Lilly Family School of Philanthropy student named to Top 100, chosen to intern at Goldman Sachs

Posted on March 13, 2025 by Jennifer Donovan

Kimberly Hesterman

Indiana University Indianapolis Junior Kimberly Hestermann has been named to the Top 100 List. Each year, IU Indianapolis honors 100 outstanding undergraduate students who demonstrate excellence in three categories—academic excellence, campus leadership, and community engagement. Hestermann is a dual major studying Philanthropic Leadership at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Finance at the Kelley School of Business.

For Hestermann, the combination of philanthropy and finance isn’t just an academic pursuit – it’s a combination of two passions. Discovering a love for volunteering during high school and an interest in finance, Hestermann found the perfect way to merge her passions as a dual major at Indiana University. “As I’ve explored both pathways and talked to a lot of people within both of the sectors, I really found a niche interest in social impact as well as corporate social responsibility, which is the intersection between business and philanthropy,” said Hestermann.

This summer, she is combining those passions with an internship at Goldman Sachs in New York City. The Goldman Sachs Summer Program has a highly competitive acceptance process and selects less than 1%of applicants. She will be serving as the 2025 summer analyst in the Office of Corporate Engagement, where she will be fully immersed in day-to-day activities. She will be the only intern in the office that works on the company’s community initiatives. “I’ll be able to do a lot of the impact metrics and tracking of those initiatives,” said Hestermann. “I’ll be able to work with the partners to make sure they’re hitting the metrics required or that they align with the mission.”

Her love for volunteering took root in her senior year of high school. “I really wanted to do something impactful my senior year, so I, along with a few friends, decided to run for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital,” she said. That experience drove her to fundraise and raise awareness for a cause close to her heart – the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. That pivotal experience ignited her dedication to philanthropy.

Hestermann is also a Thomasson Scholar at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Thomasson Scholarships cover the cost of four years of tuition and fees, room and board, books, and a semester of study abroad. She has studied in Germany, which allowed her to not only be exposed to a different culture, but also to take in the way philanthropy operates both the same, yet differently compared with the U.S., due in part to differing economic systems. She also participated in the school’s study away program in Florida with the Patterson Foundation.

Currently, Hestermann is interning with Active Minds, a mental health advocacy nonprofit in Washington, D.C. She works remotely with its corporate and foundation relations team. Hestermann has also completed two other internships. In 2023, she interned with Resilient Retreat and Strada Education Foundation.

Hestermann believes the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy perfectly aligns with making her passion her profession.

“You can advocate and be around fellow change makers, which I really appreciate.”

Two degrees combine to create ideal career

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Jennifer Donovan

“I can’t imagine my role or my career without both of those working together,” said Kelsey Harrington, B.A. ’19. Harrington graduated with dual degrees in philanthropy and business, which she says is a beneficial combination.

Harrington is the program impact officer at the George and Frances Ball Foundation – an 86-year-old private family foundation located in Muncie, Indiana. The foundation serves as the backbone organization for Cradle to Career, a collective impact initiative that aims to build equitable education pathways and fulfilling careers for all children in Muncie.

In this role, Harrington co-manages the foundation’s grant making portfolio, which is usually between 60 to 80 different organizations. She also works with their grantee partners and is responsible for several community data-related tasks. In this position, she is able to witness how organizations in her community are focusing on their causes each day. She finds it rewarding to be able to connect these organizations with not only financial resources, but with social capital.

Her path to a degree in philanthropy started at IU Bloomington while taking a nonprofit leadership class. Her instructor had just completed his master’s degree in Philanthropic Studies. During one of the classes, the instructor focused on the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the spectrum of charity to philanthropy. This piqued her interest in the school’s programs.

Shortly after that class, Harrington visited the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. During the visit, she learned she could earn degrees in both philanthropic leadership and business, the latter with the IU Kelley School of Business. Soon after, she decided to transfer to IU Indianapolis to pursue the dual degrees.

My philanthropy degree helped me understand the why behind the work that we do. The business piece gave me the technical skills when it comes to helping an organization thrive and succeed.

Even though the thought of studying philanthropy was new to her, philanthropy wasn’t. Growing up, Harrington had been in involved in volunteerism and fundraising in her community. “I’m from a small rural community and I had a lot of opportunities to participate at a very young age in my church and different civic places.” She knew studying philanthropy would allow her to pair her passion with her business degree.

Harrington encourages others to attend IU Indianapolis because of the opportunities the location provides, such as volunteerism and internships. Harrington says she had experiences that don’t exist in most places. She was able to meet a number of national and international research leaders who came to the school as speakers. She even got to attend an event for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. “If you want to engage the opportunities, there is a space for you to do that,” said Harrington.

Philanthropy Leadership degree leads to career as immigration attorney

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Jennifer Donovan

Kirat Goraya, B.A. ’16, J.D. ‘20 practices corporate immigration law as an associate attorney at the firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. She helps clients manage the challenges of an international workforce. That includes advising multinational companies on U.S. employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, working with clients to develop immigration strategies, and advocating on their behalf before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Department of Labor.

Goraya was a double major in Philanthropic Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree, she continued her education at the IU McKinney School of Law, obtaining her Juris Doctor in 2020. “I knew I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to help make the world a better place, and I knew I might want to pursue a law degree in graduate school, but I wasn’t quite sure exactly what major made sense for me at the undergraduate level,” said Goraya. “I came across philanthropic leadership and was immediately drawn in.”

Her love for immigration law was discovered as a student at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She was volunteering at The Julian Center, a domestic abuse shelter and treatment center, when she was introduced to several legal aid agencies that provide pro bono immigration services. While in college she also took a training to learn how to draft protective orders and began meeting with center residents to help draft their protective order petitions.

My B.A. degree from the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy helps me appreciate the importance of pro bono work, and the role it plays in building well-rounded communities.

As an attorney, she provides pro bono legal counsel to clients, most often to immigrants and asylum applicants seeking safety and stability.

Goraya says philanthropy has always been a part of her life. “I grew up in the Sikh faith, and sewa (which translates to “selfless service”) is a core principle of Sikhism; it’s the practice of doing voluntary service for the benefit of humanity, without expectation of recognition or reward,” said Goraya. “Over the years, the ways in which I perform sewa have evolved as my professional skills have developed into what they are today.”

Goraya recommends IU School of Philanthropy to students because of the opportunities it offers. “There are so many great experiential learning opportunities in downtown Indianapolis so it’s easy to do an internship while maintaining a full course load on campus too,” said Goraya. “The faculty and alumni networks are also vast, which really helps you to get and stay connected to a broad professional circle.”

Master’s in Philanthropic Studies is a “game changer” for foundation CEO

Posted on February 12, 2025 by Jennifer Donovan

“It was a game changer for me, it was pivotal,” said Mason Rummel, CEO of the James Graham Brown Foundation in Louisville, Kentucky, as she talked about her experience at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Rummel already had a successful career with the foundation and working in the Reagan administration when she decided to pursue a master’s degree in philanthropic studies at the school.

Her motivation to continue her education was her desire to dig deeper into philanthropy. She says the work she was doing was never boring, and she was still very much engaged but wanted to get an understanding of what’s behind the practitioner part of philanthropy. “I couldn’t tell you a whole lot about why this sector even existed. I needed something more,” she said. She knew exactly how to do her work and what to do, but she didn’t have a complete understanding of that “why.” Completing the program has given her an understanding of the why and a greater appreciation of philanthropy and its importance to civil society.

The importance of philanthropy

Rummel has seen first-hand the positive influence philanthropy has on communities through her work. She describes its importance by thinking of civil society as a three-legged stool. “You’ve got the government/public sector, the private sector/commerce and the voluntary sector. If you pulled that away that stool tips over,” explains Rummel. “Imagine your community without an orchestra, without shelters for the unhoused, without parks. It’s a bleak looking environment.” She says philanthropy’s power and its influence lies in its independence of the other two sectors.

Not all philanthropy can be seen, but for Rummel, the work of the James Graham Brown Foundation is visible in the Louisville skyline, the waterfront, museums, parks, and more. The city would not look the same without the foundation’s philanthropic work.

Founder James Graham Brown liked projects that created civic pride. Rummel says it’s important to always remember and act on projects with the donor’s original intent, even decades after their death. She’s committed to doing that as she leads the James Graham Brown Foundation.

Beyond the degree: Supporting the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Rummel is a member of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Board of Visitors, stakeholders who advise and assist the school to advance its role in philanthropy. Being a member of the board allows her to support the growing field. She believes in this program so much, she says, that she promotes it whenever she has the opportunity.

As a student, she remembers how amazing it was that the people teaching the classes were the same ones writing the textbooks or quoted elsewhere as experts. She says there are very few fields that are so new you can experience that.

Rummel hopes other alumni will continue to support the school as well, and that students at the master’s level use their experience to mentor the undergraduate students. Doing so can create a network that can help enhance the field of philanthropy.

Coming to the school with experience

Rummel began her career with the foundation in 1989 as a grants coordinator. Before her work with the foundation, she served as a political appointee as a public affairs specialist for the Reagan Administration. In addition to her M.A. in Philanthropic Studies she has a B.A. in English from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and an M.A. in Creative and Professional Writing from Spalding University in Kentucky.

Turning a passion into a career

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Jennifer Donovan

When she was considering college majors, Emma Rota-Autry, B.A. ’23, recalls attending a career fair and stopping at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy booth.  “They told me how you can turn your passion for helping others into an actual profession,” said Rota-Autry. That, along with the scholarship opportunities, sealed the deal for her and led her to pursue her degree in philanthropy – a decision that has shaped her career trajectory.

Philanthropy wasn’t new to Rota-Autry. She says she’s always had an innate passion to help others. That passion and a personal experience led her to where she is today. “I have been practicing philanthropy since my father was diagnosed with ALS,” said Rota-Autry. “His diagnosis opened me up to what nonprofits can provide.” After seeing how the ALS Association helped her father, she continued to volunteer to help others, including with the nonprofit Best Buddies.

Rota-Autry’s passion and experience was rewarded with a Thomasson Scholarship. Thanks to the four-year scholarship that covers the cost of tuition and fees, room and board, books and a semester for a study abroad, she was able to earn her degree debt-free. “That was such an amazing gift and experience,” she said. Another plus for her was getting to know the Thomasson family, as they routinely volunteer alongside the Scholars throughout the community. She was able to see first-hand the impact donors make on the lives of students. This experience inspired her to seek a job where she could be the liaison between donors and students. After earning her degree, her first position was in donor relations for the Purdue for Life Foundation.

She continues to give back through her career. She now works for Eskenazi Health Foundation as the development coordinator.

In her position, she has the opportunity for project management and also supports the teams that handle major gifts, special events, and donor relations. Through her family’s experience, she witnessed the impact donors have on recipients, now she works with donors looking to make an impact. “Just being there and getting to see the donors get so excited and do the ribbon cutting ceremony inspire me and keep me motivated,” said Rota-Autry.

Rota-Autry gives credit for her success to the opportunities she had as a student at IU Indianapolis and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Looking back, the best thing about attending Lilly Family School of Philanthropy was having so many resources and people that supported me. There are such great opportunities for internships, jobs, and networking.

She recommends prospective students pursue a Philanthropy Leadership degree. “I am forever thankful for the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the Thomasson family, my advisor, and so many other people at the school,” said Rota-Autry. “I recommend this to anyone that wants to make a difference in an impactful way.