Her Story
About Maria
After graduating from college, I thought I wanted to work in advertising and did that for a few years, but became very disillusioned with some of the ethics of what was happening at the agency I was in. I had a major disagreement with the president of the firm because they were not ethically charging a non-profit client that we had, so I quit without knowing what I was going to do. I just knew that I wanted to be in non-profit, so I started interviewing with lots of different nonprofits and was lucky enough to end up at the Nature Conservancy, where I stayed for 18 years. I started off in communications, media relations and organizational development work, but fairly quickly moved into the fundraising side of things. I managed a team of communications and fundraising staff spread across 20 time zones. When I joined the Asia-Pacific region of the organization, it was fairly new compared to many other programs and was overly dependent on a handful of large foundations, receiving 90% of its money from foundations and only 10% from individuals. I aimed to shift that balance and increased the private fundraising from about $1.5 million to $13 million, with the balance shifting to 90% individuals and 10% foundations, which is a much more stable donor base. After my boss retired and was replaced by someone based in China who wanted to focus on in-region fundraising, I was not prepared to relocate to Hong Kong. At the time I was traveling extensively internationally with two young children, and my husband suggested I take some time to help him build his general contracting business. During that time, I did volunteer work for nonprofits, took on an interim executive director role for a homeless organization, and was just getting ready to launch my own nonprofit for the homeless when COVID hit. I really missed the non-profit world full-time, particularly in conservation, so I decided to get back into it. I've been Director of Individual Giving for Panthera for 2 years now, focusing on building a major gifts program for this organization celebrating its 20th year.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maria
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from a mentor at the Nature Conservancy who told me that if I wanted to continue to grow at the Conservancy, I had to learn how to do one of two things: either learn how to raise money or learn how to do land deals. She said she thought I should absolutely try to be a director of development at a small state chapter. Just the week before, I had run into the state director from Maryland who asked me if I wanted to be the director of development, and I told him I didn't have any fundraising experience. My mentor told me to call him right now and tell him I'd changed my mind. He hired me, and that advice completely changed the trajectory of my career and opened up the path that led to all my subsequent success in fundraising.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
First, I would want to be sure that it is something she really understood and that she understood what qualities she had that would be in alignment with working in the nonprofit. I'd want to see if it is the programmatic side, the operations side, or the fundraising side - what area does she really want to get into? If she wants to get in on the fundraising side, I would tell her these are the type of skills that you're going to need, and this is a typical path. You would start off as maybe a development coordinator, and then you could move up to a development assistant, and I'd give them what that path would look like. I would tell them that working in nonprofit is extremely rewarding. And I'd tell them to find a field that they're very passionate about. Don't just go to any nonprofit. If you're very passionate about conservation, go into conservation. If you're passionate about education, go into education. But figure out what really excites you, because as a fundraiser, you are only as good as your ability to convey your passion for what you're supporting, for what you're raising money for.
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