Meet Our Advisors: Dane Grams, online strategy director, HRC

Best part of being a fundraiser: “Watching all that money being put to good use.”

What you’d be doing if you weren’t raising money for a good cause: “At this point, I will go to my grave doing this. When I’m not working, I’m running.”

The key to fundraising success for HRC:

1. Trust from the top.
2. Flexibility and quick reflexes.
3. Always staying on the cutting edge.
4. Diversity of revenue streams.
5. Sustainer giving.

Proudest moment in fundraising: “First, being part of the capital campaign team that opened HRC’s permanent headquarters in the heart of Washington, D.C. And second, watching HRC’s low-dollar monthly giving program, which was barely on the radar when I started at HRC in 1997, blossom into a half-million dollar per month powerhouse.”

Heroes/role models: “I have two fundraising heroes: David Lemos, my first boss at Greenpeace, who passed away from AIDS many years ago. He gave me an amazing opportunity in this industry and taught me everything he knew before he died. And Cathy Nelson, vice president of membership and development at HRC. She is a true unsung hero in the gay-rights movement, and she really molded and polished who I am today.”

Favorite quote: “When you help others, you can’t help helping yourself.” “The Money Song” from Avenue Q

Describe yourself in three words: “Passionate, daring and sometimes a little stubborn.”