Ashley Logan

My career in the nonprofit sector spans over 15 years and began with my service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Panama. While there, I was starting new humanitarian projects, and one of the unique things about Peace Corps is they give you really great training, but there are not financial resources to fund the projects. At that time, I had to lean into grant writing as well as fundraising from back home in the States, spreading the word about what I was doing to generate my own funds. I was also awarded funding through a highly competitive international grant program. That experience taught me that I enjoy the process of fundraising and sharing the word about really great projects that people may be interested in supporting. Since then, I have stayed in that space, continuing to work in the fundraising for nonprofits. I earned my bachelor's from University of California, Los Angeles, and I had the privilege of experiencing one of the best public educations that exist. In my field, although you can earn your credential for fundraising, you've really got to learn through experience. For the past 15 years, that's what I've been doing - working with different organizations, learning from each one, and just taking that knowledge to build my base. I earned a CFRE credential, which stands for Certified Fundraising Executive, and that is a multi-year process to earn that credential. It's globally recognized and really the only credential for this type of work that I do. I've been with Montgomery County Food Bank for over 2 years now, a food bank that serves all of Montgomery County and provided 10 million meals last year. As of March 1st, I am transitioning to be the leader of Montgomery County Community Foundation, which provides grants and scholarships all throughout Montgomery County to nonprofit organizations and students pursuing college or further education. In my new role, I work within the community to understand what all nonprofit organizations are doing in our county, trying to understand their needs and the needs of our local people, so that when funding is available, we make sure we're granting out funding where it's needed most. I also get to know people in the community who want to support important projects, making sure that their charitable wishes are fulfilled if they would like to set up a fund with our foundation.