Sonia Armas

Sonia supports Lester Consulting Group’s staff to advance the standards and practice of effective management and philanthropy among the clients they serve. She joined LCG with over 15 years of experience in client management and support. Throughout her career, Sonia has worked with organizations across a wide range of industries –from network storage technology and manufactured homes, to key account sales. No matter which hat she’s wearing, her goal has been simple –to empower clients and organizations to drive measurable results while improving operational processes.

Sonia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication Studies from California State University, Chico. She also holds a certification in Project Management from the University of California, Sacramento.

Lorcan Barnes

Lorcan brings more than 24 years as a successful nonprofit President & CEO to his role as President of Lester Consulting Group. He has extensive experience in fundraising, board development, volunteer motivation, strategic planning, organizational leadership, fiscal responsibility, human resources, and facilities management.

Prior to purchasing LCG in July 2020, Lorcan served as President & CEO of Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento for 16 years. Throughout his career in education, Lorcan worked tirelessly to provide outstanding values-based education while keeping tuition affordable. He raised more than $50 million to provide educational access to low-income students, improve facilities, grow endowments, and provide competitive employee compensation.

He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola Marymount University and an M.B.A. from Woodbury University in Los Angeles.

Kia A. Harris Tattegrain

Kia A. Harris Tattegrain activates nonprofit founders/leaders into their purpose of serving others and partners with them to orchestrate the mission of their organization.

Founder and Executive Director of the humanitarian nonprofit organization, Dare Humanity, that creates and delivers programs for self-sufficiency, community-driven development, wellness, education, and entrepreneurship in Haiti and California. She earned a Master of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, and is a nonprofit educator and consultant specializing in communications, initial funding (individual donations), and strategy, planning and development for startups and established organizations. Through her business, Eclectivate™ LLC, she is able to serve nonprofits throughout the nation through nonprofit consulting efforts and education while creating bridges between the nonprofit sector and corporate sector. She enjoys traveling, teaching, learning, and giving back to the community through philanthropic efforts.

Marisa DeSalles

Marisa DeSalles is a Sacramento native who started a consultancy mentoring and training small nonprofits during the pandemic after 12 years of experience in the sector. She has been studying emerging trends in the fundraising landscape, including Community Centric Fundraising, and ways to apply societal shifts and technological advances to fundraising efforts. Her presentations are thought-provoking, fast-paced and engaging, with contagious enthusiasm seasoned with hard data and a good bit of dry humor.

Holly Wong

Holly Wong is passionate about equipping nonprofits to host successful events and projects without burning out staff and volunteers. Holly has more than 14 years’ experience managing details and logistics. She keeps track of timelines, budgets, and to-do lists so her clients can focus on relationships and programs. And she has assisted multiple organizations in the unexpected transition to virtual events and programming during the COVID pandemic.

Holly has managed auctions, crab feeds, conferences, luncheons, cycling events, trainings, and many more, widely varied events. She spent a decade working at various nonprofit organizations – learning to lead in event management, communications, and project management. When she moved from Houston, Texas, to Davis, California, in 2015, her employer asked her to continue on as a consultant, and Holly Wong Consulting was born.

Holly is detail-oriented and passionate about family, spelling and grammar, and serving the community. She loves traveling and exploring Northern California with her husband and two young daughters. She volunteers with Yolo County CASA and on the Board of Directors at the Junior League of Sacramento, and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Nonprofit Consultants Network of Sacramento.

Anne Davis East

Anne is a forward-thinking, social innovator with more than 20 years experience with nonprofit compliance, board of directors development, ethics training, strategic planning, and managing fund development programs for social service organizations, such as the March of Dimes. Anne’s funding strategies and programs have delivered over $10 million to social service causes to date.

Most recently, Anne served as CEO and Founder of AED Events where she engaged in event planning and management consultancy for social service organizations. AED Events built ongoing strategic relationships throughout the volunteer community and delivered over 100 events with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $600,000.

Anne continues her affiliation with several service and professional development organizations, including: National Association of Business Women, Association of Junior Leagues International, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Meeting Planners Association, Business Civic Leadership Center, AARP Women’s Leadership Circle, Cause Marketing Forum, and Center for Nonprofit Success.

Anne holds a Bachelor of Science degree from William Woods University and a Master of Science in Elementary Education from Lesley University.

Dr. Dene’ Starks

Ms. Starks is an educator, author, and international speaker who specializes in working with other professionals to find innovative and sustainable ways to transform lives through teaching and learning. Because of her passion for education, Ms. Starks founded a nonprofit called Diversif-I Education Group which promotes diversity through education by offering student and staff development programs, mentoring programs, and a host of other educational services to the underserved community. To tackle the increase in suspensions among black and brown youth, Ms. Starks successfully partnered with local schools to implement behavioral coaching programs, developed site specific student development programs, and mentoring programs. Ms. Starks has a proven track record of building strong corporate and community relationships as well as creating and implementing innovative programs and services. Ms. Starks serves as facilitator of governance workshops, leadership development programs, and strategic planning for organizations within the United States and abroad. Her professional experience includes developing community and economic development programs with a focus on student and staff development, workforce development, and compliance monitoring. In 2019, Ms. Starks was nominated for the Community Impact Award from the Sacramento Tapestry for her passion and extensive work transforming lives in the community.

Nancy Bacon

Nancy is a teacher and instructional designer who has served in the nonprofit roles of executive director, founding program director, board member, and volunteer since 1996. She led the teams creating Washington Nonprofits’ finance and board learning tools and regularly teaches on nonprofits topics in communities across Washington. She currently leads Nancy Bacon Consulting, a practice focused on learning and leadership in the nonprofit sector and is co-host of the Nonprofit Radio Show.

Celeste Sekigahama

Celeste is a Director at The Yoga Seed Collective, a nonprofit virtual trauma-informed training org, and has recently started her own company, Full Circle Strategies, which is focused on trauma-informed and personalized self care. She is passionate about providing tools for resilience that are accessible in the Sacramento community. Her background includes a degree in Feminist Studies, 500+ hours of yoga teacher training, and extensive teaching in environments such as jails and psychiatric hospitals. Her self-care seminar focuses on the stressful lifestyle of the non-profit professional and the importance of the caretaker taking care of themselves. It includes a reeducation on what self care is, some light movement and breath work, why stress is harmful, and tips and tricks to manage stress.

Kristen Snow

Kristen has spent over 15 years in the nonprofit sector, in both staff and consulting roles, primarily focused on program management and partnership development. Currently a doctoral student at the University of the Pacific, studying organizational leadership & innovation, her research interests include organizational development in the nonprofit sector, and how workplace culture affects organizational impact.

Most recently, Kristen served as the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). Prior to NEDA, Kristen was the Program Director and Acting Executive Director for A Chance to Heal Foundation. She has also worked as the Teen Coordinator for a community center on a military base in England, where she led Boys and Girls Clubs programs for children of service members. True to her collaborative nature, Kristen holds a master’s degree in Human Relations, and is a certified yoga teacher. When she is not studying or working with nonprofits, Kristen can be found traveling to new places (when not quarantined), wandering in nature and reading.

Andrew Crotto

Andrew Crotto is a passionate and vibrant fundraising professional with eyes towards the future of fundraising. With the current climate posed to significantly impact fundraising, Andrew aims to us his unique blend of creative vision and joy for philanthropy to address the challenges that many organizations will be facing.

Andrew helps non-profits take their existing fundraising strategies and craft them into comprehensive donor engagement plans. This can mean anything from revamping traditional direct mail and email solicitations, to implementing new and industry-leading fundraising technology. It can also mean helping groups to analyze and best use their donor data to target and engage their best donors, or helping a group participate in a day of giving for the first time.

As a true believer is the power nonprofit organizations have to affect change, Andrew works to ensure that all non-profits regardless of reach, reputation, or resources have access to the best talent, ideas, and practices.

Ryan Fuller

Ryan is an Assistant Professor of Management at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). Prior to working at CSUS, he was an Assistant Professor in the Applied Communication Department at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock where he taught courses in Conflict Management, Crisis Management, Negotiation, Public Speaking, and Leadership. His research interests focus on conflict management and crisis management, and he has published on these topics in peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Betsaida LeBron

ImprovEQ founder and facilitator Betsaida LeBron built her practice on a 14-year career that has combined psychology, diversity education, management and improv performance. She has served as a Director for multiple statewide nonprofit programs including the California Youth Crisis Line and a workforce training program with Mental Health America.

Betsaida is also a veteran improviser with over a decade of experience in performing, directing, and teaching improv. She has taught workshops across the nation and held corporate improv training workshops for such clients as Pacific Gas & Electric, Mead & Hunt, Blue Shield, Sam’s Club, Sysco Foods, and the California Coalition for Youth.

FSA Auctions

Freddie Silveria

Natasha Palumbo

Ms. Palumbo, also known as Professor Palumbo, has been an educator since 2000. She has more than 20 years of business administration experience and has been an entrepreneur since 2002. She is a creative leader with in-depth knowledge and expertise applying strategic business management, development of small business initiatives, and progressive leadership. She is a 4 times published author. All of her books are available nationwide. Ms. Palumbo has taken her trauma and turned it into triumph. She went from welfare to wealth. Today, she fearlessly and courageously shares her story of abuse, healing, freedom and the ability to not only overcome but to excel to all those she encounters. She has an innate ability to hold the attention of those she trains and teaches. She has been serving the homeless community since 2003, and she has a passion and love for those who society has labeled unimportant. Ms. Palumbo is also the mother of two beautiful children, which, above all, is her proudest accomplishment. Ms. Palumbo hosts an array of workshops and empowerment events.

Mellonie Richardson

Mellonie Richardson is a proud mother, loving wife, daughter, sister, and aunt. She is fueled by the power of community and sisterhood and committed to being a part of change whenever possible. She is passionate about family, children, the Black community, and social justice for all people.

For her undergraduate work she studied at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta Georgia and California State University, Sacramento where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications Studies and Media Production. She completed her graduate studies at the University of San Francisco, receiving a Master of Arts degree in Human Resources and Organizational Development.

Mellonie has worked for the Los Rios Community College District for over eleven years and is the Confidential Human Resources Officer overseeing recruitment for the district. Los Rios is the second largest community college district in California educating approximately 75,000 students annually with over 4,000 employees. Her professional experiences include positions in recruitment, training, organization development, and management in non-profit and private industry. Mellonie is also the principle consultant of Bene Consulting Group, a Human Resources and Organizational Development firm, providing professional services to small businesses, non-profits, and faith based organizations.

She has been involved with social justice change and community outreach since she was a teenager and was acknowledged as a Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) honoree for her continued commitment.

Mellonie is one of the founding members of the Sacramento Sister Circle and serves on the leadership team. Sacramento Sister Circle is a social network of nearly 7,000 Black women holding to critical pillars of self-love, education, outreach, and political activism. She is also on the advisory committee for GirlTrek, a national walking and social justice movement for over 170,000, African American Women, and President of the Los Rios Community College District’s Black Faculty and Staff Association.

Mellonie’s second term with the Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s board of directors is an exciting opportunity to continue to contribute to the wonderful work, of improving the lives of African Americans and other underserved communities, already being done by the highly respected Chamber and Foundation.

Michael F. Allyn

Experience & Skills: Mike is an independent contractor focusing on prospect development and grant writing. Mike combines 20 years of executive management experience with 14 years of fundraising to help clients develop strategies for increased grant funding. Mike has worked with organizations of all sizes, with a proven record of success. He has authored over 400 grants, resulting in more than $8 million in funding from both public and private sources. Mike is skilled at program analysis, budget development, outcomes establishment, and database research.

Clients: Mike has written successful grants for organizations with missions in education, disability, youth, visual and performing arts, workforce development, cultural heritage, seniors and health. Sacramento area clients include: Elica Health Centers, Society for the Blind; St. John’s Program for Real Change, Meristem, United Cerebral Palsy of Sacramento and Northern California; Touch of Understanding; and California Homebuilders Foundation. Bay Area clients include Lighthouse for the Blind and Jewish Community Foundation of San Francisco.

Services: Mike’s aim is to help organizations re-align their existing fundraising strategies, identify new sources of grant funding, and improve success with current funders. He specializes in helping non-profits express their mission, position their organizations for funding success, and demonstrate their value, impact and sustainability to prospective funders. Likely projects include: funder searches, organizational positioning to maximize grant funding, prospective grant assessment, and grant writing to private foundations, as well as corporate and government sources. Mike can also assist newer organizations to determine their readiness to pursue grants.

Fees: Mike is conscious of the limited resources of non-profit organizations to seek grant funding and works to help clients balance grant seeking expenses with potential funding success. His services are provided on an hourly or project basis. Mike welcomes interested organizations to contact him for an introductory telephone consultation at no charge.

Christine Calvin

Christine brings years of insight and great experience as the current Director of Marketing and Communications at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. At the museum she is responsible for the strategic planning, creative development, implementation, and evaluation of marketing and branding efforts for one of California’s premier arts institutions, and as a coach she works with clients to identify and remove barriers to success so they can reach their goals faster and live more enriched and joyful lives.

Christine has been named one of the Sacramento Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”, is a graduate of Leadership Sacramento, is a fellow of the Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program, and is a junkie for all things personal development. Nothing makes her feel more fulfilled than supporting others in their journeys to achieving goals and experiencing self-actualization. She is also a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster youth in Sacramento county, providing a stable and positive relationship for children who are navigating “the system” and finding their way.

California born and raised, Christine studied journalism and magazine writing at the University of Missouri, Columbia before moving to Lake Tahoe to become a short-term ski bum and long-term thrill seeker. When not coaching clients or managing a marketing team, Christine and her husband Scott travel to some of the world’s most compelling places to fish, explore cultures, and eat just about anything.

Most recently — and with the help of her coach — Christine and Scott decided to reprioritize their life, buy a farm, and commit to living their values of building community, caring for friends and neighbors, living simply, and loving richly.

Sally H. Coates Consulting

Sally Coates

Sally has over 30 years of both professional and volunteer nonprofit experience.  Her three Executive Director positions have been with the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program in San Francisco, Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of California and the San Francisco Bay Area affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Sally currently serves on the boards of the Episcopal Senior Communities Foundation and Friends of Child Advocates of Placer County.  Highlights of her volunteer experience include President of the Junior League of San Francisco (1995-96), as Chair of the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (2002-04) and as Chair of Episcopal Community Services of America (2006-2009).

Professionally she is on the faculty of the Impact Foundry teaching courses in non-profit organizational development and finance. She also is an operating partner in a family-owned company, Crystal Bay Solutions that consults on and develops integrated software solutions for a wide range of non-profit workflow management challenges.

She has used her professional and volunteer experiences to start her own non-profit consulting company mentoring and coaching non-profit executives and boards as well as consulting on strategic planning, organizational development and team alignment and productivity improvement.

Sally and her husband Cullen live in Lincoln, CA and have two grown children, Elizabeth Coates James, and Alexander Cullen Coates.

Shayne Corriea-Fernandez

Shayne Corriea-Fernandez is an Insurance Agent of NM and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (long-term care insurance), a subsidiary of NM. Registered Representative of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (securities), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, and member FINRA and SIPC.

Carolyn Rich Curtis, Ph.D.

Carolyn Rich Curtis, Ph.D. is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is author of Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience, a psychoeducational program to overcome trauma. She founded and was the former Executive Director of the Relationship Skills Center. In her clinical practice of thirty-five years, she specialized in working with couples, alcohol and drug abuse, and trauma. She was an Adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department of California State University, Sacramento and American River College. Dr. Curtis is a trainer of facilitators in several major relationship education programs: Bringing Baby Home, Mastering the Mysteries of Love, Relationship Enhancement, PAIRS. She is a Certified Imago Therapist and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She presented papers at major national and international conferences including speaking at the White House. She is a recipient of the Presidential Point of Light Award.

Glen Drouin

Harbor HR was founded by Glen Drouin and was a culmination of a life long desire to be able to help owners focus on their business and not so much in their business. Having seen his father be a one-man show for much of his business career, Glen realized that outsourcing and being able to delegate was a critical component of any successful business.

Glen spent 12 years working at and leading his father’s building supply company in Rochester, NY. After that, Glen wondered what is was like in the “real world”, which he described as anything outside of his family business. Glen then moved to Boston and joined a large national company and spent 20 successful years in the human resource outsourcing industry.

Glen worked in HR in New York, Massachusetts, and Florida before meeting his wife and relocating to Northern California. Upon arrival, he quickly learned that California has the most stringent labor laws and small to medium sized businesses were caught in the crosshairs of trying to maintain compliance. Glen always had a passion for helping business owners grow their business while protecting it and knew that in order to provide the hands-on approach he and his clients wanted he would need to start his own company. Thus, Harbor HR was born, a safe harbor for your business.

Glen and the Harbor HR team have a true desire to help you and your company excel in the area of employee management. When you need HR and Safety support, Harbor HR can provide you and your business the highest level of service.

Eaton Nonprofit Solutions

Rick Eaton

Rick led the Sierra Service Project (SSP), a regional nonprofit headquartered in Sacramento, from 2001 until 2018. Under his leadership, SSP tripled its budget and increased is operational footprint by 50 percent. Charitable contributions grew from less than $40,000 to over $500,000 annually.

Prior to joining Sierra Service Project, Rick spent 20 years as a software developer and technology manager in the high-tech sector. He managed enterprise-scale software development projects focused on logistics and administrative applications.

Rick is a proud Chico State graduate with Bachelor and Master degrees in Computer Science. He has lived in Sacramento since 1976.

Rick’s website: www.eatonnpsolutions.com

Jill Felty

Jill Felty is an experienced digital strategist and creative director who helps guide small businesses and nonprofits to success through strong, clear messaging and smart strategy to reach your ideal audience.

Her experience with donors in nonprofit broadcasting and media has fueled her passion to help organizations build a better brand by using an engaging social media platform that inspires supporters to connect with organizations on a deeper level. Whether it’s using Facebook ads and direct mail to raise funds for a capital campaign or simply engaging through email marketing to steward donors, Jill is passionate about utilizing digital tools to grow organizations reach and engagement online.

Jill has enough excitement and passion to go around and believes the best experiences are the ones that are shared in community with one another, and she hopes to instill that same feeling in each and every one of her clients.

Tania Fowler

Tania Fowler was born and raised in San Francisco – a mere five blocks from Golden Gate Park. Growing up an inquisitive kid, her father often begged her to stop asking so many questions. Off to study at the University of California at Santa Barbara where she got curious about the earth and rocks, she received her BA degree in Geological Sciences. She went to work with Shell Oil Company in Houston, Texas in the early 80’s during the oil energy boom. After getting married, she hit the ‘pause’ button on her work life to become the mother of three sons, thankfully not all at once, but one at a time. After staying home for twelve years and taking care of her precious, if not raucous brood, she received her real estate license and worked as a realtor for seven years in Sacramento, California, quickly reaching the select level of Masters Club. While selling real estate, Tania honed her communication, coaching, and people skills and decided that she was more interested in helping people realize their work dreams than their dream homes.

Tania has since worked with loads of business executives, their teams, managers, and educators since 2006. She received an Executive Coaching Certification from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Ed Program, CTI (Coaches Training Institute), and NLP of California (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Tania is a certified Gallup StrengthsFinders Coach and a Myers-Briggs consultant specializing in Temperament and Interaction Styles. She has worked with numerous organizations some of which include: CGI, VSP, Seagate Technology, EDS, Cohn-Reznick Accountants, as well as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Crocker Art Museum, Comstock’s Magazine, PRO Youth and many more nonprofits and individual executives.

She has been an ongoing contributor to Comstock’s Magazine over the years and you can read her articles and see some video-casts on this website.

Tania brings years of experience focusing on unbeatable performance by shoring up a strengths-based approach to working with executive and managerial leaders and their teams to create a work environment obsessed with aligning their actions, communications, and leadership with their business purposes and objectives; essentially helping to build healthier and more engaged organizations. Whether working with businesses or individuals, Tania’s focus remains the same: to recognize and stand in the belief that the potential of an organization or an individual is even greater than what you see before you at any given time.

Sue Fry

“In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. That means we have 1,440 daily opportunities to make a positive impact.” Les Brown

Sue Fry is fiercely committed to guiding executive women to command the respect they deserve; so they can become the powerful leaders they are meant to be, enjoy successful careers and personal lives, and provide examples of what is possible.

Sue Fry is a proven professional who can get you on your path to your most fulfilling life and career. With over 24 years of experience in public-sector positions including 12 years of managing some of the most controversial water issues in the West and stints at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, Sue has learned tools and techniques to navigate the often chaotic work world and create balance in life.

Sue is energized by the ability to make a difference every minute of every day. Sue’s experience sets her apart from other executive coaches. She is skilled at navigating the waters of a highly political executive career. She has experienced this challenge first hand and turned it around to create an enjoyable and supportive workplace and personal life.

Sue is a Certified Co-active Professional Coach with the Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, California and an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation. Additionally, she is a certified personal trainer and enjoys outdoor activities including mountain and road cycling, cross-country and downhill skiing, and hiking.

Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP

Scott E. Galbreath

Scott E. Galbreath leads the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practice Team at Murphy Austin but also practices in the tax exempt organization area.  He has more than 30 years of experience in the tax-exempt organization area, including establishing nonprofit corporations and obtaining recognition of exempt status; advising on unrelated business income tax, private foundation status, commercial co-ventures, and private inurement.

Team Giving

Trudy Harris

Team Giving inspires, guides and advocates for local non-profits

by matching them with volunteers to complete volunteer projects.  Our innovative approach addresses vital community needs while building partnerships between businesses, individuals, service clubs and the nonprofit community.

By connecting interested individuals and groups with non-profits that need their time and talents, Team Giving reduces the burden on non-profits and provides community members with an easy and meaningful way to help improve and strengthen their communities.

Since opening our doors in February of 2016, we have partnered with over 60 non-profit organizations in the greater Sacramento region. We have coordinated with over 1400 volunteers and facilitated 7200+ completed volunteer hours, all to serve those most in need.

Team Giving is creating lasting relationships between volunteer groups and nonprofits in their communities. At Team Giving we inspire compassion and promote giving and our work supports personal growth and community development.

By building these relationships, we create the potential for long-term impact in the community.  We create viable connections between those who want to give their time and talents and the nonprofit communities.  Volunteers generate additional resources for the people served and help nonprofits meet their missions and goals.

Please visit our website at teamgiving.org for more information on what we do and how we help in the community.

We look forward to working with you to match your volunteer needs.

EXPRESSIONS

Miriam Houghton

Miriam Houghton is President of EXPRESSIONS (Grant Writing, Consulting, and Training), based in Sacramento, California. Miriam has written and edited more than 1,400 proposals and supporting document packages and reviewed over 900 more. Her work over the last 34 years has resulted in revenue for her clients and employers now totaling $110 million. She works all over California and in other states with non-profit organizations, public agencies, and businesses.

In 2014, California’s Capital Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals selected Miriam as their Outstanding Fundraising Professional for 2015.

Miriam has worked in a wide variety of program areas, including healthcare (physical and mental health); education; criminal justice; programs for the disabled and the aging; programs of all types for the economically disadvantaged; domestic violence; the arts; humanities; environmental issues; and microenterprise programs.

She has provided training workshops for the Impact Foundry in Sacramento for the past 27 years, and she regularly makes training presentations at national conventions and for her clients. Miriam has been an active member of the National Association of Fundraising Professionals member for 27 years. She has served as a member of the Board of the AFP’s Sacramento Chapter and she Co-Chaired the Professional Development/Program Committee.

Miriam is a popular presenter. Her grant writing work and her extensive experience with focused and well-received grant writing workshops provide the ideal experience for this training today. As a Grants Consultant, she works with clients to ensure they meet funders’ specific, mandatory requirements for proposal submissions. With these workshops she will walk you through how to get started and how to be more competitive, while still retaining your sanity!
What prior workshop participants had to say about Miriam:

“Miriam was incredibly resourceful and supportive. It was evident that she enjoys teaching these workshops, which made it all the more enjoyable for those attending.”

“Everything the speaker had to say was gold nugget. I recommended her to my coworkers. She knows her biz and I am grateful to have had this opportunity.”

“Miriam’s experience, understanding and insight make her an outstanding presenter. I love coming to her classes.”

Jessica Hubbard

Jessica Hubbard is a corporate social responsibility and philanthropy professional with a particular background in the education sector. She is currently a consultant specializing in those fields, with an emphasis on strategic planning, program design, and partnership development (partner identification, due diligence, negotiations, and management). Jessica is passionate about the intersection of business and society and believes that all companies can improve their competitiveness by engaging more deeply with the social issues that create risk and opportunity for their business models.

Jessica founded and led the CSR function as Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the global education company. In that capacity, she developed and executed an innovative and award-winning employee engagement strategy, built HMH’s reputation through major nonprofit partnerships, and led a multi-stakeholder effort to improve the sustainability of HMH’s supply chain. Previously, she served as a corporate philanthropy consultant at Changing Our World (Omnicom Group), where she advised companies on strategic social engagement; as a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s CSR Initiative; as founder of the blog Reimagining CSR and Corporate Philanthropy Editor for onPhilanthropy.com; and on a short-term project with the MAC AIDS Fund at Estee Lauder’s MAC Cosmetics, where she worked on international grantmaking strategy. Jessica also worked on digital media strategy at WGBH, the public media producer, for the group that produces educational children’s TV shows and other media.

Jessica graduated from Harvard Business School, where she served as co-president of the school’s Social Enterprise Club, and Harvard College, where she was student body vice president.

Tyra Jarvis

Tyra Jarvis is the founder and president of Kefi Coaching LLC. She is a life reinvention mentor and works with leaders from all sectors facing career and life transitions longing to experience passion, drive purpose and discover their place in the world. Whatever their challenge, Tyra helps her clients get inspired and empowered, unstuck and moving forward so they can live life with more freedom, fulfillment, and fun every day. She specializes in reinvention and transformation, by listening for possibility and being a stand for you living an extraordinary life. Join this amazing, powerful community to jumpstart your extraordinary life.

Linebarger Grantseeking Services

Suzanne Linebarger

Suzanne Linebarger is an independent consultant providing a full array of professional grantseeking services, from foundation research and grant writing to grant program development and training.

With 22 years of experience in various fields of fund development, she has a rare understanding of the strategy of grantseeking within the context of other fundraising efforts. Suzanne has concentrated on grant writing for the past 13 years, raising more than $49 million for her clients. Suzanne has broad experience in a variety of program areas, with a strong focus in children’s issues, social services, education, health, and aging.

Suzanne has provided trainings through the Sacramento Nonprofit Resource Center, Modesto NSFRE (now AFP), Association of Fundraising Professionals (Capital Chapter) and as a guest speaker at Technical Writing, Composition, and Seniors Honors classes at University of the Pacific.

Steve Raymond

Steve Raymond is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional with more than 9 years of experience assisting investors in the pursuit of financial well-being. Steve earned a master’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis on investments, from the University of Miami, and now specializes in providing professional guidance for retirement and estate planning. Steve is dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience.

Through open dialogue and a clear understanding of financial goals, he builds lasting client relationships by helping clients develop and maintain a sound financial plan to pursue long-term goals. SAFE FINANCIAL SERVICES Steve also assists nonprofit organizations with their endowments, foundations and investment portfolios, paying particular attention to making sure that fiduciary best practices are being followed. He is a faculty member of the Impact Foundry, teaching Executive Directors, Development Officers and Board Members about advanced strategies in planned giving.

Jessica Rhodes

Jessica’s role as the Director of Strategy at 3fold is, well, three-fold. With an MBA in nonprofit management and marketing, Jess helps our clients in identifying and creating business strategies to help them meet their goals; she is a master strategist, absorbing dreams and capabilities and transforming them to implementable plans. She is an expert in managing and monitoring inbound and outbound communications to help our clients reach their target audiences.

Public Interest Management Group (PIMG)

Scott Schaffer

Wendie Skala

Wendie graduated from San Jose State University and holds a Masters’ degree in Military Science. Following her graduation, she specialized in intensive care and emergency nursing with emphasis on cardiovascular disease. Wendie flew for Stanford Life Flight 10 years and honed her skills in prehospital transport of critically injured patients. She joined the Air Force Reserve in 1999 and achieved the rank of Lt Col while serving 7 deployments overseas in support of OPERATION IRAQI AND ENDURING FREEDOM. She assumed command and control roles and functioned as the Chief Nurse for air operations in Afghanistan. She served as the Injury Prevention Coordinator for Kaiser Permanente’s first trauma center in South Sacramento. There she implemented the Sacramento Violence Intervention Program. As a community leader in ACEs and Trauma Informed Care, Wendie championed the Alternatives to Violence Program, Resilient Sac, an ACEs Connection Collaborative, and served on various boards working with law enforcement, schools, non-profits, and government agencies. She has presented nationally and is a contributing author and educator of the American Trauma Society’s Injury Prevention Course. Wendie is Adjunct Faculty at Samuel Merritt’s School of Nursing in Sacramento.

The Third Sector Company

Jeffrey Wilcox

Jeffrey Wilcox is an experienced grant-maker, nonprofit executive and fundraiser turned entrepreneur.  As President and CEO of The Third Sector Company, he leads one of the largest teams of professionals in the United States dedicated to the study, teaching, and practice of succession planning, interim executive leadership and chief executive performance advancement for the nonprofit sector. Third Sector Company has bases of operations in Long Beach, Orange County, and Sacramento, California; Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Since its founding in 2002, Third Sector Company has provided services to over 600 nonprofits in the United States and Canada and has provided interim leadership to organizations, congregations and associations whose combined assets total more than $1 billion. He is the former Senior Vice President of United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and Valley of the Sun United Way in Phoenix, Arizona, and executive director of CHOC Children’s Hospital Foundation in Orange County, CA.

Wilcox is the former nonprofit columnist for the Long Beach Business Journal; founder of “The Board Chairs Academy;” and author of “The Nonprofit Leader of the New Decade.” He co-developed and is the former lead trainer for the Wells Fargo New Executive Directors Institute of Greater Los Angeles and the Developing Development Program/Sustaining a Culture of Philanthropy in partnership with Executive Service Corps of Southern California. He is on the board of AFP Advancement Northwest in Seattle and is the immediate past chairman of the Executive Advisory Board of the School of Business, Government and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He is also the former chapter President of AFP Orange County (CA), a trainer for the CFRE review course, and is a former national chairman of the Executive Transitions and Succession Planning Affinity Group for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management.

YDN Strengths Development Network

Helen Yee

Positivity-Achiever-Relator-Activator-Arranger

Ms. Helen Yee, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach with YDN Strengths Development Network with over 25 years of nonprofit board and organizational experience brings expertise on team building, event coordination, training, facilitation and fund and board development to her tenure of service. Ms. Yee’s focus is to bring the strengths-based approach to the workplace, including boards to optimize team engagement and promote lasting changes in their workplace culture. She is also in a select group certified to lead the CliftonStrengths Discovery Course.

Ms. Yee brings Strengths to life through her extensive professional experience . She has been actively involved in several major fundraising campaigns and her biggest leadership achievement occurred when she chaired “Libraries for Our Future” which was responsible for the passage of a library ballot measure resulting in millions of dollars of funding for Sacramento City Libraries. Currently she serves on several boards including Sutter Medical Center Foundation, California Museum, and Impact Foundry. Ms. Yee has also been a speaker at major conferences including District Dental Society’s Mid-Winter Convention and the What If Conference for California non-profits. Currently she facilitates workshops regularly for Impact Foundry and the California Capital Business Center on various Strengths topics.

Prior to work with nonprofits, Ms. Yee was a serial entrepreneur opening stores in a major Sacramento mall and a pharmaceutical sales representative, receiving a top national award for professional sales success.

Ms. Yee’s broad array of experience and commitment to bringing out the best in people has fueled her Strengths development and provides many real experiences her clients can relate to and use to enhance their personal and professional journey.