PROFESSIONAL FUNDRAISING AND NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT

My experience has been fairly evenly divided between serving in various capacities as a fundraising consultant and as executive management staff for nonprofit agencies (small and large). The majority of these efforts sought grants or donations from small, recurring donations to one-time or project-specific gifts of from $5,000 to $400,000. Some individual grants (including my most recent) are for new-project development funds of between $500,000 and $1,800,000. The majority of gifts and contributions awarded through my work were between $100 and $50,000, totaling in excess of $10,000,000 over my career.

GRANTS/PROPOSALS

• Latino Resource Center on Alcoholism, Addiction and Community Involvement, Latino Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse (Alameda County). Developed and wrote a 5-year NIH/NIAAA Specialized Alcohol Research Center grant application for $8 million core research project focused on the use of scientific investigation techniques within community service settings. (Pending at this time.) December 2007-January 2008.
• Priority ONE Licensed Family Child Care Initiative, Solano County Licensed Family Childcare Network and Solano County Office of Education. Developed and continue to refine series of foundation and business LOIs seeking over $400,000 to create a network of family childcare providers to enhance and expand the availability of critically needed services while integrating research-supported educational elements that facilitate each child’s successful transition from extended care to public educational settings. (Several applications pending.) November 2007-Present.
• Mom’s In Bloom. Developed initial grant application materials and project descriptive materials for the creation of a new peer and professional doula birthing and lactation support consultant agency serving Southern Solano County mothers and families-in-need. Start-up grant requests for $60,000 are pending, as are donor and business contribution inquiries of $1,000 to $3,000. Secured $5,000 from Solano First5 project for writing fundraising strategy. November 2007 to present.
• Benicia Unified Schools, Put together Career Technical Education and Physical Education Enhancement grant applications for the California Department of Education. Prepared separate application proposals seeking funds earmarked for outstanding extensions of existing school programs. Both applications received funding, with a CTE grant of $19,000 to purchase equipment and supplies, and Physical Ed. Elementary school grant of $70,000 to increase health and wellness activities at 4 schools. June-Oct. 2007.

NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT:

Executive Director, California Coalition for Youth/California Youth Crisis Line (www.CalYouth.org), Sacramento, CA. Fully responsible for all agency management, board interaction, fundraising, public policy oversight, legislative liaisons, and youth empowerment directions. Replaced dramatic public funding cut with foundation emergency and ongoing grants ($200,000). Also successfully maintained and completed the program elements of the California Wellness Foundation’s widely acclaimed teen pregnancy and violence prevention initiatives and their focus on giving voice to young people in the California legislature. Co-edited and created the book Young Enough To Matter, a manual for teaching advocacy and empowerment techniques to adults seeking to work with young people to generate community change.

Assistant Director, Xanthos, Inc., Alameda, CA. (www.Xanthos.org). Primarily responsible for general, ongoing fundraising for seven major program components, community partnerships and capital purchase/renovation campaigns for family counseling, education, mental health training and project services for runaway/homeless youth. Helped double the agency’s overall operating and program revenues from about $2 million to nearly $4 million.

Executive Director, Oakland Men’s Project, Oakland, CA. (Now defunct). Served as first executive director, where I helped increase budget from $80,000 to over $250,000 annually while implementing several recognized anti-violence and gender-awareness initiatives, including helping to coordinate the boy’s component of the first Take Our Daughter’s To Work Day activities.

Development Director, Rubicon Programs, Inc. Richmond, CA. (www.RubiconPrograms.org). Undertook the full-scale development of several fundraising campaigns that included securing federal and state funding for transitional and supportive housing, critical care counseling, money management, and education/vocational training skills for persons with severe mental disabilities and formerly homeless men. Agency’s annual budget was about $600,000 and has grown to nearly $14 million and is now recognized as a national entrepreneurial project for highly vulnerable populations in need.

Other ongoing or one-time consulting projects:

• Bi-Bett Corporation, Concord/Oakland, CA. Broad-based drug and alcohol recovery and substance abuse services provider. Prepared grants for recovery, prevention, and intensive counseling services.
• Alameda County Office of Education, Oakland, CA. Health & wellness programs.
• Asian American Drug Abuse Program, LA, CA. Vietnamese gang violence reduction initiative.
• Berkeley Unified School District, Berkeley, CA. Desegregation proposal packages.
• Filipino AIDS Task Force, San Francisco, CA. Foundation/corporate proposal packages.
• Kings County Office of Education, CA Mentoring/business programs for rural youth.
• La Chiem Schools, Inc., San Pablo, CA. Alternative school revenues for mental health projects.
• Mobilization Against AIDS/International AIDS Candlelight Memorials, San Francisco & Worldwide (precursor to elements of World AIDS Day.)

NEW DONOR SOLICITATIONS:

• Conducted follow-up calls for California Council of Churches in effort to generate donations specific to social justice projects for open and affirming California Churches addressing gay/lesbian marriage.
• Sought project and financial contributions from religious organizations and leaders throughout California. (National Religious Campaign Against Torture; National Religious Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons Dangers, Faithful Security/Project 2030).
• Developed case-statement and donor information packages to encourage planned giving contributions, with successful commitments of properties.
• Conceived of and implemented new and ongoing donor solicitation campaigns seeking to develop new and ongoing small donor bases for each agency. (Successfully established Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem as personal major donors for Oakland Men’s Project.)
• Succeeded in doubling (or greater) overall intake of donations for each agency listed during the course of my tenure. (Generally by developing plan to double average gifts of long-time and new givers.)
• Developed project-specific fundraising events and conferences to serve as stable income resources (including coordinated $500,000 annual San Francisco AIDS Dance-a-thon in late 1980s).

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN CASE MATERIALS:

• Divine Mercy Shrine and Retreat Center, Alameda County, CA. Currently under development, this $30,000,000 project has achieved a below-market sale of 100 acres of land, and more than $500,000 in personal and professional donations. This project continues to move forward using glossy fundraising materials and the trainings that I provided board members and church supporters, who are now doing their own fundraising.
• Xanthos, Inc. Sought and received approximately $2 million in grants, loans and directed donations to purchase and renovate a 12,000 square foot office and program headquarters, which is currently still in use. The largest funding source was a below-market nonprofit loan (of about $750,000), and a grant from the California Endowment for $400,000, the first (and one of the few) direct capital grants made by this funder before they decided to link such grants to program goals.
• Rubicon Programs, Inc. Put together a broad-based campaign to solicit numerous small grants and donations (under $20,000) to purchase and renovate a large facilities site, estimated at $750,000. Also successfully wrote and implemented several HUD grants directed toward the purchase and renovation of multi-unit supportive, emergency and transitional housing projects for persons with significant mental disabilities.

EDUCATION:

• Masters, Sociology/Criminal Justice, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 1983.
• Bachelors, Sociology/Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 1980.

RELATED TRAINING:

• Grant Reader, CA Departments of Education/Justice, School/Police Community Action Grants (2004-2005)
• Workshop Facilitator, Northern California Chapter, Society of Fundraising Professionals, July 2005.