“Relationships, trust, and communication in fundraising are everything.”
Experience and education…
I spent more than 15 years in the corporate world facilitating and managing teams to clarify and reconcile digital ad spend billing both internally and with our corporate partners. The time gave me a deeply rooted experience in collaboration, in competitive deadline revenue growth, and in a variety of other financial tools, including CRM software.
The work was incredibly demanding, as every team had different roles but conflicting work incentives; the deadlines were unrelenting; and no situation was quite the same. But it was a highly rewarding experience!
I’m also a published author and film producer, and a freelance writer. So my communications skills have been thoroughly tested…
…and I’m deeply indebted to my parents, Midwestern working-class folks who found a way to help me get the best education possible, at Northwestern University.
Pivoting into fundraising…
(I’m just getting started)
With the right mission, the right plan, and the right attitude, successful fundraising isn't just possible, it's inevitable.
Scale up as you go.
..I’m a member in good standing with Nonprofit New York and the Association of Fundraising Professionals…
…I’m the co-President for my alma mater’s alumni association (Northwestern’s Medill Journalism School)
…and I’m focusing my career with the explicit aim of earning CFRE certification.
(practice exams are going well!)
FAQ: my career pivot into fundraising
1. How do you use your diverse experience to enhance your mission-based career? @ 0:00
2. What about donor retention and donor stewardship, the most critical aspect of sustainable fundraising? @ 1:13
3. How familiar are you with the CRM and other software that are relevant to the industry? @ 3:52
4. The DEI Question @ 5:36
6. What type of job are you looking for…? @ 6:17
7. …and where? @ 7:00
Testimonials
“I've worked with Phil on several different occasions, and I've always appreciated his creative input and unquestionably reliable commitment. He's tenacious and dedicated. His ego is invested in producing quality work both independently and also as a team player. I heartily endorse Phil Campbell. He is a very quick study.”
-- Elizabeth Crowley, President and CEO of the Building Trades Employers’ Association (BTEA) and former NYC Council Member (D-30).
"As an admirer of Phil Campbell's work, I have long known that he is a superb communicator on the page. But he also knows how to address a crowd, keep its attention, and change at least some of the minds in the room, as I learned during his multiple visits to my class at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute."
-- James Marcus, NYU professor, former Harper's editor-in-chief, and published author
“I've had the privilege of working with Phil Campbell to promote better public transit in New York City with Friends of the QNS. Phil has a keen sense for what matters to the various stakeholders surrounding transit issues, can recruit partner organizations effectively, and excels at activating the community to his cause. This was evidenced by a hugely successful community activity to ride bikes along the route and produce a report, which gained us an audience with the NYC Department of Transportation.”
— Joshua Steinberg, GTM Manager for Hive, a digital project management company, and current board member of Friends of the QNS
"Phil really does take a unique approach to his fundraising with his presentations and he's always following up and making sure that he's following through and actually getting the funding, which is really essential. And he's really helped us out at the Ozone Park Pantry and our nonprofit C.O.P.C.P. as a whole."
-- Daniel Hill, Communications Director, COPCP
"We miss Phil at our company! His communications skills with our clients were of the highest quality. Very few others got the sort of appreciative responses he received. We gave him some of the hardest accounts because we knew he could be counted on to clean them up. And his experience and ease with CRM (all of our software tools, really) ensured that I never had to worry when he working to meet our monthly deadlines."
-- Rachel Pelowski, Sr. Manager at Yahoo
A joyful story in fundraising (AKA my “origin story”)
Outro: Inspirational Quote
Thanks for visiting! Because so many people are feeling pretty down by our current political and cultural situation, I will conclude, for now, with a quote for anyone who is, like me, both a hopeless optimist and a dirty-fingernailed realist:
“The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunchpail f***** job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart, and dedicated, bang on closed doors, and pick up those that are fallen, and grind away on issues ‘til they get a positive result, and even then, have to stay on to make sure that result holds.” - Jon Stewart