Regional Leadership Archives - Page 3 of 8

Nana joined CCS with over a decade of experience in development and nonprofit management, including securing funding for nonprofit programs in underserved communities across the Washington, DC region. She has partnered with more than a dozen nonprofits- assisting teams, volunteers, and other stakeholders to identify and implement, the most effective management and fundraising strategies to achieve their goals and mission. She recently served as the Project Manager for UNCF (United Negro College Fund). In this role, she led both a Development Assessment and a Feasibility and Planning Study. Following the onset of COVID-19, and with UNCF, Nana directed an initiative to secure essential funds to prevent a disruption in the education of students at HBCUs and other higher education institutions. More than $80 million was secured in just 7 months.

Nana serves on the Development Committee for Childhood Education International and is a Neighbor Ride volunteer – providing seniors with reliable transportation. She previously served on the Montgomery County Board of Social Services and the grant review committees for Montgomery Coalition for Adult Education Literacy, DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, and DC Office of Latino Affairs.

Nana received her MPA in International Development and Nonprofit Management from The George Washington University and BA from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

select client partners

The Anglican Pilgrim Centre in Santiago, Spain
The Arc of the United States
Ashoka
Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
UNCF (United Negro College Fund)
USA for UNHCR

recent resources

Fundraising for Higher Education: Insights on Today’s Philanthropic Landscape

Pronouns: She/Her

Lauren is a Senior Vice President with CCS Fundraising, where she supports client partnerships across Southern California and provides strategic leadership on comprehensive fundraising initiatives. Since joining the firm in 2017, Lauren brings over fifteen years of experience in strategic planning, research, and data analysis, with a particular focus on campaign design and planning, development assessments, and feasibility studies. Lauren is known for building trusted relationships with institutional leaders and advancing high-impact fundraising efforts.

Lauren has led major and principal gift strategy for several high-profile campaigns in partnership with institutional leadership, collectively representing over $750 million in philanthropic goals. In addition to her campaign work, Lauren has facilitated trainings on campaign planning and communications and leads presentations and development trainings hosted at institutions across the country.

Prior to her role at CCS, Lauren led strategic planning and fundraising initiatives via her public sector work for the City of New Bedford and City of Boston, Massachusetts. Her work focused on environmental advocacy, workforce development, and urban planning. She also contributed to housing and economic development research at two Boston-based policy labs.

Lauren holds a Master of Science in Urban Policy and Planning from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She currently resides in Long Beach, CA.

KURT MCKINLEY, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, is in his 14th year with CCS and manages CCS’s Florida strategic growth initiatives. He works with members of the region’s executive leadership team to identify and implement strategic priorities related to business development, communications, institutional partnerships, and client engagement.

Kurt has led CCS’s strategic partnership with the National Association of Cancer Center Development Officers (NACCDO) where he serves on their Benchmarking Committee. This cooperative venture of NCI-designated centers provides the only annual review of Cancer Center giving trends across the United States.

Kurt serves on the Nominating Committee for the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. He completed their Senior Executive Orientation course in Summer of 2023 and is actively involved in their Nonprofit Business Committee. Additionally, Kurt has led the way with CCS’s strategic partnership with the Florida Council of Independent Schools. He has presented at national and international conferences including NACCDO, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District III, the Southern Association of Independent Schools, Museums Association of the Caribbean, and Morgan Stanley Graystone Consulting’s Foundation and Endowments Conference in Medellin, Colombia.

Kurt graduated from Loyola University Maryland Sellinger School of Business with a Master’s in Business Administration and from Penn State University with a Bachelors in Business Management and Marketing.

select client partners

National Association of Cancer Center Development Officers
Association Foundation Group

Money follows mission and fundraising is an essential part of elevating mission for all nonprofits. With over ten years’ experience in strategic fundraising, Kris expertly works with staff and volunteers to support their impactful missions. Kris thrives in volunteer engagement, partnership development, data-driven fundraising, and creating successful strategies to achieve stated objectives. Her analytical and organizational skills, coupled with her personability and passion for philanthropy, make her a favorite among CCS client partners, executives, staff, and volunteers. Throughout her career, Kris has worked on campaigns that have raised well over one hundred million dollars.

Kris serves as the Campaign Director of the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. She is also providing Executive Coaching and Counsel to Seminary of the Southwest and Georgetown Preparatory School. Most recently, Kris served as the Strategic Plan Manager for the Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning where she managed a transformative effort for the school. She also provided Executive Counsel, focused on campaign, Board, and prospect strategy to YWCA USA and KIPP Baltimore. Last year she completed strategic benchmarking projects for the University of Miami and Loyola University of Maryland. In 2022 she served as Chief of Staff for Inova Health Foundation, helping establish protocols and procedures for their fundraising function. She has worked with numerous clients to create and deploy strategic planning efforts through analytics, research, and fundraising.

Previously, Kris led highly successful campaigns for clients throughout The Episcopal Church. She was Campaign Director at Seminary of the Southwest for over three years where she worked in partnership with a six-member staff and 115 volunteers to help fulfill the ambitious national campaign. The effort brought in numerous new donors, some of whom provided significant leadership gifts, and several seven-figure donors doubled their commitments. Kris also conducted a successful Annual Fund Assessment and assisted with the implementation, resulting in an unprecedented 34% year-on-year increase in funds raised.

Kris serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Washington, DC Metro Area Chapter (Washington, DC) where she is President Elect. She previously served as Interim Chair of the Governance Committee and Vice Chair of the Education Committee. She also serves as Co-Chair of Education for the Bridge Conference (2024 & 2023). She previously served on the Board of Directors for the Union Meeting Hall (Ferrisburgh, VT).

Kevin Findlan is a strategic and entrepreneurial development leader and advisor. His portfolio of fundraising skills encompasses principal and major gifts, foundation and corporate philanthropy, government grants and contracts, and campaign design and direction. The initiatives he has led and advised during his career have together raised over a billion dollars for organizations across the nonprofit sector.

Since joining CCS in 2015, he has undertaken a range of projects on behalf of clients, including campaign planning and direction, development assessments, strategic planning, board engagement, systems analysis, and interim executive roles. His work has specialized in turnarounds and transformations as well as organizational capacity building. Prior to CCS, he spent a decade managing academic research centers in economics and urban planning at Columbia and NYU.

Within CCS, Kevin was a founding co-chair of CCS Elevate, the firm’s thought leadership initiative designed to apply CCS best practices to the next big questions in philanthropy, and is a member of the Higher Education Practice group. He also is an instructor and course author for CCS Learning and a highly sought mentor to his colleagues.

Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, a Masters in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, and Masters in Music from the University of Edinburgh. He lives in Greater Boston and is an active hiker, musician, arts supporter, and traveler.

Since joining CCS in 2017, Jessica has worked with clients in multiple sectors, including higher education, arts and culture, human services, foundations, and independent schools. She has conducted feasibility studies, designed annual fund and major gift plans, completed in-depth data analysis projects, and has managed all aspects of capital campaigns, from conception to major gifts to launching the public phase.

Jessica also partnered with a firmwide group of CCS consultants to identify how we can better support our clients’ work with volunteers, with a particular focus on how to turn an organization’s volunteers into donors. This is part of Jessica’s deep commitment to creating long-term, sustainable fundraising practices for her clients.

Prior to CCS, Jessica worked at several nonprofits as a fundraiser, volunteer manager, and engagement director. She has 15 years of experience planning and executing successful fundraising campaigns.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Jessica now lives in San Mateo, CA with her husband. She is the President of the Board of Directors of Palo Alto Players and volunteers with local nonprofits.

Jennifer has over a decade of experience working with institutional leadership and staff to create successful projects and build lasting relationships. Jennifer brings deep expertise in large scale campaign fundraising operations, management, and implementation, strategic planning, nonprofit management and organizational operations, feasibility and planning studies, leadership and major gift pipeline development, and annual giving program implementation.

Jennifer received her Master of Business Administration in Management and Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Salisbury University and is an adjunct professor within Notre Dame of Maryland’s Masters of Nonprofit Management program. She and her husband reside in Phoenix, MD.

With more than a decade of experience working in international philanthropy, Jennifer has worked for organizations focused on community and economic development, poverty solutions, human rights, religion and faith, secondary and higher education, and global health and healthcare. She is continually inspired by the impact nonprofits can make when connected to the necessary resources and capacity.

Jennifer has extensive experience with a variety of development initiatives, including major gifts, capital campaign design and implementation, running a development office, staff training, planning and feasibility studies, and specialist prospect research and strategy. She brings a wide range of cross-sector experience to her work at CCS since joining the firm in 2012.

Jennifer earned an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA from the University of Notre Dame. After leading campaigns from the New York City and London offices for many years, she is now based in her hometown of Pittsburgh, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Speaking and Community Involvement:

Association for Healthcare Philanthropy International Conference
AFP Pittsburgh Emerging Philanthropy Conference
Yale School of Management Reunions, Planning and Gift Committees

select client partners

The Lab School of Washington
Chabad Belgravia
Allegheny Health Network
Villanova University

Erin has worked to advance the missions of nonprofit organizations for over eight years. During this time, she has worked with organizations of all types, including a focus on arts and culture, health, education, religious, and human services causes. She specializes in fundraising, strategic planning, creative case messaging, donor communications, and volunteer management.

Erin’s experience in major gift strategy has been exhibited through her campaign management work with project goals ranging from $5 million to $100 million. Additionally, each of Erin’s managed feasibility studies have resulted in over $70 million raised in subsequent campaigns. Erin lead several successful major gift efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, navigating rapid change and uncertainty.

Erin holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Entrepreneurship from The University of Louisville and a Bachelor of Science in Community & Nonprofit Leadership and Entrepreneurship degree from The University of Wisconsin – Madison. Originally from Milwaukee, Erin currently resides in Chicago where she loves all aspects of living in the Midwest – including the snow! Erin enjoys playing tennis, traveling, cheering on all Wisconsin sports teams, and exploring the unique neighborhoods that Chicago has to offer with her husband, Jake, and Boston Terrier, Woody.

Select Client Partners

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati, OH
St. Paul Academy and Summit School, St. Paul, MN
Christ Church Winnetka, Winnetka, IL
B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, Deerfield, IL

Elizabeth joined the firm in 2017 after spending a decade supporting non-profits in New York, New York. Professionalism, diligence, curiosity, and dedication to hard work fuel Elizabeth’s passion for working with nonprofit organizations to help them achieve their goals. In her role, she brings operational and strategic leadership to CCS’s more complex engagements and partnerships with a focus on the health sector. She has worked across the spectrum of health institution and project types, led the planning and management of campaigns over $1 billion, directed the forming of collaborative philanthropic models, and has guided clients in securing multiple nine-figure gifts.

A lifelong learner and dynamic professional, Elizabeth’s clients appreciate the trust, organizational fluency, sense for opportunity, clear direction, and candor she brings to each of her engagements. Her areas of expertise include assessments and growth plans, strategic planning, campaigns, principal gift programs, and capacity building. Her goal with every client engagement is to elevate the organization’s overall capacity and efficacy to fundraise in support of its mission.

Within CCS, Elizabeth is a member of the CCS Board of Directors Innovation Sub-Committee. She also serves as the Executive Sponsor of CCS Elevate, the firm’s thought leadership incubator designed to apply CCS best practices to the next big questions in philanthropy – an initiative Elizabeth served as the founding Co-Chair of. She also regularly partners in speaking engagements with the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy and the Woodmark Summit.

Originally from San Diego, California, Elizabeth currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, where she was elected Captain of the Field Hockey team. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, fitness, and spending time outdoors with her 115-lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, Judd.