Amy Holmes

Can you tell us a bit about your job responsibilities?

At Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, we advise donors of all different kinds on their charitable giving. As Director of Advisory Services at our New York City location, I oversee a team of six people. In this nimble advisory role, we plug in to help with specific projects undertaken by individual donors, corporate giving departments, and other larger professionally-staffed foundations. We help them plan giving initiatives, create new philanthropic programs, and implement them. For some foundations that don’t want to hire their own staff, we also effectively serve as executive directors and program officers for those foundations.

Please describe why you chose NYU Wagner for graduate school?

I decided to attend NYU Wagner because I was looking to transition into the philanthropic and nonprofit sector. I had worked in the for-profit sector before, and when you make a sector change there is often an expectation of losing some responsibilities before working your way up with that new organization. I really saw NYU Wagner as a perfect accelerator program where I could advance more quickly as I changed careers. In general I really appreciated the professional orientation of this program.

What is a piece of advice you would give students starting at NYU?

One very specific advice I would give is to take courses with some of the incredible adjunct professors at NYU Wagner. It was amazing to hear about these professors’ professional experiences, how the organizations they lead operate,, and how they were living their day-to-day professional life. They already have busy full time jobs, usually very senior level, but they're still taking time to teach. They're likely not doing it for money but simply because they want to do it, and I think developing relationships with these amazing individuals will give you an advantage after you graduate.