Tips and Tools

Pamela Barden is an independent fundraising consultant focused on direct response. You can read more of her fundraising columns here.

Philip King is founder of The Donation Funnel Project, an experiment in online and mobile fundraising. He is a regular contributor to NonProfit PRO.

Sarah Durham is president of Big Duck, a New York City-based branding, marketing and fundraising firm for nonprofits. She serves on the boards of the National Brain Tumor Society and the New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Steve MacLaughlin is the vice president of data and analytics at Blackbaud and best-selling author of “Data Driven Nonprofits.” Steve has spent 20-plus years driving innovation with a broad range of companies, government institutions and nonprofit organizations. He serves on the board of the Nonprofit Technology Network and is a frequent speaker at conferences and events. Steve earned both his undergraduate degree and a Master of Science degree in interactive media from Indiana University.

Tom Harrison is the former chair of Russ Reid and Omnicom's Nonprofit Group of Agencies. He served as chair of the NonProfit PRO Editorial Advisory Board.

Concord Leadership Group founder Marc A. Pitman, CSP, helps leaders lead their teams with more effectiveness and less stress. Whether it’s through one-on-one coaching of executives, conducting high-engagement trainings or growing leaders through his ICF-accredited coach certification program, his clients grow in stability and effectiveness.

He is the author of "The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Use Uncertainty to Become the Exceptional Leader You Are Meant to Be" He’s also the author of "Ask Without Fear!"— which has been translated into Dutch, Polish, Spanish and Mandarin. A FranklinCovey-certified coach and Exactly What To Say Certified Guide, Marc’s expertise and enthusiasm engages audiences around the world both in person and with online presentations. 

He is the husband to his best friend and the father of three amazing kids. And if you drive by him on the road, he’ll be singing '80s tunes loud enough to embarrass his family!

Dane Grams is the director of membership for Human Rights Campaign. He has held senior positions at Amnesty International, Greenpeace USA and Care2. Reach him at dane.grams@hrc.org. 

Willis Turner believes great writing has the power to change minds, save lives, and make people want to  dance and sing. Willis is the creative director at Huntsinger & Jeffer. He worked as a lead writer and creative director in the traditional advertising world for more than 15 years before making the switch to fundraising 20 years ago. In his work with nonprofit organizations and associations, he has written thousands of appeals, renewals and acquisition communications for every medium. He creates direct-response campaigns, and collateral communications materials that get attention, tell powerful stories and persuade people to take action or make a donation.

Pamela Grow is the publisher of The Grow Report, the author of Simple Development Systems and the founder of Simple Development Systems: The Membership Program and Basics & More fundraising fundamentals e-courses. She has been helping small nonprofits raise dramatically more money for over 15 years, and was named one of the 50 Most Influential Fundraisers by Civil Society magazine, and one of the 40 Most Effective Fundraising Consultants by The Michael Chatman Giving Show.

If you like craft fairs, baseball games, art openings, vocal and guitar, and political conversation, you’ll like to hang out with Claire Axelrad. Claire, J.D., CFRE, will inspire you through her philosophy of philanthropy, not fundraising. After a 30-year development career that earned her the AFP “Outstanding Fundraising Professional of the Year” award, Claire left the trenches to begin her coaching/teaching practice, Clairification. Claire is also a featured expert and chief fundraising coach for Bloomerang, She’ll be your guide, so you can be your donor’s guide on their philanthropic journey. A member of the California State Bar and graduate of Princeton University, Claire currently resides in San Francisco.

Otis Fulton, Ph.D., spent most of his career in the education industry, working at the psychometric research and development firm MetaMetrics Inc., Pearson Education and others. Since 2013, he has focused on the nonprofit sector, applying psychology to fundraising and donor behavior at Turnkey. He is the co-author of the 2017 book, ”Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising,” and the 2023 book, "Social Fundraising: Mining the New Peer-to-Peer Landscape,"  and is a frequent speaker at national nonprofit conferences. With Katrina VanHuss, he co-authors a blog at NonProfit PRO, “Peeling the Onion,” on the intersection of psychology and philanthropy.

Otis is a much sought-after copywriter for nonprofit fundraising messages. He has written campaigns for UNICEF, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen, the USO and dozens of other organizations. He has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, where he also played on UVA’s first ACC champion basketball team.

Looking for Jeff? You'll find him either on the lake, laughing with good friends, or helping nonprofits develop to their full potential.

Jeff believes that successful fundraising is built on a bedrock of relevant, consistent messaging; sound practices; the nurturing of relationships; and impeccable stewardship. And that organizations that adhere to those standards serve as beacons to others that aspire to them. The Bedrocks & Beacons blog will provide strategic information to help nonprofits be both.

Jeff has more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience and is a member of the NonProfit PRO Editorial Advisory Board.

Nhu Te is the former editor-in-chief for NonProfit PRO. 

Ify Aduba is a nonprofit compliance specialist for Harbor Compliance, a leading provider of compliance solutions for organizations of all types and sizes. Headquartered in Lancaster, Pa., Harbor Compliance partners with organizations in every state and over 28 countries abroad to help solve the most challenging compliance problems. With clients that range from the largest organizations in the country to fast-growth startups, Harbor Compliance fully manages government licensing compliance in both nonprofit and business sectors.

In her spare time, Ify actively volunteers within her community. She currently serves as president of the Board of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations, president of the Administrative Ministries Team at Doylestown United Methodist Church and board member for the Bucks County Women’s Advocacy Coalition. She is also a member of the Doylestown Branch of the American Association of University Women and Doylestown Rotary.

Diane H. Leonard, GPC, provides support to grant-seeking organizations throughout the country with her team at DH Leonard Consulting & Grant Writing Services, LLC. She has personally secured more than $34 million to date in competitive grant funds for clients. She founded the firm in order to focus on increasing nonprofit capacity related to grant seeking and grant management. She is an active member of the Grant Professionals Association serving on both their Social Media Committee and Grant News Committee. She is an “approved trainer” through the Grant Professionals Association and Grant Professional Certified (GPC) through the Grant Professionals Certification Institute.

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Ashley Thompson is the managing director for the Blackbaud Institute. She is responsible for driving Blackbaud’s extensive research, thought leadership, and best practice content.

Through this role, she builds thoughtful strategies and solutions for the philanthropic sector utilizing the most comprehensive data set in the social good community. She also manages internal and external relationships for the Institute, including the convening of the Blackbaud Institute Advisory Board.

Ashley is active in the Austin community and participates in numerous groups as a volunteer, active board member, and collaborative partner.

She is a regular contributor to sgENGAGE, serves on the Giving USA Editorial Review Board, and is a member of the NonProfit PRO Editorial Advisory Board.

Payman Taei is the founder of Visme, an easy-to-use online tool to create engaging presentations, infographics, and other forms of visual content. He is also the founder of HindSite Interactive, an award-winning Maryland based digital agency specializing in website design, user experience and web app development.

Moshe Hecht, winner of the 2017 NonProfit PRO Technology Professional of the Year, is a philanthropy futurist, public speaker and chief innovation officer of Charidy, a crowdfunding platform and consulting company that has helped 3,000 organizations raise over $700 million.

Moshe's passion lies at the intersection of technology and charitable giving. When Moshe is not at the office, he is writing music and enjoying downtime with his wife and three redheaded children.

Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is a thought leader in future-proofing, decision making and cognitive bias risk management in the future of work for nonprofit executives. He serves as the CEO of the boutique consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts, which specializes in helping forward-looking nonprofit leaders avoid dangerous threats and missed opportunities.

As an author, he has written “The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships,” "Resilience: Adapt and Plan for the New Abnormal of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic" and Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage.”  

His expertise comes from more than 20 years of consulting, coaching, speaking and training on future-proofing, strategic decision-making and planning, and cognitive bias risk management. His clients include innovative startups, major nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies. His expertise also stems from his research background as a behavioral scientist, studying decision-making and risk management strategy over a 15-year span in academia. After getting a Ph.D at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was appointed as a professor at The Ohio State University, publishing dozens of peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.

As vice president of Orr Group, CJ Orr is responsible for a portfolio of work that includes operations, business development and partner relationship management.

On the operations side, CJ is responsible for setting and driving achievement of Orr Group’s financial targets and overseeing office real estate and management. Additionally, CJ leads and supports the efforts of Orr Group’s sales and marketing team to identify and cultivate new business opportunities and build relationships with nonprofit partners, ensuring that the services offered are best aligned with our partners’ needs.

CJ has a broad background in fundraising and development, strategic planning, campaigns, and event management. He has led strategic initiatives and fundraising for several large galas and campaigns. As a project and relationship manager, he executes on the development of strategies and tactics to ensure highly memorable events and campaigns that meet or exceed fundraising targets.

Eric Burger is the director of marketing for BetterGood, an organization that creates exciting products, including VolunteerHub, that help organizations touch lives and make an impact within their communities. Eric has worked in the business-to-business software industry for eight years and has more than 12 years of experience in digital marketing.

France Hoang is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of boodleAI, which builds people-focused predictive applications using artificial intelligence. 

Kelly Velasquez-Hague brings over 20 years of fundraising, nonprofit management, and marketing experience to her role as the director of content marketing for OneCause. As a member of the OneCause sales and marketing team, Kelly manages all of the company’s content strategy and execution. She is passionate about empowering great missions and loves that her current role allows her to continue to help nonprofits reach new donors to raise more funds for their causes.

As the director of community engagement for United Way of Metro Chicago, Jackie guides grant making initiatives and collective impact planning for 10 Neighborhood Network coalitions. She mobilizes government, nonprofit, small businesses and community leaders around common community goals. Additionally, she oversees United Way’s AmeriCorps program, which places 12 AmeriCorps members across the 10 Neighborhood Networks for a year of service addressing critical community needs.

Jackie has more than 10 years of experience in community and civic engagement. Prior to joining United Way in 2015, she worked for Chicago Public Schools and Mikva Challenge. She was the recipient of the 2016 Hispanics in Philanthropy Next Generation Fellowship and holds a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from DePaul University.

Tyler Worthington is a charity success manager at Tiltify with 13 years of experience in digital content creation and livestream fundraising. He is passionate about helping charities better connect with online communities around the world. Tyler resides in the DFW area with his pets, who make frequent cameos on his Twitch streams and Zoom meetings.

Christy McWilliams is vice president of customer strategy at Merkle. 

Duke Haddad, Ed.D., CFRE, is currently associate director of development, director of capital campaigns and director of corporate development for The Salvation Army Indiana Division in Indianapolis. He also serves as president of Duke Haddad and Associates LLC and is a freelance instructor for Nonprofit Web Advisor.

He has been a contributing author to NonProfit PRO since 2008.

He received his doctorate degree from West Virginia University with an emphasis on education administration plus a dissertation on donor characteristics. He received a master’s degree from Marshall University with an emphasis on public administration plus a thesis on annual fund analysis. He secured a bachelor’s degree (cum laude) with an emphasis on marketing/management. He has done post graduate work at the University of Louisville.       

Duke has received the Fundraising Executive of the Year Award, from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Indiana Chapter. He also was given the Outstanding West Virginian Award, Kentucky Colonel Award and Sagamore of the Wabash Award from the governors of West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana, respectively, for his many career contributions in the field of philanthropy. He has maintained a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation for three decades.

Wayne Elsey is the founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises. Among his various independent brands, he is also the founder and CEO of Funds2Orgs, a social enterprise that helps nonprofits, schools, churches, civic groups, individuals and others raise funds, while helping to support micro-enterprise (small business) opportunities in developing nations and the environment.

You can learn more about Wayne and obtain free resources, including his books on his blog, Not Your Father’s Charity.

Tarsha Whitaker Calloway serves as chief philanthropy officer for Phalen Leadership Academies. For almost two decades, she has helped nonprofits develop fundraising, board governance and fundraising strategies to further their missions. Tarsha has directly led efforts to raise more than $50 million for organizations, including the Tessitura Network, Woodruff Arts Center, Emory University and the American Cancer Society.

Tarsha is the founder and CEO of Philanthropy Fortified. She frequently presents locally, regionally and nationally on fundraising; organizational and board development; and diversity and philanthropy.

Outside of work, she is actively involved in her community, including board of trustees for Destination Imagination, board of directors' executive committee for Leadership DeKalb, board of directors for National HBCU Hall of Fame and former board chair for Atlanta Shakespeare Theater.

Tarsha holds a master's of business administration in international business from Mercer University Stetson School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and theater from Texas Southern University. She also holds a certificate in current affairs fundraising from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and a certificate in diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace from South Florida University.

Tarsha resides in Atlanta with her husband and son.

Larry Talley is the founder and CEO of Everyware, a contactless payments and communications solutions company. His passion for partnerships, connecting with people, business development and customer satisfaction led to the creation of a payment and communications solution like no other. Everyware combines the tools that meet the high demand for contactless payment and two-way messaging in a multitude of industries. Larry lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three sons.

Erica Waasdorp is one of the leading experts on monthly giving. She is the president of A Direct Solution, a company serving nonprofit organizations with fundraising and direct marketing needs, with a focus on monthly giving and appeals. She authored "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant" and "Monthly Giving Made Easy." She regularly blogs and presents on fundraising, appeals and monthly giving — in person and through webinars. She is happy to answer any questions you may have about this great way of improving retention rates for your donors.

Erica has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response. She helped the nonprofits she works with raise millions of dollars through monthly giving programs. She is also very actively supports organizations with annual fund planning and execution, ranging from copywriting, creative, lists, print and mail execution.

When she’s not working or writing, Erica can be found on the golf course (she’s a straight shooter) or quietly reading a book. And if there’s an event with a live band, she and her husband, Patrick, can be found on the dance floor. She also loves watching British drama on PBS. Erica and Patrick have two step sons and a cat, Mientje.

Mike Burns is partner at BWB Solutions. 

Tracy Vanderneck is president of Phil-Com, a training and consulting company where she works with nonprofits across the U.S. on fundraising, board development and strategic planning. Tracy has more than 25 years of experience in fundraising, business development and sales. She holds a Master of Science in management with a concentration in nonprofit leadership, a graduate certificate in teaching and learning, and a DEI in the Workplace certificate. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), an Association of Fundraising Professionals Master Trainer, and holds a BoardSource certificate in nonprofit board consulting. Additionally, she designs and delivers online fundraising training classes and serves as a Network for Good Personal Fundraising Coach.

Jeff Schreifels is the principal owner of Veritus Group — an agency that partners with nonprofits to create, build and manage mid-level fundraising, major gifts and planned giving programs. In his 32-plus year career, Jeff has worked with hundreds of nonprofits, helping to raise more than $400 million in revenue.

Annabel Maw is the director of communications at JotForm, a full-featured online forms platform for easy data collection and management.

Josh Hirsch is a social marketing manager at Susan G. Komen. He has worked in the nonprofit sector since 2006 with a focus on educational philanthropy for both public charter and independent private schools. He has an extensive background in social media, digital communications, and marketing along with experience in grant research and writing, individual giving, special event planning, stewardship, and cultivation of donors.

He is the membership chair for the Association of Fundraising Professionals First Coast Chapter and past-president of the Palm Beach County Chapter. Josh is also a member of the AFPeeps, the social media vanguard for the AFP International Conference and other AFP initiatives. He has spoken nationally on digital communications and has had numerous articles published in professional journals. Josh received a Master of Science in family, youth and community sciences and a Bachelor of Science in advertising from the University of Florida. He has a certificate in strategic fundraising and philanthropy from Bay Path University and is a certified social media strategist by the National Institute for Social Media.

With nearly three decades of experience in the philanthropic sector, Alicia M. Lifrak is a Certified Fund-Raising Executive with demonstrated success in leadership, strategic planning, operations, budget management, board leadership, membership, program, marketing and all forms of fundraising. She is driven by a focus on developing and implementing strategic solutions that yield the best possible results in pursuit of mission achievement.

She currently serves as executive vice president for the Gabriel Group, an OSG company, leading the nonprofit division in offering full-service fundraising, marketing and strategy consultation to clients. Prior to joining Gabriel Group, Alicia spent 25 years leading teams to achieve exceptional results in nonprofit and higher education.

After moving around the U.S. for most of her life, Alicia now lives in Illinois with her four kids, a cat and a dog. She travels frequently, for work and for fun, is an avid reader and loves to see live music.

Greg McHale is the founder of Union Strong, LetsAllDoGood, LetsAllBeHeard and Bidding for Good. McHale believes that nonprofits of any size or budget should have access to simple, secure and powerful technology that lets them reach and interact with their supporters anytime, anywhere. Today, the firm has one goal: connect organizations that do good with the people that want to do good and care about the causes they support.

Steve Maggio is an industry leader who has provided innovative strategy and creative for more than 200 nonprofits in his 30-year career. Since co-founding DaVinci Direct Inc. in 2005, Steve has served national accounts Disabled American Veterans, Lupus Foundation of America, Muscular Dystrophy Association, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, National Jewish Health and several faith-based charities, as well as regional healthcare, humane society, social service and international nonprofits. His teams have won more than 250 awards, including DMA ECHO, DMAW MAXI, DMFA Package of the Year, and NEDMA Awards for Creative Excellence, including Best of Show.

Dan Reed, CFRE, is the vice president of fundraising for Media Cause. Dan has a Masters Degree in Strategic Fundraising and Philanthropy and has spent the past 15 years immersed in the digital fundraising space. He’s led fundraising efforts at the Smithsonian and World Food Program, and has been with Media Cause since 2018. He’s an expert in the big-picture strategy that drives successful fundraising efforts for nonprofits and will speak from experience about hitting goals in uncertain times.

Kristy Morris is a creative professional in corporate and nonprofit social media advertising and brand strategy. As the chief marketing officer at Funds2Orgs and Elsey Enterprises, she works with a suite of global fundraising brands and manages national campaigns for her clients. She hosts a monthly webinar with Funds2Orgs, teaching nonprofits how to make an impact with their social media strategy. Kristy is a passionate individual that loves nothing more than to help others make an impact in their market and the world.

Kristy also contributes monthly to her NonProfit PRO blog, “Marketing IRL.”

Eve Smith is an experienced fundraiser with more than 20 years of nonprofit direct response marketing expertise. As senior director of client strategy at Merkle, Eve brings extensive knowledge and practice with integrated strategy, omnichannel fundraising and marketing, and program innovation. She specializes in both scaling up already-successful fundraising programs to raise more funds and crafting new programs that leverage peer-to-peer fundraising and social giving to bring in new revenue.

At Merkle, her clients have included major national health charities, international relief and faith-based organizations and animal welfare nonprofits, among others. Before joining Merkle, Eve was lead consultant to national cause-based nonprofits and worked with leading nonprofits and foundations to advance their online marketing and fundraising programs.

Matt Baglia is the co-founder and CEO of SlickText. In his role, he oversees the product and engineering teams and is responsible for the strategic direction of the company. With a strong background in product management and web development, his direct focus on technology and user experience has been foundational for the success of SlickText in recent years. Prior to SlickText, Matt served as the director of product for Colibri Learning where he was primarily focused on front end design and UX. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Jai McBride Calloway is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Exude Inc. In her role, Jai is responsible for overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion strategies across the firm’s practice area.

Prior to joining Exude, Jai served as the ombuds for Halliburton Oil Services’ global dispute resolution program. Her transformative approach to DEI strategy utilizes dispute resolution methodology and organizational development theory to redefine the way people work together by harnessing the power of difference.

Jai earned her Bachelor of Science in sociology from the University of New Mexico. She holds a Master of Science in administration of justice from Texas Southern University, J.D. from South Texas College of Law and a master’s degree in dispute resolution from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.

Frank Williamson is the CEO of Oaklyn Consulting, a consulting firm that helps closely held businesses and nonprofits with mergers, acquisitions, capital-raising, investor relations, succession and other strategic corporate finance decisions.

Jen Newmeyer, CFRE, is a digital fundraising strategist specializing in integrated campaigns and online engagement. Through her groundbreaking work and creative approaches during her more than 20-year tenure, she's raised more than $10 million in online revenue for nonprofit organizations while managing development budgets of more than $25 million and leading teams through collaborative campaign projects. 

She is the author of "The Insider's Guide to Online Fundraising: Finding Success When Surrounded by Skeptics" and host of the podcast “From The Nest with CharityJen: Where Fundraising Takes Flight.” Jen is the director of digital fundraising strategy at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the vice president of education for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington, D.C., Metro Area Chapter.

Lomesh Shah is the CEO of Fundly. He has more than 25 years of experience in international corporate leadership with a strong emphasis on marketing technology and data management systems. Lomesh has worked with small to mid-size businesses, privately-held companies and Fortune 500 corporations in various capacities — from sales and marketing to overseeing automation and re-engineering of processes and operations.

In his role, Lomesh spends much of his time immersed in the nonprofit industry both as an industry leader, speaker and in service to several organizations as a board member and volunteer. Outside of the industry, Lomesh is a technology junkie and will give anyone willing to listen an assessment of the latest trends in anything from espresso makers and mobile gadgets to electric cars and wind power.

Rita Sever brings a unified approach to human resources and organizational development. Rita offers training, consulting and coaching through her business, Supervision Matters. She works with individuals, teams, leaders and the entire agency to improve the culture and practice of supervision, helping individuals and organizations thrive and fulfill their mission.

Rita has an Master's of Arts in organizational psychology. She has worked in and with nonprofits for more than 30 years and has taught “HR in Nonprofits” at the University of San Francisco and Sonoma State University in California.

Rita’s newest book is entitled "Leading for Justice: Supervision, HR and Culture."

Laurence is author of "The Nonprofit Fundraising Solution," the first book on fundraising ever published by the American Management Association. He is chairman of LAPA Fundraising serving nonprofits throughout the U.S. and Europe.

As founder and CEO of Kanopi Studios, Anne Stefanyk helps to create clarity around project needs, and turns client conversations into actionable outcomes. She enjoys helping clients identify their problems, and then empowering the Kanopi team to execute great solutions.

Anne is an advocate for open source and co-organizes the Bay Area Drupal Camp. When she’s not contributing to the community or running her web agency, she enjoys yoga, meditation, treehouses, dharma, cycling, paddle boarding, kayaking and hanging with her nephew.

Andrea Espinola Wilson co-leads BDO’s Nonprofit and Education practice and advises organizations on a range of issues, including compliance matters, cost allowability and recovery issues, cost accounting, procurement, and internal control and operational assessments. With 20 years of experience, Andrea works alongside industry, advisory, assurance and tax professional to provide clients with customized and data-backed solutions for organizations’ unique needs and missions.

Cassandra Smallman is the head of marketing at InitLive, a volunteer management software for programs and events. Cassandra is a passionate content creator dedicated to fostering positive impact through thought leadership in both the nonprofit sector and live events industry. You can find her work at on the InitLive blog.

Mark founded Cathexis Partners in 2008 to help nonprofit organizations get the most from their existing technology tools, implement new technology to address gaps and find the best overall approach to using technology to support their missions. He previously served as director of IT consulting at a fundraising event production company focused on nonprofits.

Mark also serves on the editorial advisory board for NonProfit PRO, where he contributes monthly to his blog, “Nonprofit Tech Matters.”

Dave Levy, vice president at Amazon Web Services, leads the company’s U.S. government, nonprofit and healthcare businesses. He and his teams help governments, nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits and healthcare providers realize the potential of technology to transform their organizations and fulfill their missions.

Dave is an experienced executive and impactful leader in the information technology sector and, for more than 20 years, has passionately focused on the intersection of technology and organizational change. Prior to joining AWS, he worked for Apple Inc. for 12 years and led the teams that helped the government adopt innovative mobile technologies. Under his leadership, Apple’s government business grew nearly 300% in a four-year period. As head of the U.S. public sector, he played a key role in the introduction and adoption of mobile apps and app stores in federal, state and local governments. Before joining Apple, Dave worked for Monster.com and helped lead its customer-facing teams, which played a key role in bringing automation and innovation to federal hiring and recruiting platforms.

Additionally, as co-founder and chief operating officer of Sulla Technology Group, he built a successful datacenter services company focused on higher education clients, and state and local governments. Before founding Sulla, Dave started Empire Capital Management to focus on the investment needs of mid-market institutional clients.

Dave currently serves on the research, education and innovation advisory board for Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He also serves as the chair of the Procurement and Space Industry Council for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is on the board of advisors for Earth Day Network.

His studies include a Bachelor of Science in international economics from Texas Tech University. He and his wife Izumi have twin daughters and currently reside in Arlington, Virginia.

Rebecca “Becca” Segovia is a seasoned fundraising executive with a strong vision and passion to help nonprofits reach more donors and raise more dollars to further their mission. With over two decades of leadership experience spanning the disciplines of marketing, fundraising, and technology, Becca provides guidance across client services, marketing and sales to help nonprofit organizations achieve breakthrough results. She has a special affinity for omni-channel and relationship-based fundraising strategies aimed at increasing donor lifetime value and nonprofit health.

Lisa Zola Greer is a philanthropist, nonprofit adviser, convener and the author of the bestselling book, "Philanthropy Revolution." Over the last decade, the Greer home in Beverly Hills, California, has been home to nearly 200 charitable salons and events connecting nonprofits with donors and the community.

In 2021, Lisa is serving as commissioner of the California State Commission on the Status of Women, a board member of the New Israel Fund and an executive committee member of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors. She has also served as commissioner and chair of the Beverly Hills Cultural Heritage Commission, trustee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and a board member of many organizations, including the District Attorney’s Crime Prevention Foundation, Make-a-Wish of Greater Los Angeles, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and others.

Earlier in her career, Lisa was a studio executive at NBC and Universal Studios, and she founded and led several companies, including a management consulting and strategic advisory firm specializing in digital media and entertainment businesses. A native of Los Angeles, Lisa holds a bachelor's degree in history from UCLA and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

Celeste Frye, AICP, is co-founder and CEO of Public Works Partners LLC, a certified Women's Business Enterprise, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Small Business Enterprise planning and consulting firm, specializing in multi-stakeholder initiatives and building strong connections across the nonprofit, government and private sectors.

Laura Deaton is executive director at Multiplier, a nonprofit accelerator supporting more than 50 projects working on climate resilience, sustainable food systems, social and environmental equity, and other urgent needs.

Jen Herrmann, vice president at Graham-Pelton, brings more than a decade of frontline fundraising experience at a variety of preeminent institutions from across the country. With a keen focus on identifying donor motivation, Jen has successfully engaged prospects in meaningful gift conversations resulting in gifts, pledges and planned gifts ranging from leadership annual fund levels to seven-figure commitments. Additionally, Jen’s emphasis on data-driven decision-making influences her approach to program administration, process improvement, and team leadership. 

Prior to joining Graham-Pelton, Jen served in a variety of leadership roles in higher education and healthcare. Specifically, Jen led principal and major gift fundraising teams at the University of Texas at Austin Department of Computer Science, the Boston University Questrom School of Business and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In addition, Jen has served in leadership fundraising roles at Tufts University and Agnes Scott College. 

Jen is a former Division I athlete and graduate of the University of Central Florida, where she received both a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Master of Arts in nonprofit management. She has completed coursework and received certifications from Emerson College in association with the Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston University, CASE and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Donella Wilson is the partner leading the nonprofit practice at GHJ, a leading Los Angeles-based accounting and advisory firm. She is also president and chief philanthropy officer of GHJ Foundation, the firm’s vehicle for purposeful and proactive giving to the community. A leader in both the nonprofit and accounting communities, she was recognized as a 2018 “Women Executive of the Year” and a 2017-2020 “Most Influential Women in Accounting” by the Los Angeles Business Journal. In 2017, Donella was also the recipient of a CalCPA “Women to Watch” Award, as well as the Trailblazer Award for her charitable activities.

Piper Hardin brings 20-plus years of professional development experience and nonprofit leadership to Orr Group. Piper has established proven success in creating and implementing strategies for major individual giving, planned giving, annual fundraising campaigns, capital campaigns, corporate giving, and foundation giving. She brings this expertise to Orr Group and its nonprofit partners, along with her extensive experience leading high-performing teams, building long-term relationships with major gift prospects, and planning for multimillion-dollar revenue success. Piper is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE).

Previously, Piper served as chief development officer at No Labels, a D.C. based nonpartisan advocacy agency, where she was responsible for overseeing all facets of the development team. Prior to her work with No Labels, Piper served as center director for two international United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) centers serving the U.S. Armed Forces and their families, director of development and senior director of development at USO for nearly a decade. Before joining USO, Piper worked for Convergent Nonprofit Solutions for nearly five years.

Thayer Tate is the chief technology officer at SOLTECH, an Atlanta software development and IT staffing firm. He has worked in technology and consulting for more than 20 years. Thayer's focus has been on the implementation and delivery of projects in all sizes. He has experience delivering projects in many methodologies as well. Thayer is passionate about technology and project delivery and is always happy to collaborate and share his experience with others.

Ryan Carpenter is the vice president of client success at GivingDNA. Prior to joining GivingDNA, Ryan spent time both on the agency side at THD, within a nonprofit at Year Up and offering nonprofit software solutions with Causemo.

He has experience and interest in developing innovative strategies that efficiently identify, cultivate, and solicit donors and prospects through effective engagement tactics. He has a keen ability to synthesize large data sets and identify the underlying trends and points of importance. Ryan has a proven track record in creating successful cross-channel donor engagement strategies that will deepen donor relationships with organizations, and upgrade those with the most capacity and inclination to give.

Diane Lebson grew up as a first-generation American in Milford, Connecticut, as the daughter of working-class, Polish immigrants who instilled in her a strong work ethic and desire to “do good.”

After studying international relations in college, Diane stayed in Washington and began her nonprofit career on the national staff of United Way, the largest charity in the United States at the time. Over the course of 17 years, she managed United Way’s national literacy program, directed the national board of trustees and built a women’s giving program that, to date, has raised more than $2 billion and mobilized over 70,000 philanthropists. After leaving United Way, Diane went on to lead U.S. fundraising operations for an international nongovernmental organization that serves orphans and abandoned children, lead a public library foundation, serve as the chief of protocol at the U.S. Embassy in Canberra, Australia, and oversee the women’s giving program for the American Red Cross.

In 2018, she and her husband cofounded Evergreen Philanthropic Solutions, a national consultancy that helps nonprofit organizations, individuals, corporations, and foundations achieve their philanthropic goals. Diane is also the author of "For a Good Cause: A Practical Guide to Giving Joyfully."

Alison DiFlorio is managing partner of the human capital consulting division at Exude Inc.

As the general manager of fundraising solutions at Community Brands, Steve Greanias is responsible for the financial and operational performance. Steve directly manages their customer success, professional services, support teams. He also oversees product, sales and marketing budgets and strategic initiatives as they relate to GiveSmart. Prior to joining GiveSmart in 2014, Steve lead the account management and major programs team at GoHealth Insurance. Steve is actively involved in his hometown of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with his daughters’ school and the Glen Ellyn Infant Welfare Society, where he helps with their fundraising initiatives. Steve is married with two daughters and two dogs. He spends his free time working out, playing both golf and paddle tennis, and cooking.

Cindy Wagman is the president and founder of The Good Partnership, a values-driven, social-justice informed consultancy that is working to unlock the potential of small nonprofits through fundraising. Cindy became a Certified Fundraising Executive in 2009 and received her MBA from the Rotman School at the University of Toronto in 2013. Cindy is the host of The Small Nonprofit podcast, Canada’s No. 1 podcast for charities and bestselling author of "Raise It! The Reluctant Fundraiser’s Guide to Raising Money Without Selling Your Soul."

If you’re hanging with Richard it won’t be long before you’ll be laughing.

He always finds something funny in everything. But when the conversation is about people, their money and giving, you’ll find a deeply caring counselor who helps donors fulfill their passions and interests. Richard believes that successful major-gift fundraising is not fundamentally about securing revenue for good causes. Instead it is about helping donors express who they are through their giving. The Connections blog will provide practical information on how to do this successfully. Richard has more than 30 years of nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, and is founding partner of the Veritus Group.

As the chief programs and marketing officer at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Maureen Carlson leads a team focused on delivering programs to raise significant funds for children’s hospitals and highlighting the social impact children’s hospitals have on local communities.

With two decades of corporate social responsibility, nonprofit executive management and agency leadership experience, Maureen is a veteran in the corporate partnership, corporate social responsibility and maximized fundraising spaces.

For more than a decade, Maureen has been a sought-after consultant helping nonprofits increase their fundraising and companies maximize their social good. For the bulk of her career, Maureen was president of Good Scout, a social good agency. In that capacity, Maureen created best practices in securing and maximizing corporate/cause partnerships that have ignited more than $150 million in incremental fundraising and billions of positive branding impressions for her nonprofit and corporate clients. Her experience working on some of the most prolific and innovative cause/corporate partnerships in the marketplace gives her invaluable experiences into the nuances of propelling social impact success.

Maureen also worked as the senior vice president of strategic partnerships at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. In that capacity, she oversaw more than $300 million in fundraising. She has held roles in corporate social responsibility leadership in the automotive industry and as the acting senior vice president of marketing and communications at City of Hope Cancer Center.

Maureen is a nationally recognized speaker on the topic of corporate/cause partnerships and corporate social responsibility, successful selling and more. Her work has been seen in Forbes, Fast Company, The Nonprofit Times, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post and in the book, “Nonprofit Selling 101.”

Stephanie Minor is the founder and CEO of Success for Nonprofits, where she strengthens and advances nonprofit organizations through capacity building and technical assistance. Stephanie is an award-winning veteran fundraising professional, nonprofit executive and strategic development coach whose proven fundraising strategies have won big grants and gifts for important and impactful nonprofit causes.

She was awarded the 2023 “Outstanding Fundraising Professional” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Desert Communities Chapter. As a seasoned, spirited, and optimistic executive consultant, Stephanie guides nonprofits on how to create and execute winning strategies through the power of strategic campaigns and effective storytelling.

Eric Ryan has dedicated 25 years of his professional life to service. He is the co-founder of Mission Met, a company devoted to making strategic planning easier and more effective for nonprofit and organizational leaders around the world. Although he has focused on serving small nonprofits, Eric has also consulted with numerous corporations and government entities.

In addition to his consulting work, he has started one nonprofit, been an executive director, and served on several boards as both treasurer and board chair. He led the creation of nonprofit strategic planning software, Causey, and is the author of "Mission Met: Proven Strategic Planning Guidance to Help You Build a Financially Secure and Impactful Nonprofit."

Sue Citro is the chief experience officer at Best Friends Animal Society and is responsible for how the development, digital, marketing communications and brand experience teams collaborate and work in new ways to bring more people into Best Friends’ lifesaving work. Before joining Best Friends, Sue led new digital expansions for The Nature Conservancy in Asia and Latin America. She started her career working at Peace Corps headquarters, followed by time at a direct mail agency and then consulting in the digital fundraising space with nonprofits large and small.

Sue holds a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University and lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Jeremy, and 103 lb. rescued dog, "Little" Luca.

Bill McKendry is the founder and board president of DoMoreGood.org and author of the book, “Do More Good: Moving Nonprofits From Good to Growth.”

Neil Taurins is the general manager of nonprofit solutions at Community Brands. He has been with the company for more than 12 years and is passionate about working with nonprofits to provide them with solutions to improve efficiency and better help them accomplish their mission.

As associate director, Indiana Thompson engages with Orr Group’s clients to develop and execute strategies to drive revenue to enhance programs and services. Her work includes drafting materials, conducting research and analysis, pipeline management, and assisting with board engagement.

Prior to joining Orr Group, Indiana completed a master’s degree in London. In September 2020, she finalized her dissertation, entitled “Modernism and Liberalism: Expanding a Cultural Cold War Debate.”

Indiana has international fundraising, political campaign and strategic communications experience, and has a strong background in research and analysis.

Jay Woods is the founder and president of Omega Accounting Solutions where he is responsible for the company’s business development and strategic planning. With 20 years of experience in financial management, business leadership and corporate strategy, Jay’s focus is on building long-term strategic partnerships with clients and helping business owners access a full-functioning accounting department. To relieve businesses from the devastation of the pandemic, he added a tax incentives solution center as part of Omega's mission to help businesses not only survive but thrive.

Yesenia Z. Carrillo is an associate attorney with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. She provides legal counsel to nonprofit organizations related to employment matters. She also serves as a board member for various nonprofits in Fresno and is a member of the board of trustees for a public school district.

Michael Gorriarán the president of Arjuna Solutions, a provider of behavioral economic modeling artificial intelligence services. He is a globally experienced technology sector executive with an extensive 30-plus-year career at Microsoft, Xerox, and early-stage, high-growth business ventures. He has held executive leadership roles in advanced cloud services, enterprise software, business process outsourcing and professional services businesses.

Prior to his current role, Gorriarán was most recently general manager of worldwide commercial markets strategy group at Microsoft. He has either led, been chief operating officer, general manager or a key executive in businesses ranging from less than $10 million to more than $77 billion in annual revenues. His responsibilities have included developing and implementing new business strategies and financial models, executing turnarounds, and launching new lines of business and go-to-market plans to gain a sustainable competitive advantage around the world.

Gorriarán holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a bachelor of science in marketing, with concentrated studies in economics and Spanish, from The University of Rhode Island. He is an avid distance runner, outdoor enthusiast and active parent with his wife Kris of their two children.

Summer Gould is Account Executive at Neyenesch Printers. Summer has spent her 31 year career helping clients achieve better marketing results. She has served as a panel speaker for the Association of Marketing Service Providers conferences. She is active in several industry organizations and she is a board member for Printing Industries Association San Diego, as well as the industry chair for San Diego Postal Customer Council. You can find her at Neyenesch’s website: neyenesch.com, email: summer@neyenesch.com, on LinkedIn, or on Twitter @sumgould.

Cindi Phallen works with nonprofit boards and executives to build healthy boards that raise more money and execute on their vision. She is an author, educator, speaker, president of Create Possibility and a former ED. Known for asking the tough questions, she is on a mission to change the mindset of nonprofit leaders, so they move from intention to execution and maximize their impact.

Her popular book, “The Impact Triangle: The 3 Essentials to Accelerate Your Nonprofit Enterprise,” is recommended as mandatory reading for executives and volunteers. Cindi teaches fundraising at the University of San Diego, serves on various boards and is a Viewpoint partner for Social Venture Partners.

Cindi spends her free time jogging on the beach, snowboarding or watching her beloved Philadelphia Eagles!

Rob Webb is the chief inspiration officer of Nonprofit Campaigns LLC, which he founded in August 2020 to offer expert online training courses to nonprofit professionals at an affordable cost. Rob is passionate about board development and helping nonprofits create volunteer-led, staff-managed community support campaigns that engage board members giving them ownership of the fundraising process.

Rob has more than 40 years of experience guiding volunteers and staff to create high-impact fundraising campaigns. His journey began in 1981 as aquatic director for the YMCA of Greater Long Beach where he learned all staff play a key role in the annual sustaining campaign (as they called it back then). 

Rob left the YMCA in 1995 to form R.M. Webb & Associates, a multi-discipline management consulting firm specializing in nonprofit fundraising solutions. His first client was the American Red Cross, Greater Long Beach Chapter where he worked to create its inaugural support campaign. 

Rob is a former city councilman in Long Beach, California, former Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), and past president of his local Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce. Rob is a graduate of Leadership Long Beach, has served as a consultant/trainer for The Nonprofit Partnership and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Los Angeles Chapter. Rob moved to Maui, Hawaii, in 2016 to pursue his life-long dream. He is an avid waterman and his hobbies include standup paddle boarding, sailing, bodysurfing, spearfishing and open water swimming. Rob is a long-time speaker for nonprofit special events and is active in his island community.

Bill Crouch is CEO and founder of BrightDot, a nonprofit consulting firm focusing on the fundraising needs of community colleges. Bill honed his fundraising skills as a development director at various colleges in the Southeast, and then as president of Georgetown College for more than 22 years. He is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is an Honorary Fellow at St. Regents Park College at Oxford University. Most recently, he served as the senior managing partner of Jerold Panas, Linzy and Partners. A member of the national board of trustees for The First Tee of the PGA Tour, Bill serves on the World Golf Foundation’s Diversity Council. If he has a free afternoon, you’ll find him on the golf course, but Bill is happiest when in the company of his wife Jan, five children and eight grandchildren.

Gary Pettengell is CEO of Empowering Communities Through Integrated Network Systems (ECINS), a social enterprise dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable people and empowering the practitioners who serve them.

Jackie Conrad is a marketing strategy executive with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations and brands tell their story, engage their constituents and achieve their goals.  A forward-thinking leader, Jackie has worked with Fortune 500 companies and start up organizations — and has a proven track record of leveraging this experience specifically to help nonprofit organizations. She is currently vice president of customer strategy at Merkle, where she works with some of the best nonprofit brands in the world to build meaningful and lasting constituent relationships.

Nhu is a content strategist with over a decade of experience improving the way social good brands engage and build connections through human-first storytelling. She currently leads NTB Content, a content marketing agency with a niche in digital fundraising and nonprofit tech.

Dr. R. J. Dunn is a writer, speaker and consultant on board governance in nonprofit and public organizations. A former professor, he is the author of multiple articles as well as a recent book, “The Change-Making Board: Consequential Governance for Public & Nonprofit Organizations.

R. J. is currently the principal consultant for Change-Making Board Services. He previously served as a board member for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance and is currently a member of The Association of Consultants to Nonprofits. He splits his time between central Florida and southern Illinois.

Jeb is the founder and CEO of Capitol Canary. Jeb, who has been featured or quoted in The New York Times, Forbes Small Business, the Chicago Tribune, Politico, and Campaigns in Elections, is a thought-leader in the civic technology industry. He’s on the selection board for Stanford University’s Social Impact Grants, an advisory member of Designing Chicago, and an alumnus of IMI Plc’s graduate development program. Jeb’s work has spanned three countries, including Singapore, Shanghai, and the United States, where he led a business unit at DCI Marketing, now a Marmon company and subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

Ory, who has a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Stanford University and an MBA from Chicago Booth, has cofounded three technology companies. He lives in D.C. with his wife, Lea and his daughter, Sybil.

Tiffany Moore is a human rights activist, nonprofit organization consultant and coach to global activists redefining how we change the world at Humanitarian Entrepreneur.

Bettina Lipphardt is a partner on The Bonadio Group’s healthcare services team. In her role, she provides assurance services for various healthcare and nonprofit clients. With more than 20 years of experience, Bettina is an excellent source of knowledge for her clients. She regularly consults on best practices, efficiency ideas, cost reporting, internal dashboard reporting and compliance initiatives. She also regularly speaks at various conferences across the state.

Disclaimer: The summary information presented in this article should not be considered legal advice or counsel and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader.  If the reader of this has legal questions, it is recommended they consult with their attorney.

As co-founder and managing partner of Orr Group, Steve Orr has facilitated the growth and evolution of the firm to its current position as a national leader in the nonprofit consulting sector. Drawing on his investment banking and finance background, Steve brings a problem-solving approach, a focus on metrics and an outcomes-driven perspective to the nonprofit sector. Steve is committed to enhancing philanthropy using innovative technologies and approaches developed in the business world to disrupt the established ways of working and encourage experimentation.

Steve leads strategy and implementation teams for Orr Group’s clients, frequently serving in the role of executive director or CEO during times of transition. In addition to providing fresh thinking and visionary leadership, he drives transformational change to help nonprofits achieve their missions. He draws on his 30 plus years of experience to establish and build trust with staff, management, and boards, as well as to drive philanthropic revenue growth.

Steve began his career on Wall Street, serving in the financial institutions group at Goldman Sachs and as a ForEx leader at Citi. In 1991, inspired by the charitable efforts of his parents, Steve founded Orr Group with his wife, Carol, to help nonprofits fundraise more effectively.

In 1994, he also founded Youth Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps New York City grassroots youth programs expand through fundraising, board placements, training and direct grants. Steve led the organization for 20 years, during which time Youth Inc. partnered with 130 youth programs, placed 140 executives on its program boards and raised over $50 million.

Dr. Renee Rubin Ross is founder and principal of The Ross Collective, a consulting firm that designs and leads inclusive, participatory strategic planning processes for nonprofit organizations.

An agency-trained, award-winning, freelance fundraising copywriter and consultant with years of on-the-ground experience, George specializes in crafting direct mail appeals, online appeals and other communications that move donors to give. He serves major nonprofits with projects ranging from specialized appeals for mid-level and high-dollar donors, to integrated, multichannel campaigns, to appeals for acquisition, reactivation and cultivation.

Jack Alotto, CFRE, has his Master’s of Arts and is a trainer at the Fundraising Academy at National University.

Korri Piper is sales and marketing consultant/director of vendor relationships at ShopRaise. She is a relationship director, project manager, writer and general life enthusiast. 

Parvathy Sree is the vice president of AmTrust Nonprofit Underwriting, managing growth and profitability for nonprofits’ products. She has more than 18 years of expertise in underwriting, marketing, talent management, product development, risk management and strategic planning.

At Slice Communications, Grace Andrake has served as the company’s email marketing advocate and has built out the email marketing offerings to help better serve current and future clients. Since starting with Slice, Grace has worked with clients in nonprofits, performing arts, leisure and recreation, manufacturing, and more, developing in-depth email marketing strategies to meet each of their organizational goals. Despite working against the notion that email marketing is dead, Grace has found ways to design email campaigns and strategies with intention and thoughtfulness that cause people to pay attention. As senior email marketing account manager, she continues to serve as the go-to expert for all things email marketing — from privacy changes and compliance issues to automations and email trends, like personalization.

Krista Martin, vice president of product and growth, has been with Boardable since 2017, starting as a product and marketing manager. During her time with the company as vice president of growth, Martin had a proven track record of scaling product usage from 100 users to over 90,000 users and assisting Boardable's growth from 18 customers to 2,000. Leveraging over a decade of experience in product management, Martin leads Boardable's product and growth teams to focus on driving customer and revenue growth.

Elizabeth Abel is a senior vice president at CCS Fundraising and expert in philanthropy. In her role at CCS, she has led capital campaigns and development initiatives that have collectively raised half a billion dollars for education, health care, arts and culture, and advocacy organizations. 

Elizabeth provides counsel on strategic planning, major gifts fundraising and board engagement. She is an Instructor at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches “Fundraising and Philanthropy: The Donor Journey” to graduate students in the Nonprofit Leadership Program. Elizabeth has been recognized 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. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter, and she is an avid hiker, traveler and tea drinker.

Allison Quigney is a principal at Public Works Partners, a WBE/DBE/SBE certified planning and consulting firm specializing in multi-stakeholder initiatives and building strong connections across the nonprofit, government and private sectors.

Bonnie brings to her role as executive vice president of Meyer Partners more than 30 years of fundraising experience, with a special emphasis on multimedia approaches to new donor acquisition and development. Her expertise encompasses several facets of direct response fundraising, including copywriting and creative direction, market research, strategic planning, and comprehensive results analysis.

Chris Barlow is the founder of Beeline Marketing, which helps nonprofits grow the reach of their missions and donor bases.

Candice Pascoal is an international spokesperson on innovation and technology, and a best-selling author.

Chris Foster is the vice president of business development at Modern Postcard. 

Erin Crotty serves as the vice president of customer success at boodleAI, a company that specializes in enriched analytics for sales, marketing and fundraising teams. Over her 25-year career in fundraising, Erin has served in almost every advancement role — from annual giving to major gifts to advancement services and consulting — and helped organizations raise more than $100 million. Erin lives in Northern Virginia with her blended family of five.

B. E. St. John is chief innovation and communications officer at Communities In Schools of Chicago, which is dedicated to removing barriers so students can unlock their potential and stay on the path to graduation.

Jessica Day is the senior director for marketing strategy at Dialpad, a modern business communications platform that takes every kind of conversation to the next level — turning conversations into opportunities. Jessica is an expert in collaborating with multifunctional teams to execute and optimize marketing efforts, for both company and client campaigns. Jessica has also written for other domains, such as BenchmarkONE and SME News.

Lauren A. Silverstein, Ph.D., is a data-driven executive and leader with a passion for growing mission-driven organizations. She is currently the chief impact officer at Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, one of the largest philanthropies in New Jersey. She is also the founder of Jr. Apprentice, an internship and career mentorship nonprofit program that connects low-income students with local corporations and was recently acquired by Junior Achievement of Southwest New England.

Paul D’Alessandro, J.D., CFRE, is a vice president at Innovest Portfolio Solutions. He is also the founder of High Impact Nonprofit Advisors (HNA), and D’Alessandro Inc. (DAI), which is a fundraising and strategic management consulting company. With more than 30 years of experience in the philanthropic sector, he’s the author of “The Future of Fundraising: How Philanthropy’s Future is Here with Donors Dictating the Terms.” 

He has worked with hundreds of nonprofits to raise more than $1 billion dollars for his clients in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, as a nonprofit and business expert — who is also a practicing attorney — Paul has worked with high-level global philanthropists, vetting and negotiating their strategic gifts to charitable causes. Paul understands that today’s environment requires innovation and fresh thinking, which is why he launched HNA to train and coach leaders who want to make a difference in the world.

Marissa Bruette is skilled in creating visually engaging content and crafting compelling stories to help clients reach their target audiences on a meaningful level. In her role at Slice Communications as the content strategist, Marissa works diligently to achieve client goals through crafting the right mix of goal-oriented content for a wide range of industries including manufacturers, nonprofits, retail, architects, community programs, festivals, food and beverage, and more. Whether she’s drafting editorial calendars or managing an influencer program, Marissa has a passion for all things content.

Maria Clark is GoodUnited's executive vice president of partnerships, and chief evangelist. Clark is a career nonprofit executive with 30-plus years of industry experience. She is a champion of innovation in the sector and has fearlessly led technology adoption and change management efforts throughout her career. Previously, Maria spent 33 years at the American Cancer Society, a top 20 U.S. nonprofit.

Paul Luu is the CEO of the Chinese American Service League (CASL). Drawing from 20 years of nonprofit management and leadership, organizational practices and trainings, and nonprofit best practices, Paul works to strengthen CASL’s resources and development, board governance and development, and strategic planning to better serve the greater Chicagoland area. Prior to leading CASL, Paul revitalized the Vietnamese Association of Illinois, spent a decade with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in many different leadership capacities, and worked with various Chicago neighborhoods to help build and restore clubs to serve thousands of underprivileged youth.

Indiana Lee is a writer, reader, and jigsaw puzzle enthusiast from the Pacific Northwest. She is also an expert on business operations, leadership, marketing, and lifestyle. 

David Blyer is co-founder, CEO and president of Arreva, a digital fundraising, donor relationship management, health care hospitality and auction software that has been serving the nonprofit industry for more than three decades.  

David founded DonorCommunity in 1999, the first all-in-one fundraising software, and co-founded Arreva with Susan Packard Orr, through a merger with her company, Telosa, in 2017. Since forming Arreva, David merged two companies, acquired two companies, and integrated all technologies into one unified online platform and expanded the organization's account base in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

In 1994, he co-founded Vento Software, a provider of packaged vertical business intelligence applications, and served as CEO and president until November 1999, when Vento was acquired. After the acquisition, he served as president of the company's Enabling Technologies Division, opened offices in the U.S., Latin America and South Africa, and built a distribution partnership to expand globally and participated in acquiring 40-plus companies in a roll-up strategy.  

Prior to Vento, Blyer held executive management and sales positions with Tandem, NCR and other leading technology/consulting firms. 

David remains active in community affairs, serving as a member of the Entrepreneurs Council at Nova Southeastern University since September 2006, and the university's Blue Ribbon Scholarship Committee. He received the Nova Southeastern University Student Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013 Alumnus of the Year. He is actively involved with Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida and Davie Police Athletic League.   

David received his MBA in finance from Nova Southeastern University, and his Bachelor’s of Arts in business management from the University of South Florida.

Courtney Rambo is the co-founder and director of Intellitonic, a digital marketing agency.

Marc Rubner is the CEO of DonorDrive.

With more than 25 years of global tax experience, Eric Loff serves as managing director for Global Tax Network. He is known for leading by example and finding the strengths in others, improving communication so all participants are engaged in a project, and serving as a bridge between a company and its expat employees. As a specialist in managing international assignment programs and the related tax, human resource and payroll matters, he serves as a frequent speaker on global mobility topics.

Jennifer Bielat serves as executive vice president of client strategy at Pursuant. With more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, Jennifer brings intimate knowledge and understanding of nonprofit management. In her role, she develops strategic solutions to help organizations navigate the opportunities and challenges facing today’s nonprofit organizations. Jennifer’s expertise lies in integrated marketing and communications strategy, comprehensive direct response strategy and execution, digital marketing and fundraising, and nonprofit leadership.

Before joining Pursuant, Jennifer was senior vice president of integrated marketing for Easterseals, where she led the organization in a brand renaissance with the goal of bringing greater clarity and relevance to the nearly 100-year-old brand. Under her leadership, the direct response channels — digital and mail — raised more than $32 million annually for the organization and served as a critical pipeline for other development areas, including planned giving and major gift development.

Aye Moah is the CEO and co-founder of Boomerang, which makes thoughtful tools that put people at the center of productivity. Aye, who came from Burma (now Myanmar) attended MIT on a scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science.

Joe Frye is a digital marketer who has spent more than a decade helping organizations make an impact and connect their missions with individuals. He has led award-winning projects and campaigns for organizations, including PBS, No Kid Hungry, the Identity Theft Resource Center, Partners of the Americas, ADL and UNESCO. 

Joe’s experience at the intersection of technology, data and creativity provides a unique perspective that allows organizations to create impactful digital ecosystems, increase donations, grow membership, improve member retention and increase overall revenue.

Pete Kimbis is managing director of PKC, a boutique social good consulting firm based in North Bethesda, Maryland, that delivers technical and grant proposal writing, opportunity and solicitation analysis, legislative research, budgets, program analysis and evaluation, small business development, and acquisition support. Pete works with entrepreneurs and businesses based around innovative and inclusive missions that protect or improve lives or the environment.

As principal and co-founder of FORM, Teresa Kiplinger works to develop key growth strategies, production methods, best practices and efficiencies. In her role as chief creative officer, she shepherds the creative team and defines design standards for FORM’s creative work.

In her 30-plus year career, Teresa has served nonprofits throughout the U.S. and her work has been recognized by AIGA, American Advertising Federation, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts, and Communication Arts. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design from Kent State University and served on the inaugural Advisory Board for Kent’s Visual Communication Design program.

Raphael Duguay is an assistant professor at the Yale School of Management. He studies the role of transparency in nonprofit organizations.

Sofia Voudouroglou is a member of the communications team at Teemill, a free online platform that allows anyone to design and sell custom merchandise and fundraise for their cause.

Richard Heimsoth is the senior director of Customer Strategy at Merkle.

Suzanne Battit is a senior vice president and principal at the Development Guild DDI, a national consulting firm providing executive search, fundraising counsel and campaign services to nonprofit organizations.

Ray Gary is CEO of iDonate, a digital fundraising platform helping nonprofits do more good in the world.

Heather DeBlanc is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and advises nonprofit clients on corporate governance issues, bylaws, articles of incorporation, best practices for maintaining tax-exempt status, business contracts, grant agreements, and donations, fundraising and endowments.

Jeremy Berman is the co-founder and president of GoodUnited, a conversational messaging solution building relationships between nonprofits and their donors. Prior to founding GoodUnited, Jeremy was a product manager at IBM, responsible for leading the go-to-market strategy for the Apple-IBM partnership.

A certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) and Doctor of Business Administration, Dr. Cristina Jones boasts 20-plus years in hospital and healthcare leadership. As the chief program officer at Easterseals New Jersey, Cristina provides leadership over all programs and related services across the agency, including the intellectual-and-developmental-disability portfolio that includes five separate programs and 1,500-plus clients across the state.­ Prior to this, Cristina worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for 10 years, where she held various leadership roles and was responsible for the oversight and accountability of all business, clinical, academic and research functions.

John W. Griffith is a director and endowment specialist with Hirtle Callaghan. 

He has more than 30 years of higher education experience. From 2003 until 2014, he was the chief financial officer and treasurer of Bryn Mawr College. As the treasurer, he oversaw an $850-million endowment, managed cash, issued debt, and was responsible for budgeting and strategy planning. He also assisted in modernizing and diversifying the endowment. During the latest recession, Bryn Mawr was one of only a few colleges whose debt rating was upgraded. Prior to Bryn Mawr, John spent 15 years in various financial roles at the University of New Hampshire. John started his career at Coopers & Lybrand.

He earned a master’s in finance from Bentley University and a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from the University of New Hampshire.

The information presented in this article is general in nature and is not designed to address your investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs.

Steve Kane is a Boston-based, serial entrepreneur, investor, author and the co-founder and CEO of Golden Hearts Games, a charitable promotional games company that creates Internet and mobile games where players support their favorite charities while competing to win real cash prizes.

Previously, Steve was the co-founder and CEO of internet games pioneer Gamesville (acquired by Lycos Network in 1999 for $232 million), as well as GameLogic (acquired by Scientific Games), LuckyLabs (acquired by ScoutIt) and InterLab (acquired by CIT Group). Steve has also been a director, adviser and investor in various finance, media, tech and consumer products companies.

Steve is active in philanthropy. He is a board member at NewPolitics and Science on Screen. He has served on the mentoring staff at the NYU Leslie Entrepreneurship Lab, Harvard University Innovation Lab and TechStars. He is a past trustee of The Narrative Foundation, the Joslin Diabetes Center, and The David Project (acquired by Hillel International) and served on the Phillips Academy Andover Alumni Council. He graduated from Phillips Academy Andover and New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Eric Schlissel is the CEO/chief technology officer at XOverture, which specializes in helping nonprofit organizations set up, manage and support tech they'll love. Eric is a nonprofit tech and cybersecurity thought leader who has been featured in publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Wired, PCMag and more.

As boodleAI’s chief experience officer, Mike Alonzo is dedicated to crafting amazing human experiences. Mike is on a mission to simplify nonprofits’ fundraising workflow by streamlining donor acquisition, repeat giving and, ultimately, lifelong support.

Ronald Pruitt is the president and founder of 4aGoodCause, an easy-to-use and effective online fundraising platform for small nonprofits. Ronald has more than 24 years of experience helping nonprofit organizations build websites and raise millions of dollars online for good causes. This extensive experience has made Ronald an expert in user-friendly online fundraising and understanding what drives donors to give online.

Luke Dringoli first worked in the private sector with brands like Unilever, Dodge, Lexus, USA Network and STARZ where he used technology to forge connections and build digital communities. Now, as senior marketing technology director at Media Cause, Luke works with nonprofits and organizations, such as United Nations Development Programme, Stand Up to Cancer and Center for American Progress, to use technology — the right mix of platforms, integrations, and tracking solutions — to achieve more impact. There are few things he enjoys more than helping his clients realize that technology can give them back time in their day — instead of taking away from it.

Kija Chronister is the agency marketing manager at Slice Communications. In her role, Kija is responsible for strategizing and executing all agency marketing efforts, developing and implementing its employer brand, and fostering relationships with partners, sponsors and community relations.

Outside of Slice Communications, Kija is heavily involved with the independent nonprofit, Social Media Day PHL. She served as an integral piece in strategically repositioning the nonprofit beyond its annual conference to be a community for social media and communications professionals at all levels.

Eva E. Aldrich is president and CEO of CFRE International, the first globally recognized fundraising credential. Prior to joining CFRE International, Aldrich was associate director of public service and The Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Before that, she was a member of the consulting team at Johnson Grossnickle & Associates and was assistant professor of English and director of the Writing Center at Franklin College. 

Aldrich has been widely published in fundraising journals and is one of the editors of “Achieving Excellence in Fundraising,” Third Edition. She holds a Ph.D. in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Michael Flaherty, called Mikey by all, is a world-ranked swimmer who was a member of the University of Southern California’s NCAA 1997 championship team. Mikey became a swim instructor and coach and discovered her true passion was working with children and adults with special needs. She founded Swim With Heart in 2010 based on the philosophy that learning to swim cultivates confidence, courage, and independence in and out of the water. To date, the nonprofit has worked with nearly 1,000 swimmers and their families.

Rachel Kribbs has more than a decade of experience working in the nonprofit sector. As director of new business at FORM, she uses her background to understand the needs and concerns of mission-driven organizations. Combined with her skills in communications, fundraising and program management, Rachel is uniquely adept at identifying ways in which FORM can help nonprofits increase revenue, reach more patrons and amplify their missions.

She holds degrees from the Catholic University of America and Cleveland Institute of Music, and, in 2018, the Cleveland 20/30 Club awarded her the Northeast Ohio Mover & Shaker Award. She is a former member of the NTEN Accessibility Committee, an active volunteer with LakewoodAlive and board president for Documentary Songwriters. She lives in northeast Ohio with her husband and two children. 

Karen Kendrick is the senior director of learning at Veritus Group. She has a master’s degree in education and counseling and more than 28 years’ experience in nonprofit fundraising — both in the education market and for social service agencies.

Karen has served as program director and executive director of a nonprofit, giving her both programmatic and administrative experience. She has created strong comprehensive fundraising programs from the ground up and served as a director of development and major gift officer.

After a successful career leading advancement for three institutions of higher education, Jim Eskin launched his consulting practice, Eskin Fundraising Training, which builds on the success of his more than 250 fundraising workshops, webinars, webcasts, podcasts and board sessions, and provides the training, coaching and support services that nonprofits need to compete for and secure major gifts. 

He has authored more than 150 guest columns that have appeared in daily newspapers, business journals and blogs across the country, and publishes Stratagems, a monthly e-newsletter exploring timely issues and trends in philanthropy. He is the author of “10 Simple Fundraising Lessons” and “How To Score Your First or Next Million-Dollar Gift.”

Ken Wells provides communications and marketing services to Houston-area nonprofits through his company, StoryBoard HTX. He uses his more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world to help organizations tell their own stories.

Tita Cherrier’s love of writing, skill for storytelling and ability to emulate the voice of clients demonstrate her joy in working with words. The only rule? Use purposeful language that moves audiences to action.

At Slice Communications, Tita serves as a content manager where she executes writing components of strategic communication plans, as well as researching and scripting media pitches, thought leadership pieces, human interest stories, executive profiles and other content that achieves client goals of moving their audience from aware to advocates.

Lesley Ray is the executive manager of Philanthropy at Mater Foundation, one of Australia’s leading healthcare foundations where she has the greatest privilege of working with philanthropists to connect their personal values and motivations with Mater’s mission to provide exceptional healthcare, education and world-leading research.

She is past chair of CFRE International. Lesley is a fellow and past national chair of Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) and gained her CFRE certification in 2002. Lesley is also a founding member of Women & Change, a women’s giving circle that aims to engage women in philanthropy.

Adam O’Brien is the director of product and growth marketing at GoodUnited, a messaging automation platform for social media fundraising. With almost 15 years of combined enterprise B2B and nonprofit marketing experience, Adam brings his unique viewpoints on marketing and fundraising strategies through GoodUnited’s Nonprofit Growth Lab series.

Sarah Dunlap is the director of digital fundraising for Media Cause. She joined Media Cause in 2019 and has worked with clients across the nonprofit sector.

She began her nonprofit fundraising career in 2009 with the Public Interest Research Group, serving an array of clients across the environmental and consumer protection space. In this role, she worked across digital and printed channels to inform, cultivate and solicit donors. Sarah brought these skills to Partners In Health in 2013, where she built a thriving digital fundraising program, drove consistent year-over-year growth and kept pace with aggressive growth targets.

Mindy Opper is an accomplished leader, sought-after adviser in the nonprofit marketplace nationwide and lead consultant at RAISE Nonprofit Advisors. Having served in both professional and volunteer roles for more than two decades, she possesses a rare capacity to offer 360-degree perspectives to organizations with a public service mission. 

Before her focus on strengthening nonprofits through board service, Mindy was the director of UJA-Federation of New York’s lawyers division. Earlier in her career, she raised funds for the United Way and the Medical University of South Carolina Children’s Hospital. Mindy is skilled at building relationships, motivating lay leaders to become fundraisers and developing boards. Her experience on nonprofit boards and positions of leadership make her an excellent conduit for professional staff and lay leaders. 

Mindy holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a Master of Public Administration from the College of Charleston, where she pursued nonprofit management as an academic focus. Her first class was an introduction to fundraising and she was hooked. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and three children.

As founder and creative director of Fifty & Fifty, Javan Van Gronigen is the tip of the proverbial spear. Javan started his digital design career 20 years ago as art director for what is now one of the world’s largest digital agencies  — Mirum, a JWT Company. He then moved on to Invisible Children where he was responsible for managing the team and all digital assets through the entire historic Kony 2012 campaign. At Fifty & Fifty, Javan has participated in and led every project, including 300-plus websites, campaigns and brands.

Leeann Alameda has more than 20 years of experience in directing and implementing best practices in marketing, branding, communications and advertising in both the private and nonprofit sectors. She is the founder and principal consultant of Alameda Marketing Solutions, which provides marketing strategy and branding services for nonprofits, foundations and mission-driven businesses.

Katrina VanHuss has helped national nonprofits raise funds and friends since 1989 when she founded Turnkey. Her client’s successes and her dedication to research have made her a sought-after speaker, presenting at national conferences for Blackbaud, Peer to Peer Professional Forum, Nonprofit PRO, The Need Help Foundation and her clients’ national meetings. The firm’s work is underpinned by the study and application of behavioral economics and social psychology. Turnkey provides project engagements, coaching, counsel and staffing to nonprofits seeking to improve revenue or create new revenue. Her work extends into organizational alignment efforts and executive coaching.

Katrina regularly shares her wit and business experiences on her and Otis Fulton's NonProfit PRO blog “Peeling the Onion.”  She and Otis are also co-authors of the books, "Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising" and "Social Fundraising: Mining the New Peer-to-Peer Landscape." When not writing or researching, Katrina likes to make things — furniture from reclaimed wood, new gardens, food with no recipe. Katrina’s favorite Saturday is spent cleaning out the garage, mowing the grass, making something new, all while listening to loud music by now-deceased black women, throwing in a few sets on the weight bench off and on, then collapsing on the couch with her husband Otis to gang-watch new Netflix series whilst drinking sauvignon blanc.

Katrina grew up on a Virginia beef cattle and tobacco farm with her three brothers. She is accordingly skilled in hand to hand combat and witty repartee — skills gained at the expense of her brothers. Katrina’s claim to fame is having made it to the “American Gladiator” Richmond competition as a finalist in her late 20s, progressing in the competition until a strangely large blonde woman knocked her off a pedestal with an oversized pain-inducing Q-tip. Katrina’s mantra for life is “Be nice. Do good. Embrace embarrassment.” Clearly she’s got No. 3 down.

Malaika Cheney-Coker is the founder and principal of Ignited Word, a consulting firm dedicated to helping nonprofits increase their impact through creativity. She delights in the kaleidoscope of ideas that is creativity as well as the analytic thinking and research that partner with those ideas for effective social change. With experience in both the U.S. and international nonprofit arena, she works across a range of subject matter areas, including evaluation and organizational learning, thought leadership, coalition building, and organizational creativity.

Jessica Ketz is currently the digital marketing manager at FORM, where she is responsible for leading digital marketing strategy, as well as developing and executing campaigns for nonprofit clients.

Prior to joining FORM, Jessica served as digital communications manager at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she strategized multichannel marketing initiatives to expand attendance, boost engagement and bolster the nonprofit’s national and international reputation. Her innovative work has been recognized by the American Advertising Federation.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from The Ohio State University and a certificate in nonprofit management from Case Western Reserve University.

Taryn Heins has been working in digital marketing for nearly 10 years. Through her experience working at fast-paced marketing agencies, she’s become skilled at a range of tactics including SEO, social media, and content strategy. For the past seven years, Taryn has concentrated her expertise in creating and executing successful paid media strategies for her clients. At Media Cause, her expertise and passion for philanthropy has enabled her to support her clients’ missions and impact as the associate media director.

Mike Snusz brings 20 years of digital fundraising experience to his role as director of nonprofit customer experience at Tatango. Today, Mike closely partners with Tatango's nonprofit customer to maximize the impact text marketing can have to further their mission.

Prior to Tatango, Mike spent 15 years at Blackbaud, leading a team of digital consultants focused on increasing nonprofit fundraising. Mike started his nonprofit career managing the Ride For Roswell in 2003. 

Jamie Bearse is an award-winning nonprofit CEO and executive. Over the past 21 years, he’s helped lead and advance cancer causes through strategic planning, fundraising, retention and recruitment, and team and culture building. Currently, he’s the CEO and founder of Build a Better Nonprofit and lives outside of Boston with his family.

Karen Houghton is the CEO of Infinite Giving, a relationship- and technology-driven nonprofit investment adviser. Karen leverages her deep nonprofit expertise to bring a modern and curated investment experience to nonprofit organizations all over the U.S. She advocates for organizational sustainability through better financial management, strategic access to curated investment practices for reduced management fees and increased asset giving.

Nichole Vander Wall has worked in search marketing for a decade and now teaches nonprofit marketers to drive new customers and revenue with the Google Ad Grant. She lives between Australia and the United States, and works with nonprofit clients all over the world.

Adrian Heredia is driven by the opportunity of bringing impactful ideas to life through powerful storytelling. He has transitioned into the role of sales and marketing manager for Slice Communications. Adrian previously served as a social media account manager where he engaged in a number of key functions for his clients, including running their social channels; managing their various communities; conducting key data analysis and reporting; and overseeing various LinkedIn Sales Navigator initiatives. 

Adrian dives deep into understanding the core values that define his clients’ businesses and the essence of who they are. His efforts extend to knowing precisely the story that his clients are trying to tell their audiences through social media, and contributing to strategy and business development in order to ensure that their narrative aligns with their goals. Adrian brings his years of coaching experience, working with large to small teams to achieve what might, at times, seem like impossible goals. No challenge is too great when you are surrounded by passionate, intelligent, hard-working, and kind people. This is something Adrian believes he has found at Slice Communications and is eager every day to jump into the lion’s den and get to work.

Jon Biedermann is the vice president of fundraising strategy for Community Brands. With more than 25 years of nonprofit industry experience, Jon has developed several fundraising tech platforms that have served more than 50,000 nonprofits. He also volunteers at the local and national level and is the current treasurer of The Giving Institute, as well as the co-founder and immediate past chair of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, a program of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Rachael Grail, a senior consultant at Interaction Associates, aims to enable peak performance in teams through effective communication, strengths-based collaboration, and sustained well-being. As an experienced facilitator and coach, she skillfully weaves new concepts and awareness into practical actions. She leverages a breadth of experience and numerous evidence-based frameworks to be highly responsive to the unique needs of each group she supports. 

Rachael supports leaders and teams in global companies, high growth startups and nongovernmental organizations. Her experience includes engagement with clients at: Amazon, Adobe, DocuSign, Meta, Outside PR, PG&E, Service Now, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Mark Miller is the co-founder of Historic Agency where he leads product strategy, marketing transformation, and brand. He is also the co-author “Culture Built My Brand” and creator of the Nonprofit Writing Bootcamp.

Brooke Monaghan (she/her) is a Certified Leadership Coach and Project Management Professional who works with founders and leaders of values-driven organizations to help them grow by centering leadership and culture. She believes that organizations have a unique ability to create change for both their communities and employees and started her coaching and consulting practice to help both entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders increase their impact.

Jon Osterburg has spent the past nine years helping more than 100 nonprofits around the world with their finances as a leader at Jitasa, an accounting firm that offers bookkeeping and accounting services to nonprofit organizations.

Matthew Mielcarek serves as senior vice president of analytics and insights strategy at Pursuant. In his role, he works hand in hand with C-level nonprofit executives to unlock latent value in constituent and transaction data. He also engages with fundraisers to validate current strategies and identify untapped opportunities for growth.

Matthew has deep integrated strategy and campaigning expertise, working for traditional and online advertising agencies since 1995. With experience leading more than 100 nonprofit client engagements, he has addressed challenges faced by the smallest regional organizations to the largest multi-chapter, multi-affiliate organizations across 15 nonprofit verticals. Matthew has a degree in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. Early in his career, he worked at GSD&M Advertising Kantar Millward Brown, a market research firm.

Sonia Urlando is the content marketing manager at Personify for the WildApricot and MemberClicks brands. In the content she creates, she is passionate about putting people at the heart of the story.

Emily Messegee is a wealth adviser and director at Mercer Advisors. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author and are subject to change.

Caroline Hromy is the director of social media for Slice Communications. Through her role at Slice, Caroline has honed her expertise in social media marketing and content development. Working closely with financial firms, manufacturers, trade associations, nonprofits, and as executive social manager for financial services, she has gained valuable insights into leveraging social platform features to build vibrant communities and deliver impactful, value-driven campaigns on numerous social media platforms. With her wealth of experience, Caroline consistently guides her clients toward achieving their digital marketing objectives.

Megan Landau is a media director at Media Cause, a nonprofit marketing and  fundraising agency. She worked in the for-profit world prior to joining Media Cause, managing media budgets and campaigns for clients, including Ford, InnovAge, Denver International Airport, and Hack Reactor. 

Megan loves being able to bring her media experience to the nonprofit world through her work at Media Cause. She thrives when she’s able to use her creative, big-picture-oriented ENFP brain alongside nitty gritty performance data.

Matt Nash is the executive director of The Blackbaud Giving Fund, leading the organization’s mission to unleash generosity by connecting people to causes they care about around the world. An expert in donor-advised funds and philanthropy, Matt is an advocate for local public education, having served as a foundation president funding innovative educational programs. He received a bachelor of mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.

As a social good executive, Bethany Baron has over 20 years of experience driving and navigating nonprofit partnerships and delivering consistent donor growth to support broad organizational initiatives. Prior to joining RAISE Nonprofit Advisors, Bethany led the fundraising efforts for The Honorable Tina Brozman Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research and built and led the corporate giving program at NYU Langone Health. She also has a love of teaching and was an adjunct professor at Fordham Graduate School of Social Service and Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.

Bethany resides in the Berkshires and, in her free time, Bethany’s favorite activity is hiking with her family and their fun-loving dog, Jolene.

Joey Stanford brings more than 30 years of experience to his role as the vice president of privacy and security at Platform.sh. Prior to joining Platform.sh, he managed information security and development-operations programs for companies in the U.S., France and the U.K. With a passion for free and open-source software, Stanford is responsible for global security, data management and compliance, and ensuring Platform.sh is a trusted custodian of its customers' data.

Victoria Glickman Hodgkins is the CEO at PeopleKeep, a provider of health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) and wellness stipend administration software for small to medium organizations.

Kelli B. Newman is president of the Houston-based communication strategies firm, Newman & Newman, where she leads a team of talented professionals dedicated to advancing the success of purpose-driven clients. Her work centers on formulation of brand messaging strategies and development of award-winning marketing communication tools for nonprofit, corporate and government clients. 

Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America since 1989, Kelli is also an instructor for Rice University’s Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives (LINE), teaching marketing and public relations. She is also a founding member of the Ignite Health Network, a by-invitation coalition of executive women with leadership responsibilities influencing the future of healthcare. In 2019, she was appointed to a three-year term on the organization’s board and continues to serve as a member of its steering committee.

Kelli’s achievements have earned the recognition of multiple national and regional award programs, including the New York International Film & Video Festival and the Grand Excalibur, PRSA Houston’s highest recognition of professional standards. Invited regularly to speak at professional conferences, she has written several articles regarding communication strategies. 

Prior to joining Newman & Newman in 1996, she spent 11 years as in-house public relations counsel for Baylor College of Medicine (including the DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center) and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Linda Handley has made it her mission to help others and improve the lives of those around her, often through creative and unconventional means going beyond volunteering and donating to her favorite charities.

Linda launched LindaHandley.com, to help diverse nonprofits start and scale their work. Drawing upon more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, Linda and her team have prepared more than 500 grants and helped clients from across the United States raise over $100 million through fundraising.

Charles Lehosit has been described as an entrepreneur, solutions architect, strategist, technologist and futurist. As vice president of technology at RKD Group, Charles excels at developing solutions that answer clients’ business needs. Charles understands what it takes to deliver successful projects, and he has done so for clients like Coca-Cola, U.S. Army and General Motors before moving into the nonprofit industry.

Charles brings deep digital experience to clients, having performed virtually every job an IT professional can hold. He is a leading expert in application development, API integration, CMS, CRM/eCRM, email marketing, lead generation, mobile development, SDLC and website development.

Matt Miszewski, CEO of Catchafire, was born into and raised by a family of labor activists, so social justice and the empowerment of disenfranchised communities has been core to Matt’s life personally and professionally. A trained civil rights attorney, Matt continued his career in government working to strengthen the broken infrastructure of local communities, and has since married his commitment to improving societal inequities with deploying technology solutions for social good at firms, including Microsoft, Salesforce and Socrata. 

Matt brings years of expertise building revolutionary, disruptive technological sales programs and global go-to-market strategies that transformed the status quo and has built incredible teams and leaders who have achieved substantial goals together. Matt’s previous experience includes building out and leading the public sector businesses for both Microsoft and Salesforce, building the global revenue organization for Digital Realty, leading the revenue function as chief revenue officer at Socrata, where he helped governments use data more strategically in the design of their programs, mission and open government initiatives.

Dr. Te Wu is CEO and chief product officer of PMO Advisory, a project management training and consulting firm that establishes projects, programs, portfolios and project management offices for companies, including Global 500 and nonprofit organizations. 

He is an associate professor at Montclair State University and chair of Project Management Institute’s Portfolio Management Standard Committee. Te is certified in portfolio, program, project and risk management.

Jackie Sue Griffin, a former journalist who uses transformational stories to expand nonprofit and human services, is the owner and executive director of Jackie Sue Griffin & Associates, 

Her mastery of all forms of written and oral communications has resulted in procuring more than $1.8 billion in government grants to expand behavioral health and systems of care services in partnership with Turnaround Life and Turnaround Achievement Network. Based on her 29 years working with nonprofit leaders, she has proven competencies in grant development, grant management and performance assessment, and provides technical assistance in strategic prevention framework, community assessment, board development, strategic planning and sustainability. 

Jackie is the former vice president of development for Operation PAR and executive director of the LiveFree! Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Pinellas County, Florida. She has taught undergraduate and graduate students at Springfield College as an adjunct instructor for 19 years. She is the president of the Community Advisory Board for Springfield.

Jackie has a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management and a Master of Science in organizational management and leadership, both from Springfield College. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in writing and English from the University of Tampa.

Mark Kepner-Clough, director of people operations and risk, joined Consumer Directed Choices  in September 2022 as program manager. He is a seasoned healthcare professional with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Excelsior College and an associate degree in applied science in nursing from Maria College.

He brings a wealth of experience at the intersection of healthcare and advocacy, including roles in various management and senior leadership positions at local nursing homes ranging from quality assurance nurse/compliance officer to director of nursing. He also served as a policy analyst and clinical consultant at LeadingAge New York, where he appealed to state and federal legislatures, advocating on behalf of not-for-profit members in nursing home, assisted living and senior housing settings. 

Mark is diplomatic and tactful with professionals and non-professionals at all levels and is accustomed to handling sensitive, confidential records. He approaches his work daily with a singular focus on centering the consumer’s experience and providing the most compassionate, exceptional quality of care possible for the individuals and families Consumer Directed Choices serves.

Ben Vorspan has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 20 years and, during that time, has built a reputation for the creativity that he injects into nonprofit marketing, communications, fundraising, programming and membership engagement.

After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Ben began working in marketing, communications and creative roles with an assortment of businesses and organizations, including the Hebrew Union College, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, schools, religious organizations and a variety of mission-driven nonprofits.

In 2007, Ben founded Inspired Multimedia, a consulting firm specializing in working with nonprofit organizations around the world to build websites, improve marketing efforts and provide tools and resources customized to fit this niche. During that time, he also co-founded and ran a thriving nonprofit group for young professionals in the Los Angeles area, receiving national recognition and grants.

In 2023, Ben became a published author with his debut book, “The Nonprofit Imagineers,” which explores how to use the same principles that make Disney Imagineering the gold standard of imaginative thinking to transform your organization into an equally inventive and creative environment.

Tony Doye is the president of Silver Tree Consulting and Services. Before joining Silver Tree, Tony held executive roles at Computer Sciences Corporation, Unisys, Fujitsu Americas, CompuCom and IBM before shifting to nonprofits. He joined the Girl Scouts of the USA in 2014 as interim chief information officer and was named chief operating officer in 2015.

Kristen Friedel leads Media Cause's data analytics specialty, where she applies her strong technical and soft skills to strategically leverage data that will move missions forward.

Kristen has nearly 10 years of nonprofit experience, working both in-house and in agency settings. Over her career, Kristen has worked with more than two dozen nonprofits to develop actionable marketing reports, create automated data pipelines and design experiments geared at optimizing performance.

Jane Mack is CEO of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Friends Services Alliance, which provides services to more than 115 nonprofit organizations in 16 states — predominantly in the aging services sector.

Anthony A. Luna is the CEO of Coastline Equity, a commercial real estate advisory and property management firm based in Southern California. Anthony has a previous background in nonprofit management and is a former director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor. He remains actively involved with local charity organizations in Los Angeles and serves on multiple boards of directors.

Philip Bendheim is a member of Yad Sarah’s International Board of Overseers as well as a Board Member of Friends of Yad Sarah, which was established by his late mother and has been awarded Charity Nagivator’s four-star rating — its highest award, achieved by only 5% of all evaluated charities.

Patrick Schmitt is co-CEO of FreeWill. Before FreeWill, Patrick founded two nonprofit organizations and served as the head of innovation at Change.org, where he helped grow the organization to 100 million users in four years.

As business lead at Getting Attention, Jessica King helps nonprofits acquire and manage the Google Ad Grant to expand their impact. Prior to her work at Getting Attention, Jessica worked in nonprofit and higher education organizations focusing on communication and digital marketing and, most recently, in search engine optimization in the mission-driven sector. Jessica holds a master’s degree in communication from Virginia Tech. In her free time, you can find her reading, building furniture and hanging out with her cats, Benny and Olive.

Mara Lassner is excited to serve as the director of communications at RAISE Nonprofit Advisors as there are so many worthy causes and this allows her to use her skills to advance and support their missions. She brings with her strategic planning, integrated marketing, writing and design skills honed while working with nonprofit and for-profit clients locally and internationally. 

Her successes include conceptualizing the theme and honorees for highly successful annual campaigns and lookbooks, editing weekly industry newsletters, and curating articles, photo, and more for fundraising and friend-raising efforts. In an effort to achieve fiscal and environmental goals, Mara created and implemented an internal system for compiling and designing virtual and printed commemorative journals representing millions of dollars in contributions. 

Mara is also managing and creative partner at Mara INK and was the director of public relations and advertising for 20 years at the Ramaz School and a media planner and account executive for blue-chip brands. She has partnered with many companies and organizations, including Miller Brewing Company, Prudential Financial, Avis, the Food Network, the Accessibility Accelerator, Care for Special Children, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and The Propel Network.

Rick Kearney has been with Rise Against Hunger since 2007 and now leads the organization as CEO. Bringing a background of banking, teaching, ministry and missions, Rick has applied his diverse skills and experiences in various roles within Rise Against Hunger during his tenure. Beginning as a community engagement manager in Eastern North Carolina, Rick launched Rise Against Hunger’s second meal packaging location and subsequently worked in logistics, distribution, operations and community engagement and previously served as chief operating officer.

Margot Brandenburg is a senior program officer on the Ford Foundation’s Mission Investments team, focused on building and strengthening the infrastructure of the impact investment market—with an eye to shaping the broader capital markets. She has spent two decades working at the intersection of philanthropy, capital markets, and social and environmental justice.

Prior to joining Ford, Margot served as founder and CEO of MyStrongHome, a benefit corporation delivering resilience finance services to homeowners across the Southeast and Gulf Coast of the U.S. Before that, she helped design and lead the impact investing initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation. She co-authored the book "The Power of Impact Investing" with Judith Rodin, a former Rockefeller Foundation president . While at Rockefeller Foundation, she also focused on job creation and issues of economic security for low-wage workers.

Margot began her career in international microfinance and has worked with several community development finance institutions in the U.S. She serves on the boards of the Workers Lab, Brooklyn Cooperative Credit Union, and the Woodcock Foundation, and as an adviser to the National Domestic Workers Alliance as well as the National Energy Improvement Fund.

She received a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

Kristin Priest serves as vice president of client strategy for Allegiance Group and Pursuant. With more than 15 years of experience as a consultant, coach and fundraiser, Kristin has partnered with diverse nonprofit organizations, including healthcare, secondary and higher education institutions, and faith-based ministries, to strengthen their fundraising programs and advance their mission. Her expertise includes comprehensive fundraising counsel, major and mid-level giving, gift officer coaching, campaigns, and board development.

Morgan Falor is a consulting director for Armanino LLP, where she focuses on helping nonprofits create strategic approaches to both finance and development. Since joining Armanino, she has aimed to enable nonprofits to further their mission and create greater impact using data-driven approaches.

She has experience in both public accounting and industry, most recently serving as executive director and vice president of finance for a high-profile nonprofit. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in accounting from the University of Iowa and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Elias Correa Menendez understands the needs of business owners and nonprofit leaders. He received his Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, magna cum laude in 2002, and his Master of Laws in commercial law from Tulane University. He has a passion for working with entrepreneurs, businesses and nonprofits of all sizes. He is a partner and the chief legal officer at Trembly Law Firm.

Michael W. Michelsen Jr. is a freelance writer in Riverside, California. Prior to freelancing, he worked for the Boy Scouts of America and the American Cancer Society.

Kalie VanDewater is associate content and online editor at NAPCO Media.

Jennifer Arbore joined The Bonadio Group in 2017 as a partner with the firm’s healthcare/tax-exempt audit practice. In 2019, she transitioned into the outsourced accounting and finance group where she leads a team focused on providing outsourced accounting services to nonprofits. Jen has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting working with nonprofits.

Tony Sadowski is vice president of creative at Slice Communications. With nearly two decades of broadcast television and radio promotions experience, Tony is a versatile marketer and content creator with a wealth of storytelling and brand management experience. As a writer-producer at FOX43 in Central Pennsylvania and, more recently, as senior producer at WHYY in Philadelphia, he has crafted countless creative campaigns, written volumes of copy, launched a wide variety of programs and brands, and led on-air and digital promo strategies. 

Tony is the owner of the marketing strategy, media production and voice-over company Spec Communications. An avid podcaster since 2011, he is host and producer of Starting Artists, a life and career change podcast featuring interviews with creative people who have had interesting work journeys, plus insights into escaping toxicity, moving forward with your goals, and getting to a happier place.

Justin Nelson is the vice president of customer success at Speedeon. Justin is a results-driven, forward-thinking marketing leader with extensive experience in the sector. His expertise includes promotional planning, campaign analytics, project management, field marketing and communications.

Colleen Neese is the nonprofit practice group leader at Duffy Group, a global recruitment firm based in Phoenix.

Victoria “V” Wheeler is the senior manager of partnerships at Momentum. She studied sustainable agriculture in Kentucky and has worked on food security and healthy communities on the local, national and international stages. Her fundraising background includes cultivating and retaining corporate, foundation, government and individual funders, and she raised more than $6 million over three years in her most recent frontline role. V spends her non-working hours wandering the hills of Appalachia, listening to horror podcasts and lounging in conversation with friends.

Cait Abernethy is the director of marketing at UpMetrics, an impact measurement and management software company that’s revolutionizing the way mission-driven organizations harness data to drive positive social outcomes. With a wealth of experience across technology organizations, Cait is responsible for all aspects of marketing for the company and is passionate about helping the world’s foundations, nonprofits and impact investors to drive accelerated social and environmental change.

Ricky Chilcott is a co-founder of Mission Met, where passion meets purpose. He infuses his love for software development, business strategy and project management to uplift mission-driven leaders not only in the U.S. but also in Kenya and Australia.

Ricky also leads the development of Causey, a strategic planning software that helps organizations confidently execute their strategic plan.

A true jack of all trades and a master of some, Ricky loves wearing many hats within Mission Met. Whether it's delving into the intricate world of technology and business strategy, optimizing operational efficiency, or drafting plans for the future — Ricky is a driving force behind Mission Met’s mission to make strategic planning simpler and more effective.

Emily Creek serves as the senior director of customer insights and strategy for Stable Kernel’s Market Research division. Emily is responsible for developing and executing strategic qualitative and quantitative research projects that benefit clients and their customers. 

With 15-plus years of experience gaining actionable insights, Emily has worked across a variety of business-to-business, business-to-consumer and nonprofit industries to refine and position brands, products/services and messaging. She is passionate about helping organizations better understand their audiences and solve tough business challenges.

Susan Schaefer helps nonprofit leaders fund their priorities through major grants. Her firm, Resource Partners, guides clients to secure their largest, most impactful foundation and corporate partnerships.

Roger Devine is a co-founder of Northworld, the developer and distributor of SchoolAuction.net auction-management software. Before starting the company, Roger worked for many years in software, website development and publishing. He's chaired at least 30 auctions over the past 20 years (one loses count after a while), has served terms on the boards of several nonprofits, loves all dogs on the planet and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Shannon Litton is the CEO of 5by5, a digital marketing agency delivering clarity, reach and results to those who work where life change happens. With more than 20 years of experience in agency leadership, Shannon has worked with more than 500 organizations on everything from rebranding to multicultural marketing. Under her leadership, 5by5 was named to the Inc. 5000 list four years in a row and recognized as a Nashville Business Journal Best Place to Work twice.

Marcie Bomberg-Montoya brings more than 25 years of experience in executive leadership roles in both financial institutions and private enterprise to her engagements. She has developed a high level of proficiency, leading a myriad of complex enterprise-wide endeavors, such as mergers and acquisitions, strategic analysis and plan implementation, growth and transformation strategies, as well as innovative product and service development. 

Marcie is leader of the strategic advisory services practice across all industries Wipfli serves. She specializes in futurist planning, creating experience cultures, leadership development, emerging technologies and digital evolution.

Sean Kosofsky is The Nonprofit Fixer. For 30-plus years, he’s helped causes, campaigns and candidates raise millions of dollars and transformed nonprofit organizations and leaders. 

Adrian Power is a founding partner and brand strategist at Good Stuff Partners, a purpose-driven brand growth agency that helps clients have a greater impact on the world by creating simple, bold and memorable brand stories. Adrian has worked in the world of marketing since 1995, supporting clients ranging from Pepsi, Salesforce, Toyota, Ericsson, Lexus, HSBC, Nokia, Hyundai, Philips, UK Department of Health, Audi, and most recently, Tipping Point, The Tides Foundation, The Global Fund for Women, Marin County and Ritual Coffee.

What drives Adrian is taking all of his great experience working with giant corporations and using it to build brands with bigger purpose and meaning. Since co-founding Good Stuff Partners a decade ago, Adrian and his team have been helping “build brands that give a damn” across sectors like social and political impact, human services, healthcare and more.

Sara is the vice president of PR and communications for Slice Communications. She brings 10 years of nonprofit marketing and Capitol Hill communications experience to Slice, as well as a passion for media relations and messaging. Sara graduated from Temple University, where she studied political science and English.

Frank Mumford, CFRE, is a fundraiser at heart who found his way into supporting nonprofits through creative software solutions. Frank got his start as a student telethon fundraiser and joined Gratavid after serving as senior donor adviser at the Greater Twin Cities United Way. He serves on the Association of Fundraising Professionals Minnesota Chapter board of directors and Northern Michigan University Alumni Association board, and obtained his CFRE in 2019 after eight years in the nonprofit sector as a fundraiser. Frank has been in the space for more than 14 years and is an account executive at Gravyty, an engagement and fundraising technology platform.

Gustavo Lanatta has more than 30 years of experience in real estate and finance. Over the past 12 years he has focused on international financial operations and he has led the creation and implementation of complex international legal and financial structures over several territories which include Europe, Latin-America, and French Polynesia. He is currently the consultant CEO of Optima Office. 

His strong leadership and management skills developed from having managed global executive teams that aided in the achievement of organizational’ s strategic overall goals. Gustavo’s vast experience and education allowed him the opportunity to give back by teaching, training and mentoring young ambitious professionals through higher education. 

Gustavo is bilingual/bicultural in English/Spanish and is fluent in Italian. His analytical skills make him a methodical problem-solver who is constantly looking for improved efficiencies resulting in higher productivity, lower costs and increased profitability.

Lauren Frary is the director of strategic business transformation at SAX LLP, a top 100 accounting, tax and advisory firm. She provides consultative services to nonprofits in all areas and for all levels of the organization. This includes but is not limited to board development, governance, leadership, fundraising, programs, strategic planning, disaster management and team building. Lauren takes a comprehensive approach to supporting organizations in the nonprofit sector to develop goals and objectives to improve overall functioning and processes.

Mandy Hildenbrand is the chief services officer at Genesys Works, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide pathways to career success for high school students in underserved communities through skills training, meaningful work experiences and impactful relationships. Prior to joining Genesys Works, she served as the senior director of talent acquisition at the workforce development nonprofit Year Up. Mandy began her career in the nonprofit sector at Teach for America. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Connecticut College.

Ruston Miles is the founder and strategic adviser of Bluefin. Ruston has more than two decades of payment security experience and has also served as a member of the board of advisors for the PCI Security Standards Council since 2019.

Stef Arck-Baynes is the founder and CEO of Achieving Good Communications, a mission-driven communications consultancy that empowers nonprofits and socially responsible for-profits to tell their story and raise awareness of, and funds for, their work. Prior to founding Achieving Good in 2023, Stef worked as an in-house communications staffer for over a decade at nonprofits, including Brooklyn Public Library and Philabundance, the Philadelphia region’s Feeding America affiliate. When she’s not working, she’s with her 6-year-old daughter and husband at playspaces and playgrounds around Philadelphia. And petting all of the dogs, including her own.

Jon P. Klerowski has more than 20 years of experience in financial reporting, forensic accounting, valuation and complex business litigation. As a partner at PKF O’Connor Davies  and part of the firm’s business advisory group, Jon advises client executive management, boards of directors and their counsel on accounting, financial reporting and modeling, business valuation, and forensic accounting matters.

He serves clients across a variety of industries including asset management, financial services, software, healthcare, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, insurance, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications. Jon assists legal counsel on various cases such as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice investigations of public registrants, SEC reporting matters, complex accounting, white-collar defense matters, corporate governance investigations, and various business dispute matters.

Jon also has significant experience preparing business valuations, both routinely for clients’ strategic and tax planning purposes, as well as for litigation or dispute resolution matters. Jon has provided expert witness testimony, appeared before the SEC to present investigative findings and assisted companies on various financial matters.

Jon authors and contributes to the Firm’s Thought Leadership series, including RESPA compliance. He also has been published on the American Land Title Association (ALTA) website and in the Financial Fraud Law Report.

Rachel Cyrulnik is founder and principal at RAISE Nonprofit Advisors, where she helps nonprofits achieve measurable and strategic growth.

Jess LeDonne serves as The Bonadio Group’s director of policy and legislative affairs. She is an expert resource on legislative, political and policy affairs that may impact businesses. Jess monitors the ever-changing legislative landscape to ensure her clients are fully informed via clear, concise, and actionable messaging. Her mission is to mitigate risk, ensuring ongoing informed and strategic consultation across all practice areas and maximizing business opportunities related to all new legislative initiatives.

She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from Chapman University School of Law, and she has more than 10 years of experience in legal, compliance, tax and government relations.

Maura Koehler-Hanlon is a seasoned leader at Propeller, specializing in people management, change leadership, organizational enhancement and process optimization. With cross-industry expertise spanning financial services, healthcare, nonprofits, technology and energy, she excels in orchestrating transformative initiatives that blend organizational dynamics, technology and process innovation.

Murad Bushnaq is the founder and CEO of Morweb. Since its inception in 2014, Murad has acted as creative director and chief technologist to help nonprofits spread their vision online through engaging design, intuitive software and strategic communication.

Dana Schmidt is the chief strategy officer at Slice Communications and co-author of both "Pay Attention" and "Social Media is About People." She believes data informs strategy, and strategy informs stories — stories that she is eager to help mission-driven brands tell through their digital marketing efforts.

Dana’s work has taken her from her hometown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to New York City to Denver and back to Philadelphia — and even earned her an Emmy award along the way for her work on the “Women and Girls Lead” series at Rocky Mountain PBS. She has shared her expertise with digital marketers through media outlets and as a speaker at several national conferences. Prior to joining the Slice team, Dana worked in digital marketing at Philadelphia’s premier public broadcasting station, WHYY, as well as the city’s tourism agency, Visit Philly.

Having earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from New York University, Dana returned to alma mater for her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. Although she’d like to start her novel in her free time, she is more likely out hiking with her husband, Jesse, their wonderful children, and their fluffy husky.

Chelsi Briggs is the marketing technology manager at UST. She is responsible for monitoring trends in digital marketing strategy and identifying and implementing new digital marketing solutions that will best support UST’s growth.

Teresa Liu is vice president of brand strategy and insights at Media Cause.

Gabe Cooper is the founder and CEO of Virtuous Software, the responsive CRM and fundraising platform that helps your nonprofit easily create personalized donor experiences at scale that build lasting relationships with all their donors.

His drive stems from a passion to create market-defining software and help charities re-imagine generosity. He frequently writes and speaks about empowering nonprofits to grow generosity through technology. He is also the author of “The Responsive Nonprofit: 8 Practices That Drive Nonprofit Impact and Innovation.”

Kerry Hecht is the founder and CEO of 10k Humans, an award-winning company with a mission to pave the way for a more forward-thinking and people-centric approach to market research.  

Kerry created 10k Humans to revolutionize the way we understand and utilize data. Her mission is to bridge the gap between humanity and the data-driven world, emphasizing the power of storytelling brought to life through qualitative and quantitative research. 

Jason B. Zwang, CFRE, is an accomplished coach and leader in fundraising, recognized for a proven track record successfully qualifying, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding principal gifts from a range of fundraising industries and donor backgrounds including medical research, higher education, international non-governmental, and charities, and establishing enduring frameworks for growth. His deep understanding of donor psychology, best practices, and philanthropic frameworks, such as Socratic Fundraising, allows him to foster lasting relationships and guide donors toward sustained philanthropy. Skilled in navigating complex donor agreements and managing international gifts, Zwang has a comprehensive grasp of the donor lifecycle, from immediate cash donations to major and principal gifts, as well as planned giving.

He is proficient in developing operational structures, instilling a culture of philanthropy among non-fundraising stakeholders and subject matter experts, and collaborates closely with organizational leaders across various functions to proactively ensure the successful execution of programs. 

Zwang has been a top performing frontline major gifts fundraiser for nearly two decades at national brands including Habitat for Humanity International, Emory University, Hartford Healthcare, and University of Connecticut, and has consulted with scores of organizations around the globe on major gifts fundraising and the transition between transaction to transformation. He has personally raised many tens of millions for high-impact organizations. Zwang is a principal architect of a major gifts coaching platform that equips, trains and supports executives and lay leaders with fundraising responsibility, designed to enhance donor interactions, transitioning from mere transactions to meaningful engagement. This platform fosters a robust pipeline for organizational growth. His leadership extends to managing both immediate and interdisciplinary teams, with a strong commitment to mentorship and leadership development. This fosters a culture of learning and empowerment, propelling collective progress and advancing organizational goals.

Chris Whitford is the CEO and a founding member of Avail NYC, a nonprofit that has served New York and beyond for 28 years. Recent writings include an article in CEO World, Authority Magazine and Comment Magazine. She frequently speaks at events and on podcasts geared toward nonprofit leaders throughout New York City and across the country.

Chris graduated from Brown University and has held leadership roles within Columbia University's Christian Union and Cru over the years. She currently serves on the President’s Council for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Chris and her husband are members of Redeemer Lincoln Square and long-time residents of the Upper West Side of Manhattan where they live with their beloved dog, Francie.

Dr. Jackson Drumgoole II, a distinguished social entrepreneur, thought leader and community change agent with a profound commitment to transforming lives. With over two decades of experience, Drumgoole has tirelessly impacted the lives of fathers through his extensive repertoire of articles, conferences, books and coaching sessions.

A seasoned 29-year Army veteran, author, speaker, university professor and executive life coach, Drumgoole's remarkable journey has been marked by significant accolades. In 2013, he was honored with the prestigious GQ magazine Father of the Year award, standing alongside luminaries such as President Bill Clinton and former Macy’s CEO Terry J. Lundgren, bestowed by the National Father’s Day Committee for his exceptional work with military fathers during multiple deployments to Iraq.

As the founder and executive director of the Bridge Builder Communities, Drumgoole spearheads Augusta’s pioneering venture into tiny home communities for youth aging out of foster care. Beyond his impactful initiatives, Drumgoole currently holds the position of director of learning and organizational development at WellStar MCG and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Alongside his beloved wife, ShDonna Flournoy of Sandersville, Georgia, Drumgoole is the proud father of five children, including triplets, and cherishes his role as a grandfather to three grandsons.

Philip Portman is the founder and CEO of Textdrip, a business texting platform catering to industries including the nonprofit sector. He has successfully launched several startups, including Landline Remover and Argos Automation. With expertise in SMS marketing and digital automation, Portman is also an esteemed member of the Forbes Technology Council.

Laura McGarry is managing principal at Graham-Pelton. She is a proven leader in education fundraising with experience at Princeton and Lehigh universities, Moravian Academy, and The Pingry School. She is an expert in relationship building, communication, and leadership gift fundraising, driving alumni engagement and securing major gifts. 

Hope Goldman is a passionate nonprofit professional in the Dallas–Fort Worth area who dreams of one day starting her own nonprofit addressing poverty alleviation in Argentina. She has an Master of Arts from Dallas Theological Seminary and has recently completed a nonprofit management certificate with The University of Texas at Austin.

In the three years she has worked in the nonprofit sector, Hope has been fortunate to have had opportunities to learn the ins and outs of volunteer management, grant writing, marketing, donor stewardship, event planning, corporate and community partnerships, and team management. When she isn’t taking a donor out for coffee or preparing a thoughtful proposal, you can find Hope hiking with her husband and two dogs or exploring the local food scene.

San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center’s (PIC) economist & director of research is Karen Boyd, Ph.D. As a core member and leader of the research team, she is responsible for developing, executing, and sharing actionable, equity-focused research.

Karen does mixed methods research and specializes in synthesizing insights from qualitative data. Her work has appeared in many academic publications; she has been invited to numerous talks and panels; and she has presented several posters and workshops. She was a co-editor for JASIST Special Issue on “Artificial Intelligence and Work.”

Most recently, Karen served as an economist at the San Diego Workforce Partnership. While in this role, she collected and analyzed focus group surveys, census and other government data and compiled them into actionable research products. She also helped produce “Addressing San Diego’s Behavioral Workforce Shortage,” which highlighted the ongoing workforce needs in mental health and substance abuse treatment and has spurred state and local investment in San Diego’s economy.  

Karen earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park with her dissertation, “Understanding and Intervening in Machine Learning Ethics: Supporting Ethical Sensitivity in Training Data Curation.” She received a Master of Business Administration from the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from San Diego State University.

Andrea Taylor has extensive experience in higher education development and management, where she led successful fundraising teams and major campaigns. Now she works as a career development and fundraising adviser. Additionally, Andrea writes about philanthropy, exploring the psychological challenges of fundraising and sharing best practices for development professionals. Her expertise was recently highlighted in The Wall Street Journal column “On the Clock.”

Laura Hinrichsen has 25 years of agency experience leading cross-channel, strategic activations for clients across categories within and outside of the nonprofit space. She is currently the vice president of advertising at Allegiance Group + Pursuant, leading paid media strategy.

Jayme Dingler is the owner of What’s Good LLC, a nonprofit consulting firm focusing on small and mid-size organizations. Her experience as a board member turned marketing and development director inspired her to help demystify the often-frightening concepts of marketing and fundraising and make them accessible to board members and staff alike. Dingler is the author of “The Itty Bitty Book of Nonprofit Fundraising: Tips for Board Members From a Development Director Who Hates Asking People for Money.”

Gabriella McKanna is a finance manager and senior consultant for Armanino LLP, an accounting and consulting firm. She brings world-class finance and accounting capabilities to each organization she works with through Armanino’s strategic finance outsourcing practice. Her focus is helping businesses reach their ultimate goals, whether they’re focused on higher profitability, better cash management, fundraising or an exit.

As a member of Event 360’s leadership team, Jillian Schranz oversees the development of new partnerships for the company. With 18 years of experience, she has worked on all sides of peer-to-peer (P2P) events, from fundraising and IT to project management and event planning. In her daily role, she collaborates with nonprofits to understand their event needs and match them with the best set of services. In true Event 360 fashion, Jillian doesn't just talk about P2P events — she loves them. Most weekends in the spring and fall, you can find her at an event with a fanny pack full of zip ties, and ready to help the team deliver smooth events and great participant experiences.

Joshua Meyer is a passionate advocate for nonprofits. He has more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, volunteer management, software and marketing. As vice president of market engagement at Bloomerang, he helps nonprofits acquire and retain donors through innovative marketing and fundraising strategies. He is committed to helping nonprofits make a difference in the world.

Sean Kramer is an experienced nonprofit fundraiser and leader. He currently serves as the chief development officer for ZERO Prostate Cancer. He also has created Magnolia Philanthropic Services, providing expert counsel to numerous organizations across the country, supporting, fundraising, strategic planning, and organizational and board development. 

He previously served as CEO of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation (DRIF), senior vice president and chief development officer for Parkinson’s Foundation’s Miami and New York offices, and assistant vice president for Baptist Health South Florida, as well as various executive management and fundraising roles at American Cancer Society, Barry University, Florida International University and American Red Cross. 

While he has focused his career in the nonprofit sector, he spent time in the for-profit sector at life insurance firm Jones Lowry, where he developed new business relationships with ultra-high net worth individuals.

Sean received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida International University and a master’s degree in business administration with honors from the University of Miami. He and his wife have five children — four daughters (ages 20, 19, 18 and 15) and one son (age 17). They reside in the Miami area.

Todd Lant is Blackbaud’s chief customer officer, responsible for advancing the visibility and value of the customer’s end-to-end experience. A 20-year Blackbaud veteran who has been deeply engaged with customers and dedicated to fostering a customer-centric culture throughout his tenure, Todd most recently served as interim leader of Blackbaud’s global customer success team. Prior to that, Todd served as the company’s chief information officer. 

Before Blackbaud, Todd held various IT leadership positions in commercial software and telecommunications. He has spoken on digital transformation and technology trends at industry and community events and has contributed to regional technology development. Residing in Charleston, South Carolina, Todd serves as a board member for Charleston Digital Corridor, Trident United Way and Charleston Women in Tech. He is also an advisory board member to The Citadel’s Department of Engineering Leadership & Program Management. Todd holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and an MBA from Georgia State University.

Moriah Lynch is a senior client partner on the public services vertical team at VDX.tv, focusing on the nonprofit, government, and health sectors. With more than a decade of experience in the advertising industry, spanning both agency and ad tech roles, Moriah specializes in developing strategic CTV and digital advertising solutions that drive attentive impact for nonprofit organizations. Her extensive background supporting public services and financial clients fuels her passion for creating efficient, impactful campaigns that make a difference. Moriah earned a Bachelor of Science in English literature with a minor in sociology from Miami University.

Colleen Cook is the co-founder and chief business officer of HighTide, the world’s first fully-customizable CRM built specifically for nonprofits. With more than a decade of experience servicing nonprofits, Colleen is passionate about helping nonprofits navigate the priorities, pain points and strategies that make or break organizations. At HighTide, Colleen leads strategy in building a first-of-its-kind nonprofit CRM.

Colleen’s background is in nonprofit marketing, as well as data and donor management. Colleen has kickstarted numerous digital marketing campaigns for nonprofits across a variety of industries, helping organizations achieve their goals through strategic digital campaigns. She also has a keen understanding of the importance of data for nonprofits, and how the ability to relate and track data can help nonprofits make a larger impact with the same budget.

Dirk Doebler founded and serves as the CEO of Parento, a company focused on addressing financial barriers to providing fully paid parental and family leave to employees. With Parento, Dirk is transforming the landscape for employers and making increased retention and engagement of parents a reality. He is committed to helping businesses capture the missing $12 trillion in global growth by reducing the two-thirds of women, with at least two kids, who leave the workforce for at least six months after having a child. Prior to founding Parento, Dirk held roles in the finance and the consumer wellness industries, serving as chief financial officer at the women-founded Dame Products.

Marcus A.R. Childress joined Jenner & Block after serving as investigative counsel to the House Select Committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he conducted more than 60 depositions and interviews of key witnesses. Prior to the House Select Committee, Marcus served as an assistant staff judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force and a special assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Georgia, where he oversaw more than 100 criminal investigations.

Now, Marcus brings the full depth and breadth of his government experience to bear for clients. He skillfully handles sensitive criminal and congressional investigations in a manner that allows clients to advance their business goals and maintain their reputations. Leading media outlets, including CNN, the BBC, and MSNBC, frequently turn to Marcus for his insight on high-profile government crises.

Marcus is also passionate about issues impacting the Black community, and as such, serves as a co-chair of the firm’s DEI Protection Task Force. In this role, Marcus helps companies and organizations navigate the political and litigation risks stemming from the Supreme Court’s decisions finding race-conscious admissions programs unconstitutional. Marcus is also an active member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, serving as a city lead in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the DC Bar Association’s DEIA Task Force.

Shannon Cain is principal consultant at Cain & Company, a global fundraising collective that moves resources toward democracy, social justice and climate change. She has more than 30 years' experience in nonprofit executive leadership, having directed a feminist literary press, an advocacy group for women in shelters, a residency program for Black writers, and a grantmaking foundation for women and girls.

Bob Happy brings nearly 35 years of experience providing expert leadership and direction to clients across the nonprofit sector to his current role as president of Averill Fundraising Solutions. Before forming Averill Solutions, Bob served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the nation’s largest fundraising firm. He has mentored hundreds of professional fundraising practitioners and many have joined him at his firm.

Kyle Payton is the general manager of ThriftCart, an all-in-one point-of-sale product assisting nonprofits and small businesses in navigating the complexities of retail.

Casey Williams is a partner and chair of the Nonprofit Practice Group at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, a trusted adviser to California’s public entities, educational institutions, and nonprofits. Her practice focuses on helping mission-driven organizations achieve their goals while staying compliant and working through complex disputes.