An Interview With Perry Jowsey, Director of Development, Freedom Service Dogs

To be the exception in these times, we have focused on being exceptional: Highly quantifiable metrics to demonstrate the impact of our work are complemented with deeply moving personal narratives. This has helped us stay competitive in the foundation marketplace, and has provided us with the tools to build an individual donor base more robustly moving forward. It is my belief that a best-practice nonprofit must have a better balanced pool of funding, and we are proactively working to accomplish that even during challenging economic times.

FS: Do you foresee any big changes in the way you reach potential donors and other supporters in the near future?
PJ: Although Freedom Service Dogs has support of people and foundations from around the nation, we receive the vast majority of support from sources in our home state of Colorado. This is not unique to giving trends, but as an agency with an overarching mission that has been the feature of several national media spotlights, we know we have the message and capacity to appeal to new donor markets. Going forward, we anticipate increasing our national appeal and serving more people and dogs in need throughout all parts of the country.