Mary Jones, CFRE, celebrated 24 years in non-profit administration and fund raising this year, including development positions in the arts, social services, and health care. Her current duties include managing the Foundation`s day-to-day fund raising activities on behalf of Abbott Northwestern Hospital, and staff lead for the $15 million campaign to fund the innovative Institute for Health and Healing. With Mary`s support, Abbott Northwestern Hospital Foundation has been highly successful in recruiting engaged, skilled leadership volunteers in fund raising.
Kim Synder is the founder of the Excelsior Bay Group, a boutique consulting firm focused on helping small to mid-sized non-profits maximize their fundraising potential. She has 14 years of experience within the Twin Cities philanthropic community and has worked in development operations of all sizes and stages of maturity. In each setting, she has exceeded fundraising goals and successfully added to the organization`s overall fundraising capacity. Kim has served as the Vice President of the Foundation of Children`s Hospitals of Minnesota and the director of development for Ridgewater College and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. In all institutions, she built and ran development programs centered on major gifts fundraising and long-term donor stewardship. Kim was educated at the Univeristy of Minnesota, where she earned a BA in History and an MA in Public Affairs with emphases in education policy and non-profit management.
Jeremy R. Wells has spent his entire career in the non-profit sector. During that time, he has been involved in major gift operations at three higher education institutions. Jeremy began his career at Jamestown College, moved from there to Saint Mary`s University of Minnesota, and currently serves as Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN. Jeremy`s passion and focus on major gift fundraising centers on three fundamental principles: all work must be Relationship-Based, Mission-Centered, and Metrics-Driven. In addition to his major gift experience as a practitioner, Jeremy also holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Philanthropy and Development as well as his CFRE certification. Jeremy considers himself a life-long learner of the profession and has enjoyed numerous speaking engagements to share his knowledge.
