July 17 & 18, 2014 AFP Fundamentals of Fundraising Course Speakers Laura E. Amerman, CFRE Ms. Amerman is the Director of Marketing, Public Relations, and Philanthropy for Bon Secours New York Health System in the Bronx. She previously served as the New York Regional Advancement Director for MedShare International, and as the Associate Director of Development for Major and Planned Gifts at the Seamen s Church Institute. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Association of Fundraising Professionals New Jersey Chapter (AFP-NJ), chaired the Chapter s 31st Annual Conference on Philanthropy, and can be found causing a ruckus as an active member of AFP s social media gaggle of AFPeeps. Laura began her professional career in the field of advertising, and has held positions in corporate communications, healthcare sales and marketing and training. Before she entered the nonprofit arena in 2005, Laura worked as a professional doula and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. If you watch daytime TV, you may remember her from an episode of Baby Story. Her first role at a non-profit was as the director a youth leadership and development program in Newark, NJ. Laura holds a degree in Anthropology, Archaeology and Classics, cum laude, from Drew University and is a 2011 graduate of Bergen LEADS. She lives in Rutherford, NJ with her family. Her current passions include Alabama Crimson Tide Football, lazy gardening, walking her three pit bulls, excessive reading and pretending to train for a 5k.
Michael J. Baker, CFRE Michael J. Baker, CFRE, is a founder and partner of m3 Development, a full-service consulting firm for non-profits and foundations. His leadership of the firm and consulting efforts has led to a great deal of success for m3 Development clients. Prior to m3 Development Michael worked with the American Cancer Society most recently helping the national organization launch its Major Gift and Campaign Fundraising Program resulting in over $85,000,000 in two years. He has over 20 years of experience, previously working as Director of Development for the National Hemophilia Foundation and in executive level development and management positions for the Boy Scouts of America. Michael is considered one of the foremost experts in the field of philanthropy and non-profits. He has spoken, presented, trained and served as the keynote speaker at AFP Chapters, Conferences, Columbia University, and numerous organizations. Michael has been published, produced fundraising training videos, served on the Editorial Board of the award winning Triumph Magazine and is frequently quoted in news publications on philanthropy and fundraising. Michael is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and in 2009 became a member of the AFP Omega Circle by making a planned gift. Michael received the AFP Partnership in Philanthropy 2010 Award for Consulting Excellence and in 2011 graduated from the AFP Faculty Training Academy as a Master Trainer. He currently serves as a Board of Director for the Marlboro Educational Foundation, is the Immediate Past President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals New Jersey Chapter, and serves on the AFP U.S. Government Relations Committee and AFP Committee on Directorship. Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York-Albany & is an Eagle Scout.
John Carno, CFRE John Carno began his full-time career in fundraising and nonprofit management in 1988 and currently serves as Assistant Vice President for College Relations at Centenary College, in Hackettstown, New Jersey. John is responsible for the College's overall fundraising programs including the Endowment Campaign, Annual Giving, Major Gifts, Special Projects, Corporate and Foundation Relations and Special Events. Supervises and directs all professional, support and volunteer staff assigned to these programs. Provides support to the President and Senior Vice President for College Relations and coordinates efforts related to securing gifts of $50,000 or greater. Prior to joining Centenary College, John served as New Jersey Audubon Society s Vice President for Development for 15 years. He oversaw the society s statewide fund-raising and membership programs and all aspects of fund development including grant writing, membership acquisition, major giving and planned giving and served as co-chair of the society s organizational strategic planning committee. Prior to joining the New Jersey Audubon Society, John was Senior Development Officer at the Summit Speech School for Hearing Impaired Children in New Providence, New Jersey, for 8 ½ years. His other fund-raising positions included Director of Institutional Advancement at Felician College in Lodi, New Jersey and Fund Raising Coordinator at Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was Co-Founder of Edanjon, Ltd., a public relations firm, and former Director of the Midtown Elizabeth Septemberfest Association. He received a BA degree, cum laude, in Earth and Planetary Environments in 1985 from Kean University. Mr. Carno has been a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) since 1994 and served on the board of AFP-New Jersey chapter for thirteen years including two years as chapter President. He is also a graduate of the AFP Faculty Training Academy as a Master Trainer. He holds a BA degree, cum laude, in Earth Science from Kean University and resides in Warren County, New Jersey.
Alan Grossman, MAS, CFRE Alan Grossman is currently the Director of Leadership Gifts for New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ. Prior to his current position, he has worked at a number of organizations including Rider University, William Paterson University, The Jewish Federation, and The Wilf Campus for Senior Living. His experience has been in major gifts, capital and annual campaigns, direct mail, planned giving, event planning, and alumni relations. He has been a certified fundraising executive since December, 2007. Alan also serves on Executive Board and Area Committee for the Boy Scouts of America. He is on the Board of Directors for the Metuchen Education Foundation and serves as scholarship chair. He has served as President of the Cook College (Rutgers) Alumni Association, and as an officer of the Rutgers University Alumni Federation. He has also served as Councilman for two terms in Metuchen, including a term as Council President. As an executive board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals - New Jersey Chapter, Alan has held several positions within the chapter which include co-chairing the Conference on Philanthropy, serving as the career center chair at the conference, chair for the CFRE course, and member of the program committee. He earned an undergraduate degree from Cook College, Rutgers University, and a Masters in Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Alan lives in Metuchen, New Jersey with his wife, Wendy, and they currently have three children in college. His two sons are 3rd generation Eagle Scouts, and his daughter recently returned from a trip to Ghana, visiting a school that she helped build as a founding non-profit board member, following in her father s philanthropic footsteps.
Dawn K. Knill, CFRE Dawn Knill is currently the Director of Development and Public Relations for SAGE Eldercare in Summit, NJ. Dawn has 25 years experience in the non-profit sector with skills in administration, program development, finance and budgeting, customer/ member services, stewardship and relationship building, special events, volunteer recruitment and management, and public relations. She has been a certified fundraising executive since June, 2008. As an executive board member of the New Jersey Chapter s Association of Fundraising Professionals, Dawn has held multiple positions within the chapter, which have included secretary of the board, resource development chair, chairperson for the Conference on Philanthropy, chairperson for the Awards in Excellence Dinner as well as involvement with the Youth in Philanthropy program. She currently serves as Vice President of Membership. Dawn has also served on the Vestry of her church and was instrumental in helping to raise $2M for their capital campaign as well as increasing the number of families pledging to the annual stewardship campaign. Dawn lives in Basking Ridge, New Jersey with her husband, Chuck, where they raised their six children. In her spare time Dawn enjoys cooking, gardening, and crocheting.
Lucinda Mercer, CFRE Lucinda Mercer has been a development professional most of her adult life. After receiving an AB in Music from Stanford University and an MBA with a concentration in Arts Management from SUNY Binghamton, Lucinda began her professional career with ICAP, a small, nonprofit film distributor in New York. She then went to the Metropolitan Opera where she managed a telephone fundraising operation. In 1985 Lucinda was the first person hired by Stanford University to staff a new development office in New York. The office was open until 1992 and the five person staff was responsible for raising money from Stanford alumni located from Maine to Florida for the university s Centennial Campaign. During her time with Stanford, Lucinda staffed numerous alumni phonathons and trained and managed a team of alumni volunteers soliciting gifts ranging in size from $10,000 to $100,000. She was also an integral staff member on a team that successfully solicited a gift of $1.8 million. In 1997, Lucinda became the first development officer for the Summit Area YMCA. During her almost 15 years with the Y, she designed and built the annual fund program and trained teams of staff and volunteers who annually raise $500,000, up from $90,000. In addition, she increased the Y s grant income from less than $10,000 to over $100,000 annually, working with program staff to ensure programs were well run and impactful. Finally, the Y s endowment fund grew from an initial gift of $5,000 in 1998 to $900,000 in 2006, at which point the Y embarked on an endowment development campaign with a goal of bringing the fund to $6 million. During the course of the campaign Lucinda successfully solicited funds ranging in size from $10,000 to $250,000 and was integral in developing the case for support, marketing materials and volunteer training. Since leaving the Summit Area YMCA in August 2011, Lucinda has started a grant writing practice and is a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in Essex County. She is certified as Faculty for the YMCA of the USA Annual Community Support Campaign and is a Certified Fund Raising Professional (CFRE).
Jennifer M. Vriens, M.C., CFRE Jennifer has worked in the field of fundraising since 1999, specializing in women s and social justice issues, including domestic violence, reproductive rights and women s economic empowerment. As a generalist, her skills include individual giving including major gifts, planned giving and annual campaigns, foundation and corporate giving, grant writing, special event planning and execution, marketing and social media, and government relations. She currently serves as the Director of Development and Marketing at the YWCA Union County, Union County s domestic violence program, and was previously the Chief Development Officer for the YWCA Princeton. Continuing her commitment to women s issues and philanthropy, Jennifer was the founding and Immediate Past President of the New Jersey Abortion Access Fund, New Jersey s first state-wide abortion fund. She is currently serving on the Board of the New Jersey Humanist Network. Jennifer has also served as a volunteer for the Association for Fundraising Professionals. Jennifer has a master s degree in Counseling and a bachelor s degree in Sociology from the University of Delaware and obtained her CFRE in 2011.