My Board colleague Mary Schmidt is being honored this year at National Philanthropy Day as the 2007 Hank Rosso Outstanding Fundraising Professional, which is given annually by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (I serve on the Board of the Golden Gate Chapter). The Award honors an individual who creatively organizes fundraising campaigns that result in successful fund development — someone who keeps the spirit of the legendary fundraiser Hank Rosso alive through their professional leadership and commitment to the field of fundraising. I did an interview with Mary for the current Chapter Newsletter, reproduced here.
Michael Stein: What aspect of your work would you like to highlight that "keeps the spirit of Hank Rosso alive"?
Mary Schmidt: I started out my professional fundraising career in 1994 by serving as the Capital Campaign Director for the San Francisco Women’s Building in the Mission District. Prior to that, my only fundraising experience had been door-to-door canvassing for Women Against Rape while I was a college student in Columbus, Ohio. That experience was instrumental to building my confidence as a novice development professional. Canvassing gave me thousands of chances to practice face-to-face asking. It also afforded me the opportunity to polish the interpersonal, relationship-building skills required to respectfully and passionately convey the power of my organization’s mission to a prospective donor and ally. I learned to find common ground with people quickly so that we could move on to determining whether or not they shared and were willing to invest in my organization’s mission, vision and values. Canvassing is tough work, and I’d recommend it as a great first step, akin to a boot camp, for anyone considering a career in fundraising.
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For those of you based in the San Francisco Bay Area, don't miss a chance to hear noted nonprofit fundraiser Kay Sprinkel Grace discuss strategies for innovation and change on Thursday, May 8 at 5:30 pm at the Commonwealth Club. Kay will be in conversation with Don Listwin, the Founder of Canary Foundation for Cancer Early Detection (a former top executive at Cisco Sytems) and Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, CEO and President of Goodwill Industries (former Vice President of Silicon Valley's Omidyar Foundation). This event is presented by the Golden Gate Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. More info here