My values, and a summary of ‘Superpowers’
The 4 legs of the table of good governance supporting a healthy organization – ITEA:
Inclusiveness
Transparency
Equity
Accountability
How do you build and sustain a strong relationship with a Board of Directors?
The core value in any relationship is trust. I create and maintain trust by:
- Listening
- Understanding
- Communicating clearly and respectfully
- Establishing and maintaining transparency
- Providing prompt responses to requests for information
- Providing regular comprehensive reports
- Designing a plan and following it
- Adjusting the plan as needed
- Apprising the board of emerging issues
- Requesting guidance
- Following the board’s lead and direction
- Supporting, coaching, training on topics as needed
What do you feel you do really well and how did you become good at it?
My top three superpowers are collaboration, fundraising, and leadership.
The first is collaboration. I excel at collaboration through practice! As Principal Consultant of Davidson Strategies for more than 15 years, I can celebrate the achievement of building organizations that effectively meet community needs. This could not have been done without collaboration and teamwork. Well-loved and now sustainably supported community organizations like SMART, The School Garden Project, Walama Restoration Project, Grlzz Rock, Centro Latino, and more all benefitted by contracting with me to show them how to use 360 degree collaborative strategies to benefit their fundraising programs and board development.
At Sponsors I collaborate with the Mentorship Program staff on outreach activities and administrative needs. I also collaborate with mentor candidates on how best to harmonize their time and interests with the Mentorship Program. I’ve positively influenced the culture of the Sponsors Mentorship Program while increasing by a factor of 20 the mentor recruit pool in just 6 month’s time.
The second of my “superpowers” is fundraising – an inherently creative endeavor requiring excellent communication skills, high energy, resourcefulness and persistence. I’ve raised millions of dollars for organizations, programs, and projects over the course of my career. I’ve conducted fundraising trainings tailored to fit the needs of a variety of boards of directors.
For example, as Development Manager for the Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force, I managed our grants through VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) in addition to the many programs and projects we funded throughout the State. I helped write and secure a grant from PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) for $750,000.
I’ve read widely on the topic of fundraising, completed graduate level coursework, attended workshops, and served on fundraising committees as a member of boards of directors. All my experience working with nonprofits during the course of my career has resulted in not only a well-honed skillset for fundraising, but also a sound knowledge of local Eugene community and key philanthropic and nonprofit stakeholders.
The last but by no means least of my top three “superpowers” is leadership.
Some highlights: with Lane Library League, I was instrumental in passing a ballot measure in Creswell creating the Lane Library District providing library service for upward of 8,000 people. In addition to changing the landscape of library services in Lane County, I assisted in the creation of a comprehensive system of woody biomass utilization in Klamath and Lake Counties. Along with establishing strong lines of communication between myriad systems and personalities, I secured hundreds of thousands of dollars through federal, state, and county sources to fund the vision for sound forest management practices combined with economic growth we developed through collective leadership. Note: Woody Biomass Utilization was a forest service program that is now called “Wood Innovations”.
I’ve served as Executive Director for Lost Valley Educational Center, Cascade Foothills Library, Lane Library League. All these organizations achieved magnificent goals in tandem with my collaborative leadership style. Other leadership positions include: Development Director for LEAD, an organization serving low-income at-risk youth, where I spearheaded a 3-year capacity building initiative, raising over $300,000 in 18 months.
My most rewarding leadership role has been as a mother of two children. In this capacity, I lovingly (with the help of my husband and the community of 4J) raised two loving, kind, successful, happy adults.
