Welcome to Season 16! We’re kicking off a brand-new season with a fantastic lineup of episodes ahead, and I’m so glad you’re here.

It’s been a wonderful summer in New Haven—I spent time with family, snuck away to Vermont, and reconnected with friends. One highlight was attending the Parents Fundraising Conference at NYU, hosted by Cory Williams. I had the honor of presenting during a plenary session alongside Claudia Taylor Overstrom, chair of Yale’s Parents Leadership Council.

Claudia and her husband Gunnar have led the PLC for the past year. A Yale alumna with a J.D. from Georgetown Law Center, Claudia also serves as President of the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In this first episode of the season—recorded live—we talk about how we work with parents, what partnership really looks like, and why these relationships matter.

Let’s dive in!

Today’s guest, Robin Aviv, is a force in the nonprofit world—a leader who’s redefining how missions are amplified and communities are engaged. Robin is the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Generation S.O.S., a prominent non-profit organization that empowers teens and young adults to make lifesaving decisions about substance use and other mental health issues.

She’ll share how the right speaker can transform the right room, why a participatory board is essential, and what she believes is more valuable than money. We’ll explore how she tracks real growth, tells compelling stories that move donors to action, and leverages one signature event a year to fuel lasting impact.

Today’s episode will focus on leadership and specificallytouches on the challenges of current times. We talk about how to build a high performing team regardless of your current circumstance. Craig Shelley is the President, Fundraising and Strategy Services at Carey & Co. he gives specific examples and does some forecasting on how to manage some of the challenges coming at education and non-profits today.

This episode takes a deep dive into the organization Year Up. Year Up United equips students with the skills they need for success through tuition-free job training. Through access to hands-on experience and skills-first training, they help young adults achieve the future they dream of, while impacting organizations from day one.

 When it comes to fundraising, Year Up stands out because they take the approach of a multi year unrestricted capital campaign every five years. Our guest Susan tells us why this has been successful for them. Their work seems quite applicable to education and there is a lot to learn from their strategy.  

Susan Murray leads Year Up’s revenue teams and servesas an officer of the company and a member of the executive team. She is responsible for creating and executing a strategy to fund Year Up’s operations, growth, and innovation, working closely with Fortune 500 companies and philanthropic investors. She joined Year Up in February 2011, first as Senior Philanthropic Advisor. She led the development team for 8 years and assumed leadership of Year Up corporate engagement team in 2023.Susan and the development team raised nearly $800 million in philanthropy 2011 – 2023, connecting more than 42,000 young adults to quality jobs and partnering with more than 200 major employers on their talent strategies. As the head of corporate engagement, Susan oversees a talent placement business that connects more than 4,500 young adults annually to employers in need of talent. Prior to Year Up, Susan raised capital for the University of Pennsylvania, served as a Director of the Columbia University College Fund, and was part of the NYC2012 team that led New York’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics. She co-founded a youth lacrosse program in Brooklyn and has served on the Domestic Violence Project board. Susan earned her BA from the University of Rochester and her MPA from Columbia University. She is a mom to 3 daughters and lives in Brooklyn with her family.

The following episode is a live conversation that took place in person at the Yale Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. This interview is with Julie Braverman and Mathwon Howard, both Associate Vice Presidents at Yale. This is a fun pairing because they compare and contrast their experiences that have brought them to where they are now.

If this was your first episode, please connect on LinkedIn and instagram at devdebrief. Please like, share, and subscribe.

Thank you to Kathy Townsend who made this interview possible! Say yes, go forth, and be in control of your own journey!

Happy Valentine’s Day! This week, we have a fun riff onYou’ve Got Mail! Our guest Ashley Budd explains why we only have 2 seconds to get someone’s attention in email. Not only does she explain the context of our high volume phenomenon, but we then talk about ways to work around this reality. Ashley has created an AI tool to help us gift officers and the two of us talk about ways I have applied it in my own work. We are hoping that by the end of this, we will all be irresistibly clickable!

Ashley Budd is senior director of advancement marketing atCornell University. She is based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., working remotely for the university and consulting with colleges, universities, and other nonprofit organizations. Known for her creative and innovative marketing campaigns, Ashley is one of the most influential voices in education marketing and fundraising. She is author of the popular newsletter Ashley in Your Inbox and co-author of the bestselling email marketing book Mailed It! A Guide for Crafting Emails That Build Relationships and Get Results. 

Welcome to season 15! There are some fun episodes in store this season. This week, we will listen to Tina Bernot reflect on the centennial campaign planning, strategy, and execution for Murray State University. She talks about how she trains her team, raises sites, and stewards big gifts.

Dr. Tina Bernot is currently the executive director of advancement at Murray State University.  She has more than twenty-five years of professional experience in planning, leading, and executing development efforts for universities and non-profit organizations.  Most recently, Dr. Bernot has co-led the planning and execution of the University’s Centennial Celebration.  She is also leading the University’s comprehensive capital campaign, Be Bold – Forever Blue & Gold the Centennial Campaign for Murray State University.  In 2022, Dr. Bernot also established the Murray State Women’s Philanthropy Society, an organization that believes high-quality educational opportunities build the foundation for personal and professional growth and thereby invests in the development and empowerment of women leaders.

 Tina holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Edgewood College in Wisconsin, a master’s degree in organizational communication and a doctorate in P-20 and Community Leadership with an emphasis in post-secondary education.  Both graduate degrees were earned at Murray State University – as a working professional, wife and mother.

 Tina and her husband, Gary, love living on beautiful Lake Barkley in west Kentucky with their two dogs and cat.  They are empty nesters with three children.

Happy New Year, everyone! This episode is a short solo check-in about approaching the New Year. I hope you had a chance to relax, recharge, and take a break over the holidays. I know I did, but I also know that time between the holidays and jumping back into work can feel a little... disorienting. For me, it’s always been a moment to reflect, to get organized, and to try to figure out what’s next. In past years, I’d dive into vision boards or journaling, trying to piece together my life’s direction. But this year? I decided to do something different. Listen to find out what...

This week, Dr. Marc Camille talks to us about his career

Dr. Marc M. Camille took office as the 14th President of

Dr. Camille’s presidency has seen Albertus Magnus launch an ambitious growth plan, deepen engagement within the greater New Haven area, and adopt a bold new strategic plan, Albertus 2025: Lighting the Way to a Second Century, setting the stage for the College’s Centennial Celebration in 2025.

Dr. Camille’s leadership has prioritized deepened

A comprehensive fundraising campaign is underway to coincide with the College’s 2025 Centennial.

Dr. Camille earned his Bachelor’s degree in English at

This week, Liz Elting joins us to talk about her book and

Liz Elting, Founder and CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, is an entrepreneur, business leader, bestselling author, linguaphile, philanthropist, feminist, and mother. After living, studying, and working in five countries across the globe, Liz founded TransPerfect out of an NYU dorm room in 1992 and served as Co-CEO until 2018. TransPerfect is the world's largest language solutions company, with over $1.2 billion in revenue and offices in more than 140 cities worldwide. Liz’s recognitions include the Trinity College Alumni Medal for Excellence, the Charles Waldo Haskins Award for business and public service from NYU’s Stern School of Business, the American Heart Association’s Health Equity Leadership Award and Woman Changing the World Award, and the GlobalMindED Inclusive Leader Award. Liz has been recognized as a NOW Woman of Power & Influence, American Express and Entrepreneur magazine's Woman of the Year, and one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women every year since the list’s inception. Elting is the bestselling author of Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business.