The Journey - Part 6

Hello...

I often start personal projects and never complete them... and this "journey" is an example of that.  The funny thing is that most of this journey was written many months ago and I just never got around to posting it all.   

There are lots of reasons for that.  Part of me has never been entirely comfortable with sharing my story.  I've gone back and forth in my mind about whether or not it was a good idea.

Well, here I am again.  I don't know if anyone continues to check this blog for updates, but it doesn't really matter.  Time to pick up where I last left off...

Part 6

My first interview was a phone interview with Chapman University. This actually occurred prior to my leave of absence from UCI. I talked with Delite Travis who was the AVP of Strategic Engagement and Development at the time.

During the interview, I asked her what prompted her to interview me and she said, “You wrote a great cover letter.” It was nice to hear and gave me much needed confidence in my approach.

Well, I bombed on the phone interview. Again, you have to keep in mind that in the previous 15 years, I hadn’t had a lot of experience interviewing.  This all took place, while I sat in my car in the parking lot outside of my office at UCI. 

It was my first big step and even though I failed, I was all in. I knew I would learn from that experience and I was ready to move forward.

I knew I would get interviews because I knew my cover letter would open some doors.  Chapman University was validation of that and even though I failed in my first interview, I was confident I was going to get interviews and if I could get in front of enough people, someone would eventually give me the opportunity to prove myself.

I was fully committed. I didn’t care how many nonprofits I had to reach out to or how many interviews I’d have to go on. I knew I’d get better at the process with each attempt. I was going to make it happen.

June through August of 2015 is somewhat of a blur to me now. I don’t quite remember the chronological order of events, but I do remember the events themselves.

The order of things isn’t really important now. So, let’s move on, but please keep in mind all of this took place during a period of 3-4 months and in no particular order…

One of the things I did early on was reach out to Christy Cates at Cal-Tech to seek out her advice. Christy had recruited me to UCI and I valued her professional experience and opinion. When Christy left UCI, I wrote her a note thanking her for all she did while at UCI and for her role in recruiting not only me, but all of the others who were trying to make an impact for UCI.

I sought out Christy’s perspective for my situation and she was gracious with her time. She recommended I talk to Andrea Taylor, who was the VP of University Relations and Development at my alma mater – Cal-State Long Beach (CSULB). It was a great suggestion.

Utilizing my connection to Christy and the fact I was actually at CSULB alumnus, I connected with Andrea. We met one afternoon off campus and she provided great insights and advice. She also suggested I talk to Pamela Hillman, who was the former VP of Development at CSUF. Our conversation also laid the ground work for an opportunity that would come about a little bit later.

When an opportunity for a DO position opened up at CSULB, I reached out to Andrea and she encouraged me to apply. I interviewed with the AVP, Kevin Crowe and I believe I had a shot at landing a position there. This happened in the later part of my search and would I would eventually withdraw my name from consideration. More on that to come.

Andrea and I have remained in contact since that time. I would later send her the name of a CSULB alum, who I came across while at a dinner honoring my wife’s boss. This would end up being a person not on the CSULB’s radar and she was appreciative of the lead. That dinner – would also prove to be another dot connecting story, but more about that later.

Andrea has since retired from CSULB, but remains active as a consultant. I believe she even reads my blog from time to time.  We continue to stay in touch and she’s been a great resource not only for me, but for others I’ve connected to her.

Who knows what might have happened if the timing of things might have been different. I very well might have ended up at CSULB as a gift officer. At least, I’d like to think so.

I also met with Pamela per Andrea’s suggestion and she had tons of advice and a willingness to reach out to her colleagues on my behalf. This included Kevin Crowe at CSULB among others.  Her willingness to spend time with me and offer herself as a resource is something I’ll never forget.

Pamela is still active today, most recently serving as the VP of Development at Northern Arizona University. We keep in touch to this day.

I also did an informational phone interview with Theresa Duncan, thanks to a recommendation from my friend, Joe. Theresa was at the Aquarium of the Pacific at the time.

I also engaged with Claudia Looney, the former head of development at CHLA with the help of Suzanne Szalay. Claudia became yet another great resource and door opener for me. She forwarded job opportunities my way and offered advice whenever I needed some.

In each and every recruitment process, I made a point to connect with anyone I talked to by following up on LinkedIn. I did this routinely and haven’t stopped ever since. In many cases, I’ve been able to develop a relationship and engage with people as a result of that effort. I never closed the door on making a possible connection and that mindset has served me well over the years.

During my search, I would do phone interviews with The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, The Red Cross, and others. I also applied to numerous organizations that I never heard back from. I really put forth a great deal of effort, knowing if I did the work – I would eventually get results.

I had face to face interviews with Mission Hospital, Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Olive Crest, Habitat for Humanity, Whittier College, UCLA (for a Donor Relations position), and Concordia University.

More on all of those experiences in a bit.

In June of 2015, I applied for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Development Officer position at Azusa Pacific University. Yes, you read that right, APU. It’s when I first made contact and ultimately a connection with the VP, Corbin Hoornbeek.

We had a phone conversation, one June morning and in the course of our conversation, we talked about our faith and fundraising. It wasn’t your typical interview conversation by any means. Faith had never come up before in any of my interviews.

I was doing my best to make a case for an opportunity as a gift officer, but Corbin focused on my experience in prospect development instead.  Our conversations would take place on and off through the beginning of August of 2015.

At that point, Corbin sent an email telling me even though he understood my interest in a major gift role, he was primarily interesting in exploring what I might bring to the table in prospect development. He said, if a leadership position ever opened up at APU in this area, he would be interested in talking with me.

Corbin would reach out again at some point to see if I was interested in doing some consulting. I wasn’t able to take him up on the offer at that time, but ended up referring friend and colleague Angie Thieman, who was the former Director of Development Services at UC San Diego (UCSD) and was working as a consultant at the time.

I have yet another dot connecting story about this that I’ll get to later.

The chain of events that surrounded my APU adventure would prove valuable later on. I keep saying this over and over again, but it’s true – it’s a small world and our journeys are unique in so many ways. You never know how connections and contacts and life’s experiences can play a role at different times in your life.

As I went through the process, I gained more confidence with every opportunity to interview. I believed if I could secure interviews, I could also secure visits with donors and potential donors. I saw the experience as relevant to what I wanted to do as a fundraiser. Unfortunately, the hiring managers wouldn’t see the benefit of my effort. Then again, they had no way of doing that.

In every case, I tried to find a connection to the organization or the cause. Each effort was unique that way.  One such example would come with Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.

My recruitment process with Mission Hospital had a special significance to me. It’s where my mom spent her last days. The idea of working at a hospital where my mom spent her last days and received great care was appealing to me. I viewed it as a special place.

I was invited to interview at Mission Hospital, where I would meet a host of individuals, including Gwen Anderson – who was the Executive Director of Development at the time. During the process I reached out to Kathleen Kane, who agreed to reach out to their Chief Development Officer on my behalf (her name escapes me).

I felt like I had a lot of good things going for me in this case, but despite it all, I didn’t get the job. I guess my connection to the hospital didn’t resonate with the hiring committee. 

Onward.

One of my colleagues who made a successful transition from prospect development to front line fundraiser is Jennifer Wise. I reached out to her during this period and applied for a position with Habitat for Humanity, where Jennifer was the VP of Resource Development at the time. I interviewed with Les Fujimoto who was the Director of Leadership Gifts and Campaign.

I wasn’t able to convince Les that I could handle the role. I would later wonder if perhaps my interview was more out of courtesy because I never got the impression Les took me seriously.

Funny story (yet again), when I went to work at PanCAN, I would meet and work with Sasha Muraoka, who I would learn worked at Habitat for Humanity prior to her joining PanCAN. We would both agree that Jennifer Wise should be recruited to PanCAN for a leadership role… That never happened… but I did make that outreach.

One of the more interesting recruitment processes came with Olive Crest. I interviewed with Bill Furey, who was the Regional Human Resources Director and Jaime Zavala, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles region. 

Bill would tell me how compelling my background was, but like most everyone else, he wasn’t sure I could transition into a fundraising role. Jaime was possibly a little more open minded about the idea and I would eventually be invited back for a second interview at their headquarters in Santa Ana. I would interview with Jacqui Groseth, their Chief Development Officer and Donald Verleur, their CEO.

A couple of interesting things about Olive Crest. One, I would run into another former COH colleague during my first interview. She was leaving, just as I was about to be interviewed. She saw me out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t say anything.

The moment left me a little stunned since it was totally unexpected. The look I had on my face must have stuck, because Bill and Jaime would later comment about that look. They were thinking this guy can’t possibly handle a fundraising role. When I explained that I knew the person who had just interviewed before me, it all made sense to them and we had a good laugh about it.

Jaime and I have remained connected ever since.

When I took the job at APU, I somehow discovered that Jaime was an APU alum. After arriving at APU, I reached to Jaime and he ended up coming to campus for a visit. Jaime also happens to know several people in my office and is also friends with my predecessor, Kristin Albright. They’re good friends, in fact.

Our connection doesn’t stop there.

There’s a young lady who works at my wife and my favorite restaurant. It’s a place we frequent often and we’ve gotten to know the people there over the years. We’re talking everyone from the servers, to the cooks to the bus boys, dishwashers, etc. We’ve been going there for more than 20 years and we have strong relationships with many of the people there.

As is my nature, and that of Cheryl’s – we always take an interest in the people there. Many of them are young – some are in high school, in college, recently out of college and at all different stages of their lives.

One of our all-time favorites is a young lady named Mayra. She graduated from CSULB with a degree in Social Work. One day in the not too distant past, she told us about an internship she was about to start at… Olive Crest.

Here we go again…

I told her that I knew the Executive Director there and at the time, she had yet to meet him. I reached out to Jaime to let him know he had to make a point of meeting this intern. He did. He would soon learn how awesome she was and Mayra ended up being an incredible intern and volunteer for Olive Crest. She even took a job there after graduating from CSULB.  She’s no longer working there because she went on to pursue her Masters’ at UCLA and recently graduated.  She is destined to do great things.

All of the dots that were connected through Olive Crest is a direct result of my staying engaged with Jaime even though I didn’t get the job there. This is an example of what I’ve done throughout my career.

Jaime left Olive Crest in 2019 and is now the Executive Director at artworxLA.

These are the kinds of stories that continue to make me smile. I’m not anyone special. I’ve just always been willing to engage with people. I’ve done this without any expectations or hidden agendas. It really is genuine. As a result, good things have come of it not only for me, but for others as well.

I know that my efforts to stay in touch with the people I’ve worked or met through other channels over the years is sometimes met with skepticism. In many cases – those relationships end up fading away. Fortunately, enough of them do continue on and I’m thankful when they do.

Back to the journey…

My interview at Long Beach Memorial has a CARA connection to it.  With each application, I would look to see if I could figure out who the decision maker was. If I could somehow enhance the normal recruitment process by reaching out directly to a hiring manager, I would. I know that’s not always a good idea, but I decided this would be my approach. Whenever I found that key person I would check my LinkedIn account to see if I knew anyone who was connected to the person I wanted to reach out to.

At Long Beach Memorial, the hiring manager was Jim Normandin, who at the time was the President of the Memorial Medical Center Foundation. I saw on LinkedIn, a friend and colleague Rebecca Benard knew Jim. Rebecca had provided professional management to the CARA Board while I was a member. She was instrumental in our success and we did great work during our time together. I asked her to reach out on my behalf and she was more than happy to do so, even though we hadn’t spoken in years.

I never could have imagined how my relationship with Rebecca would eventually open a door for me. That’s the beauty of having a network. Rebecca is now a fundraiser herself, working as the Director of Strategic Business Advancement for Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care in Santa Barbara.

That interview didn’t lead to a job for me. In fact, I don’t remember the details of any follow up after my interview. A couple months after that, I would learn that Jim transitioned into a different role. He currently works as a consultant.

As I was going through this process, I was determined to make the transition into a fundraising role, but I also tried to stay open to any and all opportunities. One of those opportunities came in the form of a Director of Donor Relations position at UCLA.

The hiring manager was Carol Buge. I had actually met Carol many years earlier when she came to speak at a CARA event. She was presenting on Women in Philanthropy and best practices for working with women donors. She presented with another long time, and now retired colleague – Karen Howard. Needless to say, we knew a lot of people in common.

I know it’s crazy how I remember these things, but I do.

The position was interesting to me because writing was an important component of the position, as was building relationships across campus. Despite those being strengths of mine, I didn’t have enough tangible experience to convince Carol that I was right for the position. I must admit, I find that a little funny – all things considered.  That’s not a slight against Carol or UCLA – but if they only knew…

One of the things I remember about that day (besides the long drive) was stopping by JVSLA on Wilshire to visit Randy Lapin and Jorge Lazaro. We spent some time catching up (all the other COH alumni had yet to begin working there) and spent some time reminiscing about the good old days at COH.

It was a good opportunity to connect with some old friends. Again, I try not to let people fade out of my community whenever possible.

I also interviewed for an Associate Director position at Whittier College. I interviewed with Kurt Johnson, who was the Sr. Director of Development and Alumni programs at the time and with Steve Delgado, who was the VP for Advancement.

I had been to the campus years prior as one of the first locations I used for one of our CARA Seminar Days. It was a little funny to be back on campus for a different purpose.

One of the things that struck me about Kurt right off the bat was his energy and enthusiasm. We had an interesting interview. He had me do a bit of role playing with him. I played the role of a major gift officer and he was a donor. I thought it was a great exercise and I’m surprised more hiring managers don’t do this.

The feedback I got from the exercise was constructive and Kurt said I did pretty well.  Whew.

Whittier also happened to be the alma mater of Kathleen Kane, and she also happened to be on their Board of Trustees.  Of course, right?  When I reached out to Kathleen she agreed to reach out on my behalf.

It wasn’t enough though. I didn’t get that job. Never-the-less, Kathleen’s willingness to help me was typical of who she is and I appreciated her effort very much.

One of the final places I interviewed was at Concordia University and I interviewed with Eron Jacobson, the Executive Director.

Just before I took the job at PanCAN, I was waiting to hear from Eron to see if I was going to get a second interview. Before we ever got to that point, I let him know that I had accepted the job at PanCAN. I never heard back from him.

One of the things I learned through this entire process is that each recruitment was unique. Some go much better than others. Often times, the communication is poor and in some cases, non-existent. I could easily write about the process for days. Some organizations definitely do a better job than others.

In many cases, I asked for constructive feedback after not getting the job. I didn’t always get that. There were definitely times when that made me feel like just a name on a piece of paper and not an actual person in the eyes of the recruiters. Those are lost opportunities not only for me, but also for those who manage the process (in my opinion).

One person who did provide constructive feedback was Jacqui at Olive Crest. She was very honest with me and said my lack of experience in actually asking for gifts, kept her from hiring me. I hadn’t even asked friends to support a walk or do any type of actual fundraising what-so-ever. I appreciated her feedback and would file that note away for later use. She remains a contact today and we occasionally correspond.

During my journey, I saw an opening at USC that was intriguing. It was a leadership position in prospect development, but had other responsibilities. The job was titled AVP Relationship Management and Data Sciences. They had or were about to transition to SalesForce as their enterprise system and they were looking for someone who could engage fundraisers in the process, among other things.

I believed my experience would easily provide me an opportunity to interview. Well, much to my surprise that never came.

I did have a phone interview with a recruiter and would later learn that he left the university shortly after. That might have contributed to my not being invited to interview, but I really don’t know.

I found the decision maker and reached out directly. I utilized my connection to Brenda Maceo, who had been Sr. VP of Communications at COH and was the VP of Public Relations and Marketing at USC at the time. That didn’t work. Nothing did.

I couldn’t understand how I couldn’t even manage to get an interview.

Well, the role eventually went to Ashutosh Nandeshwar and I have to tell you, there’s no way I could have competed with him. I only recently put those dots together and when I did, I had to nod my head and say… of course.

Ashutosh is a rock star and his background in analytics for development in higher education is among the best in the business. They were clearly looking for someone with experience far greater than what I had to offer. They recruited him away from Cal-Tech.

The other dot related to Ashutosh is that he was one of the individuals Karen Isble added to her analytics team at the University of Michigan. At least I’m guessing he was. His career has been on an incredible path ever since.

As you can see – my job search took me on quite an adventure. For someone like me, who didn’t have a lot of experience in looking for a job, it was a crash course on how to navigate those waters. It was a great learning experience. I felt like I had earned my PH.D in job searching during that time and I believe I could help anyone trying to do the same.

Well my search and my conversations with friends and colleagues during this time would lead to my talking with Rick Leonard, my longtime friend and colleague from COH. I reached out to Rick to tell him about what I was up to and he responded by telling me about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN).  Much to my surprise, I had never heard of the organization.

Rick was about to become the VP of Development there and was going to be building a team. He encouraged me to investigate and ultimately apply for a role in prospect development. His enthusiasm piqued my curiosity because he was incredibly excited about the organization.

I was 3 months into my journey and although I was hopeful something was about to materialize with either Concordia, Long Beach Memorial or CSULB, I decided to investigate. After all, prospect development was what I knew and there was no harm in checking things out.  Again, Jeremiah 29:11 came to mind. I had no idea what God had planned for me, so I remained open to every opportunity.

The moment I walked off the elevator and into the offices at PanCAN, I knew I wasn’t at just another non-profit. The layout and the vibe (yes, there was a vibe) was unlike anything I had ever experienced.  My immediate thought was that I had arrived at the Google of non-profits.

I’ve documented this complete experience on my blog a few years back, but suffice it to say – I was more than intrigued after the interview process.

The highlight of my interview came in meeting the founder of the organization – Pamela Acosta Marquardt. I remember thinking how often does one get to meet the founder of a nonprofit during the interview process. Pam’s passion was infectious. I’ll never forget the words she said to me. She said, “James, you will have a bigger impact here than any place you’ve ever worked.”

Let that sink in for a moment.

How often have you ever heard that during an interview process; especially the founder of an organization?

The opportunity that was being presented was titled Manager, Prospect Research and Management. It was the first such position that this organization would ever have. They were looking for someone to build it from the ground up.

You can probably imagine what was going through my mind (then again, maybe not). I had been a Sr. Director at my last two organizations and built and led teams supporting dozens of fundraisers. In this proposed role, I was going to be a one person shop (and all the things that go along with being that) and aside from Rick, Pam was the only other major gift fundraiser. There were plans to add staff, but the development team was the smallest I had ever seen at a nonprofit.

I was at a crossroads. A million different thoughts went through my head. First of all, I knew I wasn’t going back to UCI. Second, I needed a job. But there were lots of…”but what about…” thoughts running through my head.

I wasn’t so concerned about what I would “get to do.” The job was pretty clear to me.  My concern was what I would “get” to do that work. I knew the pay wasn’t going to be at the level I was used to. I had a suspicion that I wasn’t even going to get an office and in all my years prior, I always had an office.

Remember how I previously mentioned that I often followed the careers of my friends and colleagues with interest and curiosity?  One ego-centered thought that came to mind was what would my peers think of this?  My title didn’t sound like I was advancing, it sounded like I was taking a giant step backwards and who, if anyone had ever heard of PanCAN?

And the thought of being a one person shop just seemed crazy to me. I hadn’t actually written a full profile in years. In fact, so many of the researchers I hired, were far better researchers than I ever was during my career. I was rusty. I mean, I knew I could handle the responsibility, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Again, a million things went through my mind. Most of those thoughts would prove to be irrelevant.

I decided I wanted to work at PanCAN and that meant leaving no stone unturned in the process. I knew I had an excellent chance because of my relationship with Rick, but I also knew that you never really know what the outcome of a recruitment process might be and I was going to do everything I could to solidify my candidacy.

Using LinkedIn, once again – I saw that my friend Jeffrey Rips knew the CFO – Abigail (Abby) Winston at PanCAN. Jeff and I had become friends through Angels baseball. Yup, Angels baseball.  When Cheryl and I purchased season tickets back in 2004, we became acquainted with a large group of fans who shared our section in the stadium. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Fever Pitch” with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, you might remember how Fallon’s character Ben referred to the fans in his section as his “summer family.”

Well, that’s how we felt about the fans we sat with game after game. One of those individuals would be Jeffrey and his family. Jeffrey actually shared tickets with other people – but over the course of a season and in the years to come – we would get to know Jeffrey, his wife Lauren, their twin boys and daughter.

Our friendship would extend beyond Angel games and include trips to spring training, a vacation in Yosemite, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, graduations and more.

Jeffrey had worked with Abby and as he would tell me, she was one of his favorite people. I asked him to reach out to her on my behalf and he happily agreed.

During the interview process – Angel, who would become my first supervisor told me she thought I was “over qualified.” In my thank you letter to her, I challenged that notion and said, or… “Maybe, I’m the right person at exactly the right time.”

I honestly believed I was exactly that. I began to see myself at PanCAN and I was confident I would not only have an impact, but that I could help them grow and as a result, advance my career at the same time.

PanCAN made me an offer. They more than just made an offer, they reclassified the opportunity to Sr. Manager and offered me more salary than what was originally discussed. I really felt wanted and I have to tell you, that was a nice feeling after all I had gone through.

Yes, it was going to be strange being a one person shop again, but I was ambitious enough to believe I could make it work and that in time, I would contribute to the monumental growth of PanCAN’s fundraising future.  And as far as what others thought? I decided I didn’t really care.

PanCAN would prove to be an amazing experience.

I loved my nearly 12 years at COH, but PanCAN would prove to be the most rewarding experience of my career. It wasn’t the place where I made the most money. I didn’t have a fancy title. I didn’t even have an office.

It was simply the place where I felt the most engaged. Those who know me best, know how I felt and continue to feel about the organization and how I was “all in” when I worked there. My passion for PanCAN became incredibly obvious with every conversation I had with friends and colleagues.

I felt like I was finally “home.”

More to come…