nation. In private practice, he consulted with both the Haymarket People’s Fund and RESIST, both 'alternative' foundations. From 1993-2006, Rick worked for one of the nation’s leading community foundations, The Rhode Island Foundation.
"I value so very much your intellect, ethics, creativity, humanity, and perhaps as much as anything else, your critical eye. You have consistently asked the tough questions that need to be raised if we are to meet our objectives and create programs, products and services that are meaningful to our constituents. It is exceedingly easy to argue that your accomplishments in the area of communications are inextricably linked to the rise in the Foundation’s fortunes during the past decade."
Ronald V. Gallo, President and CEO, The Rhode Island Foundation
Vice President for Communications,
The Rhode Island Foundation
- senior staff member for 90-year-old, $500 million community foundation
- strategized policies around immediate and long-term issues
- helped grow the Foundation from $150 million in assets to $500 million
- established and maintained first communications department
- helped create first development department
- initiated statewide grantmakers' association
- coordinated the Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund, the philanthropic response to one of Rhode Island's worst human disasters
- conducted comprehensive interviews of more than 300 large-gift ($10,000 or more) donors
- monitored creation of state’s first National Public Radio station
- provided hands-on strategies and public relations support to foundation grantees
- won five Wilmer Shields Rich awards for newsletters, website, and annual and special reports
- National Standards reviewer, member of the national marketing initiative, and panelist and presenter at Council on Foundations conferences
- German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Fellow (2001), guest speaker to Portuguese community foundation movement, and conference attendee in Athens, Budapest, and Brussels
Director of Public Information, Mass. Council on the Arts and Humanities
- senior staff member of a nationally-renowned state arts agency which distributed more than $20 million in grants annually
- shaped policy recommendations to its gubernatorially-appointed board of directors
- responsible for all media efforts
- communicated the agency’s agenda to more than 1,500 nonprofit cultural organizations and several thousand artists and humanists
Government Experience
From 1982-1986, Rick was on the staff of the Massachusetts Senate Human Services Committee, eventually becoming co-director of 10 people examining and proposing policy for every aspect of human services, including welfare, social services, mental health, corrections, the elderly, disabilities, and juvenile justice.
"You have been a rich experience for me personally and all of us at the NCF. Your insight and ability to articulate what we often have stumbled to verbalize always impressed me. Your work with the convening committee has kept us afloat and on track with the concerns of many in the community. We relied on you to keep us focused on our topics and in the end to satisfactorily answer the 'so what' question."
Barbara Strasser, The Newport County Fund
Staff Director, Massachusetts Senate Human Services Committee, Boston
- organized advocacy campaigns prohibiting placement of children on adult wards of mental hospitals
- fought to raise welfare benefits to nationally-established poverty guidelines
- initiated and staffed legislative commission investigating federal abuse of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system
- developed major report on children’s mental health services in Massachusetts
- analyzed, proposed, and filed human services legislation
Nonprofit Consulting
From 1988-1995, Rick owned Communications, a multifaceted public relations consultancy. The forerunner for Rick Schwartz/StraightTalk.
“Thank you for all your great work this past year to help nurture the Coalition for Water Security. We’re grateful for all your helpful advice and insight (and your patience as we struggled to find out the mission). Our environmental community is already stronger for the effort.”
Sheila Dormody, Director, Clean Water Action
- designed and produced publications for such organizations as Educators for Social Responsibility, ACCION International, the Haymarket People’s Fund, and the Committee for Responsible Genetics
- provided media consulting for such clients as the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Boston Association for the Education of Young Children, and the New England Foundation for the Arts
- led seminars in publications design and production for the Tufts University Social Policy Institute, the MIT mini-semester, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
Journalism/Publications
Armed with a degree in journalism from Penn State University, Rick was engaged with both local newspapers and a national trade magazine.
"I was in my 'can't see the forest for the trees' period. Rick spent days reorganizing my first draft so it would make more sense. He acted as the readers' surrogate and advocate, and as the author's friend. His clear thinking about structure guided me to a hugely improved second draft."
Acknowledgements, "Raising More Money with Newsletters than You Ever Thought Possible," by Tom Ahern
Editor, Beacon Hill Update, Boston
- co-edited biweekly journal monitoring political issues affecting low-income people, reporting on public health, juvenile justice, day care, social services, and mental health topics, including a four-part feature on de-institutionalization, a series on volunteer citizen boards, and an analysis of class action suits against the Departments of Social Services and Mental Health
- lectured extensively and conducted seminars on legislative process and social issues
Previous Positions
- Production Staff, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
- Staff, Broadcasting magazine, Washington, DC
- Assistant Editor/Production Manager, Wyoming Valley Observer, Wilkes-Barre, PA
- Editor, Countryman’s Press, South Bend, IN
