The Development Debrief

In this week’s episode, we talk talent, recruiting, and, retention. Lisa Alvarez-Calderón is the founder of Shine Consulting, dedicated to advising leaders on people strategy, global organization effectiveness, leadership development and building high performing, inclusive cultures. Lisa is an executive coach who helps people connect, share and accomplish big things so we can thrive and shine.

Lisa is a dynamic leader with extensive global human resources experience working across diverse sectors and geographies. Lisa was Chief Human Resources Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, where she worked closely with the foundation’s executive leadership team through the COVID-19 pandemic. Lisa lived in Chile serving as HRVP for BHP in the mining sector and Academic Director for the University of Chile ́s Center for Organizational Engineering. She developed her career in the pharmaceutical sector as HRVP for Johnson & Johnson in the United States and Asia, including living in Singapore and leading HR across 14 countries; and with Bristol-Myers Squibb as HRVP for Research & Development, and HR and talent roles in Latin America and US commercial operations. Lisa began her career as a leadership trainee with CIGNA and spent the first decade of her career as an HR business partner and talent management specialist in the insurance industry.

Lisa serves on the Board of Trustees of Trinity College and on several Advisory Boards including Enspira, a strategic human resources consulting firm; Untapped Potential, a social enterprise dedicated to attracting professionally trained women caregivers (i.e., Moms) back into the workforce; and The Company of Dads, a community platform for Lead Dads and an advocate for more open and productive work environments for parents. Lisa is an active member of the International Women’s Forum, a global network of accomplished women dedicated to advancing women’s leadership and championing equality worldwide.

Lisa is known for building trust and connecting with people to help them perform, learn and grow. She brings passion, courage, authenticity, integrity, asense of adventure and joy to all she does. Lisa knows that If it’s not energizing, it is probably not worth doing.

Lisa received an MBA with Distinction from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Lisa and her husband have raised two grown sons and divide their time between Seattle, Washington and Chincoteague, Virginia.

This week, my guest Eric and I talk about Reunion and Annual Giving, portfolio optimization, engaging the next generation of donors, and what to say when people ask you why a wealthy institution needs their support. Ultimately, the team at Princeton is building what they call, a true partnership with their donors.

Eric R. Almonte serves as Assistant Vice President for Capital Giving at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. In this role, he supervises an extremely dedicated and professional staff including; three frontline fundraising teams and the support staff for Leadership Gifts, International Development and the Office of Gift Planning. The Capital Giving team focuses on fundraising to increase access and affordability opportunities, endowed professorships, and research funding to intensify innovation, curiosity and intellectual risk taking at Princeton University.

Yesterday, the much-anticipated Philanthropy 50 by The Chronicle of Philanthropy went live. This list profiles America’s 50 largest donors including their location, wealth source, and top cause. Previously, I thought this list was for principal gift officers and Vice Presidents. Luckily, I was able to interview the reporter, Maria Di Mento and quickly learned that this list is for all of us. Maria has been writing about wealthy philanthropists and key trends and insights related to high-net-worth donors for nearly two decades and leads the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual Philanthropy 50. I hope this interview inspires you to think bigger and more broadly than ever. There is so much opportunity in our industry. 

To learn more about The Development Debrief, connect with us on Linkedin or on instagram @devdebrief. I would love to hear from you! I’ll be back, same place, same time next week.

(Special shout out to Bob Lasher who made this interview possible!) 

Here is the list: https://www.philanthropy.com/article/the-philanthropy-50/?cid=gen_sign_in#id=browse_2022

If you are listening to this—it is likely you either have access to ThankView through your organization or have at least seen their unicorn logo. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the cloud-based platform that lets you easily create and send personalized videos to raise awareness, promote events, update stakeholders, and thank those who matter most.

Today, we will talk with JD Beebe, ThankView’s  co-founder and CEO. JD tells us how and why he became an entrepreneur and shares the story of how ThankView was originally created to make completing his wedding thank you notes more enjoyable. ThankView now works with over 1,000 annual partners, including The Boys & Girls Club, Boston University, Cornell, Pepperdine, Miami University and Colorado State University. In November of 2021, ThankView merged with EverTrue, the top-rated data, software, and services solution for fundraisers. He now serves as President of EverTrue (www.evertrue.com).

Before founding ThankView, JD founded New Antisocial, a digital marketing agency, and Beebe's Buttcamp, a fitness studio that was named "One of the 9 Best New Studios in NYC" by Racked.com. He and his team built everything with no outside investment and have successfully generated millions of dollars while staying cash positive. New Antisocial worked with top global brands including Intel and Spartan Race as well as fledgling startups.

Prior to founding New Antisocial, JD was Creative Director for Noise, a digital advertising company in NYC. His work has appeared on CNN, NBC, AdAge, Fast Company, MTV and has won accolades including the Platinum Cannes Lion and top One Show awards.

Today’s episode marks the beginning of Season 10! If you’ve been here from the beginning, thank you for sharing this journey—if you are new to The Debrief, we have been running for just over three years and have content with industry experts in nearly every corner of the fundraising profession.

One thing I have always been curious about is the dynamic between the Chief Development Officer and the Board Chair. How do they talk to one another? Who ultimately makes the call?  But those conversations are often had in private. I am honored to open this season with Bob Lasher, Senior Vice President for Development at  Dartmouth College and Laurel Richie, Marketing, Communications, and Management Executive as well as former Dartmouth Trustee and Board chair.

In the following 45 minutes, we will talk about wins, stalls, pain points, and women in philanthropy all during a multi-billion dollar campaign.

To Learn more-- follow us on instagram @devdebrief and connect on LinkedIn, I can't wait to hear from you!

Hello! I want to close out this season with a heart-warming episode. Today’s guest, Katy, tells us about how she went for her dream job-- and got it. We talk about her rise to Vice Chancellor for Advancement and how this affected her career, family, motherhood, and leadership. She gives great tips for working professionals who are parents, and leaves you feeling inspired.

As Vice Chancellor for Advancement for the University of Colorado Boulder, Katy Herbert Kotlarczyk (cut-lar-chick) oversees all campus efforts related to private fundraising, philanthropic outreach, and alumni engagement. Under her direction, the CU Boulder Advancement team identifies and partners with constituents who contribute their time and talent to advance the university’s mission.

With CU Advancement since 2010, Katy previously served as Assistant Vice President for Central Advancement and led CU’s gift planning and annual giving efforts. Prior to her time at CU, Katy led fundraising for a scholarship program at Georgetown University that supported first-generation, low-income, and diverse undergraduate students. She also served as a director of Orr Group, a fundraising and strategy consultancy for nonprofit organizations.

A life-long learner, Katy is currently pursuing her Doctor of Education degree in leadership in educational equity, with a focus on higher education. She completed her MBA at DePaul University. She has both an undergraduate and master’s degree from Stanford University, where she served as captain of the women’s gymnastics team.

When she’s not working, Katy serves as a Boulder County court-appointed special advocate for youth struggling with truancy. She and her husband enjoy exploring Colorado with their three children.

Today’s episode is nostalgic I sit down with an old friend and fellow fundraiser, Maddie Hansen. We share a few memories from our time singing together in our College a cappella group and analyze what skills we learned there that we can apply to fundraising. We then learn from Maddie about her grateful patient fundraising and how she has built an authentic voice and path finding meaning in her work.

Madeleine Hansen is a Senior Associate Director of Development for Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. In this role, Maddie works closely with physicians, scientists, and grateful patients to support diverse research and patient care programs for women’s cancers. This includes Penn’s Breast Cancer Program, 2-PREVENT Translation Center of Excellence (TCE), Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC), and Gynecologic Oncology Clinical Research Unit. Maddie also serves as a point person for fundraising for diversity, health equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the Division of Hematology Oncology.

Maddie is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut where she received her BA in American Studies.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for all of you this week. Thank you for listening, sharing, and supporting the Development Debrief! This week, Adam Doyno and I debate about the meaning of the term "frontline fundraiser". Should we continue to use it? Or is this a problematic term? We polled all of you on the @devdebrief instagram and learned that 63% of you identify as a frontline fundraiser, 29% of you do not, and 7% of you don't know. We asked you if the term was necessary and 46% of you said yes, 33% of you said no, and 21% of you weren't sure. Take a listen, and talk about it with your teams. We would love to hear your thoughts. 

Please see Adam's article that inspired the conversation here: https://nycafp.org/News-Events/News-Blog/its-time-to-rethink-the-frontline-fundraiser

Adam M. Doyno, a Certified Fund-Raising Executive, is the Founding Executive Director of the CUNY SPH Foundation and Inaugural Director of Development for the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Since 2018, he has been an essential catalyst in the graduate school’s achievement in becoming an independent, accredited, top-ranked public health authority in New York City and the nation. In his role, he is the architect of the school’s fundraising operations and drives forward development activities that support CUNY SPH students, the 500,000+ students and continuous learners within the CUNY system, and New York City broadly.

Active in the fundraising community, Adam serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Fundraising Professionals-NYC Chapter as co-Vice President of Member Engagement. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the 125th Street Business Improvement District in Harlem. In 2021 he was honored by NYNMedia Nonprofit as part of their annual 40 Under 40 Class.

Adam earned a BA from Hofstra University and an MPA from CW Post, Long Island University. He lives on Long Island with his wife and two young children.

What if I told you, you can’t plan your life, but you can make small moves each day to ensure a strong, healthy, and authentic path? What if I told you that letting go is actually the way to realize your dreams? This is not my message, but it’s one that I believe in and it’s delivered by today’s guest.

This episode is close to my heart as it marks the launch of my dear friend, Shanna Hocking’s book, One Bold Move A Day. Shanna has been working tirelessly on this book and it shows as it has gained early praise from Adam Grant and several other influential leaders. This conversation gives a sneak peek into the book and shares the story of Shanna’s writing process as well as more about her career story. We talk momentum building, dreams realized, and lifestyle decisions.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Bold-Move-Day-Meaningful/dp/1264278071

Connect to continue the conversation on instagram @devdebrief 

This week I talk with Connor Adams, Senior Director of Development- College of Engineering and School of Architecture at University of Miami about returning to his alma mater in a leadership position. Connor is re-imagining a team that supports two Deans. We talk about how he manages his goals and plans to build his team, ways he has stewarded donors, and his view on zoom vs. in-person relationship building. 

As an experienced University and education fundraiser, Connor is passionate about the power of education as a key pillar of growth, success, and life, particularly its ability to serve as an agent for social change and the creation of collaborative communities. After earning his Masters degree in Student Affairs Administration from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, and Bachelors of Science in Education from the University of Miami, Connor began his career at the Portland State University. From there, he moved to New Mexico to be a Director of Development at the University of New Mexico Foundation, then later on to the land grant institution of New Mexico State University. As of early 2022, Connor began as the Senior Director of Development for the College of Engineering at his alma mater, University of Miami and was recently promoted to oversee the School of Architecture in addition to Engineering. Connor professionally describes himself as trusted advisor, change maker, relationship manager and impact consultant. On a non professional side he is a father, husband, golfer, and a coffee aficionado.

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