What is your origin story?

@Crystal Bruce
I also jumped into the nonprofit world after an entire career in for profit businesses, the last being a brokerage firm, about as "for profit"as you can get! But data management skills are universal and I began working at Erikson Institute on a contract basis. Erikson is graduate school for early childhood development, a pleasant change working for an organization doing so much good. I quickly was hired on a permanent basis. I worked at Erikson almost ten years, and utilized my skills to whip the database into top shape. I also worked closely not only with our development team but also our Finance department. Now I'm working as a consultant with W4Sight, which provides consulting expertise to nonprofit organizations. I've come full circle as we hired W4Sight when I worked at Erikson and now I'm working there! It's interesting to have been the client using consultant services and now providing those same services to other nonprofits!

I started off as a legal cashier, but weirdly got allergic to my old workplace and decided this was a sign from the universe to go back to university. After finishing my postgraduate study, I realised I wanted to work in a way that more actively helped people and that working for a charity was probably the best way to apply my skills (endless patience for data entry) towards that.

@Crystal Bruce Professor X noticed something was ‘different’ about me - - in a profit-driven major hotel corporation, my 'mutation' of compassion and assimilationist ideology gave me away as a misfit. I was thus recruited into the nonprofit world where I now work on behalf of people with disabilities, a cause very dear to Professor X's heart.

@Crystal Bruce, Like @Dana Burton I used to drive by the monastery every day wondering, “What is that place?” It was just these two big towers rising over a treeline beside the highway. One day they had a help wanted ad for their retreat center, and I took it to make ends meet while I did college classes. I was still wanting something more though, so one night I wrote out a little prayer for God to send me a better job. It happened quite randomly one week later.

On the side, I did some freelance writing for fun and had gotten involved in a local community betterment group that had launched in my itty-bitty town of 300 people. One day I decided to freelance an article about my volunteer group collaborating with the abbey. I found my way to the Communications/Development office and submitted it for the newsletter. The Communications director said, “This is really good. We have a grant writer position open - you should apply for it.” So, I brought my resume in the same afternoon. A few days later, the development director tracked me down where I was working at the retreat center and told me he wanted to hire me.

Apparently the grant position came along with the database work and gift entry, as often happens in small shops. But I found out I love data as much as I love writing, and over the past 14 years I've become one of the senior members of our office, working with major gifts and direct mailings, and I've been able to hand the day-to-day data entry off to others as I tackle the prospect research and trends analysis. I love working for the monks - I feel like I'm doing something good with my life, and my coworkers are awesome. I feel like my job was a gift, and I get to give back through my work.

@Crystal Bruce as a kid, Captain Planet and the Planeteers was my favorite TV show. I had a blessed rural childhood spent in woods, wilds and waters. I adopted a whale in high school. I gave to nonprofit organizations in college which gave me insight into how fundraising/development worked. I moved out west after college and went to the local environmental nonprofit to see if they had any volunteer opportunities- turns out they had a job opening! When the Membership Manager position opened up, they offered me the opportunity to take it which I did. So began my journey with blackbaud and Raiser's Edge, and a career that has taken me (so far!) to 4 states and experience in the environmental, foundation, religious and PK-12 education spaces.

@Crystal Bruce I worked as a part-time Fitness Instructor at our local YMCA for many years, while my full-time job was in Retail Management. After my kids were born I began full-time at the Y as part Fitness Coordinator and part Marketing Manager, so that was my intro to the nonprofit world. It was super convenient because of their daycare! At some point during that time (1991-92) we brought good ole DOS RE on board. In 1994 I managed the conversion from DOS to windows 95 and we made RE work as a membership database before there was a membership module! Except for one year when I first moved to FL and worked at a private K_12 in Miami that used Veracross, I have been a Blackbaud user ever since! I keep saying 20+ years but I need to changr that to 30+.?