Fundraising Stars
Director of Development,
Debbie Apperson is a fundraiser of vision and determination. As director of development for Special Olympics of Virginia, she saw an opportunity to elevate her organization's annual Polar Plunge Winter Festival into a premier event that would bring in more than $1 million in donations.
"She realized that to reach her goal, she needed to get her participants fundraising more, and she knew she would not be pleased if her already overburdened staff would be stretched past the breaking point to realize her dream," writes Tracy Hale, account manager at Turnkey Promotions.
Debbie reached her goal in just a few years. To do that, she:
- got 75 percent of participants (up from 25 percent) registered online early to give them the opportunity to spend lots of time fundraising;
- added two creative fundraising events to the weekend: the Cool School Challenge and the Polar Plunge 5K, to get school children involved in competitive fundraising and engage folks who aren't quite crazy enough to jump into the frigid ocean but don't mind running a 5K in the cold;
- lessened the burden on her staff and budget by implementing an efficient gift-redemption process.
As a result, the 2011 event exceeded the $1 million goal, while event staff spent 80 percent less time managing the gift program.
"Debbie's unparalleled passion for Special Olympics, her ability to multitask flawlessly, and her knowledge about fundraising and volunteer management are the qualities that make her unique," Hale writes.
We agree and are especially impressed at Debbie's vision in finding ways to increase revenue from this event while actually cutting back on her staff's workload. In an economy such as this, where development staffers are so wildly overworked already, and more and more fundraisers are looking for ways to empower donors and event participants to do more fundraising on their own, we find this a winning outlook worthy of a Fundraising Star.
Vice President & chief development officer,
Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
Ethan Bush was hired as one of four development officers at Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in December 2009. Less than two years later, he moved up to director of development and then ultimately vice president and chief development officer.
Megan O'Quin, director of development, annual support and donor relations at the center, says that under Ethan's leadership, the fundraising arm of MBPCC raised more than $5 million in 2010, a record for philanthropy at the organization. Part of those contributions included the first $1 million gift to the foundation and initiated a move to raise the matching gifts to unlock grant funds in the foundation for the first time.
He also led the development of a new and innovative giving program, Heart of a Hero. The launch of this program was the beginning of the first Mary Bird Perkins evergreen recognition program and will continue to generate funds for the mission of MBPCC for years to come.
But more than those accomplishments — and others in his previous position at the Kappa Alpha Order National Office — Ethan was nominated for his excellence as a team builder, "with an egalitarian style that fits a work environment of fundraising specialists who range in age from 25 to 63, with different work styles and life experiences.
"Always a gentleman, Ethan does not consider any task beneath him and usually volunteers to do the heavy lifting," O'Quin writes. "Ethan is making his mark in this community as a servant leader, something more rare every day."
We agree that Ethan's vision in looking for long-term solutions to funding challenges, along with his inspiring style of leadership, make him a Fundraising Star.
Co-founder & President,
The Sydney & Alexandria Cohen Foundation
Jennifer Cohen's nomination, made by her husband, Brian, is a little different from most of the others received for this year's awards.
Jennifer and Brian head up an organization they started when their twin daughters, Alexandria and Sydney, were born 10 weeks early at 2 pounds, 14 ounces and 3 pounds, 3 ounces, respectively. The girls spent five agonizingly long weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Memorial Hospital West in Florida, but now are happy and healthy.
Jennifer and Brian felt compelled to do something to help give back to the community to show their appreciation for their healthy daughters. So they founded The Sydney & Alexandria Cohen Foundation with the goal of raising $60,000 for two GE state-of-the-art Omnibed Giraffe incubators, which they plan to donate to the NICU at Memorial Hospital West.
Brian writes that Jennifer has held several fundraisers and galas but wanted to find a way to create an ongoing stream of revenue that was not limited to just one night. The girls love nail polish, and with their input, Jennifer created twin gift sets of nail polish called Polish for Preemies to sell through boutiques and the hospital gift shop.
"Jennifer is thankful every day for our healthy daughters," Brian writes. "Things could have gone very differently for us, and this is Jennifer's way of paying it forward. She could not think of a better way to celebrate and honor our daughters than by donating technology that will help thousands of premature babies year after year."
The Cohens have received many accolades for their efforts, and we feel that Jennifer qualifies as a Fundraising Star for her vision in recognizing that stand-alone events aren't the most efficient way to raise funds over the long haul. So many well-intentioned organizations spring up around personal crises, and the first thought is to have a gala event. But they don't grow from there because organizers fail to see they need a more steady stream of income to continue their good work. Kudos to Jennifer for realizing that early on and taking steps to do just that.
Vice President of Development,
The development team at Knox Area Rescue Ministries is responsible for raising $5 million in cash annually. According to Burt Rosen, president and CEO at KARM, the organization is able to do it in no small part because of the leadership of Angie Hatcher Sledge.
More than just the vice president of development, Angie's team members call her a spiritual development leader as well — an important element in a faith-based organization that includes Christian values in every aspect of its work.
"Angie has a way of grabbing people's hearts. What a special gift to have. When she goes out into the community to talk with donors, volunteers or those just interested in knowing more about KARM, she represents us well. She has a passion not only for this ministry, but for Christ as well. She strives daily to be the hands and feet of His kingdom," Rosen writes.
Angie's compassion leads her to strive to tell the story of the individual residents staying at KARM — a talent that the fundraising sector increasingly realizes is key to creating effective fundraising materials.
"She makes a point to meet them in the trenches, to talk to the person one on one to make sure that a true and accurate story will be told," Rosen writes, adding that among Angie's many leadership skills, she:
- instinctively puts herself in the place of the donor, communicating with each of them at his/her level using the most effective language;
- has the ability to fire fight the day-to-day opportunities while setting and managing strategic direction;
- empowers her team members to fully own their roles;
- goes beyond the call of duty.
For her strong leadership skills, her ability to fire up and empower her team for fundraising, and the fact that she lives the values she represents as part of the organization she works for, we agree that Angie should be honored as a Fundraising Star.
Development Manager,
In her nomination, Shauna Stonehocker, events coordinator at the Idaho Foodbank, lists Adrienne Swain Smith's years of development and leadership experience, starting as far back as leading Sen. Orrin Hatch's nonprofit charity, the Utah Families Foundation, in 1996. Her work since then has, indeed, been impressive.
Since taking over at her current position in 2009, Adrienne "has demonstrated her commitment to fundraising and service, and made an immediate impact on increasing the level of individual, corporate and foundation giving." Among her recent accomplishments, Adrienne:
- secured the largest one-time individual donation in Idaho Foodbank's more than 25-year history;
- worked with the donor of that gift to secure another donation of the same amount for a sister food bank that serves the Idaho Panhandle;
- created an innovative, first-ever partnership with an Idaho-based gasoline retailer to donate fuel in-kind for Idaho Foodbank's transportation vehicles to increase delivery frequency and reach in Idaho;
- partnered with a major institutional food wholesaler to arrange monetary and in-kind donations to augment Idaho Foodbank's fleet of delivery trucks;
- through cold calls, networking, on-site tour invitations and donor database mining, grew numerous historic four-figure annual donors to six-figure contributors;
- learned about a national foundation's matching grant opportunity while talking with a donor and, with only 10 days to meet the deadline, leveraged contacts and relationships to locally raise the maximum available for matching grant money by the foundation;
- increased Idaho Foodbank event-based revenue by 40 percent year over year by reducing expenses through volunteer labor and in-kind donations while successfully identifying and soliciting major sponsors whose values aligned with the mission of Idaho Foodbank.
Stonehocker calls Adrienne "an experienced, passionate and tireless advocate for caused-related fundraising that connects donors, corporate partners, private foundations, government entities and national organizations to support worthwhile causes in a professional and personal manner."
We were especially impressed with a portion of the nomination that related quotes from Adrienne's social-media profile: Adrienne sums up her approach to fundraising and relationship building like this: "I think it's more than raising money or raising awareness. It's about finding the right connection for the right person to do the right thing."
We feel Adrienne's successes and big-picture thinking about fundraising make her a deserving Fundraising Star. FS
