Meet Joan Perry!

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Meet Joan Perry, a BBNC, Raiser's Edge, RENXT, BBMS, and Target Analytics user, with the Diocese of Camden.


Meet Joan Perry! This week's Community Corner spotlight shines on NetCommunity, Target Analytics, Raiser's Edge, BBMS, and RENXT user, Joan Perry, with the Diocese of Camden. Check out Joan's live chat on Receipting and Annual Statements in Raiser's Edge HERE in Community. Joan Perry's Community Profile>
Tell us about your family (fur babies count!) "My husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our 11th Anniversary and I'm the proud step-mom of 3 great young men (33,31 and 27) and rescue mom of one Australian Cattle Dog (mix). I am surrounded by wonderful nieces and nephews from my extended family. My husband and I met over 20 years ago at our alma mater in the growing development office -- and you could say Blackbaud made us friends. Neither of us was thrilled at the prospect of working together - but a week of training classes in Charleston SC helped to break the ice. Plus many hours of cleaning up data!" Where do you live? "Southern New Jersey." What do you like to do for fun? "As an introvert, married to extrovert, I balance my quieter pursuits (reading, puzzles, exercise) with our more social activites. We love to spend time with our friends and our family. Time with my girlfriends is vital and our "Girls Game Nights" have become legendary. My husband used to teach a HS film class, so we also watch a lot of movies."
	What’s a life achievement you are particularly proud of? "Going back to school in my "later" years for a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership, Management and Policy." What’s one memory that always makes you smile? "An unofficial college/sorority reunion at our alma mater last summer that has revived 30 year friendships."
Tell us about your organization: "The Diocese of Camden is the Roman Catholic Diocese for Southern New Jersey - we cover 6 counties from Camden, NJ (across the river from Philadelphia, PA, one of the most dangerous and poorest cities in the US) to the farmlands of Atlantic, Salem and Cumberland counties (which includes Hammonton NJ the blueberry capital of the world to the shores of the Delaware Bay overlooking the state of Delaware) to the shore towns of Atlantic and Cape May counties (Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood and Cape May) -- serves nearly 500,000 Catholics in 65 parishes, 28 Elementary Schools, and 6 Diocesan High Schools. My office supports a nearly $8 million Annual Campaign (the Bishop's Annual Appeal), Planned Giving, Special Events--our Justice For ALL dinner to support Catholic Charities and our Christmas Concert which supports the South Jersey Scholarship Fund (supporting scholarship for Catholic schools), and other special projects for the Bishop and Diocesan Offices (such as the friend/prayer-raising iRace4Vocations)." What’s a typical day like for you? "My typical day includes checking our NetCommunity activity-processing sign-ups, donations and event registration forms, managing the overall database operations and health--from some limited data entry, to runinng queries, reports and exports, and planning for long-term projects (like our transition to NXT, new contract with OMatic), continuing the data policy and procedures "manual" we have begun--to help with data health but also cross-training in our office." What’s the best part of your job? "I love to solve puzzles -- so finding ways to make RE work for us, pulling data for analysis, problem-solving when things don't work, and helping others learn a new and hopefully better way to do their job."
	What advice would you give someone starting out in the non-profit field? "Training and professional development -- schedule the time to make it happen. Even when you think you know everything -- you don't and you can ALWAYS learn something new. It's a great way to network - personally and professionally and help you get a better understanding of your strengths and the proverbial "weaknesses" -- when you can find so many ways to combat those with training and development. Life-long learning...it should really be a personal slogan!"

What do you love about the Blackbaud Community? "It's a great way to learn how others are using the products, get solutions, share solutions and broaden your network...see my answer above. Even if someone is using the system differently than you are, community members share great insights and raise questions you may not have considered."

News ARCHIVED | Member Spotlight 02/22/2017 4:21pm EST

Added by Crystal Bruce

1 Comments

Jayme Klein Jul '18

Thanks for doing such good work in a community that is trying so hard to bounce back!