Heroes: Rising Stars

Julie Barton,
manager, grants and institutional relations
Raising A Reader

"Julie has ably juggled many competing tasks and priorities and contributed to a solid foundation for Raising A Reader's sustainability. This flexibility is integral to her success—she is able to manage grants, corporate giving, individual campaigns and events to a high level of success. Before I arrived at Raising A Reader she was already ushering in growth, and she has continued exceeding goals, with highlights including stewarding 180 percent growth in community event revenue, as well as growth of 46 percent corporate support and building a robust volunteer program."
– Shani Ahearn, director of development and communications, Raising A Reader

---

David Rosen,
CEO
SOL Foundation

"A former professional snowboarder, David took an injury that sidelined his professional athletic career. He transformed that setback into an opportunity to provide help and encouragement to others. During David's two-year tenure at the SOL Foundation, philanthropic revenue has skyrocketed 155 percent. Over 150 adults have seen their lives transformed, a result of the therapy they have received with SOL's help. In similar fashion, one-year results at the Work Activity Center saw the doubling of philanthropic support under David's leadership."
– Larry C Johnson, founder, The Eight Principles

---

Christina M. Frye,
vice president,
Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation

"Due to Christina's social media and Internet optimization efforts, we have been able to connect with people across the United States, Canada, Australia, Philippines, India, Egypt and the United Kingdom. At a newer nonprofit with very limited funds, Christina has utilized low to no-cost marketing avenues to bring our message to the masses. Through social media, Google Ad Grants, our website, email newsletters, blogs, print, mailings and so much more, we have been fortunate enough to not only survive these hard times in our first years, but thrive with the promise of better times."
– Linda Molfesi, president, Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation

---

Corey Fairbanks,
executive director,
Colorado Adaptive Sports Foundation

"Corey is a visionary and the reason I sit on his board as secretary. He started the Colorado Adaptive Sports Foundation as an umbrella organization that assists the current sports teams—designed for people with physical disabilities—in fundraising, public relations, recruitment and management. Corey was in an accident in college that left him wheelchair bound, but it hasn't slowed him down. His story is one of inspiration, dedication to service and determination to make a difference."
– Maggie Scivicque, marketing director, arc Thrift Stores

---

Keely Lewis,
marketing coordinator
Childspring International

"She's taken it upon herself to interview children who were patients and interns and volunteers to get their story so she has the best possible materials to use. She's handled all the materials for our two major events now, and they each involve multiple sponsorship boards, ads, invitations and programs, etc. The most remarkable project Keely tackled […] was the complete revision of our website. [It] had been languishing for over a year with various people coming and in and out of working on it. Keely actually wrote the entire site and gave it the proper voice needed for our organization."
– Alison Fussell, executive director, Childspring International

---

Lauren Grace Warner,
senior account executive,
CDR Fundraising Group

"When a top-notch account executive was required for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), one of the largest, most rapidly growing and most complex direct response accounts in the industry, Lauren was everyone's first choice. Given the exponential growth and success WWP's direct response program was experiencing, Lauren's total focus on strategy, results analysis and quality control and service was a perfect and necessary fit. Without hesitation, Lauren jumped in and helped corral the multiple aspects of their program and spur them on to even greater success and growth that continues today."
– DeDi Oxenberg, vice president, CDR Fundraising Group

---

Laura Davies,
director of corporate partnerships,
Safe Horizon

"Laura is currently director of corporate partnerships at Safe Horizon, an organization that envisions a society free of family and community violence. She began here just three years ago as manager of corporate relations and because of her incredible success, she quickly ascended to lead the program. I observe her working long hours, rallying volunteers, cheering on donors, sitting with clients and truly listening while they share their stories, all with a smile and clear determination to help make a difference. Laura is fairly new to the nonprofit world but is no way a novice. Laura's cultivation of and ability to engage with those around her is truly an inspiration."
– Eddie Pelto, chief development officer, Safe Horizon

---

Neel Patel,
CEO
Magnify It

"Technology is built by engineers, but their understanding of the nonprofit space is usually limited to what they think a development professional might like to have in their tool suite. Neel actually went out and spoke with development directors, got their feedback and created a profile of their biggest headaches. He then spoke with a diverse group of donors to understand what they looked for when making a contribution, and more importantly, what prevented them from making a donation to a cause they cared about."
– Azin Mehrnoosh, founder, CauseLabs