Q&A with OCCF’s Nancy Anthony: a chance opportunity turned life-long passion

VeloCityOKC: What drew you to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in 1985?

Nancy: Well, to be honest, I didn't really know much about it, and I didn't grow up thinking that's what I wanted to do with my life. I had been around the Oklahoma City community for 10 years, involved with a number of not-for-profit organizations, and I really felt like I wanted to do something more specific rather than just serve on the board of an organization. I was looking for something more. I earned my Ph.D. in statistics and thought I was going to teach at OSU, but then the opportunity for this job showed up. It was a very small organization at the time. There was a bookkeeper, the current director had retired and there was a part-time person filling in. So, it was a chance to get involved in something that really had a lot of potential, but not necessarily a lot of expectations. For me, it turned out to be an opportunity to put some organization, management and ideas behind John Kirkpatrick’s great vision. It gave me a chance to do something very specific which, in the long run, turned out to be very rewarding. At the time I didn't know what I was doing, and nobody else knew what I was supposed to do either so that worked out and gave me a little time to figure it out. It was a chance to do something that I would've never imagined, but it turned out to be a great opportunity.

"Oklahoma City is a very philanthropic place."

OCCF was a small organization and grew exponentially during your time as president and CEO. What was John Kirkpatrick’s vision and how did the growth of the organization come about?

Mr. Kirkpatrick's vision was that Oklahoma City needed an organization that encouraged people who were willing to be philanthropic, who were willing to make charitable gifts at a pretty significant level but didn't necessarily have the expertise or the support system to do that. Their options generally were a church or university or some not-for-profit organization when they might have rather done something with a broader impact. The best example was one of the ladies who we worked with initially, Margaret Annis Boys. She was a schoolteacher and had some resources as she inherited funds from her family, but she had no children and no family to leave it to. She went to her trust officer at the bank and asked, “What should I do?” She thought she was going to have to choose a university or some organization to leave her money. And he said, “I have an idea. Why don't you think about the Oklahoma City Community Foundation?” That was exactly what John Kirkpatrick wanted with OCCF. He wanted to provide a way for somebody like Margaret Annis Boys. She wanted to take care of parks and trees in public spaces in Oklahoma City but didn’t really have a path to do that except through OCCF. She wanted to do something that was bigger than one organization. Mr. Kirkpatrick felt like there were a lot of people out there who would do things like this if there was an institution that could help them.

That's what we began to put in place. We started talking to people about the opportunity, and there were several who fell into this category. Maybe not quite at the level of Margaret Annis Boys, but there were people who wanted some organization to be able to carry out their philanthropic goals. They wanted to give the money, they wanted to see what would happen to the money, but they didn't necessarily want to get involved in the intricacies of how to manage it. That's what the community foundation was set up to do: to facilitate philanthropy and help create opportunities for donors in the community.

Oklahoma City is a very philanthropic place. We worked very closely with the attorneys, accountants, financial planners and trust officers to help them understand what we could do for their clients. It was an education process. Initially, Mr. Kirkpatrick himself was very philanthropic so his visibility in supporting the foundation and encouraging others was incredibly helpful. His support gave people a lot of confidence that what we were doing was going to be very helpful, not only to them, but to the community. That's a long-winded answer, but it really was beginning to take advantage of the philanthropy in the community. People had a desire to be very generous so we set up a system by which we could help them, and it went off from there.

If you look at the kinds of funds that we have and look at the kinds of donors who have supported us, it's all kinds of people. It's not just the arts people or people who are interested in health or social services or community development. It's a whole range of people, which is what makes a community foundation. It really is something that has benefited almost every segment of our community.

"I just want to thank so many people who were a part of it. I get more credit than I deserve for the growth that we had."

What would say is one of your greatest accomplishments?

Well, I would say one of them is after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1995, we became a very significant resource in the community to work with a lot of the dollars that came in from outside Oklahoma City. We actually administered dollars for a very long period of time, and especially scholarship funds for the children who lost a parent, because we were able to take a long-term approach to it. There are some people who are still being helped by those resources because what happened to them was very, very significant and impactful.

We were able to stay with them for a much longer period of time than many of the other funds that were established to work more on short-term issues. I think that having a stable organization to follow up with all the survivor families who were impacted by the bombing was very important. It gave Oklahoma City a very strong reputation around disaster response and for managing money in a very efficient way.

"If you can make sure you touch different kinds of people, understand other people and what they're interested in, and how you can be helpful to them, that is what’s really important."

What is one of your fondest memories during your time at OCCF?

Well, it was very fun, I have to say. We had a donor one time that characterized what he did as having fun doing good. There was a lot we did for the parks. We have a lot of kids that received scholarships. When we celebrated the 50th anniversary of OCCF, we went down to the park in front of the Civic Center Music Hall and had the musical swings, which had to be as much fun as anything we had done. It was for about two weeks, and we had around 40,000 people who interacted with them. It was a great celebration. That’s a more recent highlight, but it was a lot of fun. It involved so many people in the community who experienced something very positive, and it made us feel as though it was our gift back to the community for the 50 years we were here.

What excites you about the future of OCCF and Oklahoma City as a whole?

It's on the verge of doing some really great things. There are so many young people. Part of the reason I felt like I needed to retire was because there were so many young people coming on that had ideas and things well beyond my understanding of what could possibly happen. Back in 1985 when I started working downtown, it was a bust of the first order. Penn Square Bank had failed, and it wasn't necessarily the happiest time in the world. So, to see things now being so positive and people being so futuristic and looking for opportunities is just an incredible change from that era. It’s good for the community to have that level of energy, to have the willingness of people to be futuristic and to think about what things could become. There's just so much energy right now it kind of makes me tired sometimes.

"Although everybody appreciates being complimented, I have to be honest and say it really did take a whole team. We had wonderful people who participated in the work throughout all these years."

What advice would you give to young professionals as they look ahead in their career? Is there anything you wish you would have known earlier in your career?

The greatest thing I appreciate about the community is there are so many different kinds of people. Getting to know different groups of people has been one of the most positive things for me. What has been helpful in Oklahoma City is we have such a variety of people, even though there are groups that can be one-sided or are not as diverse as you would like. If you can make sure you touch different kinds of people, understand other people and what they're interested in, and how you can be helpful to them, that is what’s really important. I would encourage people to broaden their horizons and make sure they have a diverse group of friends or a diverse group of activities, because Oklahoma City certainly offers almost as much as any community I've ever been around. That's really a great way to advance your career and also enjoy the whole community.

What’s next for you? What are you most looking forward to in retirement?

I'm going to write some things about the history of OCCF. I was there for 38 years, and I hate to say this, but I'm probably the last person living that is able to remember some of those things. It's important to tell those stories and I'm going to try to put that together. I have some of the donor groups that I'm still involved with and will continue to be great friends with them. I'm still on the Metropolitan Library Commission of Oklahoma County, which has been something that's been very important to me personally for a number of years. I will continue to try to promote libraries and literacy, because I think it's of great value to every aspect of our community.

"It’s good for the community to have that level of energy, to have the willingness of people to be futuristic and to think about what things could become. There's just so much energy right now it kind of makes me tired sometimes."

I’m sure those organizations are thankful you are continuing to be involved and I know our community is better for it. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I just want to thank so many people who were a part of it. I get more credit than I deserve for the growth that we had. We had wonderful donors, and I had incredible staff. I had five or six people who were very key and helped us create the infrastructure to be able to take on some of the projects that we did. I want to make sure it’s clear that this is really an effort of a whole lot of people, trustees, staff and donors. It's really a success story for the whole community, not just me personally. Although everybody appreciates being complimented, I have to be honest and say it really did take a whole team. We had wonderful people who participated in the work throughout all these years.