Meet Jeremiah Pierce!

Published

Meet Jeremiah Pierce, a RE, RENXT, FE, and FENXT user with Water.org.


Meet Jeremiah Pierce! This Community Corner spotlight shines on The Raiser's Edge, RENXT, Financial Edge, and FENXT user, Jeremiah Pierce, with Water.org. Jeremiah Pierce's Community Profile>
About Jeremiah: Tell us about your family (fur babies count!): "My wife and I have been married for 15 years and have two children (Ean - 9 and Emeline - 11). We live in downtown Kansas City, Kansas where we do ESL and citizenship classes with refugess from Burma and Nepal." What do you like to do for fun? "I work on our 100 year old house and try to restore what I can and update what I have to. We moved into our current house four years ago and I am pretty sure I will be working on it the rest of my life. We also have several garden beds and help our neighbor foster cats for a no kill shelter."
	What’s a life achievement you are particularly proud of? "This is not really my life achievement other than choices we made help make it possible. My family has grown close to a refugee family and we visit them at least once a week to spend time with each other and a couple months ago the mother told my wife that they no longer see us as friends but as family. Their oldest son and mine have been in classes together for the last several years, have become best friends and now have made up names for each other in English and Burmese." What’s one memory that always makes you smile? "Remembering the time we spent in a refugee camp on the Burma - Thailand border with 20 kids singing songs and dancing. We had no power and it RAINED for three days straight but the kids were so happy to see us and have someone to play with their smiles and laughs made it something I will never forget."
Tell us about your organization: "We believe water is the way. To break the cycle of poverty. To achieve global equality. To make a bright future possible for all. We are here to break down the barriers between people and access to safe water and sanitation. Water is a fundamental human need, yet 660 million people worldwide lack access to safe water. 2.4 billion people worldwide lack access to a toilet. When it takes everyday hours to find and collect water, it’s hard to find time for commerce and community. It’s hard to get through a full day at school. It’s hard to prosper without safe water. We are Water.org. We’re here to bring water and sanitation to the world. We want to make it safe, accessible and cost-effective because we believe that water is the way to empowering a better life that we can all share in, worldwide. We are an international nonprofit organization that has positively transformed more than four million lives around the world through access to safe water and sanitation. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, we have been pioneering innovative, sustainable solutions to the global water crisis for 25 years, giving women hope, children health and communities a future."
	What’s a typical day like for you? "A lot of time in FE and F9 running reports for donors. I also enter the financials for 3 of our 8 international offices via and upload from QB to FE. We are now entering budget time for our next fiscal year so I will be cosumed by that for the next two months." What’s the best part of your job? "Going to visit our international office and getting to know them and the work we do." What advice would you give someone starting out in the non-profit field? "Know that non-profit is a tax status not necessarily how a company is run. There are still internal politics and all of the stuff from the for profit world but at the end of the day you know your work is about something more than you."

What do you love about the Blackbaud Community? "Being able to get answers from others who use the products and know tips and tricks that you wont find in a pdf or traning. It is also great to be able to share that knowledge with others if I can." Finally... If you were a sandwich, what kind of sandwich would you be? "I would be a tuna fish salad sandwich with Mircale whip, pickles and mustard and a side of nacho doritas. My favorite from childhood and still a go to now."

News ARCHIVED | Member Spotlight 07/07/2016 7:12pm EDT

Added by Crystal Bruce

2 Comments

Trish Stinger Jul '16

Great work fellow Kansas Citian! Love the work you are doing!

Gillian Armstrong Jul '16

Happy to read about your work with refugees. I also volunteer as an ESL tutor with an Afghan woman and can relate to that close bond.