STAFF: Sharing the Annual Fund Fundamentals

2014 Conference at Hamilton College

July 14–16, 2014

 

Kristen H. Atwood joined the Amherst College Annual Fund in December of 2012. In her position as Assistant Director of the Annual Fund, she manages the college’s youngest ten alumni classes, implements programming related to young alumni philanthropy and engagement, and oversees undergraduate philanthropy programs including the Senior Gift. She is a 2008 graduate of Ithaca College. 
   
 

Kristi Augenblick graduated from Hobart and William Smith in 2012. In February 2013 she joined the Office of Advancement and Annual Fund team as the Assistant Director of the Annual Fund for her alma mater.  During her first year at HWS she oversaw HWS Connect, the student call center, for the Annual Fund.  She also worked with the senior gift campaign, Stewardson Society, and aiding the Annual Fund to contact alumni and alumnae to encourage their support of the Colleges.   She currently is working as the Assistant Director for Reunion Campaigns as the Annual Fund staff liaison for Reunion committees for the 5ththrough 45th Reunion classes.
   
 

Anne Berry has been a leader in higher education advancement for more than 30 years, serving more than 20 years as a vice president and chief advancement officer. She has worked in three private liberal arts colleges, an Ivy League academic medical center, and a graduate school of business. She has guided the strategy and operation of every area of advancement. She has been recognized for her professional leadership, teaching skill, and the achievement of programs she has led Lebanon Valley College’s Great Expectations Campaign, an effort originally designed to raise $40 million that raised over $55 million. As a result of her leadership, LVC’s fund-raising programs were recognized with CASE “Circle of Excellence” Grand Gold awards. At Saint Michael’s College, she led a comprehensive campaign from the articulation and testing of priorities, through the campaign’s successful conclusion, on time and over goal. She staffed the work of the Board’s Advancement Committee, helped to launch the College’s first website, and chaired the Athletics Task Force and a search for an Athletic Director.
Anne began her career at Franklin & Marshall College, gaining extensive experience in managing annual giving programs. She served as director of
development and alumni relations at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University and launched the School’s first capital campaign for a new business school building. As director of medical annual giving at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, she led all School of Medicine annual giving programs and a grateful patient solicitation.
Anne has served as a member of CASE’s international Board of Trustees, chair of the Committee on the Profession, and chair of CASE District II, the largest of the eight CASE North American districts. She is an accomplished CASE teacher, having served as chair or faculty member for over a dozen CASE conferences including the Summer Institute in Educational Fund Raising at Dartmouth College and the CASE Europe Spring Institute in Educational Fund-Raising. She is the current co-chair of the Leadership in Advancement Management conference. She received the CASE Crystal Apple Award for teaching excellence in 1997.
Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from Franklin & Marshall College and completed advanced study at the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.
   
  Molly Bodnar, Assistant VP of Operations and Advancement Services, joined Colorado College in 2013 as assistant vice president for advancement operations.  Her 17-year career in fundraising began with the Michigan Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and also included roles with Junior Achievement and an arts advocacy organization before she joined the University of Michigan, working in annual giving from 2000-2008.  From 2008-2013, Molly served as executive director of annual giving at the College of William & Mary where she expanded the role of the annual giving office to provide strategy, analysis, and phone/mail solicitation services for units across campus in addition to raising unrestricted funds.   Molly holds an MA in art history from American University and a BA in art history from the University of Michigan.  Molly resides in Colorado Springs with her husband, Steve, and three sons, Nathaniel, Ben, and Alex.
Lori Burrows, Associate Director, Reunion and Leadership Programs, Denison College, has 11 years of higher education advancement experience. Her career at Denison, which began in 2006, has included programs such as phonathon, senior class gift, young alumni giving, Class Agents and 5th and 10th reunions. In her current role she manages the 15th-45th reunion classes and leadership/regional volunteers.
   
  A member of the Hamilton faculty since 1981, Dan Chambliss is the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology. A graduate of New College, in Florida, he earned master's and doctoral degrees from Yale University. His research interests are formal organizations, social psychology and research methods. Dan, a former competitive swimmer and swim coach, is the author of several award-winning books, including Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers (1991), and Beyond Caring: Hospitals, Nurses and the Social Psychology of Ethics (1996). He is currently revising the fifth edition of his standard textbook on research methods, Making Sense of the World. In January 2014, he published his latest book, How College Works, co-written with his former student, Christopher Takacs, Hamilton '05, and already awarded a prize from its publisher, Harvard University Press, for an outstanding book about education and society.
Laura Christian has been the Director of The Wellesley Fund since 2012. She came to Wellesley, as associate director, in 2010 from Roxbury Preparatory Charter School where she served as Director of Development for two years. For her undergraduate degree Laura double majored in Psychology and Sociology at Middlebury and then earned a master's of education from Lesley University.
   
  Matt Fedde, Associate Director of Annual Giving, started his annual giving career at St. Olaf in 2007. He manages the St. Olaf Phonathon (Ole Callers), direct mail, email, and web. Ole Callers has a staff of 40 students, including seven student supervisors and, with the aid of CampusCall and an absurd amount of candy, raises roughly $200,000 from 2,000 alumni and parents annually.
   
  Brannon Fisher has 12 years of experience as a higher education administrator. He worked in admissions and annual giving at Dominican University of California before joining the staff at Bowdoin as a major gift officer in 2007. In 2010 he became Director of Annual Giving, where he enjoys leading a high-performing staff of nine, and an enthusiastic and loyal corps of 623 alumni volunteers. In each of the past four years, Bowdoin has achieved steady increases in gift revenue and alumni participation.
   
  Josh Foladare joined the annual giving staff at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2013 and has been the Director of the Annual Fund since December of 2013. Before HWS, Josh worked on Reunion fundraising at Colby College. At Hobart and William Smith, he oversees an annual fund staff of four, three full time assistant directors and one annual giving assistant.  Together, the HWS Annual Fund team raised $3.7M in total support for the College in FY14 from alumni and parents, with 27 percent of alumni participating.
   
  Kersti Francis graduated from Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Medieval Studies, and joined the Bryn Mawr Fund in Fall 2013. As Assistant Director of Annual Giving, she oversees the College's GOLD Program, senior gift/student philanthropy initiatives, 5, 10, and 15 year reunion giving, and Bryn Mawr's Phonathon program.
   
  Gayle Keller McJunkin has 30 years of progressive fundraising and administrative experience in private higher education.  She leads the Development team at Carleton College as the Associate Vice President for External Relations and Director of Development, managing major and planned giving, 50th Reunions, stewardship, and development operations.  She has played key roles in developing and supporting four comprehensive fundraising campaigns, most recently Carleton’s $300 million Breaking Barriers, Creating Connections: The Campaign for Carleton, exceeding goals for dollars raised, and involving volunteers in prospect identification and solicitation, with a proven ability to create and implement strategic fundraising plans.  Gayle is personally involved in the cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major donors, and supports the donor visits of key volunteers and the President. Gayle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and her Master of Divinity with honors from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
   
  Claire Marcille Gadrow holds a BS in Accounting and a MBA from the University of Rhode Island. She is a certified public accountant who started her career in audit at Deloitte & Touche in Boston and then in tax at Ernst & Young in Providence, RI. Her career in Advancement started back at URI as a member of their campaign team in annual giving and major gifts. Following URI, she served for eight years as Director of Planned Giving and Major Gifts at Rhode Island School of Design. In 2005, she joined Connecticut College as Assistant Vice President for College Advancement. The College recently celebrated its successful $211M comprehensive campaign and Claire was named Acting Vice President for College Advancement for fiscal year 2014. Claire is a past President of Planned Giving Group of New England and the Planned Giving Council of Rhode Island. She is a nationally ranked marathon runner and competitive equestrian.
   
  Seth Goodspeed is the Assistant Director of the Alumni Annual Fund at Carleton College, a position he has held since May of 2013.  Seth graduated in 2007 from Carleton where he majored in German. Prior to working at his alma mater, Seth held various positions in fundraising and theater, including four years in development at the Guthrie Theater, and working for the Minnesota Fringe Festival and Hennepin Theatre Trust. Seth is currently a Board Member of Four Humors Theater.
   
  Sara Groh has been a member of Colgate Advancement since 2008, and as director, she is ultimately responsible for the alumni giving rate. More specifically, she oversees a staff of six who manage all annual fund marketing and programs including athletics fundraising. Prior to working for Colgate, Sara worked in annual giving and alumni relations at the University of West Florida for six years.
   
  Alex Griswold is a Gifts Officer in the Office of Annual Giving at Davidson College.  In this role, Alex manages a portfolio of donors and prospects to cultivate alumni leaders and transformative donors to the college. Prior to working at Davidson, Alex sold Software as a Service solution for big data analytics firm, General Sentiment.  He has also served as a sales executive for Mihlfeld & Associates, a logistics consulting firm.  Alex holds a BA from Davidson, where he majored in economics.
   
  Betsy Howard began as a Williams College Alumni Fund development officer in 2007. She manages the work of over 500 Alumni Fund volunteers who raise over $4.5 million of each year’s fund.  She came to development 10 years ago from a 20-year career as a freelance writer and editor.
   
  Amy Hunt has more than a dozen years of professional development experience. She is the Director of Annual Giving Leadership Gifts at Hamilton College, where she has served as major gifts officer for the past four years, and prior to that director of reunion giving and assistant director of regional alumni events. Amy has also served as director of athletic development at Gettysburg College.
   
  Carolyn Gray Kimberlin joined the annual giving staff at Colby College in 2003 and has been the Director of the Colby Fund since March of 2007. She recently took on the oversight of Colby’s Alumni Relations department in May of 2014. She oversees a staff of 15 between the two departments;10 members of the Colby Fund team and five members of the Alumni Relations group.  Together, the Colby Fund team raised $6.2M in total support for the College in FY14 ($5.2M unrestricted) from alumni and parents, with 45 percent of alumni participating.
   
 

Amy F. Leveen, Director of Annual Giving at Barnard College, has worked in direct response fundraising for many years.  She began her fundraising career at Circle Repertory Company in New York City and then joined Sanky Perlowin Associates where she was privileged to learn the fundamentals of direct mail from Sanky.  In 1985, Amy joined the staff of Amnesty International USA as Director of Direct Response where she remained until beginning her own consulting business in February 1993.  As a consultant, her clients included the American Civil Liberties Union, American Indian College Fund, Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood of New York City, and StoryCorps, along with dozens of others.  Her consultation work led her to Barnard where she is pleased to have joined the staff in 2012; this association has provided the opportunity to add the techniques and theory of annual giving to her fundraising expertise and raise money for a most noteworthy institution.
   
  Ron Marquette, Assistant Director of the Annual Fund, Campus Community Philanthropy Programs began his career at Bucknell in late 2002 as a Manager of Leadership AF Giving after a career in the transportation industry.  Over the past 12 years, Ron's role in Bucknell's Annual Fund has evolved from front-line fundraising and alumni volunteer management to overseeing the Senior Gift Drive and other student philanthropy outreach, and club sport fundraising, as well as regional AF fundraising.
   
 

Willa McCarthy began her career in advancement at Vassar in 1992. She has been the Senior Director of Alumnae/i Affairs and Vassar's Annual Fund since August of 2010. In this role, she oversees a staff of 15 who annually plan between 150 - 200 alumnae/i engagement programs and raise $10M for the Annual Fund.
   
  Meghan Moist began her career in advancement at Rollins College last fall after working in college admissions. In her current role, she focuses on young alumni annual giving and manages the student phonathon program, where she oversees a staff of 20-30 students.
   
  Beth Nelson is a Senior Consultant with Plus Delta Partners, a firm that offers embedded training and coaching to frontline fundraisers in non-profit organizations to drive sustainable fundraising improvements.
Beth’s career began in student affairs at The Ohio State University where, among other things, she facilitated staff and leadership training workshops and guided behavioral change for students and staff. Although still in the non-profit sector, Beth honed her sales skills with the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES) as the Managing Director of an international student residential accommodation in London, England.
It was her fundraising career at Lafayette College that offered the opportunity to merge all of these skills together.  Beth entered development in major gifts and held a number of different positions during her tenure at Lafayette, the final role as the Associate Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs. In this role she led Lafayette’s major and planned giving fundraising teams in successful annual and campaign fundraising as well as the alumni affairs team in effectively and productively engaging alumni with the mission of the College.
Beth has an MA in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University and a BA in Math and a BA in Psychology from Lafayette College.
   
  John Nelson graduated from Gettysburg College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and International Relations. John works as the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Gettysburg College, where he advises the Senior Class Gift Campaign, supervises the Phonathon Program and is spearheading new Student Philanthropy initiatives on campus.
   
  Julia Palmedo began her development career as the Shelter Outreach Coordinator at a private animal shelter in Long Island.  Shortly thereafter, she began working in higher education development as the Development Assistant at Marymount Manhattan College.  Julia joined the staff at Barnard College as the Associate Director of Annual Giving in October 2012 and works with Barnard’s young alumnae classes and the Senior Fund.  She graduated from Ithaca College in 2009 with a B.S. in Television-Radio.
   
  Heather Palmer is starting her third fiscal year at College of the Holy Cross and first in the role of Director of the Crusader Athletics Fund. In her first year at Holy Cross, she increased annual athletics fundraising by 37 percent and in this past year broke that record by raising over a million dollars for the first time in Fund history. Prior to working at Holy Cross, she spent seven years at Harvard in their athletics department, first as the Assistant Director of Athletics Communications and then as the Director of  Alumni Relation and Stewardship for Harvard Athletics. She ran track as an undergrad at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and received her master's degree from Harvard.
Paul Ryan is a 2002 graduate of Hamilton College, where he served as the Associate Director of Annual Giving working with the classes of the 1990s up until last Thursday. He received a degree in Higher Education Administration from Syracuse University and prior to working in advancement he spent seven years in student activities and event management. On July 21, Paul will begin work for the Office of Annual Giving at Connecticut College.
   
  Lisa Spivak, Director of Annual Giving, has been leading fundraising efforts for the Mills College Annual Fund, which totals about $4 million annually, since 2010. She began her fundraising career in 2002 in the social services sector before moving into museums and finally finding her home in higher education.
   
  Jeff Stauch began his career at Middlebury in 2007, as an Assistant Director of Annual Giving working with the young alumni program.  He then did work for the Leadership Gift and Principal Gift teams at Middlebury from 2009 to 2013, covering the Midwest, Texas, and London.  He rejoined the Annual Giving team as the Director in May 2013.  He oversees six mighty staff members.  He is the author of Effective Frontline Fundraising:  a guide for nonprofits, political candidates, and advocacy groups (Apress, 2011), and is a monthly contributor to the online literary journal The Prague Revue.
   
  Ellen Rainey is a 1987 graduate of Hamilton College, and volunteered for her alma mater for many years before returning to work in its Major Gifts office in 2002.  Now, as Executive Director of Alumni and Parent Relations, Ellen is responsible for keeping alumni and parents connected to the College and for managing Hamilton's Parents Fund. She also maintains a portfolio of parent major gift prospects. In an attempt to avoid the worst of winter, she works for Hamilton remotely from her home in Arlington, VA.
   
  Ben Ralston graduated from Davidson College in 2005 with a degree in economics. After spending 5 years working in finance, mostly in New York City, he returned to North Carolina to earn his MBA at Wake Forest University. Ben returned to Davidson in 2012 as a development officer supporting the Fund for Davidson and the Davidson Athletic Fund. Over the past two years, his primary responsibilities have included building support for athletic scholarships and capital projects as well as unrestricted support for Davidson College.
   
  Jessica Telemaque joined the Office for Resources and Public Affairs at Wellesley College in 2011. Formerly, in her position as Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, she managed the Student Phonathon Program, Senior Gift, and the 5th Reunion. In her current role at Wellesley, Jessica’s primary areas of concentration are volunteer management, individual reunion and non-reunion class management, and short-term fundraising initiatives. Additionally, she oversees Wellesley’s Senior Gift Campaign.
   
  Heidi Webb, a 2004 graduate of Bates College, is the Associate Director of Parent Giving at Middlebury College. Heidi began her career in the Annual Giving Office at Middlebury in 2006, and transitioned to working with parents four years ago. In this role, she oversees the Parents’ Fund Committee, parent appeals and communications, a pool of parent prospects, and works very closely with gift officers to raise over $3 Million annually for the Parents’ Fund.
   
  Liz Webster, Associate Director, Alumnae/i Relations and Annual Giving, Simmons College, has been on the Advancement team at Simmons for almost six years and is currently the Associate Director of Alumnae/i Relations and Annual Giving. She is the project manager for Reunion at Simmons and works with reunion and other alumnae/i volunteers to increase philanthropic support and engagement for the College. Prior to this role, Liz was a Leadership Gift Officer focused on securing leadership level annual giving support and moving major gift prospects through the pipeline.
Caroline Whelan, Assistant Director, Annual Fund, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, has been working in higher education for eight years, but is new to development.  She has been in the Annual Fund at HWS since June 2013.  In her role, she oversees young alumni and alumnae giving, the senior class gift program, and undergraduate philanthropy.