Alliance for Nonprofit Management › About the Alliance › Advisory Council: Janine Lee

Advisory Council: Janine Lee

Janine E. Lee

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Janine E. Lee joined the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 1990 to manage Project STAR (Students Taught Awareness and Resistance), a nationally recognized alcohol, tobacco and other drug use prevention program created and administrated by the Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation is a private grant making foundation established by the late Ewing Kauffman, founder of the pharmaceutical firm Marion Laboratories and the original owner of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. The Foundation works toward its vision of self-sufficient people in healthy communities through a variety of initiatives and programs funded and/or operated by its two divisions: Youth Development and the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Lee assumed her current duties as a Youth Development division vice president in 1998. The Foundation's Youth Development division supports initiatives that focus on the needs of children, families and communities with an ultimate goal of developing youth to reach their full potential in society. Lee is responsible for neighborhood based investments in Kansas City's urban core, the Youth Advisory Board and the creation of the Organizational Effectiveness Investment strategy designed to strengthen and support nonprofits.

Lee holds degrees in both rehabilitation services education and rehabilitation counseling. Her career experience spans the areas of prevention, treatment, and youth development. Most recently, she received a master of business degree at Rockhurst University in the Executive Fellows Program. As part of her academic experience, Lee produced a research paper titled Key Attributes of Effective Non-Profits: Serving Children, Youth and Families in Kansas City's Urban Core. Her findings now serve as a framework for the Organizational Effectiveness Investment Strategy. A recognition program called REACH (Reaching for Excellence Achieving Community Health) has also been created to identify non-profits that are demonstrating organizational excellence.

In addition to her professional responsibilities, Lee is dedicated to performing civic duty, such as serving on both the Urban Affairs and Urban Planning Task Force at UMKC and Kansas City's 150 Sesquicentennial Steering Committee. She serves as alumni for Leadership 2000 in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City Tomorrow in Kansas City, Missouri, and she represents the Kauffman Foundation as a founder for the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations through the Council on Foundations. Lee is also a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association. Currently, Janine serves as a Board Member for the Alliance for Non-Profit Management.