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Résumé

20+ Years of Fundraising & Advancement Leadership

Results-driven nonprofit Development Leader with a proven track record of driving donor engagement and revenue growth across a wide range of nonprofit organizations, including education, healthcare, the arts, and membership organizations. Demonstrated success in strategic planning, team leadership, and fostering a culture of philanthropy.

Experience

2024-Present

Director of Development

Spotlight Arts Collective

Greater Chicago Area

Built a full fundraising program from the ground up, creating a revenue strategy, donor-ready materials, and a segmented prospect list with 100+ qualified major gift and sponsorship leads. Introduced professional storytelling and consistent stewardship, expanding the donor and patron contact list by nearly 300%. Drove more than 5x growth in individual and corporate gifts and established a sustainable year-round fundraising model.

Key Contributions​

  • Designed and executed a comprehensive fundraising strategy aligned to institutional growth goals, integrating major gifts, sponsorships, grants, and annual giving into the organization’s first cohesive, year-round development model.

  • Built and managed qualified major gift and sponsorship portfolios, including donor and partner profiles, personalized cultivation and solicitation plans, and executive-ready briefing materials.

  • Established structured donor journeys and stewardship frameworks, elevating the experience through impact reporting, recognition, and relationship-centered engagement.

  • Launched mobile and contactless giving (Text-to-Give, online donation optimization) and implemented CRM dashboards for pipeline visibility, forecasting, and executive reporting.

  • Developed segmented, multi-channel fundraising communications and creative storytelling that strengthened acquisition, retention, and progression to leadership-level giving.

  • Created scalable infrastructure—CRM workflows, sponsorship toolkits, campaign playbooks, and performance dashboards—to support sustainable growth and future campaigns.

1998-2023

Nonprofit Development & Marketing Strategist

Independent Consultant

Greater Chicago Area

Provided long-term independent development and marketing leadership for nonprofit organizations, supporting capital campaigns, major and institutional giving, and integrated fundraising communications. Produced donor-facing cases, campaign materials, and prospect research that elevated organizational visibility and helped secure large, transformational gifts, contributing to campaigns that exceeded multi-million-dollar goals (including $9.6M raised against an $8M target, 120% of goal, one year ahead of schedule), engaged more than 2,400 individual donors and 350 organizational partners, and accelerated investment in high-impact programs and capital improvements across multiple organizations.

Key Contributions

  • Supported the design and execution of a comprehensive higher education campaign, contributing to a $9.6M result against an $8M goal by developing donor-facing collateral and conducting targeted prospect research that strengthened positioning and accelerated gift conversion.

  • Produced outcome-driven cases for support and campaign narratives that translated institutional priorities into compelling donor value propositions, helping engage thousands of individual, corporate, and foundation supporters.

  • Applied segmentation, research, and messaging frameworks to improve targeting efficiency and response across individual, corporate, and major gift audiences.

  • Developed donor profiles, cultivation tools, and solicitation materials supporting personalized engagement and transformational gift conversations.

  • Created reusable campaign assets and communication toolkits that functioned as scalable fundraising “platforms” for consistent outreach, stewardship, and future campaigns.

  • Partnered with nonprofit and business leaders to align brand, storytelling, and fundraising strategy with capital, program, and organizational growth priorities.

1996-1998

Director of Development

Planned Parenthood of Illinois

Champaign, Illinois

Expanded the prospect pipeline and managed a capital campaign that exceeded its goal. Led a regional development strategy that increased total development revenue by 63% in the first year and 54% the second year. Improved segmentation and direct fundraising workflows, raising direct response revenue by 352% while reducing costs and increasing response rates. Expanded foundation and corporate grant growth through strategic proposal development. Delivered record development revenue and strengthened the organization’s ability to expand essential healthcare services.

Key Contributions

  • Led regional fundraising strategy integrating major gifts, grants, direct response, and institutional partnerships into a coordinated, outcome-driven growth model.

  • Built and managed high-capacity donor and institutional portfolios, developing executive-level donor profiles, cultivation strategies, and personalized solicitation roadmaps for transformational support.

  • Directed the development of compelling cases for support and campaign collateral translating organizational priorities into clear, funder-aligned impact narratives.

  • Applied advanced segmentation and multichannel analytics to strengthen major gift pipelines, donor progression, and leadership-giving conversion.

  • Established disciplined pipeline management, stewardship systems, and performance reporting to sustain campaign momentum and long-term donor retention.

  • Partnered closely with executive and board leadership to align fundraising strategy, prospect engagement, and external positioning for maximum philanthropic impact.

1993-1996

Membership Development Coordinator

National Council of Teachers of English

Champaign, Illinois

Supported NCTE’s national rollout of English Language Arts Standards by strengthening visibility and member engagement through segmented outreach, stewardship communications, and performance reporting. Built targeted campaigns, reporting tools, and outreach workflows that improved targeting efficiency, informed leadership planning, and supported renewal and retention efforts across a large national membership base. Managed and supported outreach staff, helping streamline follow-up processes and improve consistency of member communications.

Key Contributions

  • Designed and executed segmented, data-informed engagement campaigns that improved renewal and response rates by 9% and contributed to year-over-year national membership retention exceeding 90%.

  • Built performance reporting and forecasting frameworks to track campaign effectiveness across 25,000+ members and an audience of approximately 1 million ELA teachers, enabling leadership to assess ROI, prioritize high-performing channels, and refine acquisition and retention strategies.

  • Developed scalable stewardship and outreach workflows supporting nationwide member and donor populations, improving supporter satisfaction and increasing lifetime value through more timely, personalized, and consistent engagement.

  • Led and operationalized outreach teams, including managing and training staff and establishing repeatable service and follow-up processes that strengthened retention, response rates, and overall engagement at national scale.

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

College of Communications

Bachelor of Science

CFRE International

CFRE® Certified Fund Raising Executive (Prior Certification)

Northwestern University

Professional Development Certificate​​

Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations

Fundraising, Advancement & Leadership Skills

Comprehensive Fundraising Strategy & Growth

Lead organization-wide fundraising strategy with accountability for sustainable revenue growth; translate institutional priorities into major gift, campaign, annual giving, and grant strategies aligned with mission and impact.

 

Major & Principal Gifts / Relationship Leadership

Cultivate and manage high-capacity donor and institutional portfolios; guide personalized engagement, solicitation, and stewardship; serve as a strategic advisor to executive and board leadership on donor strategy and relationship deployment.

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Campaigns, Cases & Communications

Development of compelling cases for support, proposals, donor materials, and executive-level communications that connect donor values to community outcomes and organizational priorities.

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Systems, Operations & Performance Management

Build and lead CRM, pipeline, forecasting, analytics, and workflow infrastructure; implement moves management, reporting, and optimization; partner with Executive and Finance leaders on revenue modeling and accountability.

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Executive Presence & External Representation

Serve as a trusted ambassador to donors, foundations, partners, media, and community stakeholders; provide clear, confident leadership grounded in mission, ethics, and long-term relationship stewardship.

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