CAN Building Strong Nonprofits Workshop Evaluation - Rob Kusel

Rob,

Happy New Year! We finally have your Building Strong Nonprofits workshop evaluation.

As you'll see, you received high marks across the board with 96% rating your Clarity of presentation as Outstanding or Excellent and again 96% on your Ability to engage the audience .

You can't get better than comments like this: "Rob was amazing, informative and engaging. This has been the best session I've attended in 5 yrs of fundraising conferences and seminars. Kudos!"

Congratulations on a terrific job.

Thanks,

Gregg Davidson
Director of Education
California Association of Nonprofits
520 S. Grand Avenue, Suite 695
Los Angeles, CA 90071

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

QUOTES FROM EVALUATION SURVEY

Rob was amazing, informative and engaging. This has been the best session I've attended in 5 years of fundraising conferences and seminars. Kudos!

Bill Gates on Speed!

Excellent presented materials. High energy. Best presentation

Excellent blueprint for major fundraiser programs

Provided tools for future growth. What to look for/what need in basic easy to follow steps

Excellent! A lot of information that can be used with Board & Solicitors

Found out I need a lot of help.

Excellent presentation--great demeanor and accessibility

Very enthusiastic. Glad he brought a lot of his personal experiences & real life experiences

Great info. Love the handout. Thanks!

The Napa Gunners Soccer Team (NVSC Boys U14 D III) swept their 2nd season tournament to win first place in the 2006 Mad River Redwood Classic held in Arcata.

Lead by captains Horacio Arcila Jr. and Omar Delgadillo, the Gunners remained undefeated during play bringing their season record to 8-0.

Strong defensive play throughout the tournament by Jacob Aman, Blake Zuniga, and Zachary Zuniga held the Gunners' opponents to two goals in four matches.  Over eight games, the Gunners have scored 32 goals while conceding 4.

The Gunners shut out the Redding Surge 6-0 in the opening match. During their 2nd game, Gary Tovar scored four goals leading the Gunners to a 6-1 victory over the Eel River Rapids. An all around team effort, with goals by Clark Carston and Jose Jaramillo, gave the Gunners a 3-0 win over the El Dorado Prospector Hurricanes. In their final game the Gunners defeated the Mad River United Steelhead U14 D1 team 2-1.

The Napa Gunners team is coached by Rob Kusel and Horacio Arcila Sr.

rob_soccer

FUNDRAISING EVOLUTION AND THE CAN CONFERENCE

Member's E-mail Release
September 21, 2006

"Nebulous" is a dirty word in fundraising, according to Rob Kusel.
He wants to see corporate-style specificity, strategy, and planning in the fundraising departments of nonprofit organizations -- qualities that, he says, are used to great effect to sell hamburgers and designer jeans across America, but less so in the halls of human service, social justice, arts, and other public benefit organizations.

"You have to look at fundraising from an evolutionary perspective," says Kusel. "Where is your organization in its life cycle? The answer to that question makes a huge difference in how you approach donor research, annual giving, major gifts, special events, and all the other areas of fundraising. What you do strategically is very different whether your nonprofit is five years old or fifty."

He should know. The fast-talking, up-front, results-focused Kusel -- now Vice President of the prestigious Essex & Drake Fund Raising Counsel -- has been Director of Development for Major Gifts at Stanford University as well as Director of Development for Blue Oak School in the Napa Valley. He's raised tens of millions of dollars for the organizations he's been involved with.

He's also giving a four-hour workshop on Best Business Practices in Nonprofit Fund Development at Building Strong Nonprofits, the 15th Annual Conference of the California Association of Nonprofits (CAN) on Thursday-Friday, October 26-27, in Los Angeles. This workshop got rave reviews at CAN's Regional Conference in Eureka last spring.

Now more than ever, our Boards and staff members need to generate energy and enthusiasm in our personal solicitations. This approach has the greatest potential to secure the future of all organizations, whether large or small.

Fundraising Professionals, Sharon Tresnon Svensson and Carol Eddy, will walk you through the critical A-Z steps of effective personal solicitations — from picking the prospects to telling the donor how you spent their gift.

(Click here to read the full article!)

This award recognizes an exemplary fundraising professional who has at least ten years of experience; has demonstrated persuasive, effective, and creative leadership; gives his or her best as a team member; adheres to AFP's Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice; displays a commitment to volunteerism; and participates in and supports many nonprofit organizations.

Sharon Svensson, CFRE
Nominated by The Harker School

Supporting Nominations from Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, Charles Armstrong School, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Results Marketing/Communications.

Sharon Svensson is an exceptional fundraiser with more than 17 years in the business. Throughout her career, Sharon has successfully helped with many public benefit corporations set up fundraising programs and raise much-needed dollars.

One good example is her work with the Harker School, where she has helped grow their Annual Giving program from $300,000 per year to $1,250,000 per year. Sharon also led the Harker School's first Capital Campaign, which raised $12 million - more than 50 percent of the original expectation.

The Harker School describes Sharon as "creative, resourceful and relentless until a goal is achieved - or in most cases, surpassed!"

In 1997, Sharon became a CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive), which is a professional distinction given to fundraisers who have demonstrated a stellar track record in raising dollars and committing time to the fundraising profession. Currently, Sharon is the President of Essex & Drake Fund Raising Counsel where she has been employed for the past seven years. In her work with Essex & Drake, Sharon has worked on 11 Capital Campaigns (procuring money for buildings and capital projects) for public benefit corporations, and raising an incredible amount of money - more than $80 million.

Sharon's work with local organizations goes beyond helping them raise funds - under her leadership, her firm, Essex & Drake, is offering 12-15 free fundraising and public relations workshops for staff and volunteers annually. Sharon also offers her leadership by volunteering time to organizations as well. For example, she's currently a Board Member for the El Camino Real Diocese Foundation, she's recently volunteered and helped Santa Maria Urban Mission to raise $300,000 to expand their services to East San Jose families, and has also served on the San Jose City Arts Commission.

Without a doubt, Sharon is a role model and has excelled as an accomplished businesswoman, educator and volunteer in the fundraising profession.

Local Philanthropists Have Heart and are Awarded
for Changing Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE, Calif, (October 30, 2002)-Ten outstanding award winners will be honored at the 15th Annual Philanthropy Awards Celebration Luncheon on Thursday, November 14 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA. Philanthropy Day is a nationwide event sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), which offers the public benefit sector and the corporate community the opportunity to recognize their top volunteers and highlight the efforts of local community philanthropists. The event will also recognize 40 Distinguished Volunteer Honorees.

Public Benefit organizations and professionals in the field are invited earlier in the year to submit nominations for several categories of awards each year. A panel of senior fundraising professionals, business professionals and community volunteers scrutinizes the nominations, and the winners are selected through a formal voting process.

The ten outstanding award winners are:

• Outstanding Philanthropist - Jeff Skoll
• Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser - Debra Engel
• Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser - Yvette Del Prado
• Outstanding Professional Fundraiser - Sharon Svensson, CFRE
• Outstanding Corporate Grant Maker - Synopsys, Inc.
• Outstanding Foundation Grantmaker - The Noyce Foundation
• Outstanding Philanthropic Organization - Good Samaritan Hospital Auxiliary
• Outstanding Philanthropic Youth Group - Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School 7th Grade
• Special Corporate Award - Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
• AFP Chapter Service Award - Tish Bayer, CFRE

Lisa Kim and Allen Denton, anchors of the evening news at NBC11 are the Masters of Ceremonies for this event, which is the premiere venue for recognizing philanthropic leadership in Silicon Valley. Co-Chairing the Philanthropy Day Committee are Barb Larson and Amy Erekson. Ms. Larson is the Director of Development for the Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Ms. Erekson is Vice President of Business Development for SGA Marketing and Events.

"Philanthropy Day is the day we recognize and pay tribute to the contributions that philanthropy - and philanthropists - have made to Silicon Valley," noted Judith Blasé, CFRE, president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of AFP. "With the slower economy, charities have to rely more and more on the generous hearts of our community's volunteers and leaders. Our community would be a very different place if not for their tireless energy and vision."

A complete list of award winners and media interviews are available. Tickets for the luncheon are $60 per person or $600 for a table of ten. For reservations or information contact the Silicon Valley Chapter Office at (650) 344-4011 or svcadmin@rcn.com.

The Silicon Valley AFP is part of a national organization, which represents 25,000 members in 161 chapters throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education, and certification programs.