Meet Jen Claudy! 2589

Meet Jen Claudy!

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This Community Member spotlight shines on Blackbaud Champion, Jen Claudy, a Raiser's Edge, RENXT, Target Analytics, BBMS, and Online Express with Beech Acres Parenting Center.

Meet Jen Claudy!
 

This Community Corner spotlight shines on Raiser's Edge, RENXT, Online Express, Target Analytics, BBMS, and Online Express user, Jen Claudy, with Beech Acres Parenting Center. Jen is also a Blackbaud Champion and a strong presence in the Blackbaud Community!

Jen Claudy's Community Profile>

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About Jen:


Tell us about your family (fur babies count!): "Currently completely enamoured of my newest pseudo-nephew (my cousin's son).  He was born in March and is just stinking adorable.  And he was a complete surprise and truly a blessing, although his sister may not see it that way as time goes by.  Our family is spread out over the Eastern Timezone from Kentucky & Ohio to Maine & Connecticut to North Carolina & Georgia.  Wish I could afford (both airfare and time) to visit more often."

Where do you live? "Taylor Mill, Kentucky."

What do you like to do for fun? "I do a lot of volunteer work...mostly volunteer fun.  From serving as the House Manager for the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, to ushering at the main theatre in downtown Cincinnati, to being a Docent with the Cincinnati Heritage Programs of Cincinnati Museum Center (tours & presentations on Cincinnati History).  I also read a lot (not usually anything too deep, mostly fiction) and watch a lot of television, or at least have it on in the background."


What’s a life achievement you are particularly proud of? "Professionally, I was honored to receive a Champions award at bbcon2015...even though it meant lugging around a 4 lb slab of glass the rest of the day!  In particular when I learned there were 12 of us out of 2500 Champions who received the award. Personally, and recently, I'm proud of making a really difficult decision that I didn't want to make but was in the best interest of all involved.  Even two years ago, I wouldn't have even considered it a choice and would have just struggled through and done the best I could, which would not have been the best end-result."

What’s one memory that always makes you smile? "Nine years ago, we started doing family reunion trips and staying in a cabin somewhere for a long weekend.  The very first year, my (other) cousin and his wife brought their then 5 and almost 3 year olds.  The kids had been told that they could either bring toys or their halloween costumes (it was September).  They chose the costumes, so they could show everyone.  The most adorable little ballerina and skunk you ever saw!"


Tell us about your organization: "I currently work for Beech Acres Parenting Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.  We were founded as an orphanage in 1849 and have changed focus several times over the years to now being a parenting center.  We have about 40 different programs, with the overall mission of inspiring and equipping today's parents, families, and communities to raise capable, caring, contributing children."

What’s a typical day like for you? "Ha!  I never know!  I've stopped trying to plan out my day ahead of time because it seems to go right down the drain every time.  Right now, I am the only person on our staff that does database management or any data entry in RE.  I do spend some time every day in the Blackbaud Community and Idea Banks.  And I try to sign up for Discovery Calls whenever possible."

What’s the best part of your job? "I really love what we do as an agency.  The best part of my job is playing a part in doing the work we do to strengthen families and improve lives.  But the best part of my job in a technical sense is learning new things regularly about RE (7 & NXT) either by trial & error, discovering something out of the blue, reading about something in the Community, or being asked about something in a Discovery Call."


What advice would you give someone starting out in the non-profit field? "Join the Community!  Then, depending on your role and responsibilities, play around with the data (use a set of dummy records so you don't mess something up but still have all of your org's customizations and your user settings) and read up in the Community and the Idea Banks.  Particularly if you're doing a lot of data entry or data management.  No matter what your role and responsibilities, talk with your org's DBA about how your data is organized and what, if any, customized fields you have.  Take classes if your org has a training subscription...there are classes beyond the technical know-how in a series of best practices and there are also free webinars offered.  And blogs to read."

What do you love about the Blackbaud Community? "I like having a lot of resources in one central place (Community posts, Idea Banks, Webinar Events, etc.).  I also really like connecting with other users across the globe and learning from one another.  I don't feel quite as alone being the only data person at my org when I can hop on the Community and talk with a whole slew of others who've been there, done that (or are there, doing that)!"
 
Finally..
If you had 24 hours before an asteroid hit ... what would you do? "
If I knew I had 24 hours left before the asteroid hit, I would definitely not do any work!  I would try my best to connect with my family, in person if at all possible.  That's the most important."
News ARCHIVED | Member Spotlight 08/10/2016 9:00am EDT

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9 Comments
You are an inspiration!
Lovely meeting you at BBCON!
Love seeing your posts and comments on the community pages! I know I can trust your answers and you inspire me to know more and more about these products!! :)
Thank you for your all ways and always helpful advise. I love referring to the community for all things RE. Congrats on the spotlight.
~ Susan Chomsky bCRE
Wow! How do you squeeze it all in, Jen?! Congrats!
Nice to meet you!
Hi Jen,
Loved reading your profile! Beeach Acres Parenting Center sounds like a wonderful nonprofit! How in the WORLD do you have 40 programs? I also work in child welfare and thought we had a lot going on... I will be checking out your website! We also began as in orphanage in the late 1800's and have recently changed our mission statement to Enriching Communities, One Family at a Time. It sounds like we share some of the same values!
I look forward to (hopefully) meeting you at #BBCON 2016!

Rebecca
Congrats on making it to BB member spotlight! Loved reading about your interests and goals. Glad we reconnected!

Sopheap
Jen,

Thank you so much for sharing about yourself and your organization! I really enjoyed learning about you and your amazing organization!

Melissa

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