(Team) Building Blocks
What you’re getting with this person is experience. So an NGO may use a CEO or board member to guide a change that the wagon trainer encountered in a previous position.
The key qualities, then, for wagon trainers are essentially experience, experience and experience. The wagon trainer also needs a commitment to the safety and interests of the group, and the skill to know when to use a scout to check out the risks. A wagon trainer will generally take the safest option — the one that minimizes risks. Note that you mustn’t confuse scouts and wagon trainers. If you are committed to having a wagon trainer, then make sure you’re getting real, relevant experience.
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.
