I am the granddaughter of teachers on both sides of my family and the daughter of a school guidance counselor. Education is in my DNA. As a fundraiser, I ascribe to Hank Rosso’s wonderful philosophy that “fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” As a fundraising coach, my goal is always to help my clients understand everything they need to know to be successful at fundraising without my assistance. 

I’ve been lucky enough to teach for two top-quality graduate programs in my career. I currently teach the online course Fundraising and Resources Development (NLM 525) for Arizona State University’s Master of Nonprofit Leadership and Management program. I’ve previously taught courses in ethics, executive leadership and governance, and the nonprofit sector at Arizona State and for the University of Missouri Truman School of Public and Government Affairs.

I write every day. I journal, I correspond with clients, I create lessons and fundraising copy, I blog about travel. For me, thinking through a problem requires quite a lot of typing (Flannery O’Connor once said, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say” and that pretty much sums up how my brain works). 

My newsletter “3 Keys Thursday” (you can subscribe here) is my latest writing endeavor and the most public one to date. I’m excited and nervous about the prospect of writing for a wider audience (my travel blog is mostly just for friends and family). I’m also hopeful that doing so will hone my writing skills toward future projects. My ultimate dream is to publish a book one day.

Have I mentioned that I travel? I do. A lot. My fundraising coaching practice is entirely remote so I’m able to work with nonprofits from anywhere in the world. Sometimes that means I work at odd hours. I’ve made calls for a fundraising diagnostic at 3 a.m. from a closet in Thailand (it’s 13 hours ahead and we were staying in a studio). I’ve delivered a number of board presentations after midnight from Europe (8 hours ahead). Frequently my husband’s nights to cook are based solely on when I have client Zooms scheduled to align with the U.S. workday. But I always feel very grateful when I work at odd hours because it means I’m living my dream of helping nonprofits while seeing the world.

Typically my husband and I travel 8 months out of the year, from January through April and late July to a week before Thanksgiving. When we’re not on the road, we’re based in central Missouri, splitting our time between Columbia and Lake of the Ozarks. If you’re interested, I blog about our travel here: http://www.anywherenoteverywhere.com/

I frequently fall down. I trip on flat surfaces. I always have at least one bruise on my legs and/or arms from bumping into things. I drop things and spill things and break things. When I walk down steps, I always use the handrail. And I’m a little bit afraid of escalators (you have to get the timing just right).

But, I don’t mind being laughed at for my clumsiness by my friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers (though it is at least in part inherited, so my family has little room to talk). Since I always get back up, I think being clumsy has made me a stronger person. At least that’s what I tell myself.

On any sort of measure of personality (Myers Briggs, Big Five, etc.), I always score 90% or higher on introversion. Social interactions drain my energy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like people. And don’t ever try to tell me that introverts can’t be fundraisers. I’ve known many great introverted fundraisers (our superpower is listening).

The truth is, many of us in the nonprofit sector are anxious overthinkers, led into our roles by an urgent desire to make a difference. It’s not an easy mental space to live in but we find a way. And my introverted, overthinking anxiousness helps me to be a particularly understanding and judgment-free coach for the leaders I work with. Because I know that’s what we need.