Podcasts about ccs fundraising

This is The Business of Giving. I'm your host, Denver Frederick. Today, we're joined by Jon Kane, President and CEO of CCS Fundraising, a global leader in strategic fundraising consulting. With a career spanning McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and his own advisory firm, Jon has tripled CCS's size since 2016, blending for-profit expertise with nonprofit impact. So let's get started with Jon Kane.

In this episode of The First Day podcast, host Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is joined by Dr. Ashutosh Nandeshwar, Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising and author of Data Science for Fundraising, to explore the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in nonprofit fundraising. Dr. Nandeshwar breaks AI into two key categories: traditional AI, which includes predictive analytics and machine learning (long used for prospect identification and donor cultivation), and modern AI, which encompasses generative AI tools like ChatGPT. While predictive AI has been a staple in fundraising for years, generative AI is making waves by democratizing access to advanced technology, allowing nonprofits—especially smaller ones—to create content, analyze donor data, and streamline operations with minimal technical expertise. The conversation highlights a unique paradox: small nonprofits stand to gain the most from AI's efficiency, yet larger organizations are often the first to adopt it due to greater resources and infrastructure. However, Dr. Nandeshwar shares survey data indicating that AI adoption is growing across nonprofits of all sizes, with smaller organizations increasingly leveraging generative AI for tasks like social media content, donor outreach, and report summarization. That said, he cautions that while AI can assist with automation, it does not replace the human touch needed for relationship-building. Additionally, organizations must be mindful of data privacy concerns, ensuring that sensitive donor information isn't inadvertently shared with AI platforms. Bill and Dr. Nandeshwar also address common fears about AI, including the concern that it could become too powerful or eliminate the need for human fundraisers. While AI can generate text, analyze data, and even suggest donor engagement strategies, it still requires human oversight to ensure accuracy, maintain an organization's unique voice, and build authentic donor relationships. AI is far from perfect—it can be "confidently incorrect," making up facts and presenting them with certainty. Fundraisers must carefully vet AI-generated content and establish internal guidelines for ethical and effective AI use. Additionally, Dr. Nandeshwar emphasizes that traditional AI techniques remain highly valuable and should not be overshadowed by the generative AI hype. For fundraisers looking to integrate AI into their work, Dr. Nandeshwar's advice is simple: experiment, learn, and adapt. AI is neither a magic bullet nor something to fear—it's a tool that, when used strategically, can improve efficiency and free up time for deeper donor engagement. However, while AI may help streamline certain tasks, there is no clear evidence yet that it is significantly reducing the time fundraisers spend on administrative work. Bill closes the episode by encouraging fundraisers to stay informed and proactive in exploring AI's potential while maintaining a strong human-centered approach to donor relationships. He also highlights The Fund Raising School's courses, certifications, and online resources to help nonprofits navigate AI and digital fundraising strategies effectively.

Greg Hagin and Dr Ashutosh Nandeshwar of CCS Fundraising share insights on applying AI and data analytics to enhance nonprofit fundraising efforts. They discuss their book "AI and Fundraising," the potential of generative AI for nonprofits, and how AI is reshaping philanthropic strategies. The conversation covers their career journeys, the integration of AI in fundraising practices, and the future of technology in the nonprofit sector. 00:09- About Greg Hagin and Dr Ashutosh Nandeshwar Greg is a Principal & Managing Director at CCS, the leading strategic consulting and fundraising management firm for nonprofit organizations worldwide. Greg serves on the CCS Board of Directors and oversees the company's growth services, including its Analytics, Systems & Change Management practices. Ashutosh is an award-winning analytics leader, keynote speaker, author, solutions architect, and team builder. Ashutosh is skilled at simplifying complex problems and generating elegant solutions. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tbcy/support

Topic: Fundraising Strategy   Guest: Elizabeth Abel   Bio:    Elizabeth is a thought leader in philanthropy and expert in fundraising. She has led capital campaigns and development initiatives that have collectively raised nearly one billion dollars for education, healthcare, arts and culture, and advocacy organizations. She is a Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a global fundraising consulting firm for nonprofits. Since joining CCS in 2013, Elizabeth has partnered with institutions to plan and implement multi-million-to-billion-dollar campaigns. In this role, she provides counsel on strategic planning, major gifts fundraising, and board engagement. Elizabeth has directed campaign planning studies, served in interim development roles, and managed annual campaigns and special fundraising events. Elizabeth is an Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches a fundraising course to graduate students in the Nonprofit Leadership Program. Elizabeth serves on the Board of the Nonprofit Leadership Program Alumni Association, and in 2020, she was inducted into the School of Social Policy and Practice Alumni Hall of Fame for her work with mission-driven organizations. Elizabeth has been recognized by the New York Jewish Week as a "thought leader in Jewish philanthropy" in their 36 to Watch and by BELLA Magazine as a "Woman of Influence in Philanthropy." You can find Elizabeth offering her fundraising expertise at industry conferences, on nonprofit podcasts, and on social media platforms including LinkedIn and Instagram (@ElizabethBerniAbel). She lives in New York with her husband and their two daughters and is an avid hiker and tea drinker.   *In this important episode we learn the skills necessary to become an impactful solicitor and steward of philanthropy.

Conservative and risk-averse boards tend to lower expectations and pull back on fundraising during an election year. In this episode with Tom Kissane, Vice Chairman of CCS Fundraising, he shares compelling reasons to go boldly forward with your organization's fundraising efforts in 2024.

Conservative and risk-averse boards tend to lower expectations and pull back on fundraising during an election year. In this episode with Tom Kissane, Vice Chairman of CCS Fundraising, he shares compelling reasons to go boldly forward with your organization's fundraising efforts in 2024.

Are you ready for a conversation that inspires reflection, change, and a deeper understanding of the human side of fundraising? Today's episode is about the intricate dynamics and challenges within fundraising, Philanthropy, and nonprofit leadership. Join us as we dissect the nuances of the sector, exploring topics such as building authentic relationships, navigating organizational culture, and balancing authenticity and self-preservation with April Walker. April, a seasoned philanthropist with a rich fundraising, consulting, and grantmaking background, has dedicated her career to organizations like the American Heart Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, CCS Fundraising, VNA Foundation, and Iris Krieg & Associates. Hailing from Baltimore and holding a Master of Arts in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, she is deeply committed to advancing Philanthropy grounded in racial equity and social justice. As the founder of Philanthropy for the People, April's expertise shines, reflecting her passion for making a positive impact. She currently serves on the boards of Arts Impact and the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation, showcasing her unwavering dedication to community development.   In this episode, you will be able to: Identify the challenges faced by fundraisers and nonprofits in the philanthropic space. Reflect on the delicate balance between vulnerability and safety for fundraisers. Evaluate the importance of creating safe spaces for fundraisers to share their experiences. Examine issues such as harassment on the job and the emotional toll of navigating performative environments. Learn strategies for fundraisers to build genuine relationships with donors. Explore ways to find joy and satisfaction in the fundraising profession. Get all the resources from today's episode here.  Support for this show is brought to you by Instil. Our friends at Instil really understand what it means to build and manage relationships in a holistic and human-first way. The platform's advanced UX design and real-time analytics smooth donor management to make it easy for you to connect every supporter to the impact of your work. To learn more head on over to www.instil.io/mallory. Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatthefundraising_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefundraising YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@malloryerickson7946 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/mallory-erickson-bressler/ Website: malloryerickson.com/podcast Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-fundraising/id1575421652 If you haven't already, please visit our new What the Fundraising community forum. Check it out and join the conversation at this link. If you're looking to raise more from the right funders, then you'll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point

Farra Trompeter, co-director, is joined by Dr. Ashutosh Nandeshwar, senior vice president of data science and analytics at CCS Fundraising to talk about how nonprofits should approach AI, various use cases, and practical tips that nonprofits can use to determine how it can work for your organization.

The genie is out of the bottle — artificial intelligence is here. Despite valid concerns about privacy and bias, many nonprofits have already embraced AI for grant writing, donor engagement, prospecting, automation, data analysis, and more. In this episode, we examine what AI can (and can't) do, ways your nonprofit can benefit from AI, how to navigate ethical concerns, and our favorite AI tools that you can start using today. Free 30-minute fundraising consultation for NPFX listeners: http://www.ipmadvancement.com/free Want to suggest a topic, guest, or nonprofit organization for an upcoming episode? Send an email with the subject "NPFX suggestion" to contact@ipmadvancement.com. AI Tools for Nonprofits For a list of AI tools recommended by our guests, visit this episode's blog page at https://www.ipmadvancement.com/blog/ai-tools-for-grant-writing-prospecting-and-more. Additional Resources IPM's free Nonprofit Resource Library: https://www.ipmadvancement.com/resources 7 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Grant Writing Tools to Increase Your Fundraising Efforts by Shereese Floyd: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-artificial-intelligence-ai-grant-writing-tools-increase-floyd/ Revolutionizing Fundraising Part I: 6 Ways AI is Transforming the Nonprofit Sector by Ashutosh Nandeshwar: https://www.ccsfundraising.com/insights/revolutionizing-fundraising-part1-ai-transforming-nonprofit-sector/ Shereese Floyd is CEO of Witness My Life and founder of AI Consultants for Nonprofits. An award-winning storytelling and communications professional dedicated to helping organizations increase influence and revenue with story-based marketing, her emotional branding style has generated over $2M in direct campaigns. With over twenty years in nonprofit marketing, her expertise spans development, branding, women's leadership, artificial intelligence, and public relations. Shereese is an advocate for social change and believes story is the one thing that truly brings the world together. Ashutosh Nandeshwar is a data science leader and expert who has championed innovative techniques to help nonprofits and higher education institutions become effective. With over 20 years of experience applying advanced data science, Ashutosh currently leads the data science practice at CCS Fundraising. He has built data science teams and practices from the ground up at institutions like USC, Caltech, and Michigan. Ashutosh holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering, specializing in machine learning, and an MS in Design Thinking, and is the author of multiple books, including Data Science for Fundraising. He has served on the Apra national board and the CASE DRIVE committees. Russ Phaneuf, a co-founder of IPM Advancement, has a background in higher education development, with positions at the University of Hartford, Northern Arizona University, and Thunderbird School of Global Management. As IPM's managing director & chief strategist, Russ serves as lead fundraising strategist, award-winning content creator, and program analyst specializing in applied system dynamics. Rich Frazier has worked in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years. In his role as senior consultant with IPM Advancement, Rich offers extensive understanding and knowledge in major gifts program management, fund development, strategic planning, and board of directors development.

Drawing insights from the recently published "Philanthropy Pulse Report" by CCS Fundraising, Allison Willner reveals eye-opening findings about the fundraising landscape. Despite revenue growth, donor retention emerged as a significant challenge for many organizations. Discover how investing in staff and optimizing donor databases for relationship building played a pivotal role in boosting donor retention and increasing giving over time. In this episode of the First Day Podcast, we unravel the importance of a robust plan for leveraging donor databases effectively. Allison emphasizes that the success of these tools lies not just in technology but in the people behind it. Building a strong partnership between back-office database teams and frontline fundraisers is key to harnessing the full potential of data and fostering deeper donor relationships. As we navigate the ethical issues of data privacy, Allison shares valuable insights on ensuring donor information is handled responsibly and respectfully. Learn how nonprofits can strike a balance between data utilization and privacy, creating a secure and trustworthy environment for both donors and organizations.

In this final episode of Season three, Siobhan Kiernan from the class of 2021 speaks with Sean O'Connor from the class of 1992. As a fundraiser and member of the Holy Cross Annual Fund Team, Siobhan talks with Sean about his accomplished career in fundraising. Today, he continues to make a difference as the Chief Development Officer at the National Audubon Society. Their conversation gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to support the nonprofit organizations that we love. The Holy Cross mission of serving others is central to the work that they do. As people foreign with others, their careers modeled the idea of doing well while doing good. Interview originally recorded in August 2022. --- Sean: When I'm being reflective of the relationship between the effort and the work that I've applied my daily profession to the outcome, it completely aligns with my worldview of actually helping other people and helping organizations and helping the world. Whether it's through art, or healthcare or science or human rights or conservation, I feel pretty good about that. Maura: Welcome to Mission Driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, from the class of 2007, Director of Alumni Career Development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. In this final episode of Season three, Siobhan Kiernan from the class of 2021 speaks with Sean O'Connor from the class of 1992. As a fundraiser and member of the Holy Cross Annual Fund Team, Siobhan talks with Sean about his accomplished career in fundraising. After a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Sean accepted a role raising funds for a small Catholic school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Thanks to the support and encouragement of some Holy Cross alumni, he accepted a position with CCS fundraising, which brought his fundraising overseas and greatly expanded the scope of his work. Today, he continues to make a difference as the Chief Development Officer at the National Audubon Society. Their conversation gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to support the nonprofit organizations that we love. The Holy Cross mission of serving others is central to the work that they do. As people foreign with others, their careers modeled the idea of doing well while doing good. Siobhan: Hello everyone. My name is Siobhan Kiernan and I am a 2021 Holy Cross grad, and current member of the Holy Cross Fund Team. And I'm joined here with Sean O'Connor. Hello, how are you? Sean: Hi Siobhan. Good to see you again. Siobhan: Yeah, you too. Where are you zooming from? Sean: I'm zooming from Goldens Bridge, New York, which is Northern Westchester County near Bedford and North Salem. Siobhan: Nice. Oh my gosh. I'm zooming from New York City, so... Sean: Oh wow. Whereabouts? Siobhan: In like little... I'm on the Upper East Side right now. It's where I grew up. Sean: Oh, that's right. I grew... For a while. I lived on 83rd and third when I did all this. Siobhan: Oh yes, we talked about this. Sean: Yeah, right. Siobhan: Oh, that's awesome. Are you from New York? Sean: No, I actually grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts where there's a school called Holy Cross, is there I think. And I in that way was born at St. Vincent Hospital and then grew up really in Holden, Massachusetts, which is just north of Worcester. And I went to Wachusett Regional High School. And I know your next question is why I don't have an accent, but for some reason I dropped the Worcester accent. When I went to Holy Cross, actually, ironically, I think my accent started to go away. Siobhan: They ironed it out of you. Sean: They must have ironed it out of me, yes. I could put on the Worcester accent, but only under severe pressure. Siobhan: That's so funny. I've been told that I don't have a New York accent either. Sean: No, you don't. Siobhan: So I guess there's something about Holy Cross and taking out accents. So you kind of really just started this, I guess, but why Holy Cross? I mean, I know you're from Worcester, but some people I know probably wouldn't have wanted to go to a school in their hometown. So why did you stay, and what about Holy Cross made you want to go there? Sean: It is a family school. For me, my grandfather was class of '31 and my father was class of '66. My uncle was class of '62. I think even have one of my other father's relatives went there. And so I always had heard about Holy Cross. And I lived on campus, I didn't commute even though I was about 10 miles away from Worcester, or from home rather. But it was obviously one of the most important decisions I made as a young person. And then probably, in truth, is probably the best school I got into when I was applying for colleges. That was another part as well. Siobhan: No, but that worked out. The one thing I love about Holy Cross is that you can feel very much away even if you are local. Sean: Right. Siobhan: I have friends who lived off campus and I remember I always lived on campus and my thought process was, you have your whole life to live outside the gates of Mt. St. James. Why would you want to go now? Sean: Right, for sure. But I enjoyed it. It was great. Siobhan: Yeah. So what was your time on campus? What did you do? What did you major in? What activities did you like to do? Sean: I was a history major, and I took my academics semi-seriously, I think. I'm a lifelong reader and I probably am still interested in history and read a lot of William Durant history surveys when I'm on the plane on a tarmac or something like that. So I still enjoy learning, but I spent a lot of time on extracurricular activities. I didn't play sports, and maybe once in a while would play a soccer pickup game if one existed. But I was involved in the radio station, I was the station manager for a year. Siobhan: Oh cool. Sean: And a DJ. And then I was involved, I think in one of the campus activity boards, I think my senior year. Is it called SS or something? I'm trying to remember then what the acronym was. Siobhan: Or is it CAB? I mean, today I think it's probably the equivalent. Sean: Something like that. I would put on concerts at Hogan. I did one concert. I think I almost got kicked off campus because I did not go through the proper channels of getting permits and things like that. So I learned a lot at college about doing things like that. We had a band called The Mighty, Mighty Boss Tones playing in the basement, which was a fun, legendary show. And then when I was at the station, radio station, we did a kind of benefit concert for the Worcester Coalition for the Homeless in Worcester. There was a band named Fugazi that we brought up to Worcester and did a show, which is fun. So we did some fun stuff connecting Worcester where I grew up to Holy Cross. I was also a resident assistant in the Mulledy basement. So yeah, it was a fun four years. Siobhan: Wow. So you mentioned you were a history major. I'm always curious, because I did economics, why history? And did you have a favorite class? Sean: I kind of go back and forth between really US history and European history or world history. And I did take an African history class, which is pretty influential. Professor David O'Brien was my advisor and he's kind of a labor and Catholic historian. And I still am interested in labor history. I can get really geeky I suppose, about history. I just really do enjoy it in terms of understanding patterns and issues and big issues that we're facing now as a country, and what are the historical analogs, and what has happened in the past that informs where you are right now. And all my family were English majors or our English majors. I think my daughter is an English, is going to become an English major, not a history major. My son was a poly sci major at Bucknell and a film major. But history is, I just enjoy it. And I go back and forth. I probably read more non-US history these days, but it's an escapism too for me. Dealing with everything else, it's kind of fun to read about the Age of Enlightenment or something like that, and just learn about different thinkers and different parts of history that you weren't aware of. And then if you get really excited, you can go deep on those things and get really geeky. Siobhan: I took one history class in Holy Cross, and I found that I almost felt like an investigator, like a detective, which as an economics major it is... That's a different way of thinking. So actually I have a lot of respect for the history department. Cause you very much have to tell a story, and really unpack documents and things. And I think that's... Sean: Yeah, for sure. Siobhan: And you mentioned your professor. I always love to hear about, because the school is so small and the community is so great. Is there anyone that comes to mind who had a meaningful impact on you at Hogan? Sean: Academically, David Chu, who is my accounting professor, and I just didn't do as well in accounting, but that taught me a lot about the importance of studying, actually. There was a professor Whall when I took my early survey class in history, which kind of awakened me to academic writing in a different way. And I lifeguarded at the pool, so got to hang out with the late Barry Parenteau who just passed away. And that was fun times there. And then some of the student life people, I think Dean Simon, I'm trying to remember his name, but he was the one that I worked with a little bit in my senior year. He was the Student Life Dean, if I remember correctly, out of Hogan. And then actually career advisors towards the end. I think one of the more influential people in my career, if we segue into that section, is this John Winters, who is there as a career advisor who really got me on the pathway of where I am right now. Siobhan: Oh, fabulous. Actually, that was a great segue. That was actually my next question was going to be, could you just take me through from commencement to where you are? Sean: Sure. Siobhan: Your journey. I did look into your bio a little bit and you had a very vast career so far, but I want to hear about it from you, your whole journey. Sean: So when I got out of school, I remember second semester, senior year, gosh knows what you're going to do. But I think I interviewed, think at some advertising agency, Leo Burnett, that has historically hired Holy Cross grads and did not get the interview. But I was able to go to Chicago for that all day interview, which was kind of fun. Get to stay in the fancy hotel for the first time. And then when I got out of school I ended up going to Jesuit Volunteer Corps. So I did the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in the northwest and was stationed, or placed, I guess is the language in Auburn, Washington, which is between Seattle and Tacoma. And my placement, or my job, the volunteer job was working at a residential youth shelter for physically and sexually abused kids. And I was doing that for a year. And so my job was to take to care of them, drive them to school, make them dinner, take them on field trips, and then talk to them. And then, learning what it meant to be a social worker and would write about my day and my interactions to help the therapists and the psychologists who are helping them connect the dots about what issues they were facing. They were typically there for a couple of weeks. It was transitional short term, before they might have been between foster placements or they might have been just removed from the home. And the state was trying to figure out what to do with them. So it was a very eye-opening experience, making $20 a week living in a community in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. But that moment I was actually really interested in understanding how nonprofits were financed. I was like, all right, so how did they actually get the money to do the work? How does it actually work? So I was able to understand a little bit about the particular organization I was volunteering at. It was called Auburn Youth Resources. And they would receive a lot of money from the King County, which is the local county outside of Seattle. But the philanthropy piece, that people would give them money was relatively small. And anyways, it was, it's an opportunity for me to think about that. I wanted to do good but also do well. And I think a lot of this has to do with Holy Cross, but also that my parents or both teachers. My brother's a teacher, my sister's a teacher, my other sister who went to Holy Cross works in nonprofits as well, she was class of '95. So I think that, my family upbringing and combined with Holy Cross in terms of its ethos of men and women for others, I think really kind of pushed me into this career, which wasn't really a career back then. I don't know if you want me to keep going, but when I got back from the year of volunteer work and I came back to the East Coast, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I lived in Worcester, outside of Worcester. I thought I wanted to move to Boston where, because I was nearby that was a big city, or move to Washington DC where a lot of my roommates were and friends. But John Winter in the Career Center said, did you ever think about development? And I said, what's development? And we talked more about it, what that actually meant. And he connected me with a guy named Pat Cunningham, who I think is class of '85. And Pat Cunningham worked in New York City, and at the time he worked for the Archdiocese of New York. And the program there was that they were trying to help small Catholic parochial schools become sustainable. So small Catholic schools in New York City were always a big deal for helping teach kids and families who didn't have a lot of money, but get a good education. The outcomes were terrific. Typically, a lot of the kids went on to college. But the financial model was becoming challenging, because the religious communities who would tend to teach at those schools was diminishing. So they would have to hire lay teachers, you don't have to pay a Sister as much as you have to pay a layperson. So I think that caused like, oh my goodness, tuition is not covering the cost. And so they were trying to figure out a way could they raise money? Like private high schools, like St. John's in Shrewsbury or St. John's in Danvers, as BC High or Notre Dame Academy, they tend to raise money from their alums or parents. Pat Cunningham's job was to figure that out with some parochial schools in New York. There was a philanthropist who just passed away a couple of years ago, a guy named Richard Gilder, who was a Jewish, who founded a company Gilder, Gagnon, & Howe. Anyways, he believed in Catholic education and funded a lot of these schools. He believed in the outcomes and giving back in the community. And so he was essentially underwriting director and development positions. So the salary that a director of development would require. So there was an opportunity for me to work at a school called St. Columba Elementary School, which is on 25th between eighth and ninth without any experience at 23 years old. Siobhan: Is it still there? Sean: It is still there. But unfortunately, the school is closed and is now probably a private or a charter school. It Is the school... Had a couple famous alums, Whoopi Goldberg, graduated from... it's the school Whoopi Goldberg graduated from St. Columba, and as well as a singer from the sixties and seventies, Tony Orlando went to St. Colo. He's a guy who sang Tie A Yellow Ribbon and Knock Three Times. You ever hear those songs? No. Knock three times on the ceiling. Siobhan: Maybe. Sean: Yeah. I don't want to sing it. So what I had to do is work with the sisters and figure out a way to help raise money. And I learned a ton. It was fun. I started talking to some of the colleagues who were doing the similar work in the city, and we created a consortium of colleagues, I think we called it ourselves development, gosh, I forgot what we called it. Ourselves like Development Resources, Development Resource Group, I think DRG maybe. In any case, we would meet and just try to do some brainstorming and figure out how to solve problems. And we actually got some funding to actually help our little mini consortium. And I was there for about a year. It was fun. Siobhan: And then I know that you also did some foundation work, correct? Sean: Yeah. So after what? So I was doing that for a year, and then I had heard about this big company called CCS Fundraising and it's called... At the time it was called Community Counseling Service. And it's still around. It's a big, big fundraising company. And at the time, back when I was there, it's probably quadrupled since I was working there. Any case, we didn't have any money at St. Columba for professional development. So there was this big conference in New York called Fundraising Day in New York. And it is held every, it's the third Friday of June every year. So it's like a one day, it's one of the biggest fundraising conferences in New York. But to go to it, you know, it's like $600 or something like that. And we didn't have any money at St. Columba to do that. And so there was a scholarship opportunity. So if I wrote an essay to the committee that they would send scholarships out. So I wrote an essay to the committee and they underwrote my admission. So I was able to go to the event. And at the event I ran into an executive at CCS Fundraising and talked to him. He encouraged me to apply to CCS, which I did. And then I got a job with CCS Fundraising, which really did change my career for the good. And they sent me all around the world and helped train me in fundraising. And it was great. I was there for a long, long time. And that's where I did do some foundation work. So to continue on that, so when I got to CCS, I went to Yorkshire, England to do some work for the Diocese of Leeds and raise money there. So essentially CCS as a company that would get hired by nonprofits to actually help them raise money. Siobhan: Like a consultant. Sean: A hundred percent like a consultant. And it's weird because you'd be 24 years old or 25 years old and you're a consultant. And I remember a lot of my family friends is like, what do you know? You're just a kid. And there was a lot of truth in that, because I didn't know what I was doing. But the way the model worked at CCS was that they would train you, and there was actually different levels of consulting. And actually modern consulting firms like McKinsey have a similar model where you have the partners who are the thought leaders, and the business development people who actually find the clients. And they just need people to do the work. And those are the directors, the associate directors who essentially just took direction from the leadership. And in the case of going to the Diocese of Leeds, my charge was to work with parishes and coordinate, manage, design and execute what I would call mini-campaigns for each of those parishes. So I would go to the priest, I would orient the priest on the plan, we'd recruit a leadership team and go out and raise money. It was a very, very difficult assignment, but I learned a lot about resilience and persuasion and problem-solving and persistence and all that stuff, because it was a very intense five or six months. But it was fun. Get to live in Yorkshire in the middle of the winter when you're 24, 25 years old. That was great. Siobhan: I was going to say, that also just sounds really cool because you kind of get to dabble in so many different types of advancement. I know in development, I remember when I first learned about it, I was like, oh, that's like for schools. And I'm like, wait, no. There's fundraising for hospitals and political campaigns and nature organizations, which I want to get to eventually. Sean: And human rights organizations or arts and cultural groups. I think that that's a really good point, Siobhan, because where I got really lucky was that I, and it really serves me well right now at this stage in my career that I have a very diverse set of experiences and what we call multi-sector kind of experience. I'm not just a higher ed fundraiser, I've done every single type of nonprofit fundraising. And when you do that, you get to see where the commonalities are, and what the challenges are. Everything from a museum on Japanese sculptor named Isamu Noguchi, or to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, with Dr. Watson, who just basically discovered DNA. So I've been very blessed with having been exposed, and working with very different kinds of organizations. And I know that at this point in my life, there's not a lot of people who have that kind of experience. And so that kind of becomes my professional marker, I guess. So the person who's done a lot of big complex organizations, but also a lot of small organizations too. Siobhan: So I have two questions on that. The first is, it's a soft question. In all of those different types of fundraising, which was your favorite, I guess what kind of fundraising was most enjoyable for you? Sean: I do the arts and cultural world because I find the board and the people to be very interesting and fun to work with. It is perhaps the hardest sector to work on because a lot of what we do is 400 billion is given away by people and corporations and foundations every year. And the top sector, it's religion, is probably the largest recipient of philanthropy, healthcare and education come in pretty close after that. So you're going to get a lot, it's not saying it's easier to raise money in higher ed, in healthcare, but in some ways it is because in healthcare it typically centers around solving a problem or the so-called grateful patient. "Dr X saved my life, I'm going to give him all my money or a lot of my money" and higher education is "professor Y saved my life and got me on the right path, so I'm going to give money there." Arts and cultural tends to be not necessarily the top priority people. It could be second or third or maybe sometimes fourth. And so it's harder sometimes, but I find it to be more interesting. And then in terms of my most enjoyable experience, probably when I worked in London again in 2000, when I got to do some work with the International Accounting Standards Board, which sounds very boring, but the job was very exciting because what the job was, was to raise money for an organization that was trying to harmonize accounting standards around the world. Siobhan: Oh, cool. Sean: I got to travel around Europe to actually interview executives on their willingness to support this cause, this kind of new plan. And it was just fun working on that kind of scale. One of the great things about this, that I've enjoyed about my career is that I have to learn about every kind of thing. I'm not an expert on accounting, but I have to be able to have a conversation about it. I'm not an expert on art museums, but I have to be able to at least have a conversation about it. And here at Audubon, I'm not an ornithologist, but I have to be able to talk about climate change and the importance of eelgrass in San Francisco Bay. Because what I'm doing is representing these organizations, and serving as the middle person between philanthropy and good causes. And that's on thing I think my profession's about. It's not about asking for money, in a weird way. It's really about creating an environment where you create opportunities for people who have money, who want to give away money, to do it in a way that they feel comfortable doing it. Siobhan: No, I feel the same way, especially in connecting with alums. It's not about asking them for money. It's about what did you love about Holy Cross and how can you support that again? Sean: Exactly. Siobhan: But you mentioned Audubon. And I just, so again, with advancement just being so vast, if I'm being honest, I didn't know that such an organization existed. When I saw that that's where you work, I was like, oh my God, of course that would exist. Sean: I'm going to have to do more work then, Siobhan to make sure you hear about this. Siobhan: But it makes sense. Birds are so important, and the environment is such, no pun intended, but a hot topic right now. But how did you, I guess, find that organization and what brought you there? Sean: Yeah. Siobhan: Is that one of your passions too? Is the environment something that strikes... Sean: It is, I think certainly climate change and birds over time. The truth is that they found me and reached out to me. And then, right now at this stage of my career, I think when I was a little younger... And I have some advice about careers too, but, and this is what I share with people, is that you really do want to go to a place where the people, you kind of vibe with the people that you're going to work with. I think mission is very important, but as you're building a career, it's very important to find people that believe in you, give you the resources to be successful in where you can learn. At Audubon, at this stage of my career, because I have a leadership role, I can control some of those things. I can control the type of culture I'm trying to create with my team, and which I think is very, very important for fundraisers. For fundraisers to stay, is actually understanding what makes motivates fundraisers and what motivates development. Because I think a lot of this is, there's some similar aspects I think to a really good fundraising personality. But Audubon, I think the reason why I'm here is because they wanted to grow. And one of the things I've learned about my career recently is that there's some people who are comfortable in a status quo environment. And then there's some people who just like to build things. And I'm certainly in the ladder, and part of this is because of my consulting background. I like to solve problems, and figure out a way to grow. I know that sounds like every organization wants to do that, but not necessarily. Because I think in order to do that, there has to be an alignment between the board and the leadership of the organization, and actually a really good case of why growth is needed. And then of course they need to invest. So you need to spend money to raise money. All those elements were in place when I was talking to Audubon about five and a half years ago with leadership. So if I see alignment between the Chair of the Board and the CEO, and if they kind of align with the Chief Development Officer or the person who's in charge of raising money, that's when really great things can happen. Because this is never, in my view, a money issue. There's plenty of money in this world right now. This is always a strategy problem. How are we getting the money? How are we telling our story? Do we have the mechanical pieces in place? Do we have the right people? Are they trained? Do we have the right leadership in place? Those are the things that staff ultimately control. And if they are in the right spot, and doing it the right way, the money should come. It's very difficult to get all that stuff figured out. And that's really, at the end of the day, that's what the work is. Is that I think good fundraisers have a vision for what the word will look like or feel like. At any given day, I know what kind of meeting I'm trying to design between a board member and my CEO, and I know what I want them to say and I know who I want in the room. So I'm always trying to get to that point. Not as easy as it sounds, because it just takes time to get all those things in place, and to make sure that the conversation's happening. And making sure you have answers to all the questions that funders want. So for instance, at Audubon we're... Bezos gives a wait a lot of money for climate, we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make that approach happen the right way. I don't want need to digress, but that's a lot of it how I think of it. Siobhan: No, and that's awesome. Actually, so I have a few questions that are going in different directions, so I'll see if I can loop them all together. So the first one is, I guess, what keeps you in this work? What drives your day? What kept your passion in the work that you're doing? Sean: Well, yeah, there were times, I remember in 2000, 2001 during the first dot com boom, I remember I would've been about 30 or so, there was a lot of people in my peer group trying to go to dotcom and early in internet stage companies. And I did talk to some people, this is after I got back from London. And I remember talking to some, what I would call philtech. Phil, P H I L technology, so philanthropy technology companies that were starting at that time and ultimately did not pursue them. And then on occasion, during the late two thousands or before the 2008 recession, could I parlay this experience into some kind of for-profit thing? I think ultimately, what kept me is, which is what you hear when you hear people give career advice when you're younger is, and I think there's a lot of truth to this, is if you actually like what you do and eventually you become good at it, then everything else takes care of itself. So I really do like what I'm doing, and I've become pretty good at it. And so then everything else takes care of itself. And being intentional about the different moves you make. And because designing a career is... I'm not saying it's a full-time job, but you cannot approach that casually. You have to be attainable about it. And what I mean by that is that whenever you go to an organization, and it doesn't really matter what sector we're talking about, but certainly in the fundraising sector, you want to understand not only how you're going to be successful there, but what will it lead to? What if you're successful at XYZ organization, will it give you an opportunity to grow within the organization or maybe even go to another organization, that type of thing. Depending on what you ultimately want to do. You don't have to become a Chief Development Officer. You can become the best frontline fundraiser in an area that you really, really love. And that's the great thing about this sector is that there's a lot of different diverse job functions. You have the development operations side, which is very much oriented towards tech people and people who are data-driven. The foundation relations kind of world, which really solid writers do well in that sector or that section of the work. And then frontline fundraisers are really usually a kind of sales salesperson orientation. Siobhan: I was going to say, as someone who is on the soliciting end of things, I feel like I'm a salesperson for Holy Cross, which I love because as someone, and you get this as someone who benefited from the product, it almost makes the job easy. But I was curious, so as someone, you weren't on both ends of the spectrum, so the soliciting side, which we've said isn't all about asking for money, but sometimes it comes down to, okay, here's my wallet. And then also the giving away of money. How would you, I guess, compare those roles? Because right now, as someone who's just starting out, I find the idea of grant giving and the other side of the work to be intriguing. Sean: It is intriguing. So my experience and foundations, I did some work with the MacArthur Foundation and the Gates Foundation, both those opportunities, I got to obviously work closely with them to understand more how they work. And over my career, I've got to work closely with some foundations. And over my career, I've probably felt the same thing that you're feeling, oh, it would be fun to get away money. But it's funny, they kind of have the same challenges in some ways because they... And I think that that actually helps you become a good fundraiser with foundations. To kind of boil this down, everyone has a job and everyone has to do things. So if you're a foundation officer, you have to do things, you have to give away money. And it is hard to give away money, because you're going to be evaluated on how the partnerships that you developed, did you squander the money or did you give the money away smartly? And if you gave the money away, did you do a good job following up in a and actually evaluating their efficacy? And that is hard. And there's a lot of pressure. And so if you orient yourself as a, now I'm going on the solicitor side, if you orient yourself to, I'm going to make this person's life easier, then you're talking to them like a person and you're creating a partnership. How can I help you with your job, or what you have to do? We're a good organization, we're going to communicate with you, we're going to spend your money the right way. Then it's a great thing. So you're not really asking them for money, you're really creating a partnership. And I think that that makes all the things in the world. But then if you think about designing strategies for a billionaire who wants to, some billionaire from Holy Cross calls you Siobhan and said, Siobhan, I want you to run a foundation for me and figure out... I want to give away money to human rights organizations and arts organizations in South America, and I'm going to give you a budget and you figure it out. So what would you do? You would probably start creating a network. You would go travel and see some, understand the issue. Go to South America, go visit museums, create a network of people, and then start to give away money. Yes, that would be fun. That would be really fun. But going to a big foundation and running a program, you do have to be a subject matter expert. Oftentimes, not all the time, because now there are a lot of foundations out there that I've been encountering that will hire a friend, someone they trust to actually help them with their foundation. I met this foundation recently where, all of a sudden they found themselves with a whole lot of money and they wanted to create this foundation because that's what the estate had directed them to do. And they're going to find the person that they trust. And so sometimes that person's not a subject matter expert, but they're a trusted advisor to the family. But if you're a subject matter expert in human rights, you're coming at it from a different direction. You're an academic that goes into a foundation. But I do think it's a growing, obviously a growing field as the wealth inequality continues to increase. I'll just give you a little tidbit on, this is one of my favorite facts. When I started in the business, mid-nineties, I would always go to the Hudson News in Grand Central and buy the Forbes 400, which would come out, I guess it would come on the fall. I'm trying to remember when it did. But I always loved that because I would go home on the train and just read it, and learn about the families who had wealth. And I quickly learned that not everybody, wealth and philanthropy are not the same thing. People with money and people who are philanthropic, there's like a Venn diagram in the middle. But to be the four hundredth, wealthiest person on that list, right back in the mid-nineties, the net worth was 400 million or something like that. It's a lot of money. What do you think it is today? Siobhan: It's more. Because I feel like... I was going to say, I feel like, because nowadays, and maybe it's because I work in fundraising, a million dollars doesn't seem like that much money anymore. Sean: Something like 1.7 billion. Siobhan: I was going to say at least a billion dollars. Sean: So why that's extraordinary. Not only how much it's gone up. Might be 1.4, but I know it's something like that. There's a whole lot of people below that. We don't even know who those people are. Siobhan: Wow. Sean: They're not necessarily publicly known. So the amount of people... It used to be rather, you used to be able to understand where the wealth was. And now I think you just don't, A very interesting world we live in now in terms of the relationship between wealth, philanthropy, and our business. There's a lot of new philanthropists coming on board that are coming out of the nowhere, partly because they're just not as well known. It's just more. There's more opportunity. That's why we're not really at a wealthy, it's not about money, it's about strategy. Siobhan: I was also going to say, I find... At least I can relate to least the capacity because sometimes, you use all the data that you have and you assume that someone has this profile, but you could either be over assuming, but then you could also be easily under assuming too. There are probably people that you don't think they would give maybe over a thousand dollars. But if you go about it, as you were saying, strategy, if you talk to them, if they're into music and you talk to them about the new performing arts center, you might inspire their generosity more than if you're talking to them about a new basketball court. Sean: I think that that's a hundred percent right. And I think, that's why I think it sounds a little old school. I think research can be a little overdone. I love research by the way. I think that my research team, they call me an, I'm an honorary researcher because on occasion, if I'm sitting in front of the TV or something like that, I'll go deep on some name and I just love finding these little nuggets of information. I'll send our director of prospect research these random emails. I said, look into this, look into that. Because at least at Audubon, I'm looking into people who care about climate, who care about birds, who care about... Siobhan: Again, that is so unique. Sean: Well, there's one, if you look on... Here's one of the cool things about birds besides the fact they're cool. If you go to... The Fish and Wildlife Service did a report on one of the most common outdoor activity, obviously gardening is actually probably the top. Birding is actually second or so. They estimate over 40 million people at one point in their life have gone out and watched birds, whether it's in their backyard or something like that. It's an awful lot of people. Siobhan: It is a lot of people. That's a fun fact. Sean: Yeah, it drives our work for sure. And we're doing this cool thing. This is kind of a little bit out of sequence, but we have this thing called Bird Song, which is this project we're doing. In fact, you can look on Spotify, and this has been in the New York Times. A music supervisor, a guy named Randall Poster who works with Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese approached Audubon, and he got the bird bug over the pandemic because he was at home and listening to birds. He approached all of his musician friends, people like Jarvis Cocker and Yo-Yo Ma and Yoko Ono and Karen O and Beck to do songs inspired by Bird Song. And so he has 180 tracks. He's also asked his actor friends like Liam Neeson and Matthew McConaughey and Adrien Brody to read poems that are about birds, including a bird poem written by another Holy Cross alum, Billy Collins, who is a poet who wrote a poem about sandhill cranes in Nebraska. He has Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes reading that poem. Anyways, there's going to be a big album, a box set release, and all the money's going to go to Audubon. Siobhan: That's awesome. Sean: Birds are having a moment. Siobhan: Birds are having a moment. It's a bird's world and we're just living in it. Sean: It is. That's a good way of putting it, I'm going to borrow that. Siobhan: You can totally, as long as you give me copyright credit. Sean: I'll absolutely give you copyright, and all the royalties. Siobhan: Exactly. And I do want to just be cognizant of time, but as the podcast is about Holy Cross's mission and how it influenced your life, and I know you did talk about this a little bit at the beginning. I just wanted to hear more about how Holy Cross impacted your life and your work, and maybe Holy Cross' mission in addition to being men and women for others. Sean: I found a profession that I think in the beginning it might not have made sense, but I have to tell you now, at my age, there's a lot of people, a lot of friends who went to all lacrosse and other places are some ways jealous of this career because... So I have this ability to do well and do good. Use persuasion techniques or skills that could be implied to advertising or banking or some other sales job. But when I'm being reflective of the relationship between the effort and the work that I've applied my daily profession to the outcome, it completely aligns with my worldview of actually helping other people and helping organizations and helping the world, whether it's through art or healthcare or science or human rights or conservation. I feel pretty good about that. And I also feel very fortunate because I don't think I'd be in this profession if it wasn't for Holy Cross, partly because combined with how I was raised and also Holy Cross reinforcing some of those values and elevating them. And then, really the specific moment when Jonathan Winters actually said, hey, you should look into this job. And really made the connection between me as a recent alum and an opportunity with another Holy Cross person. So if Pat Cunningham's listening to this podcast, and I reach out to him once in a while, was a very influential person in terms of where I'm at right now, and I'm very grateful for that. So it's a fun profession. I encourage, I do a lot of connecting with other Holy Cross grads that have helped people. And there's a lot of Holy Cross people that I've met who are in this business, and you try to get together. Because I think there's a really interesting theme here in terms of what we do. And a lot of us are doing, in pretty good organizations, doing really, really good work. So celebrating that as a profession would be fun to do. I actually, Danita Wickwire, who is class of '94 joined my team recently. Which is incredible, because I told her, she reminds me a little bit of why I'm in this profession. Because if you go into this world of fundraising, it's hard to keep up with everything. But then, because she's here and because of our common history at Holy Cross, it's nice to have her because we were able to align around that a lot. And I think she participated in one of these podcasts as well. And she's a really, really influential and important leader in this space as well. Siobhan: Oh, that's awesome. She is an outstanding volunteer and name in our office. So our office is a big fan of Danita, she's great. Also, what I really like too that you said is, I don't know, I find that the job doesn't really feel like work and it's comforting to hear that doesn't change. Sean: It doesn't really. No, it doesn't change. I mean, listen, it's not saying it's easy all the time, but it's certainly fun. Siobhan: And then I guess you kind of touched upon this, but for someone starting out in this work, what is some advice you would give? And then I guess also, looking back on your journey that got you here, is there anything that you would've done differently? Sean: I don't think I have any regrets about choices I've made, also philosophically don't believe in that because I don't think it's helpful. But I think in terms of advice, I do think, and I know this sounds slightly cynical, so I soften this a little bit, but I really do feel it's important to go to a place where your boss and your colleagues believe and align with how you think about this work. I think often, sometimes I see folks make a mistake going to an organization for the mission only, and then what ends up happening sometimes, not all the time, is that the expectations aren't there. And then it can really be a hard place to be. One of the hardest things about this business is... It's a very optimistic, enthusiastic person, but I also know how hard this is and things can go wrong, and you might not have control over certain things. And so educating non-fundraisers, or orienting them about how this work actually unfolds happens with experience. So I'm able to do that with a little bit more ease than I did when I was younger. But be very intentional about your career. If you have a lot of the elements in place, that's great. If you're able to grow, that's great. Don't go for the money, so to speak, or for the mission, make sure everything else is in place. That's my advice. Siobhan: That's very deep. I think that's applicable to anything too. Sean: It is. But I remember, I give a lot of career advice and sometimes I see people, it looks really good, but you got to ask all the right questions, make sure you're asking the questions so you have it all figured out. Siobhan: Yeah. Then I guess, is there any type of organization that you haven't worked with yet that you'd want to? You said you've worked with most of them, but is there anything that maybe in your journey that you've seen... Sean: I was in Columbia last week, the country, because we do a lot of work hemispherically, so I was in Bogota and Cali. I really enjoy, where I think this is headed, and maybe it would be fun, is like this orientation about raising money in other parts of the world. I've done it before, I've done it in England, and it's different in every country and it's evolving and this cultural barriers of this and all that stuff. But I like the way the globalization in terms of how we're thinking about the NGO, bottom up. And also the importance of diversifying our space. Our profession has to be more intentional about how to do that and create space and opportunities for people of color and other backgrounds because there's a lot of history and reasons why it is what it is. And we have to continue to try to figure out ways to open up doors and opportunities that are just not going to happen naturally. You have to be forceful about that. So any place that is in that space. You know what, the weird thing about this space, and I talked to Ron Lawson about this, who's a Chief Operating Officer of a coalition, homeless coalition in New York. It's in a weird way, it's really hard to raise private philanthropy for some social justice issues like homelessness and hunger. Hunger, not as much as it used to be. But I'm always curious about why that is. And there are some organizations that kind of outperform. There's so much money that's given away and there's some sectors that are just not there yet. And that would be fun to understand more why that's happening and help with that too. Siobhan: Cool. I just wanted to see where you were headed next. Sean: I don't know. Siobhan: Nonprofit. Sean: Yeah, it's fun. I'm glad you're in this space and you should keep in touch, Siobhan, it'd be fun to see where your career's going to take you. Siobhan: I was going to say, I'll have you on speed dial. Sean: Good. Awesome. Siobhan: Awesome. And before I let you go, I just wanted to end on a fun little speed Holy Cross round. Sean: Sure. Siobhan: Very quick. Okay. What was your freshman dorm? Sean: Mulledy Siobhan: What was your hardest class? Sean: That economics class with Professor Chu. No, actually accounting class with Professor Chu. Yeah. Siobhan: Nice. Best professor you've ever had? Sean: Probably Professor Chu Siobhan: I see him sometimes, so I'll be sure to let him know. Sean: I think he just retired actually. I thought I just saw that he's retiring soon. Siobhan: He is, but he has his little research. Sean: Yeah, you can tell him that. Tell him, gave him a shout-out. I think I was, it might have been... That was his first year he got here, I think. Siobhan: Oh, that's so funny. Senior dorm? Sean: Carlin. Siobhan: Oh, nice. Sean: Yeah, Carlin Siobhan: Favorite spot on campus? Sean: I guess I liked the radio station. That was a great place to escape. Siobhan: Oh, cute. First meal you think of when you think of Kimball. Sean: Ah, that's good. Probably just like chicken fingers, I guess. They actually existed, I think that they did. Or that Turkey. There's like some kind of Turkey meal that was good there. Siobhan: Oh my goodness. The Thanksgiving Turkey dinner slaps. Best restaurant in Worcester. This is good because you're a local. Sean: Yeah, well the best restaurant right now that I was just like, wow, this is a pretty good restaurant. There's that sushi place on Park Avenue is really, really good actually. And then when I was there, I guess Arturo's was a great Italian place, but that's not, I think that's closed now. Best Breakfast place is probably Lou Roc's on West Boylston Street, which is a really, really good diner. Siobhan: Good to know. Everyone always talks about Miss Worcester's, I'll have to... Sean: Miss Worcester's is good, but Lou Roc's is a little further out, but it's excellent, excellent. Yeah. Siobhan: Oh, fabulous. All right. Your go-to study spot? Sean: The Library right side, as you're walking on the right side. Yeah, not the left side. Siobhan: Okay. And if you were going to campus right now, where are you going first? Sean: I am going to check out this new performing arts center which is the coolest looking building in Worcester, I think. Siobhan: Right? It kind of looks like an airport, but in a good way. Sean: It's a very cool, it's one of the coolest architecture buildings I've seen. And it's certainly one of the coolest things in Worcester. I think it's awesome. I want to go inside it. Siobhan: And then last question, your fondest Holy Cross memory. Sean: Fondest Holy Cross memory? Oh, I don't know. I really enjoy fall at Holy Cross. That's what I enjoyed the most. Yeah, and I like fall in Worcester. Yeah, for sure. Siobhan: That's a good answer. Sean: Yeah. Siobhan: Especially fall at Holy Cross is beautiful. Sean: Yeah, like a football game in the fall. That's probably it. Siobhan: Nice. Wow. Thank you so much for chatting with me. Sean: Thanks Siobhan. Siobhan: Taking the time out of your today. Sean: That was great, thanks. Thanks for the opportunity. Maura Sweeney: That's our show. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the mission to be people for and with others. A special thanks to today's guests and everyone at Holy Cross who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. If you or someone would like to be featured on this podcast, then please send us an email at alumnicareers.holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review. This podcast is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations at the College of the Holy Cross. You can subscribe for future episodes wherever you find your podcast. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, "Now go forth and set the world on fire." Theme music composed by Scott Holmes, courtesy of freemusicarchive.org.

In this episode of Lead with Heart, I have Elizabeth Abel as my guest. She is a Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a global fundraising consulting firm to nonprofits.In this episode, we will get to know Elizabeth's background, what led her to nonprofit work and how she started, what philanthropy is, and how to embrace it in your daily life, leadership, and so much more! In this episode, you'll learn:[05:06] What philanthropy is and how to embrace it in your daily life.[10:16] The power of 1 VS 1000.[12:42] How leaders can be better at communicating a clear vision to their staff.[18:02] To become a self-aware leader, you should be open to asking questions and seeking feedback.[23:01] How Elizabeth executes her leadership styles: The importance of meeting people where they are and putting them first.[28:37] Building authentic relationships with direct reports.[31:49] Tips for instilling a culture of feedback within your organization. NOTEWORTHY QUOTES“Philanthropy for me as the driver, it's the fuel. It's the energy that drives the direction of nonprofits and allows us to serve the communities we're working so hard to serve.”“A culture of philanthropy to me is when you have an organization that focuses on philanthropy as the lever to drive the social change that you wish to realize as an institution.”“what's really important for me is to understand my direct reports Are they someone that primarily thinks logically authentically or empathetically, and I try and elevate those pillars in myself based on how I feel I've received their energies.”“If I have a 30-minute check-in with one of my directors, I really internally commit to spending five or six minutes not talking about work, and it's little questions like, What did you do over the weekend? It allows you to build a stronger relationship.”CONNECT WITH ELIZABETHElizabeth is a thought leader in philanthropy and an expert in fundraising. She has led capital campaigns and development initiatives that have collectively raised nearly one billion dollars. She is a Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a global fundraising consulting firm to nonprofits. In this role, she provides counsel on strategic planning, major gifts fundraising, and board engagement. Elizabeth has been recognized by BELLA Magazine as a "Woman of Influence in Philanthropy." Instagram: @ElizabethBerniAbelLinkedIn: Elizabeth AbelWebsite: ccsfundraising.comCONNECT WITH HALEY Haley is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Certified Stress Management Coach, and Certified EmC train the trainer. She is the Founder of The Savvy Fundraiser, a nonprofit consulting and coaching business. She has worked in both small and large nonprofit teams in the human services, homelessness, and youth sectors; and she specializes in the EmC process, nonprofit leadership, board development, and fundraising. Haley is a passionate, impact-driven, experienced nonprofit professional whose mission is to empower, elevate and engage nonprofit leaders to build healthy, thriving organizations. Instagram: @thesavvyfundraiser LinkedIn: Haley Cooper, CFRE Website: thesavvyfundraiser.com

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I am excited for the fall season as we close out the summer and season 8. This week, I chat with Leah Burton, the Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer at the Guggenheim. It has been a little while since we have had an arts and culture leader here. We talk about their pandemic response, handling times of crisis, plans for the future, and learn about Leah's background and personal journey near the end of the conversation. I used a quote from Leah to title the episode—a circle in a world of squares. This is talking about the museum itself, but I also like the idea of being different and thinking out of the proverbial box. Leah joined the Guggenheim in September 2019. Burton oversees the planning, management, and execution of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation's strategic engagement with current and prospective donors regionally, nationally, and internationally. Burton comes to the Guggenheim from CCS Fundraising, a strategic consulting firm where, as Vice President, she advised nonprofit clients in the art and culture, higher education, healthcare, and social services sectors. She has worked as a consultant for the Guggenheim since 2016. for ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in New York, where she oversaw fundraising initiatives for the greater New York and New Jersey area in support of the hospital. She previously was the Director of Development for St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children, where she managed a prospect portfolio, developed strategies for donor solicitation and cultivation, and prepared the organization for campaign readiness. She serves as an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University in the Master of Nonprofit Management program, where she teaches fundraising fundamentals. She graduated from Knox College and received her Master of Science in Nonprofit Management with a focus in fundraising from Columbia University. A member of the Columbia University School of Professional Studies Alumni Council, Burton is also a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, New York City, and received the National Young Professional of the Year Award from AFP. This is the final episode of season 8. I will be taking a short break and would love to hear from you in the interim. Check out my linkedin page or the instagram @devdebrief. I would love to hear how you are exploring being a circle in a world of squares, and what thoughts and ideas this episode brought up for you. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/devdebrief/support

Making “the ask” is a pivotal moment in the donor journey, as it is a direct request for philanthropic support. But what comes AFTER you make the ask? How do you manage a donor's response to a gift request, no matter what they say?In the latest episode of Nonprofit Nation, Julia sat down with Elizabeth Abel to learn the top 5 donor response scenarios and how to respond in each circumstance. Elizabeth is a thought leader in philanthropy and expert in fundraising. She has led capital campaigns and development initiatives that have collectively raised half a billion dollars for education, healthcare, arts and culture, and advocacy organizations.Currently a Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising, Elizabeth partners with institutions to plan and implement large-scale fundraising campaigns with revenue goals ranging from $5 million to more than $1 billion. In this role, she provides counsel on strategic planning, major gifts fundraising, and board engagement. Elizabeth has directed campaign planning studies, served in interim development roles, and managed annual campaigns and special fundraising events.Connect with ElizabethLinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethabel/Instagram:  @ElizabethBerniAbelAbout Julia Campbell, the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast:Named as a top thought leader by Forbes and BizTech Magazine, Julia Campbell (she/hers) is an author, coach, and speaker on a mission to make the digital world a better place.She wrote her book, Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits, as a roadmap for social change agents who want to build movements using engaging digital storytelling techniques. Her second book, How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit, was published in 2020 as a call-to-arms for mission-driven organizations to use the power of social media to build movements.Take Julia's free nonprofit masterclass, ​3 Must-Have Elements of Social Media That Converts

We constantly hear that if you don't have a fundraising board, you won't be able to raise funds as an organization. I don't believe that! In fact, I've had a lot of fundraising success without board fundraising. I know - call all the “gurus” and report this sacrilegious statement!How do we build a board that is all the things we require in leadership (subject matter experts, lived experience, community members) AND get them to love and embrace fundraising?In this episode of The Small Nonprofit Podcast, we talk to Elizabeth Abel, about how to motivate board members to fundraise. Elizabeth is the Senior Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a global fundraising consulting firm for nonprofits and an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. She has designed, advised, and directed development initiatives and capital campaigns that have collectively raised nearly half a billion dollars, positively impacting tens of thousands of lives.Myths that Elizabeth  wants us to walk away from:Board members can't be involved in fundraising: Board members can be one of the greatest assets to any nonprofit's fundraising efforts because they champion your mission, engage their networks and provide financial support. Board members should focus on major gifts:  You need to figure out how your board members want to be involved in fundraising, find out what are their strengths? And then how can you create that synergy that allows them to be fantastic multipliers and fundraising ambassadors?Corporate giving is better than individual giving: According to  Giving USA 2021: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2020, individuals drove 69% of total giving in the US, which was about $324 billion. Corporations are estimated to have declined by 6.1% in 2020 to only about 17 billion. So there is a huge gap between where people think corporations are and where they are relative to individuals. Elizabeth's Tips on Engaging Board Members to FundraiseFundraising Ambassadors. They bring a diverse set of experiences and skills and talents.  They are multipliers of all that you're doing programmatically, operationally, and of course your philanthropy.Recruiting and Engaging Boards. Many people just don't necessarily know what's expected of them so you can begin with setting expectations and educating board members in their role in fundraising. Best practices.  When considering how our board members can support our fundraising efforts, we want to prioritize relationship building. Elizabeth uses small events to engage and connect with donors as an example. Favourite Quotes from Today's Episode“It's figuring out the ways in which your board members want to be involved in fundraising, what are their strengths? And then how can we create that synergy that allows them to be fantastic multipliers and fundraising ambassadors? ”Resources from this EpisodeElizabeth LinkedIn Elizabeth Instagram The Good PartnershipOur friends at Keela are offering you 40% off your first year's subscription of their donor database. Click the link to book a demo: https://www.keela.co/partner/certified-partner?ref=cindy72Support the show

Join Lori and her guest, Elizabeth Abel as they discuss how it's like to work with nonprofit leaders and their teams in raising the money they need. In what ways does she support these organizations in making a greater impact on the communities they serve? Stay tuned! Here are the things to expect in this episode: What are the causes very close to her heart? The types of campaigns she runs to help nonprofits. The importance of having the right leaders and a strong campaign vision. Incorporating legacy as part of the campaign process. Philanthropy is an expression of one's values. And much more!   Connect with Elizabeth! Website: https://www.ccsfundraising.com/people/elizabeth-abel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethabel Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethberniabel/   Free resources: Philanthropic Landscape Report. This report, published each summer and grounded in the annual Giving USA data, offers an overview of the philanthropic landscape and key trends in giving. This year's edition also includes actionable insights on the impact of the pandemic and racial and social injustice on fundraising. It's one of my favorite data sets! Philanthropy Pulse Survey. CCS launched the Philanthropy Pulse Survey in late 2021 to understand how nonprofits are approaching and reimagining their development efforts. Released last month, the report summarizes responses from over 870 participating organizations and offers valuable data and insights to navigate the year ahead   Connect with Lori Kranczer! Website: https://www.everydayplannedgiving.com/  Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/positiveimpactphilanthropy  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorikranczer/  

Harper Talks welcomes Roberto Lopez to speak about how his time at Harper College provided the foundation for his current career as a consulting director at CCS Fundraising. Lopez attended DePaul University for his bachelor's degree in finance and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago for his master's degree. Lopez received the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award in 2021, and he has dedicated his career to philanthropic work and helping others prosper through adversity.

In this episode of the Hubcast, Katie and Jordan enjoy a conversation with Elizabeth Abel from CCS Fundraising. Elizabeth is a thought leader in philanthropy and a seasoned expert in fundraising. Jordan and Katie get to ask Elizabeth all of their questions about the newly published Snapshot of Today's Philanthropic Landscape report from CCS Fundraising. Tune in to hear about the record-breaking charitable giving in 2020 and more! This episode of the Hubcast is sponsored by CCS Fundraising.

119: Building A Career in Nonprofit Leadership (Elizabeth Abel)SUMMARYAs more talented professionals enter the nonprofit sector, they are looking for ways to develop their skills, find the best professional development opportunities, and better navigate the personal and professional challenges that can inhibit success. Elizabeth Abel not only works with nonprofit leaders across the country as they manage all of these issues, she's also teaching the next generation of talent through her work at the Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In episode #119 of the Path Podcast, Elizabeth offers a wealth of knowledge about maintaining balance in your life and career, best practices for working with your board of directors, and what nonprofit leaders must do if they want to attract and retain the next generation of talent.ABOUT ELIZABETHElizabeth Abel is an expert in nonprofit fundraising and powerhouse in philanthropy, having raised nearly half a billion dollars for nonprofit organizations. She is a Corporate Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a global fundraising consulting firm for nonprofits. In this role, Elizabeth designs, advises, and leads philanthropic capital campaigns that equip nonprofits with the resources and revenue to achieve their mission and have the greatest benefit to the communities they serve, driving sustainable social change and positively impacting tens of thousands of lives. Beyond CCS, Elizabeth is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Nonprofit Leadership Program, where she educates and empowers students to drive social change through philanthropy. She regularly presents at industry conferences, leads workshops for nonprofit professionals, and publishes articles on trends in philanthropy. Elizabeth also has an active social media presence. Her Instagram (@ElizabethBerniAbel) offers nonprofit industry insights and fundraising tips. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter and is an avid traveler, hiker, and tea drinker.  EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCESCheck out Elizabeth's post: Reimagining Fundraising in a Covid-19 Landscape Elizabeth's Read to Lead book recommendations Lydia Fenet's book The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is YouErica Dhawan's book Digital Body LanguageReady for a Mastermind?  Check it out here

Happy New Year! Happy 4th of July! I am so excited about what this season has in store for the Debrief. On this episode, Elizabeth shares her perspective on how to prepare for your new year from the greatest place of strength. This is important as we navigate another big year of changes personally and professionally. We talk empathy and ambition, revisiting your case for support and building a comprehensive fundraising plan. Elizabeth Abel is a thought leader in philanthropy and seasoned expert in fundraising. She has designed, advised, and directed development initiatives and capital campaigns that have collectively raised more than $250 million, positively impacting tens of thousands of lives. Elizabeth is a Corporate Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a leading fundraising consulting firm to nonprofit organizations worldwide. Tune in to learn more on our instagram live July 13th at 5pm! You can learn more on instagram @devdebrief --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/devdebrief/support

In this episode, Meah Austin '22 interviews Danita Beck-Wickwire '94 about her time on campus and her journey after Holy Cross.  Their conversation highlights the many ways that you can engage your passions throughout your life, be it through service, hobbies or professional work. Interview originally recorded on September 4, 2020.  Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, all interviews in season 2 are recorded remotely. --- Danita: It's always nice to know that what you are doing will change someone's life for the better, that you will affect change in individuals and communities and make this world a better place. Maura: Welcome to Mission Driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney from the class of 2007, director of alumni career development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. In this episode, we hear from Danita Beck-Wickwire from the class of 1994. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Danita currently makes Baltimore her home, having also spent time in Worcester, Chicago, Mississippi, Europe and Boston. Her professional journey reflects who she is. An artist, philanthropist and volunteer at heart, her career path shows what it means to follow your heart and your passions. Maura: Beginning her career as a teacher in the inner city in Chicago, she devoted the rest of her career to supporting education and the arts through fundraising and philanthropy. She is joined by Meah Austin from the class of 2022. They first met in Meah's first semester on campus at the BSU's 50th anniversary celebration in 2018. They have kept in touch over the years and formed a wonderful mentoring relationship. Their conversation showcases the many ways that Holy Cross and its community can remain alive and active throughout your life. Meah: Hello, everyone, my name is Meah Austin, class of 2022 and I am here with The Danita Wickwire, class of '94. Fun fact before we get started, Danita is one of the first alumni I met at Holy Cross and I can tell you all that knowing her these past few years have been phenomenal. She certainly has acted as a mentor to me. Danita would you like to further introduce yourself? Danita: Yes and I'm also going to introduce you as well. Meah, thank you for joining me for this conversation and thank you for following up with me. Meah and I met at the BSU 50th anniversary celebration in November, 2018 and I met a number of students that weekend and saw old classmates and friends and made a lot of new friends. I was really impressed with Meah because she sent me an email within a week of meeting and she always stayed in touch, and I remained in touch with her, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to see a young woman following in my footsteps as a student at Holy Cross. It's not an easy school, it's rigorous, and it strives for excellence. Danita: So I wanted to be there for you and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to have mentored you in the last two years, and to continue to do so, as long as we were together, Meah. So thank you for the introduction and for joining me today. Meah: Thank you. Don't make me tear up. So, to start us off, Danita, how did you end up in Worcester, Massachusetts being that you're from Tennessee? Danita: The journey to Worcester, Massachusetts, it's funny, when I was 10 years old, I decided that I wanted to go to college in Massachusetts. Now, how in the world would a 10-year old in Memphis, Tennessee take Massachusetts? Well, my elementary school was on a college campus at the Memphis State University at the time, campus school. There were faculty families from around the world, around the nation. Everyone was college bound because we were already on a college campus. Just looking at colleges and hearing the stories of some of my classmates and their families, I realized there were many good schools in Massachusetts. Danita: When I was 10, I didn't pick the one but I selected Massachusetts. I remained interested in college, college bound over the next few years from the age of 10 to 18. I did look around the nation. I looked around the world as well but in my junior and senior year, somehow I returned to Massachusetts, when I considered my final college applications. I added the College of the Holy Cross to that combination, because I was interested in the rigor of a Jesuit education and I was really excited by the mission of the College of the Holy Cross, combining service and the rigorous education focusing on excellence, that resonated with me. I really wanted to consider being part of that community. Danita: I enrolled in Holy Cross to get a solid, strong liberal arts education and I left Holy Cross as a woman for others, which is the case with our mission at Holy Cross. We are men and women for others. Meah: That's awesome. I can certainly agree, the Holy Cross education just fosters your values you come in with and just really creates them and promotes them into being formed with others. So that's amazing, now that we understand why you chose Massachusetts, why the small Jesuit Liberal Arts College, why Holy Cross? Danita: Okay, I can break that into parts. First of all small, I was interested in being in a small community where I can be a person, and not just a number, and that rang throughout the entire Holy Cross experience. I will answer your other questions, but I want to tell the story first of how I selected my major. I learned at the end of my sophomore year that there was a difference between deciding your major and declaring your major. When my class Dean, Vicki Swigert called me on a Tuesday morning, and she said, "Danita, you have not declared your major." I said, "Yes, I have. I've declared that it's going to be art." Danita: "It's not going to be history. It's going to be art," because I was interested in a dual major at one time and fascinated between art and history for my first year and a half. She said to me, "No, Danita, you need to declare your major, you need to come down to the registrar's office and fill out the paperwork to declare your major. When you get out of your design class this morning, come downstairs. The paperwork, we'll be waiting for you." I realized, "Okay, I need to declare my major." I also realized that my class dean knew that I had not declared my major. Danita: She knew my phone number, and was willing to make the call and she knew my schedule for the day. She knew that I was heading to design class and that I had nothing on my schedule after design class. I was a person she knew and she was a person I knew and not just the number. That is part of how a small community is really beneficial for many students as they pursue their college coursework. Now, the Jesuit tradition and the liberal arts tradition, as I just stated, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to study. I was interested in many areas. I've always studied art. I've always enjoyed writing. In high school, I ... I was a triple major actually, now that I think about it. Danita: Yeah, you could do that in high school, but I took math courses all the way through. I was a social studies major. I took art courses. So I had a variety of interests and I knew that studying at a liberal arts college such as Holy Cross, I could pursue many of those interests. I could take the courses in the core curriculum, and with the liberal arts degree, learning how to think, learning how to solve problems, learning how to communicate verbally and in a written form, would position me to go into any career field. I might need additional training, additional coursework but I knew that I could do anything with a liberal arts degree and that I wouldn't be stuck in one track that I selected as an 18 year old without necessarily knowing the world or myself that well. Danita: So liberal arts appealed to me in that way and the Jesuit tradition, being a woman for others, that had already been critical in my life. I spent most of my summers engaged in volunteer work. I was a volunteer at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis for a number of years and through that experience, I became a point of light for those who are familiar with President George H.W. Bush and his inaugural address. He spoke of a thousand points of light and the United States recommitting itself to service in some way, similar to what President Kennedy called for with the creation of the Peace Corps in 1960, 1961, I should say. He spoke of a thousand points of light and it was beautiful to hear him speak of it. Danita: From that language, came up Point of Light Initiative. In our local newspaper, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, picked up on the concept of a thousand points of light and they decided to look for 1000 volunteers in the Memphis community, and in my work at St. Jude, I was nominated to be one of those 1000 points of light, and I was one of Memphis's thousand points of light. I had the opportunity to hear President Bush speak to the other 999 and myself the day before Thanksgiving, my senior year. Our points of light initiative in Memphis was considered one of the 1000 across the nation. Danita: So I am one one thousandth of a point of light and I am honored and compelled to continue to let my light shine, so that it may be a beacon to others, so I can help them to find their way in this world, and that is part of my commitment in connection to the Jesuit mission of the College of the Holy Cross. Meah: That's amazing. I mean, that's so exciting to have that experience and always be able to look back on that experience and realize that that was a pivotal moment that really led to your values and continuing to do the work that you did. So I can truly admire that. Also, touching upon the liberal arts piece, I certainly agree with that. Now, being a current student, I looked through the course catalog every semester, and I'm like, "How do I only take four classes with all these amazing courses that touch upon so many different areas." Meah: So I think that just shows like how Holy Cross is so interdisciplinary and really can make the students, regardless if you're a history, major, art major, psychology major, you're all learning so many different things that are really going to promote your professional life and even what you do in the world in your community. So I truly respect that and I think that's awesome. So now, to just dive a little bit deeper, how was your transition your first year? It must have certainly been something so different being raised in Memphis. You're getting cultural changes and not to mention all the winter snow that you find on the hill. Danita: So the transition was interesting. I had certain expectations of college. My older sister traveled from Memphis to New York to attend New York University three years before I enrolled in college. So I was prepared for certain aspects of college, particularly college in the northeast. I was prepared for the colder climate. I was prepared to start again, so to speak, going to a school where no one from my high school and in that city, no one from ... Excuse me, in that year, no one from Memphis was at Holy Cross. So I was prepared to start over and find my way, all over again, as I had done in other schools. Danita: I was also prepared to meet new people, have new experience and interact with individuals from all over the nation and all over the world. It was exciting. I was thrilled and I was looking forward to making that transition to New England. I must admit, I was very fortunate my freshman year. We did not see a big snowstorm first semester. Meah: That's surprising. Danita: I was done in the next few years, and we saw really big snowstorms but in that first year, when I was making my transition into living in Massachusetts, I didn't have to deal with a blizzard before Christmas, which was wonderful. Not everything was wonderful and perfect in that first semester, I must admit. The transition was ... Despite my expectations, and what I hoped for, the transition was a little more challenging. To be frank, I wanted to transfer. I was looking at other institutions but my parents, especially my father, made me stay at Holy Cross. They did not force me to stay but they let me know that if I left Holy Cross, I would not be able to enroll in a similar institution at home or at another community, I would have to return to Memphis. Danita: Even though I did not have friends from home at Holy Cross, all of my friends who were interested in going away to college had gone away to college. There were so many of us in New England. It was like part of Memphis had been transplanted to New England, to Boston, to Hartford and other communities around that region. I thought about what Holy Cross had to offer and there were some moments, some sparks especially with my wonderful roommate Colleen Keys. I realized it was a caring place, I realized I had not found ... from my place in the circle yet, and I believe in the power of yet, so I did stay. Danita: I gave it a second chance. Over time, I developed connections. I deepened relationships with some of the people I knew and some of those people are my closest friends today. The people I speak to on a regular basis. Angela Preston, Matt Dudley, Maury Bonner, Meghan Cecil, those were the individuals with whom I connected then and if you look at the last 10 texts that I sent out or the last 10 phone calls that I've made, those four people are among that list. Meah: That's amazing. So I can really attest to that, Holy Cross, it's something about the people there, something about the people that are really making a home. So just to dive a little deeper, if that was your transition, it was a little rough, what kind of involvement did you have during your time at Holy Cross that perhaps alleviated the homesickness, the desire to maybe transfer, what really made that difference? Danita: I really immersed myself into my art classes. I took drawing my freshman year. I was very fortunate, I had signed up for an art history course and the course was at 8 AM, 9 AM, some really ugly hour in the morning for me. I realized I wanted to make art and not study art at that point in my life. I met with Susan Schmidt, who had an opening in her Introduction to Design Class. This was in 1990, when you did not have the opportunity of looking on your computer, see an opening in a class and selecting that class and enrolling right away. You needed to ... and I lived in Clark on the fourth floor, at the beginning. Danita: You needed to go all the way down to Fenwick and up to the fourth floor at Fenwick to meet with the professor, to confirm that there was still the opening, that you could get into it and then, go down to the registrar's office to enroll. So I raced to Susan Schmidt's office as soon as I could and I asked her about the opening, and she told me that it had already been filled. She asked me if I had any art experience and if I had a portfolio, which I did. So I needed to race down the stairs, up the hill, up to the fourth floor of Clark. Meah: My goodness. Danita: With the portfolio and race back down to Susan's office, which I did and I was happy to do it. She looked at my work and she told me that I would need to take design later but I could skip Introduction to Design because I had a substantial portfolio that demonstrated my understanding of the basic elements of design in artwork. I enrolled in a drawing course and really enjoyed exploring the creativity and getting to know my fellow students. That was my first true area of engagement and interacting with classmates, friends, new friends on the hall in Clark Three because I moved to Clark Three when I moved out of my triple. Danita: That was really critical in my ... finding my way at Holy Cross because there were some great women on that Hall including my roommate, Colleen Keyes and Rachel Pierre and Gina Wilson, they were both juniors and lived around the hall from us. I still remember that night I came back in January of 1991, I didn't want to be there but as soon as I opened the door on the hallway, Rachel, Gina and Colleen raced down the hall, "She's back. Oh my gosh. She's back. We didn't think she was going to make it." They raced down the hall and grabbed my bags and escorted me back in and that was the first time that I really felt welcomed and missed and appreciated and loved at Holy Cross. Danita: I continue to feel that especially on Clark Three because Rachel Pierre was actually the SAA, the student alcohol advisor, which is one of the reasons why she was a junior living in Clark instead of one of the upper class dorms. She looked out for me, she and Gina looked out for me a lot. Rachel did my hair. Rachel and I took classes together later and she would grab me out of my dorm to make sure I studied and I remember my first history exam, she was not in my history class but one of her closest friends was, she'd walked into my room and she said, "What are you working on babe?" Because she called everyone, babe and I told her ... and she said, "I think Sayeeda is taking that same exam tomorrow, you guys should study together." Danita: She called Sayeda, confirmed that she was taking the exam tomorrow, and sent me down to Sayeeda's room for a study group. Otherwise, I would have been studying alone, I might have fallen asleep but I think I did better on that exam and in that class because of Rachel and Rachel always had cookies, and she fed me. Gina and Rachel both took me wherever they were going, whatever they were doing. Rachel was an RA and I went on trips with her hall to Boston and Gina's capstone project at the end of her senior year, which was my sophomore year was a historical play on the role of black women in the world. Danita: I was in an ensemble piece in the play about African women and I was in a critical role at the end of the performance, I was cast as Oprah Winfrey. Meah: My goodness. Danita: That's a huge role and one of the funny parts is we went through dress rehearsals in a casual manner, to the extent that there were many nights that I rushed from one performance as an African woman, not wearing shoes to the Oprah role. I just put on the clothes. The night of the performance, I walked out on stage with no shoes on, as I had done so many times during rehearsal, and I was about three minutes into the piece before I realized, "Oh my gosh, I'm on stage with no shoes on," but everyone thought it was intentional and part of the performance, so I just carried on from there. That was my first real performance, acting performance ever and that led to other acting performances later in my college life. Danita: So I did find my way, there were a few others who helped too on Clark three. I ran track for a little while and Egetta Schumski lived a couple of doors down as well. She had a roommate, Kristal Rice made sure that I made it to track practice and that I made it from the field house all the way back to Clark because I was pretty tired as a new runner. Egetta taught me how to run. She taught me how to breathe. She taught me what to wear. She really prepared me for a track experience and although I didn't stay with the team, I continued and continued to be a runner to this day. Thanks to the Egetta who is now Wellness Coach Alfonso. Danita: Kristal Rice, I think before I joined the track team, I tried to join the rugby team. Krystal was on the rugby team. She saw that I'd signed up for it. She was happy that I was interested but she pulled me aside and discouraged me from pursuing rugby any further. I thought, "Well, I think I can keep up. I think I can run and take a few hits and maybe catch the ball and possibly kick it. I think I can do this." She said, "No, that's not it. I don't think you can drink enough to join the rugby team." I trusted her good judgment and she probably really saved me from getting injured and becoming ill playing rugby. Danita: So Krystal, if you're out there. Thank you. Thank you very much. Those were simple basic forms of engagement, but in my sophomore year, that was when I truly explored leadership opportunities at the college. I moved to Wheeler and join the Wheeler House Council. I ran for an SGA position. I was the black student representative for SGA. I ... what else did I do that year? As a member of the House Council in Wheeler. There's the basic house council meetings and social events but we had a dynamic head RA, Rick Swanson. He was also committed to the Jesuit ideas and he was a fan of Bobby Kennedy. Danita: He created a thing called the dream of the month so that we would focus on some dreams, some aspect of giving back to the community, and he created and we created with him, an event called The Five Winter. It was a big party with food and music on the Wheeler Beach that raised money for the homeless in Worcester and that tradition continued for a number of years. Those were the types of things and the involvement that we had in Wheeler, which is amazing and phenomenal. Moving on in my next years, I used those two experiences, the SGA experience and being on House Council, as stepping stones. Danita: In my junior year, I became an RA in Wheeler. In my junior year, I was selected for the SGA cabinet. I was a subcommittee co-chair for the Tampa Center Board of Directors, CCBMD. I wrote for the newspaper. I was not a member of the staff, but I submitted regular editorials and what else did I do? I had a work study position in the art gallery. So senior year, I was a head RA in Clark and it was a funny thing about my Holy Cross experience, I only lived in two dorms. I started at Clark. I lived in Wheeler for two years and then, I moved back to Clark Three as the head RA and my head RA room was two doors down from the room I had freshman year. Danita: It's funny I remember my stereo could not pick up the exact same radio stations. Two doors down as I could in my old room. It was the weirdest thing but I found good music anyway. As a head RA in Clark we called the dorm, "the Clark Rock Café, No drugs, No nuclear weapons," and we created T-shirts Elliot Visconsi and I designed the short together. I hand drew the globe in Clark Rock Cafe and he had a computer and designed the rest in a graphic design format. We realized we needed more than T-shirts, so we created an event called the Clark Rock Cafe. It was an opportunity for so many of the campus bands to play on campus, instead of having them playing in the pubs and bars and parties off campus. Danita: I did drink and go off campus but I knew not everyone liked to do that. I didn't like to do that all the time and I really valued this event which was held three times as an opportunity for students to do something fun and interesting with the bands and inside the dorm without having to take the risks of going off campus. We served mocktails. We had the coolest bands on campus. We had Spindrift. We had Barfly. We had ... I should know all of them. We had the Sea Monkeys. We had Foot Bob. We had Prodigal and a number of other bands I might be forgetting and they don't know my address now so they won't come to get me. Danita: We had great bands and great fun. There was actually an alumni band that came back and performed for one of the Clark Rock Cafes. It was a fun experience, in my opinion. We had crowds in the door for ... both for two of them, one didn't do as well but for the first one and the last one, they were very successful and I'm really proud that that was one of my hallmarks on campus as a Head RA. Another area where I felt the dorm could be effective was, in the relationship between faculty and students. Students frequently spent time with faculty in certain areas on campus, in the classroom, in their offices, in formal events. Danita: We rarely had the faculty come to our doors to see where we lived and how we lived. So, we created Clark Tail Parties and invited the faculty to come to the social room where we once again served mocktails and hors d'oeuvres and students had an opportunity to interact with faculty in a casual fashion. I still remember some students asking, "Well, who's going to be there? I'm not doing well in such and such class. Can you make sure so and so come so I can choose with them?" They were great. They were effective. They were fun. The faculty seem to have fun and so did many of the students who were there. Danita: I still remember we made Wassail, Wassail for the Christmas Clark Tail Party and we had the social room and we had the study room and we had something on the pot. Something on the stove, cooking and bubbling and making Wassail for the first time. That was fun, but it worked out. So that was a really important event in Clark and I really love being head RA. Clark was great. I still have dear, dear friends who were part of my Clark RA team and my Clark House Council, I'm thinking of Shane McLaughlin and Killian MacCarthy and Isa Squicciarini and Chael Christopher and Pete Cronin, and a number of others who were part of that Clark experience. Danita: Cary Anderson was the Associate Dean for Student, like assistant dean or associate, one of those but he also lived in Clark, and he was one of my favorite Residence Life staff members and we're still not super close. We don't talk every day, but we're still in close contact. He sent me a few photos a couple of months ago, with pieces of art in his newish place in Philadelphia. So we're connected and it was great to be in the same building with Cary, but he said we were loud. My dorm room was right above his. So sometimes we were loud. Sorry, Cary. So I had a lot of wonderful opportunities to develop additional skills, make friends and prepare for many aspects of a career, whatever that might be. Danita: I learned in my years at Holy Cross that you can select any major at Holy Cross and through your extracurricular activities and through your summer internships, you will be well versed and well prepared to enter into a variety of career fields. You might need additional training, yes, but you will know how to think, how to represent your ideas and how to solve problems. I also learned that and some of those leadership opportunities, you could make many wonderful, phenomenal, lifelong friends and I can't believe I'm forgetting one of my experiences. Also, in my junior year, I was invited to an invitation only production called Crusadist. Danita: Crusadist was a comedy performance show that took a satirical look at life at Holy Cross. I'd read about Crusadist my freshman year and people said, "Don't see the show until you're a junior because you won't understand the jokes. You won't know Holy Cross moment up until your junior year to get the jokes." So I didn't see the show freshman year, sophomore year, but junior year I was selected to be in the show and there are only two juniors in the show. If you're selected as a junior, that means you will be the producer of the show in your senior year. So my senior year, I was the producer of Crusadist and with my co-producer Mark Diaz, selected the cast, with the cast created the scripts. Danita: We were engaged in all forms of production, selecting the venue which was the crossroads pizza seller, creating the schedule for the event publicity creating the video, editing the videos that we use in the show and selecting the nonprofit to which we would donate the proceeds from the show. Crusadist was a big part of my life as the producer and it's really funny to say that people who were part of the show are still my closest friends today. Some of them, I did not know before the show but we were joined at the hip for weeks straight and we never fully disconnected. Meah: That's amazing. So really Holy Cross like, it wasn't just the academics that really formed your experience. It's clear, your story really shows that it was everything from your ... being in Wheeler to being in work study ... working in the art gallery as a work study, all the way to being in a comedy club, kind of thing. So that's really awesome, how so many different things pulled together to form your Holy Cross experience. What did you do after Holy Cross? Danita: After Holy Cross that wonderful head RA I had in Wheeler, Rick Swanson, he was an assistant director, initially a teacher then an assistant director in a program in Chicago called Inner-City Teaching Corps. It was a volunteer ... is, I should say. It's still around. A volunteer teaching program similar to Teach for America but the focus of ICTC, as we still call it, was on parochial schools on the south side and the West Side of Chicago only. It was founded by a Jesuit school graduate, Pat Ryan, who wanted to recruit other young people who were interested in making a difference in communities through teaching. Danita: So he looked to Jesuit schools, he looked at Ivy League schools to create the first corps of Inner-City Teaching Corps. Rick Swanson recruited me for the program. I realized in my life that education had made such a difference for me. I was college bound already. I found my success. I felt that I was destined to do so but I realized that so many others were being left behind. They did not have access to quality education and education is necessary to uplift communities. As a black woman, I realized that it was critical, especially to uplift the black community and that was very important to me. Danita: So I accepted the position in Inner-City Teaching Corps. I moved to Chicago three weeks after graduation. I taught summer school, part time ... yeah, part time summer school, I co-taught with another teacher in a parochial school on the south side of Chicago. At this time, 26 years ago, I was a full time fifth grade teacher at the Academy of St. Benedict, the African Laflin campus on the south side of Chicago. I had 21 boys and 10 girls in my classroom. Meah: So you had to have some patience in your early post grad years. Danita: My gosh, a great deal of patience. I still remember all the kids' names. I still wonder about those kids. I love those kids. They were an active group. They like to talk a lot. That was the most trouble my kids ever got into. They talk a lot but they were wonderful kids, they all have good hearts. I remember, the day I had laryngitis, I didn't realize I had no voice until 10 minutes before the students arrived. So I found things for the students to do that they could do without my talking to them. The day that I had laryngitis, they were so quiet. They whisper because they knew I could not speak to them. That was 26 years ago and I still remember that's what my students did. Meah: That is super thoughtful for fifth graders. So I can see that your heart was really in teaching and I can really admire that about you, especially with them being fifth graders. That's hard in yourself but you really made it work. So why teaching, what made you ... I know you touched upon a little bit with the Holy Cross network connection but what really led you to teaching? Danita: It was that desire to uplift the community, uplift all communities for we all rise together. The rising tide elevates all boats and I realized that there were communities who were being left behind. I had the great fortune of attending some of the best schools in my community from the campus school on a college campus to the number one college prep school in Memphis, White Station High and then going on to Holy Cross but I knew that there were so many others who wanted a better education, who wanted a better life that is made possible through education and other avenues. I wanted to be a part of that solution for them. Danita: I wanted to do something different, which was to go into the inner city where there were so many needs to reach out to those individuals because they had been left behind. They were still being left behind and that's why I wanted to be part of the Inner-City Teaching Corps in particular. It is now called the Accelerate Institute, but that's why I want to be part of ICTC at that time, in my life. Meah: That like touches me. I was going to be a teacher now. Danita: You would be a great teacher. Meah: What did you say? Danita: You would be a great teacher, Meah. Meah: I don't know my nephew would say otherwise. Danita: That's just one kid. That's just one. Meah: So how long were you a teacher for and what was kind of your next stepping stone? Danita: The program was a one or two year program and the organization was still in its developmental stages. I was a member of the third corps group for ICTC, now called the Accelerate Institute and a very large organization, larger, I should say, now, 26 years later. As volunteer corps members, we were encouraged to participate in many aspects of the organization. Some of us were encouraged to participate in recruiting trips. I traveled to New Orleans as part of my experience to introduce the program to Xavier University and Loyola University in New Orleans. We were also encouraged and given opportunities to participate in special events, and fundraising. Danita: I realized that fundraising ... this thing called fundraising or development really appealed to me, the work resonated with me. I have done something similar in public relations as an intern and it all came together and started to make sense. I also realized that as a teacher, I could affect the lives of the 31 or however, many students I had in my classroom. I further accepted the reality that as a philanthropy professional is one who raised the money to support other teachers, I could, in my work, impact the lives of a great deal more students, in a school, in a community, in our society. Danita: That was the first step that started to lead me to a career in this thing called philanthropy, is what I call it development and I didn't even really know the name of it at the time. The first step was in Chicago. I moved back to Memphis after my year of teaching and I began working with a group of artists. We decided to coordinate an exhibition for black history month at the Memphis International Airport because the airport was celebrating the opening of a new wing and a new non-stop flight from Memphis to Amsterdam. It was the perfect time to have an exhibition. I drafted the letters to the airport authority, on behalf of this organization of artist. Danita: I didn't realize it at the time but I was becoming sick with Mononucleosis. I was sick and in bed and out of touch for a number of weeks. At that time, the organization dissolved and there were no longer artists or resources. As I was recovering from mono, I had to curate a show. I had to find artists and I had to secure the resources necessary to produce an art exhibition. I was able to make connections to the corporate community in Memphis and secure corporate sponsorships for this exhibition which I didn't what at the time but I quickly learned that corporate support is a big part of philanthropy and a few months later ... the show was a success, by the way. Danita: A few months later when I saw a job for development at the Memphis College of Art, I applied. They recognized my name from the publicity the show had received. They also recognized my name because several of the artists were either faculty students or alumni of the college. So, I had inadvertently promoted myself as a philanthropy professional as well as promoting myself as an artist in the art exhibition. I accepted the position at the Memphis College of Art in 1996 and that was the beginning of my career in philanthropy and development in nonprofit management. I'm still working on this field today and enjoying it tremendously. It's an important area. It's been life changing for me to be able to work in this field. Meah: That's awesome. So, I really admire ... I know I keep saying admire but it's just like, "Wow, I didn't know about Danita. Yeah, I didn't know that about Danita. Wow, she has so much we got to talk about." I love how you're able to take your major, your passion, what really drives you and connect that with the profession. So, it seems like obviously with you being an art major, that art goes beyond just a common area requirement at Holy Cross and even the major requirements and personally my stick figure drawings. So, what place does art has in your life? Danita: First of all, Meah, we are going to work on those stick figure drawings. Meah: We'll do a Zoom session together, an art Zoom session. Danita: No, we should do that. That would be fun. Second of all, do not embarrassed by stick figure drawings because they are an expression of your creativity and your being and people say stick figures are embarrassing. Some of my drawings are pretty basic so however you express yourself, but yes, art has been an important part of my life. I have a personal goal as an artist, exploring ... building upon Georgia O'Keeffe's thoughts, how important it is to feel space in a beautiful and thoughtful way and to encourage others to do so as a means of self-expression and communication and connection. I started making art when I was in elementary school. At that time, we had art classes twice a week. Danita: I began drawing on my own, on the weekends and my art teacher thought I should take private lessons, which I started to do when I was in fourth grade. I created my first oil painting when I was 10 and I continue to take art courses in school and out of school and to make art on my own for a number of years and I am still making art today. I have masters of fine art from the University of Mississippi, where I work ... did painting and print making and discovered photography and digital video. I also spent two intersessions in Europe during my three years in graduate school. I studied in Sicily, water color in Sicily and I studied water color in London and while I was in London, I took a track to Paris to work in photography for a few days. Danita: Art has always been central to my life for my personal expression and I've also been an art instructor off and on throughout the years. Yes, Meah, I can teach you to appreciate and enhance your stick figures. Meah: Yes. What years were you in graduate school? Danita: 2006 through 2009. Meah: Okay, that's awesome, it also is exciting. Just to loop back around, when did you ... what happened after a month as working in your art center in Memphis, what was your next step? Danita: After a number of years of working in philanthropy at the Memphis College of Art, I returned to Massachusetts, and at the corps, the invitation for me to return to Massachusetts in any way, shape or form, interestingly enough, came from the College of the Holy Cross. In 1997, I was invited to participate in an exhibition called Self Images, 8 to 80 and it featured the self-portraits of women and girls in the Memphis community, the youngest one was five years old, I think and the oldest one was 82. The day that the exhibition opened, Tina Chen, who at that time worked in the office of the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, contacted me to let me know that one of the paintings she had in her office was going to be moved. Danita: I had left a painting with Tina, when I graduated and I had also sold a painting to the college the day I graduated. So College of the Holy Cross was my first art collector, ever as a professional artist. In that conversation with Tina, I approved the moving of the painting. We spoke and she asked me what I was doing. I told her about the exhibition and she told me the college was preparing for the 25th anniversary of coeducation or women coming to Holy Cross. She wanted to talk to the planning committee about this exhibition and the possibilities of bringing the show to Worcester in the spring. Danita: She contacted me a few weeks later to let me know that the college wanted to bring selections of the exhibition and they wanted me to have my own exhibition with the cantor gallery, in the spring of 1998. So I was back at Holy Cross that spring with so many of my friends and during our time on campus, three of us who were not in Boston, decided to move to Boston and that was my friend Melissa Jean-Charles and my other friend, Ekwi Nwabuzor both from the class of '96. We turned to each other and we, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking it was that type of moment," and we all clicked and decided we wanted to move to Boston. Danita: We did some apartment hunting, and in the end, we moved into a house that had once been the home for the band Naked Thru Utah. They were originally Spindrift on campus, they became Naked Thru Utah. One of the band members was an artist and painted a mural of Utah in the living room, and that remained there while we were there and probably several occupants later because it's pretty cool. When the band disbanded, one of the band members, Shane McLaughlin live there with another friend Chael Christopher, and they let us know that they were ... they and another roommate were moving out of the house. Danita: We just needed rooms for three, so we moved into the house. The move was beautiful. It was just well choreographed, even without being choreographed. I showed up from Memphis with my moving van and my parents. Shane and Chael and Melissa and Ekwi were all there to help unload the van and put everything in the house and then, Shane and Chael put all their stuff in the van with my dad and drove to their new place in Somerville. They hung out with my dad and drink a couple of beers and then, eventually my dad came back to the house that I was moving into where my mom was waiting for him. "Everett, where were you? Oh, I was just hanging out with the guys." Danita: My dad like my Holy Cross friends and they liked my dad, my mom too. So it worked out beautifully and I've another Holy Cross friend who was like a son to my father too, Kona Khasu and Mark LaFlamme. My dad considered them his sons but that's the beauty of those relationships. You develop and that's how I moved back to Boston and it all began with a phone call from Tina Chen. Meah: Wow. So that's a lot. That's like exciting. So you're really given ... Holy Cross never forgets the students and I think that's awesome, because you know what I mean, it could be years after you've already started your early profession, and you get a phone call from someone from Holy Cross and now you're in Boston. I think that's so exciting. So what did you do while you were in Boston? Danita: While in Boston, I work for an organization called the Boston Private Industry Council and it's a nonprofit, nearly 50 years old and it connects individuals in the community to jobs and experiences in the mainstream economy. It is the convener of the public private partnership in the community. It connects the corporate sector, the big corporations in Boston with at least one school in the community. So to some degree, it was a bit of corporate relations once again, for me and a little bit of education. I had the privilege of working at Charlestown High School and working through that partnership, stewarding that relationship with Liberty Mutual, with Bain, with Thomson Financial Services. Danita: Bringing in additional partners to work with the students in the school and otherwise support the school in its various needs, as public schools tend to have. In my work with the Boston Private Industry Council and at Charlestown High, I had the privilege of meeting a young man named Janniver Castro, a bright young man. I encouraged him to consider Holy Cross, which he did. He applied and he was accepted and he graduated in 2004. It was amazing to have the opportunity to send someone to Holy Cross, so soon after I had graduated from Holy Cross and oddly enough, he had the same class dean. He had Dean Swigert as well. Meah: I think it's funny because I'm still at Holy Cross and I'm quick to tell like some of my high school friends and even my younger sister, I'm like, make sure you find Holy Cross. She's literally going into her sophomore year. I'm like, don't forget, because Holy Cross is the place. So what came after your experience in Boston? I feel like we're just walking through all the amazing experiences you had so I must ask. Danita: Sure. Sure. Eventually, I did return to Memphis after a number of years in Boston. I returned to Memphis and around that same time, my father was diagnosed with cancer. So, it was really important for me to be at home, but it also seemed like it was time for me to be at home, like fate had a hand in my returning to Memphis because around the time that I was visiting Memphis, visiting my parents, I discovered an opening at an organization called the Urban Art Commission, also a nonprofit organization and the mission of the Urban Art Commission is the proliferation of public art and design throughout the Memphis and Shelby County community. Danita: There was a need for someone who had an education, background and arts background and a fundraising background to once again, oversee securing grants and support for some of the projects that would be created by the artists in the community. I interviewed for the position. I accepted the position and worked with that organization, supporting artists and as they filled the space in a beautiful way throughout the Memphis community. It was a dynamic and exciting position and I must admit, working with so many artists in their installations and pursuing large pieces of art, I mean, huge pieces. Danita: That inspired me to want to make my own large pieces and installations and that was part of the impetus for me to return to graduate school, at that time in my life, after being out of college for so many years, I realized a tremendous desire to immerse myself in a creative community, creating art and solving problems visually for three years in a row. So that's when I made the leap and did go to graduate school at the University of Mississippi. Meah: That's so exciting. I know I keep asking what's next but I just feel like everything just stems from your like, one, your passion with art, your passion with Holy Cross, your connections with Holy Cross. It's kind of phenomenal when you really think about it and I'm sorry about your father as well, I should mention that. Danita: Thank you. Meah: After your time in Memphis and Mississippi, what came next after that? Danita: Before I get to what came next, I need to take a step back. One of the first large installations that I remember, that was finalized and unveiled during my time with the Urban Art Commission was created by an artist named Vito Acconci. The late Vito Acconci, studied at the College of the Holy Cross in the 60s and I believe he wasn't an art major, because there wasn't an art major at the time but he created his own special studies. So he was technically the first art major at the College of the Holy Cross and I had the opportunity of meeting him in Memphis during my work with the Urban Art Commission. Holy Cross is out wherever you go. Meah: Yeah. Holy Cross is spread over ... all over the world map, it seems like to me and not only the US map but everywhere. Danita: It is true. That is true. To respond to your question, what was next? What was next after graduate school, I knew that I wanted to return to work in nonprofit management and philanthropy. Philanthropy and service were still critical to my life. Interestingly enough, while I was in graduate school, I was approached by the director of the Holy Cross fund at that time, Gary Carskaddan and invited to become my class's co-chair. It was the perfect time to do so because I was in graduate school, I was busy but it was nice to have an opportunity to serve my college in a different way, especially while I was on another campus and feeling connected to the academic experience. Danita: Even though it wasn't a Holy Cross, I was on a college campus and I became my class's co-chair in 2006, with Amanda Robichaud at the time. It helped me to reconsider and hone my skills in philanthropy and consider my next direction for after graduate school. I decided not to become a teacher. The masters of fine art, the MFA is the terminal degree in the art field and with that degree, you could become a college professor. I considered it but again, education is important, realizing that securing the resources for education can really change more lives than being in the classroom. For me, that was powerful and effective. Danita: So I decided to return to work in philanthropy. I considered returning to the Massachusetts area. I thought about Chicago, other cities and I decided to move to Baltimore. Baltimore might seem a little farfetched after my experiences in Memphis, in Massachusetts, in Chicago. How did I select Baltimore? Well, in Memphis, I met a young man and a wonderful young man, I should say, named Emerson Wickwire. He was kind and interesting and a graduate of a Jesuit school, Boston College. He was in a fellowship program at Johns Hopkins University. It was a one year fellowship that turned into a two year fellowship. While he was in his fellowship program, and I was in graduate school, we would travel together. Danita: We would see one another at least once a month, but if one of us had a conference or another event, the other one would go along and we would spend time together traveling in that way. I had traveled to Holy Cross for the class co-chairs and correspondents meeting in November of 2008 and Emerson came with me and on the lawn of the Jesuit residence, overlooking Wheeler, oddly enough, he asked me to marry him. Meah: My god. That's like a movie scene. Danita: It was like a movie scene indeed. It was a complete surprise, poor Emerson had ... he had this ring burning a hole in his pocket and he was nervous and he was anxious. We were on the Holy Cross campus together for the first time and I had so many stories to tell him. I would not stop telling stories long enough for him to pop the question, so to speak. Eventually, I took a breath and he was able to ask me to marry him and I said, yes. We attended the class co-chair's dinner that night and I introduced him to people as my fiance. I still remember Gary Carskaddan was so cute. He said, "Wait a minute. Danita, we spoke this morning, you said your boyfriend was coming with you." Danita: "So what has happened in the last few hours," and shared the ring, told him the story and that was how and when and where our engagement began and our beautiful journey as man and wife, all started at Holy Cross and that is how I decided to move to Baltimore, where I still live. Meah: First of all, that's awesome. I feel like that's like a movie scene, like you guys could be in some like scene or something but that timeframe, obviously, was during the recession. So how did you connect with people, navigate life, build a new community in Baltimore being that it was really ... never been a place you then been at prior to that experience? Danita: That is true, Baltimore was a completely new city, a new environment. Emerson had been here for two years. At that time, he had a cousin who lived here and he made some friends, made some connections at Johns Hopkins but he was largely focused on his academic career. So you will see this, Meah. When you're in graduate school, you will not make as many friends as you do when you're an undergraduate because you're focused so much more on your studies. So that being said, I didn't make as many friends in graduate school. He had a small and growing network as well, but I was able to tap into the Holy Cross network when I moved here. Gary Carskaddan, introduced me to a woman at Loyola University who introduced me to a number of people, who introduced me to others. Danita: Julia Galleazi-Lapan lived here. She worked at Loyola, and later worked at Johns Hopkins. She introduced me to a number of people and Baltimore is a charm city, people are very friendly here. Philanthropy is also known for attracting people who have a sense of kindness and a sense of giving and a desire to help others. So, as I met more and more people who worked in philanthropy, they were willing to introduce me to even more people in philanthropy. I was able to create and build a network quickly based upon a foundation of a Holy Cross Network and a few connections. Danita: My first position was with an organization called CCS Fundraising. Oddly enough, the individual with whom I spoke first was in the CCS office in New York but it was Sean O'Connor, who was a '92 graduate of College of the Holy Cross. That helped to confirm my first position where I worked for five years and I've been with Johns Hopkins University for the last five years. I enjoyed my work in consulting. I enjoyed working to advance a number of different missions, but focusing on one mission was critical to me. That was something that I wanted to do and I knew I wanted to, once again, focus on higher education fundraising, especially for a larger institution. Danita: The mission of Johns Hopkins truly resonated with me, educating others and cultivating lifelong learning, supporting original research and the service aspect, sharing that knowledge with the world. That spoke to me in so many ways and I wanted to be a part of advancing that mission. Meah: That's awesome. So, just a little bit more in speaking about the mission, so how does the Johns Hopkins mission, even in your previous roles, align with your own personal missions and what you see in a profession, what you really ... what motivates you to go to work, what motivates you to really dive deeper and do what you're supposed to for Johns Hopkins and the other organizations you work for in the past? Danita: I've always had the fortune of ... good fortune, I should say, of working for many education organizations and arts organizations. Education is critical to the work of the Jesuits. That's part of the appeal of the Jesuits for me and promoting and advancing education, ensuring that education is accessible to more in the community or a better education is accessible to individuals and groups in the community, that has always been important to me and that's what gets me out of bed in the morning. To be able to support a mission. To be able to do great work, the small work that helps to bring forth the resources necessary, so that others can have access to high quality educational experiences both the traditional classroom learning and the experiential learning. That can help connect what someone's going to do when they finish high school, college, graduate school, to what they are doing in the classroom. Danita: Education has always been key for me and my family, and the Jesuits, and the work that I do, and I think now, specifically in my work at Johns Hopkins of the recent Bloomberg gift, the 1.8 million dollars for undergraduate aid was a phenomenal gift. We don't think about it as just a number. That's part of the beauty of working in philanthropy for an extended period. Danita: You don't think about the money, you think about what the resources can do. How they can affect others. With that gift, Johns Hopkins education is now within reach for so many families who couldn't have thought of sending their children to Johns Hopkins University. They're going to receive a tremendous education and the additional support that they need to stay in school and pursue their dreams as students and after they graduate, and having played a small role in the work to secure that gift is truly meaningful and heartwarming for me. It's always nice to know that what you are doing, will change someone's life for the better, that you will affect change in individuals and communities and make this world a better place. Meah: I love that. I love how you don't look at it as a simple dollar sign but instead what that dollar sign can do for students in Johns Hopkins, pursuing Johns Hopkins and even their life outside of Johns Hopkins, so that's awesome. Everyone listening can assume you've been really in touch with the Holy Cross community during your time at Holy Cross, shortly after your time at Holy Cross and even to the present day, so what do you do with Holy Cross currently? Danita: Well, Meah, I have the wonderful opportunity of now, spending time with students such as you, an informal mentoring and engagement. I'm also a member of the college's board of advisors. I am still my class's fundraising co-chair. I have a new co-chair now. He's been my partner in this work for the last three years, Matt Dudley, who was actually one of the first people I met, freshman year. I'm also a member of the Bishop Healy Committee. Additionally, I find myself working on a few independent grassroots projects and I really appreciate it that the staff at Holy Cross supports and partners with me and some of these efforts. In the spring, when the ALANA, an international student baccalaureate was zoom bombed by a horrible sign of hatred and fear. I was crushed, to know what happened. Danita: To see what happened and I moved quickly to work with other alumni to create messages for those students who had that horrible experience in their penultimate day as Holy Cross students, their last night on campus, that was their experience after being sent home for remote learning due to the pandemic. I knew they needed something, some outreach, some message they could keep with them. So 50 other alumni partnered with me to create brief messages of support, that were curated into one virtual hug, so to speak and sent to all of the 2020 ALANA and international graduates in June. Then, I count my blessings that so many alumni were willing to come forth and partner with me in that project. Danita: I also count my blessings that members of the staff and administration were supportive and allowed me to pursue that project. It was completely a grassroots effort and not from any organized group, just people who care and that's another part of the beauty of the Holy Cross community, people who care. Meah: I agree. Just the little things, the thoughtfulness, recognizing someone ... Yeah, I mean, these times are hard, what can we do as Holy Cross alumni speaking from your perspective, so you know better the situation. So that virtual hug must have been awesome and very touching in a sense. Danita: It was. It was an interesting final production, it was long, it's about 30 minutes long and no one complained that it was too long fortunately. It might have felt long, but in the message that I drafted to be sent to the graduates now, I encouraged them to play part of it, whenever they wanted to hear a few words of encouragement, if ever they felt down or lonely just to play a couple of videos for five minutes or whatever their favorites might be. Meah: Right and I remember when we first met BSU 50 and shortly after, getting into each other's email inboxes, you often had a lot of motivational and small things to send off to like a few people. So I know those little things, put a smile on people's faces and I personally got to experience that from you early on in our mentor-mentee relationship, so I appreciate that. Danita: You're welcome. You're welcome. It's a privilege and an honor to pass it on. When I was a student, there were alumni who came back for us, who spent time with us who spoke to us. I remember an alum, I think her name was Michelle. She came back to my dorm with me to see my artwork and I was so flattered that someone wanted to come to my messy dorm room in Clark to see my artwork. Ted Wells came back and spoke to us our freshman year, and told us of his experience. He encouraged us to give back as a means of staying in touch with the next generation of inspiring and influencing the next generation, and making a real difference at the college. Danita: If there were aspects of the college that we wanted to touch, we would need to be engaged and stay engaged in some way and not just criticize from a distance and hope that someone would hear our thoughts. Meah: Right, right. As our time comes to an end, I think it's really worth noting that through these unprecedented times, the Holy Cross alumni, specifically the Holy Cross BSU alumni have been really supportive of myself and even current students. So, I just want to thank you, Danita and the rest of the alum for really building these connections during these six months and continuing to build these connections as our lives are drastically different. So on behalf of students, again, thank you. I enjoyed a lot of happy hour, being able to laugh and talk with you guys, share our experiences and really get to connect deeper. Meah: I don't know if you want to touch upon that a little bit but I know I'm certainly grateful for those experiences. Danita: Meah, you are certainly welcome, you and the other students. It's really something that has been created for all of us to keep us connected. So thank you for participating and bringing other students to the conversations that we have every other week. This pandemic has been a very difficult time for so many, the social distance as it was called and it was social distance for a while, that we needed to find new ways to connect and interact. Now, that we've done so through Zoom and other means, it's physical distance but we are connected and having those conversations every two weeks were something to look for. A means of connecting and interacting and embracing normal, so to speak. Danita: The normal that we once knew and developing new relationships, because the alums who participate go as far back as the early 70s, up to the class of 2019. So we didn't all know one another before we started having these conversations together every other week and then, the side conversations that come out of that. In particular, having black alumni and students come together in late May and June, when we began to realize the unrest in the communities and the racial reckoning, that is again, at the forefront of so many conversations. It has been critical to have so many generations together to talk about what has happened in the past, what worked in the past. Danita: What patterns they have seen? What patterns we have seen, and how to determine the path forward so that this moment can be a movement, so that our actions will not just be transactional but transformational. That's been a core point of the conversations because it's time for change in our communities. In changing our community, we will change the larger community as a whole. Everyone needs to survive and succeed, for all of us to truly know joy and happiness in our worlds. Meah: I couldn't agree more. So Danita, what exactly is next for you? Danita: Meah, what's next? I'm actually moving in a new direction and my efforts to affect change in individual lives and communities. To be perfectly frank, in October, due to the challenges faced by Johns Hopkins University, the fiscal challenges presented by students not returning this fall, some really difficult cuts were made and my position was one of 114 positions to be eliminated. My last day was in November, which was hard and difficult, but I had already started to think about, to your point, what's next and an area that I had not explored fully but an area of interest for me was the climate and conservation. A couple of years ago, after Hurricane Michael was so devastating in many communities across the south, I was just stunned into a need to do something, to do something more than what I had done. Danita: Recycling wasn't enough. I began observing, and then my family started to observe Meatless Mondays as a way to reduce our carbon footprint by eating less meat on Mondays and at some times in the year, we just go completely plant based on Mondays. Even with that, I realized that my personal efforts were not enough. It's kind of like being a teacher versus raising money for the teachers to do their work to be effective in the classroom. In a similar way, wanting to contribute to the efforts in support of saving our climate and greater conservation. I wanted an opportunity to link my personal concern with the concern and commitment of others, and the actions of a respected and effective organization. Danita: Fortunately for me, I knew someone who was working in such an organization, the National Audubon Society and that was Sean O'Connor, who was the chief development officer as well as a graduate of a class in '92, I mentioned him earlier with CCS. We had started some preliminary casual conversations, even before I had lost ... before my position was eliminated at Johns Hopkins and I looked at Audubon, and the position as a dynamic opportunity to join a well-respected organization with expertise, credibility and a vast network of influencers and activists. Starting in four weeks, I will be the vice president of principal giving for National Audubon Society. Danita: I'm very excited to join the team. I get to work with the leadership and the development team and others in the organization to confirm transformational support that will facilitate increased and sustained change for the climate for conservation, for the birds and their habitats. For those of us who share the greater habitat of the birds, we human beings, Audubon is about the birds but I understand and believe and many o

The following is a conversation between Robert Kissane, Chairman of CCS Fundraising, and Denver Frederick, the Host of The Business of Giving. Non-profit organizations have kept a keen eye on both revenues and expenses since the start of the pandemic... some to amplify their services to meet increased need, others to merely survive, and still others somewhere in between. There are a few people who are better equipped to talk about the revenue side of this equation than my next guest. He is Robert Kissane, the chairman of CCS Fundraising.

David Mehr is the Assistant Vice President at CCS Fundraising, an organization that got its initial start in 1947 as a Community Counseling Service. It has a long history of providing philanthropic counsel and service to a spectrum of organizations and healthcare, the arts, and academia, medical schools, hospitals, public broadcasting, and conservation groups.  As CCS Assistant Vice President, David has engaged in lead studies and campaigns for organizations including the Diocese of Brooklyn, Gracie Square Hospital, St. Joseph Health System, Delbarton School, Muhlenberg College, St. Peter's University, University of Maryland's St. Joseph Medical Center, and Green Chimneys.  David is currently working with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on the Love One Another campaign. In this episode… Philanthropy is a team sport, but many organizations treat it as a one-person game, one that revolves around the development person.  On the other hand, the development person finds it difficult to communicate effectively with leadership which leads to a struggle in fundraising. According to David Mehr, there are specific leadership and fundraising practices that boards, CEOs, and development professionals need to imbibe to address these problems and succeed at philanthropy, In this episode of Philanthropy212, David Mehr of CCS Funding talks to host Penny Cowden about the critical role of leadership and fundraising practices in order to drive success in any philanthropic organization. They also talk about the need for stable work amongst professionals, how leaders can create a culture of philanthropy and development, and more. Stay tuned.

The initial shock of the COVID-19 outbreak is over, even though the world is still paralyzed. Now what? Keep going! The most important lesson from our past experience with crises is that it is crucial for nonprofits to keep going rather than stopping fundraising efforts to sustain themselves and keep their doors open — figuratively and literally. With an economic crisis around the corner, fundraisers are tuning in to figure out ways to count on their donors’ support. Today, Rick Happy, Principal and Managing Director of CCS Fundraising, sits down with Lindsay to share insights on philanthropy and relevant advice for every nonprofit around the globe.Head to LindsaySimondsConsulting.com for full show notes, key takeaways and episode resources. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John Kozyra is Chief Philanthropy Officer at St. Mary Medical Center, which is a member of the Providence Health System. Prior to his role at St. Mary Medical Center, John held senior-level roles at CCS Fundraising, Changing Our World, and St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance. John has led and managed capital campaigns for Catholic education, healthcare, and other causes that have raised more than $110 Million over the last decade.In our conversation with John, we tackle two issues. First, John shares with us about his career progression, and specifically discusses what the biggest challenges and learnings have been for him in transitioning between leading fundraising in two nonprofits and serving nonprofits as a consultant.We also discuss how to avoid the biggest capital campaign mistakes nonprofits make, from John's chapter in 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make and How You Can Avoid Them. In this portion of the conversation, John shares with us about these key mistakes and challenges:Lack of preparation for a campaignThe role of volunteer leaders in a campaignPreparing for the high level of activity necessary to sustain a campaignNot using a campaign to expand your relationships with high net worth members of your communityDownload the full transcript here

John Kozyra is Chief Philanthropy Officer at St. Mary Medical Center, which is a member of the Providence Health System. Prior to his role at St. Mary Medical Center, John held senior-level roles at CCS Fundraising, Changing Our World, and St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. John has led and managed capital campaigns for Catholic education, healthcare, and other causes that have raised more than $110 Million over the last decade.In our conversation with John, we tackle two issues. First, John shares with us about his career progression, and specifically discusses what the biggest challenges and learnings have been for him in transitioning between leading fundraising in two nonprofits and serving nonprofits as a consultant.We also discuss how to avoid the biggest capital campaign mistakes nonprofits make, from John’s chapter in 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make and How You Can Avoid Them. In this portion of the conversation, John shares with us about these key mistakes and challenges:Lack of preparation for a campaignThe role of volunteer leaders in a campaignPreparing for the high level of activity necessary to sustain a campaignNot using a campaign to expand your relationships with high net worth members of your communityDownload the full transcript here

CCS Fundraising’s Managing Director Eric Javier discusses the feasibility of your organization receiving large donations. This podcast explores feasibility studies, organization context, and audience research and redefines the 80/20 rule.

A few charitable organizations raised more money last year, but most have seen a fall-off. Clare talks with CCS Fundraising's Greg Hagin to understand how these select few are attracting that capital. To read more about the issues facing nonprofits, click bit.ly/efblogs. | Note to All Readers: The information contained here reflects the views of AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates and sources it believes are reliable as of the date of this podcast. AllianceBernstein L.P. makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any time after the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor’s personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates. The [A/B] logo is a registered service mark of AllianceBernstein, and AllianceBernstein® is a registered service mark, used by permission of the owner, AllianceBernstein L.P. © 2019 AllianceBernstein L.P.

Season 2 Episode 30: Funding Social Impact featuring CCS Fundraising | Growing Greater On this episode of Growing Greater we’re joined by Greg Hagin, Partner and Managing Director for the Philadelphia region at CCS Fundraising.  Greg talked with Matt Cabrey, Executive Director of Select Greater Philadelphia, a council of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia about how Greg’s team focuses on raising capital with and for nonprofits. By raising funds for those organizations, they are able to deliver on their goals regionally, nationally, and globally. 

Giving USA: The Annual Report on Philanthropy is the seminal publication on charitable giving in the United States. For over 60 years, fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, donors and volunteers, scholars, and other individuals who work in or with the charitable sector have counted on Giving USA to provide the most comprehensive charitable giving data available. First published in 1956, Giving USA is the longest-running, most comprehensive report on philanthropy in the United States. At this event, conducted in association with CCS Fundraising and Foundation Center West, local philanthropic and nonprofit leaders will review national and exclusive data pertaining to Bay Area giving. Philanthropic giving—whether to hospitals, universities, the arts or local nonprofits—impacts the lives of all citizens and determines a range of services available in our communities now and in the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we dive into JJNMA - what?    We find out about a pilot program for a new missional project in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to help parishes and individuals deepen their spiritual life and raise financial resources for engaging God's mission.   With us today are the Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, bishop diocesan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) and Tiffany Reed, Assistant Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising firm that partners with nonprofits for transformational change. (more bio below)   We started by exploring where the idea came from and whether joining the spiritual component with the fundraising component is new or unique, and how it particularly makes sense for Connecticut at this time. The bishop took us through some of the past history in ECCT, with its "Living Local Joining God (LLJG)" initiative for parishes, and some of the related resolutions that led to working with CCS.    He also talked about what it means to "Join Jesus" and what the "New Missional Age" is all about.   Tiffany then helped us look at what this looks like on the practical level, which includes reaching out to parishes, and how CCS works with clergy and lay leaders to help develop a culture of generosity. We talked about what parishes might want to raise new money for, and what fundraising for ECCT and Region initiatives might include.    We ended with each of them sharing how this work is a spiritual practice!   If you're interested in learning more, you can contact Tiffany Reed, Consultant to Joining Jesus in a New Missional Age, at treed@episcopalct.oro   About our new guest:  Tiffany Reed, Assistant Vice President at CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising firm that partners with nonprofits for transformational change. At CCS, Tiffany provides operational and strategic support to a team of 15 directors and works with client partners, planning and implementing programs that achieve fundraising goals and mission impact. Her work focuses on feasibility studies, assessments, and comprehensive campaign efforts. Prior to joining CCS, Tiffany spent ten years in the education sector as a teacher, administrator, and nonprofit program manager. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, where she earned an A.B. in Political Science and Mathematics.

Greg Hagin, Managing Director of CCS Fundraising, discusses the formative experiences that led him to be interested in philanthropy and social impact. He reveals what he has learned from personal and professional failures, and the lessons he has learned from mountain climbing. Discover the importance of developing a sense of purpose, meaning and responsibility and how to achieve a better work/life flow.