Dear friends,
I’m writing today to share an update for the US National Philanthropy Group (NPG), related to their structure. As noted in Overflow25, balancing expenses and growing revenue remains Living Water’s strategic priority at this time. Over the past year, Peggy Shriver, as Chief Development Officer (CDO) performed a number of ‘deep dives’ or philanthropy audits to best determine where and when the organization should focus on key revenue drivers and operations. Based on Peggy’s recommendation following this work and with input from Mike and me, we are suspending the role of CDO and creating multiple teams within NPG that will report directly to Mike and coordinate with Marketing & Communication (M&C) and the Program Generated Revenue (PGR) team.
Peggy will continue to serve the organization and has requested to focus her energy on philanthropy operations and events (foundational “block & tackle”, systems, training, events, prospecting, etc.). Considering the upcoming Watershed Weekend event next May, this will create a focused cross-team effort to support this all-important major donor acquisition activity. In place of the CDO position we are creating a President’s Council to represent and coordinate the entire funding ecosystem of NPG, Operations, M&C and Trips, US Church Engagement, and PGR (dotted line).
The Presidents Council will include Peggy, Jeff Chase, Jodi Mohney, Kevin Magee, Camille Rodriquez, and Natalie Mantel. Peggy will assume the role of VP, Philanthropy/Operations and Jeff will be promoted to the role of VP, Philanthropy. See the high-level charts below for more detail. These changes will be effective July 3, 2023.
The NPG teams’ ability to properly steward existing donors for recurring gifts plus grow prospects by $3.5 million represents a significant challenge for FYE24 and will require all to serve at their highest capacity. This functionalized structure working across our fundraising teams and with Mike will position NPG for greater success, maintaining and accelerating fundraising momentum. I appreciate all the research, analysis, and effort that has been undertaken and look forward to seeing the fruits of this labor in our next fiscal year.
Shona Barnard, MBA
Chief Human Resource Officer
