Her Story
About Debbi
I transitioned from being an IT director to founding my nonprofit consulting business in 2019, though I've been working with nonprofits for over 20 years. My journey began with a deeply personal experience at the Virginia Thirst and Healing Garden, an integrative cancer support wellness center, where I participated in their caregiver support group while navigating a diagnosis for a family member. This experience changed my life and inspired me to ensure they would be there for the next person. I worked pro bono for them for 3 months, and they became my first client and remain one today. Now I lead a team specializing in nonprofit business consulting and grant writing, working directly with clients and developing training programs for nonprofits. I'm hyper-focused on small nonprofits in Massachusetts so I can build deep relationships with funders. In our first 5 years, we've raised over $20 million for our clients. My work spans diverse causes including food pantries, urban gardening through hydroponics, veterans organizations, wellness organizations, environmental causes, and youth-focused programs. I use a lot of technology and automation in my work, drawing on my IT background. One of my proudest moments was helping the Healing Garden survive during COVID when I started writing grants just before the pandemic hit and their donations were cutting back. Their development director told me she thinks if I hadn't been writing grants, they would have closed.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Debbi
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it's because the work is passion-driven and so meaningful. You just want to make a difference. Being able to see the impact keeps me going. For example, I have a food pantry in Leominster that I started working with four years ago. They had a thousand people that came to the pantry, and now they're up to 4,400 in a month. We help them get the money they need to provide that food or to update their facilities. We got them an ADA lift so people that couldn't walk up the stairs to get into the building can now use the lift. We've got them emergency generators so if the power goes out, the food's not going to spoil. I just really love the work. I absolutely love this work and can't imagine doing anything else.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
That's not a people problem, it's a process problem. I had a manager who taught me that everybody, for the most part, wants to come in and do a good job. And if they're not being successful, look at what the process is and how can you change it to set them up for success.
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