Grace and Grit

Bill Harrison
Development director
Chandler Center for the Arts

Bill Harrison began his fundraising career in 1973, when he helped raise money for a Missouri school serving mentally challenged adults. Since then, it has taken him to numerous positions among Southwest-based organizations, mainly in the health care arena.

He served for eight years as the executive director of the John C. Lincoln Hospital Foundation (now the John C. Lincoln Health Foundation), where he secured the largest individual gift in the hospital’s history ($2 million); conducted the Cowden Center capital campaign, raising $3.5 million; and established a planned-giving program.

From there, he became executive director of the Lutheran Hospitals Foundation, where he established a planned-giving program, generating more than $3 million; raised $6 million for hospital expansion; established the Gold Key Club, a legacy society for major donors; and coordinated a $3 million major-gift campaign to fund a mammography suite.

For 12 years, Bill served as the corporate director of fund development for Blood Systems Inc., one of the largest blood-provider organizations in the world, where he helped raise more than $20 million at blood centers nationwide; created the Living Legacy Society, a donor club that has raised more than $1 million; coordinated a $2 million major-gift campaign in El Paso, Texas; raised more than $1 million for the Blood Lab capital campaign; completed a $1.5 million building campaign in San Angelo, Texas; coordinated and maintained a national direct-mail campaign; and provided fundraising training to more than 2,000 Blood Systems Inc. employees nationwide.

In 1994, Bill founded the Fund Development Round Table for Independent Blood Centers to help educate fundraisers in that arena and promote ethical fundraising practices. He currently is development director at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Chandler, Ariz.

These specific accomplishments, on their own merits, maintained across more than 30 years of fundraising, make for a strong enough candidate for our Lifetime Achievement award. But beyond them, Bill has dedicated his life to the advancement of fundraising as a career and the education of his peers. He’s worked as a consultant and trainer with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, the Arizona Hemophilia Association, Catholic Campus Ministry Association, Goodwill Industries International, the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Southwest Cancer Foundation and the National Kidney Foundation.

He also has taken leadership roles in organizations that exist specifically to guide fundraisers. He’s been an active member of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, was the founding president of the Arizona Association for Hospital Develop-ment in 1986, and has been involved in the leadership of the AFP Greater Arizona Chapter for 16 years.

Bill is an award-winning writer of books, workbooks and articles on fundraising topics; a fundraising instructor; and a speaker on the national and local conference circuits.

Finally, Bill practices what he preaches by remaining active as a board member, adviser, mentor and donor with a variety of causes, including the New Song Center for Grieving Children and Those Who Love Them, an Arizona organization that helps children who have lost a parent or guardian; the Arizona Animal Welfare League; the National Eagle Scout Association; and the National Writers Association. He also recently reached the five-gallon level in another kind of donation — blood.

Choosing our Lifetime Achievement honoree is never easy. And this year was no exception. But in the end, our committee had to agree with Bill’s wife, Donna Harrison, who nominated her husband, when she wrote, “With unbridled enthusiasm and dedication to the profession, [Bill] remains a modest leader who exemplifies the kind of individual who should be recognized for his lifetime of achievement in philanthropic activities.” FS