The Journey Part 1

Twenty eight years ago (Dec. 13, 1991 – Friday, the 13^th of all days), I was laid off from a small advertising agency in Redlands, CA. For years now, every time a Friday falls on the 13^th, I think of that day. This past year the 13^th of December also fell on a Friday and that got me to thinking about the course my life and more specifically, the path my career has taken ever since.

I remember that Friday like it was yesterday. A group of us had gone to lunch that day and when I returned to my desk, I found a unmarked folder on top of it. Curious, I opened it and to my shock, I saw termination papers for six members of the team at the agency, including the group I had just gone to lunch with. The Operations Manager had inadvertently left it on my desk.

It was shocking to say the least. Never-the-less, I quickly gathered my colleagues to tell them what was about to happen…

That day marked the end of a career path I believed I was destined to pursue; a career where I had planned to put my creative talents to work for a wide variety of companies and causes.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my career in advertising wasn’t going to continue.

In July of 1992, I found myself at Cal-State Los Angeles in my first development job. It would be the beginning of a 27 year career in development that continues to this day. It wasn’t the career I planned for, but it ended up being what I believe I was called to do.

I was hired by Carol Numrich (who has since passed away). She hired me because I could write (they actually gave me a writing test) and largely because Janet Redding Richardson (currently semi-retired) recommended me (unbeknownst to me at the time).  I had worked with Janet at San Jose State, where I worked in Athletics and she in Alumni Relations.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my working relationship with Janet would be strong enough and good enough that it would help launch my career in development and help propel me to where I am today.  It was one of those things I never saw coming and never would have anticipated.  You just never know whose paying attention to the work you’re doing.

Having a network of connections has been critical throughout my 27 year+ career. It's amazing how that works.

There are lessons to be shared here. Lessons of opportunities seized and lost. Triumphs and failures. Most of all, there are stories about the people who have been a part of my professional life.

I’ve worked at 6 nonprofits with hundreds of development professionals over the years. I’ve met tons more through volunteering, professional development, client/customer relationships and even through interviews with perspective employers. I have lots of stories about my journey and I’m about to tell you that story.

Two things you should know about me. One, I’m a dot connector. I have always found ways to connect people to one another or to opportunities and/or ideas. Two, I’m a storyteller.  Relationships and life in general is all about the stories and I love to hear them and tell them. I especially enjoying telling stories.

As you follow along, you will learn how my willingness to connect and engage with people helped me develop a true network that has played an import role in my career (and hopefully theirs as well).  It never ceases to amaze me how people come in and out of our lives, often at the most unexpected times.

When I landed at CSLA, I didn’t plan to be there long.  In my mind, I was still going to work in the advertising/marketing arena. I viewed my job as a Prospect Research Manager as a way to pay my bills, but it wasn’t going to be my career. It was supposed to be temporary.

We have a saying in my field… “No one ever grows up wanting to be a prospect researcher.” I had never heard of development prior to landing at CSLA, let alone “prospect research.”  Yet, there I was working in a field, I never could have imagined being a part of.

I started out writing a few newsletters and doing a little “research.”  I also wrote thank you letters for the president (Dr. James Rosser).  In addition I did a little grant writing and whatever else needed to be done. And I continued to do some research.

The research was pre-internet.  It was somewhat overwhelming and I wasn’t totally into it at first. There were trips to the library, the court house and any number of places where I had to go and physically look for information. There were books. Tons of books and periodicals of all kinds. And… I can’t forget microfiche. The work was definitely labor intensive.

My first five years were somewhat of a blur. During that stretch, I kept thinking I would eventually do something else. 

At some point during those years, I knew I had to learn to do this “research thing” better. So, I reached out to others in the field, as many who come into our field often do. Among the first people I met was Cathy Terrones (who was at Cal Poly Pomona at the time). Cathy has been a mentor to me ever since. She’s also been a friend, a career counselor and one of my biggest advocates. 

Cathy has also encouraged me to write on more than occasion. This began when she started reading an Angels baseball blog of mine.

In any case, I also decided to see if I could learn a thing or two from the folks at UCLA. I reached out to a guy named Chris McCabe, who agreed to meet with me. A funny thing happened on my visit to their prospect research shop… Somehow, some way and I don’t remember how - Marsha Kraus took over the meeting and proceeded to take me under her wing and thus began a relationship that has lasted for all these years. If you know Marsha, this won’t come as a surprise to you. Marsha has always had a passion for sharing her knowledge.

In those early days, Marsha and I had many conversations about research, legacy families in the LA area and she even did a few “Dialog” searches for me. Dialog was an old resource we used back in the day and Marsha was THE guru on how to get information out of it.

Marsha has since retired, but I still see her along with her husband Terry Dickerson at Angels baseball game every year.  More on the Angels baseball related connections to come…

These relationships were the beginnings of a network. Early connections included Sophia Yen (retired from Cal-Tech), Napoleon Hendrix (where are you buddy?), and Linda Williams (retired – but at Cal-State Long Beach at the time). Gee, this retirement thing is constant theme among my early connections!

Sophia ended up becoming a donor at the institutions I worked for (CSLA and City of Hope). It’s a cool thing for sure and something I’ve seen now and again through the years. Those of us in prospect development often give to causes our friends and colleagues care about. 

Steffanie Brown (Florida Institute of Technology) made a gift in my honor to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) when I worked there. She had an opportunity to make a gift through some unique circumstances and thought of PanCAN because of the things I had written about the organization in my blog. It was such a kind gesture on her part.

These are just a couple of examples of the unintended consequences (in a good way) of having a network, making connections and engaging with others. 

Back to the journey…

In 1997 (5 years into my career) the most significant event of my professional life took place.  Thanks to a grant from the California State University (CSU), Kyle Button (the VP at CSLA at the time) sent me to my first Apra conference in Pittsburgh.

I didn’t want to go.

I was still of the mindset that this prospect research thing was temporary, even though I’d been in the field for five years at that point. I went because I didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t waste the opportunity that grant provided and I knew Kyle wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer (so, I never told him I didn’t want to go).

Apra, 1997 is where everything changed for me.

I attended a workshop on SEC documents being taught by David Lawson and Charles Headley. It blew my mind. The treasure-trove of information one could find in an SEC document was astounding to me. Remember, this was 1997. I still have the workbook from that workshop and have shared it with new prospect development folks many, many times.

David Lawson would become that guy I couldn’t wait to listen to anytime he spoke on any subject related to my field. Our relationship has evolved over the years and he remains that beacon of knowledge for me to this day. He’s always been a visionary; the guy who sees the future and makes sense of it all for me. I once dubbed him “The Michael Jordan of Prospect Development” when I introduced him at a CARA Seminar Day - much to his amusement. He would later say, “I’ll be sure to tell my son that.”

One of the most profound connections I have also came about in Pittsburgh. I walked into a session being taught by Cecilia Hogan.  Yes, THE Cecilia Hogan and she was teaching a class about internet search engines (if my memory serves me correctly). The internet was relatively new and Alta Vista’s search engine was all the rage. It was Cecilia’s search engine of choice.  I arrived early and she greeted me with that warm, Cecilia smile – shook my hand and said “I’m glad you’re in my session.” 

Cecilia has this way of making everyone feel welcomed to her circle. She’s genuine and simply authentic. Not long after, she encouraged me to write an article for Apra’s Connections. This would be my first volunteering opportunity with Apra and the beginning of a career long connection to the organization.

Our lives would continue to cross paths in a variety of ways. Years later, when I worked at the City of Hope (COH), I hired her sister – Kathy Hogan. Kathy was living in Washington state at the time and wanted to move to Southern California. She applied for a job and I hired her over the phone without ever meeting her face to face.  Kathy had the same passion for research that Cecilia did. It was a great fit.

When Kathy decided to move back to Washington, we kept her on the COH team and she worked out of our Seattle office. It was the first time I supervised remote staff. 

That Apra conference also allowed me to meet THE Father of Prspct-L – Joe Boeke. Joe was working at Bucknell at the time, but we had connected via email when he was at UCI years before – where he introduced me to prspct-l (a list serve for prospect development professionals). This was the first time I met Joe face to face, attending his session on being the “tech guy” in a development shop.

Joe and I have gotten to know each other over the years. We share a love for baseball (he’s a Cubs fan and I’m an Angels fan). He now works at Cal-Tech, with people I have worked with at UCI and COH. It’s a small world. The connections are endless.

While I was in Pittsburgh, I began to see myself making a career in this field. Imagine what might of happened if I hadn’t gone. My Apra experience made me want to learn more, to become a better researcher and a better development professional.  I liked the people I met.

That’s the thing about so many of the long-time professionals in our field. They’re an engaging group. They’re a group who has always been willing to share and teach others. They have empathy for those who are new to the field and they genuinely care about their craft and the profession. That culture has been passed on through the years and that mindset is still a part of what Apra represents today.

Every time I attend an Apra conference, I have a sense of belonging. This is my tribe. I’ve continued to meet people through the conferences and through the association over the years.  I may only see some of my colleagues once a year – or even once every few years, but every time I do – they bring a smile to my face and reinforce that sense of community. It’s truly an awesome thing.

Upon my return from Apra I started to become more involved with my local Apra chapter – The California Advancement Researchers Association (CARA).  I’d been a member for some time, but upon my return from Pittsburgh, I made it a point to attend every possible CARA event and get to know my colleagues in the field.

Michael Seymour, a true gentleman and one of the pioneers of our field decided to make it his mission to get me more involved. Michael took an interest in me and I’m eternally grateful that he did. He set an example for me on what it meant to be a leader. I remember him saying something to the effect of “you need to get more involved.”  He didn’t pose it as a question, it was more of an actual directive!

So, I did.

My first volunteering opportunity came as part of the CARA Nomination’s Committee along with Nancy Olsen Gundry (Stanford) in 1998.  In 1999, Nanci and I both took the next step and we were elected to the CARA Board and we came aboard in 2000. Nanci served as the Northern California Regional Chair and I served as the Southern California Regional Chair. We basically planned and organized our regional Seminar Days (as they were called at the time).

I was now about 7 years into my career. Over that period of time, I reported to the late Carol Numrich, the late Lee Case (former VP at Occidental), Marilyn Johnson, Clare Faulkner, Kyle Button and Collette Rocha.  Clare and Kyle are still active in the development community today. I’m guessing Marilyn and Collette are both retired.

My biggest contribution to the university came in a giant list of alumni I compiled over the years – that would serve as their “Who’s Who” among their alumni. I spent countless hours, tracking down alums of note. At the time, CSLA didn’t know much about their alums. That list helped change that.

It was during this process, where I made my first and biggest mistake of my career. I mistakenly identified Ray Irani (Occidental Petroleum) as a CSLA alum. CSLA, had an alum with the exact same name, who happened to be an engineering major and appeared to be the same age. The details on how I verified this are little fuzzy all these years later, but it caused some embarrassment for Kyle (our VP) at the time who shared my findings with others within the CSU because I was wrong.

Sorry, Kyle.

That painful lesson never left me. It’s a story I’ve shared countless times with those who are new to the field. It usually comes about with me saying something to the effect of “We all make mistakes, let me tell you about one of my biggest….” It’s that thing that has always fueled the insecurity I sometimes have (like many of us have) about whether or not I have all the information and that it is in fact, correct. To Kyle’s credit – he never really came down too hard on me about it. He didn’t have to. Like I said, I’ve never forgotten.

In 1999 I left CSLA to take a job at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. I was hired by Steve Klappholz, who instantly became one of my all-time favorite people in development.  Steve loved research and had a genuine appreciation for the work I did.

It may be the only job I’ve ever landed in development without a connection of some sort.

Not long after I arrived, Steve left to go work for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.  Although our time together was short, Steve would serve as a valuable reference for me in the years to come. Just prior to Steve’s departure, Larry Baum – the long tenured and much beloved VP of Community Relations began his transition into retirement after a long and distinguished career.

A new VP – Gary Leo and new Director of Development – Mitch Orlick came on board. Gary Leo made an immediate impression on me when he shared a story about how a prospect research profile he received at a prior job was all wrong. Needless to say, he arrived without the same love Steve had for the work I did. Initially, it was an interesting time for me. I was used to change, having reported to several different people over my 7 years at CSLA, but this change made me a little anxious, at first.

Mitch on the other hand, valued my work and since I reported directly to him – I became comfortable at Cedars. Our development team was about to grow and expand and I was about to start building my own team. I was about to become a first time manager and this would be my first recruitment effort ever.

Well, that never really got off the ground. I started the process, but didn’t complete it.

The behind the scenes story to my arrival at Cedars-Sinai included my meeting with a friend and colleague named Suzanne Szalay (now retired). At the time she was the Director of Prospect Research at the City of Hope and I had an informal interview with her about a possible position.  That position never developed, but I guess I left an impression on Suzanne through the process.  She would later tell me that when I left her office – she told her team – “James would be great here.”

That would prove to be somewhat prophetic.

As I began to build a team at Cedars-Sinai – Suzanne called me to let me know she was leaving COH to build and lead a team at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles (CHLA). She called to tell me, she had been asked to recommend her replacement and thought of me. She encouraged me to apply.

I was flattered.  Me? Really?

I decided to investigate, knowing I had nothing to lose. I had no intentions of leaving Cedars-Sinai, but I was intrigued enough to interview. 

Suzanne left big shoes to fill. COH didn’t want to lose her. Her VP, Amy Goldman (spoiler alert - Amy would become my boss) spent hours trying to convince her not to leave. I would learn all of this later.

I interviewed with Steve Solton (Sr. Vice President) and Norm Fishman (VP of Development).  The interview went well. It’s funny what you remember years later. The only question that sticks out in my mind from that interview was “What’s your favorite movie of all time?”

My answer… “Braveheart.”  Why? The story about what William Wallace did for freedom was inspiring. Was that the answer that sealed the deal? I have no idea, although I sincerely doubt it. What probably helped seal the deal was something I was totally unaware of.

Turns out – the leadership team at COH had tremendous admiration for the fundraising efforts at Cedars-Sinai. In their minds – Cedars-Sinai was sort of the gold standard. Stealing me from them was somewhat of a coup. I guess it wasn’t so much about me, but where I would be coming from. 

COH made me a huge offer.  They offered me a salary that was a 40% bump over what I was making at the time. When I told Mitch about the offer, he sort of gasped. He may have even sworn a bit.

I told him I hadn’t accepted COH’s offer yet and wanted to see how Mitch would respond.

Mitch would come back to me and make an offer to increase my salary to stay. The offer included a title change and a significant increase. It wasn’t just quite as high as COH was offering. 

I had to mull things over for a few days. I liked working at Cedars, but I didn’t really like the commute much. I kept COH on hold for a few days while I tried to decide and negotiate with Mitch.

Norm Fishman was patient with me during this time.

I felt a little torn, but ultimately decided COH’s offer was too good to pass up and I accepted. This was just a year and a half after arriving at Cedars-Sinai. When I let Norm know, he told me was actually leaving COH. It was a surprise to me for sure.

My start date would actually come after he was to leave COH. 

When I let Mitch know I was leaving, he looked me in the eyes and said something to the effect of “once you get there and if you decide you hate it there – call me and I’ll bring you back.”  The conversation struck me as a little odd, but I appreciated what he had to say.

I would later learn that Norm Fishman had a bit of a reputation of not being a very pleasant man. This was something he would confess himself. Apparently, Mitch knew this somehow. Development is a small world.

I would later share this story with Suzanne and she told me how Norm came to her and told her that there was a time when she wouldn’t have enjoyed working for him. To his credit, he changed. Suzanne never saw that “bad” side of him, but apparently, his reputation was still out there in the fundraising community.

Prior to starting at COH, I was invited to tour the campus.  My tour guides were Norm and the AVP of Major Gifts, Doris Jacobson. I had never been to COH and didn’t know a whole lot about the organization. Little did I know at the time is that some years later – it would be an important place for my family.

The odd thing about this entire process, was that I was hired without interviewing or even meeting Amy Goldman, who would be my boss. Amy was the VP of Major Gifs and Planned Giving and she had oversight over what would be my department and Stewardship. At the time of my recruitment, the position reported to Norm. With his departure, it all changed.

The timing wasn’t perfect. In any case, Amy asked me to come in prior to my starting and I obliged.

I imagine it was a bit strange for her and it was a little awkward for me. Never-the-less, I arrived – in November of 2000 – just after Thanksgiving to begin my new journey.

As I began my new job, I was a little nervous. After all, Amy didn’t hire me. That uneasiness quickly vanished and once I settled in I never worried about it again.

My first order of business was to meet all of the fundraisers and to hire a prospect researcher. Suzanne had taken the one researcher they had with her to CHLA. I inherited a Research Assistant (Kristen – her last name escapes me after all these years) and Geeta Ramdat, who did some work in the database.

The first person I interviewed was someone I had interviewed at Cedars-Sinai. Remember, I was about to expand the prospect research efforts there and when I decided to leave – it was put on hold.

Her name was Barbara Huff and she had a great background working as a Librarian at Cal-Tech and wanted to transition into prospect research.  She was my first hire and I was on my way to building a team.

Barbara might be the best researcher I’ve ever worked with from a technical point of view. Her background and experience would allow her to easily transition into the role.

As I was adjusting to my new role at COH, I was also in the midst of my first term as the Southern California Regional Chair for CARA. It was a role I relished.  Some of my most important and longest lasting relationships came out of this role.

I took a very proactive approach to finding speakers. In my role at COH, I routinely met with vendors while wearing two hats.  One has while looking for the best resources for my team and the second hat as someone searching for speakers at our CARA events.

This is how I met and first engaged with Lawrence Henze. Lawrence came to COH to pitch a product from his company called Core Data. This was my introduction to predictive modeling and although I didn’t sign COH up for his services, I switched hats during our time together and asked him if he would be interested in speaking at a CARA event.

I like to believe (and Lawrence has neither confirmed nor denied) that I was the first person to have him speak to colleagues in the prospect development field. He will admit I was among the first, but isn’t quite sure if I was THE first. I’ll take credit for it just the same!

Looking back, I didn’t totally understand what Lawrence was doing with data – but I knew it had value. I believed it would be of interest to CARA members and he committed to presenting.

Our business/client relationship wouldn’t develop until a few years later, but a professional relationship was established anyway.

At the time, I was primarily interested in whatever David Lawson was cooking up and that would be a wealth screening platform through his company P!N. It was the gold standard for wealth screening at the time.

David would eventually sell his company to Kintera which in turn would be bought by Blackbaud.  More on that later.

Lawrence eventually sold his company to Blackbaud and we have since worked together across four non-profits that include COH, U.C. Irvine (UCI), PanCAN and Azusa Pacific University (APU).  We’ve also become friends and share a love of baseball (He’s a Milwaukee Brewers fan). We attended a minor league baseball game together when we were at the Apra conference in Nashville a few years back. We regularly talk or text with each other about all things baseball.

Over the years, we’ve also spent a lot of time talking about fundraising and fundraisers. He’s taught me a great deal about predictive modeling and analytics. He’s a great resource and someone I can call on at any time for just about anything. 

By the way, anyone ever notice that Lawrence looks a bit like Huey Lewis? I digress…

CARA became my arena to connect with more people. I was constantly on the lookout for individuals who could speak, host or that I might recruit to work with me at COH. It was my mission to connect with as many people in our field as possible – no matter how new or how seasoned.

I was always looking for the best and brightest. I was looking for people I could engage. It’s where I got to know people like Cristi Hendri, who would host a CARA Seminar day at U.C. Riverside. Dennis Petticofer - who hosted at Whittier College, Heather Souders – who hosted at CSU San Marcos and Melissa Posel – who hosted at Art Center College of Design. 

Melissa impressed me early on. When she was new to the field, she decided to host a lunch at Art Center College of Design and invite some experienced professionals that she could connect with and learn from. As I got to know Melissa – it was clear she was very bright, ambitious and a true go-getter.

I nominated Cristi and Melissa to the CARA Board and they were successfully elected. Over the years, I took the initiative to find candidates for the board.  As the years have gone by, I’m a little fuzzy on all those I actually nominated, but I believe it included Andillon Hackney, Aimee Fitzgerald, Debra Dysart, Sandra Campero, Joan Reiss and probably others. Again, my memory isn’t what it used to be.

I love to advocate for others. It’s a page I’ve taken out of the playbook of people like Michael Seymour and Cathy Terrones. It’s one of the ways I have managed to build my own community.

Others who stepped up to host a CARA event included Craig Belanger at Biola, Aimee Fitzgerald – who hosted at Loyola Marymount, Dori Watanabe at U.C. Irvine, and Randy Shulman at the Huntington Library. 

I met Randy early in his career when he was working in prospect development and that connection provided a road to CARA having a Seminar Day at Library. Randy had moved up in the organization at the time, but because of his appreciation for what CARA meant to him, he agreed to host. Randy is currently the VP for Advancement and External Relations at the Huntington today.

The Seminar Day at the Huntington may very well be the best attended Seminar Day we ever had (largely because of the venue).  More than 100 members attended that day. We packed the room that day.

I loved serving as the Regional Chair and took great pride in finding new speakers to participate in our events. I always made it a point to not have Board members speak and to find people who hadn’t presented before. There were exceptions of course because we always found value in having people like David Lawson and Lawrence Henze speak as often as possible.

Finding new people was important to me. I was trying to broaden the spectrum of who could impact and influence our field and took great joy in the process. All these years later, I still grumble when I see Apra board or CARA board members filling the speaking spots at their conferences. It’s just something I don’t particularly like to see. I’d rather see leaders bring others along.

I always wanted to have the best possible educational experiences for our members – and took advantage of those who could travel to California from out of state as well.  That usually included people I met through Apra and the annual conference Apra has every year. People like Christina Pulawski, Carol McConaghy, Elizabeth Crabtree and many others.

Ok, I know I’ve just done a lot of name dropping and quite honestly – it feels a little strange doing so. My purpose in all of this is show you how developing a network and having a willingness to connect and engage with others has enriched my career and hopefully benefited others and hopefully the prospect development field as a whole.

I’ve never been the smartest person in our field or the most innovative either. I’ve just been that guy, who sincerely wanted to connect with others who could make a difference. I’ve always wanted to connect and get to know those who are smarter and more innovative. It’s been such a pleasure to get to know so many people.  Writing about my journey is my small attempt to recognize and thank many of them.

I have so many stories to share about these people, including many stories about connecting the dots in meaningful and sometimes surprising ways. Many of these individuals remain friends today. Each has enriched and influenced my career and my journey through the years. Connecting with others matter and my network have been instrumental throughout my career.

I often used that network when traveling with my wife, Cheryl. Who better to ask about the places you visit on vacation than researchers working in the area?  It’s how I discovered a cool bird sanctuary in Duluth, Minnesota called Hawk Ridge (Thank you, Randy Bunney) or great barbeque in Kansas City (can’t remember who helped me with that). Those are just two examples and I’m sure there are more.

More than all of that – Apra gave me access to some of the pioneers of our industry. Yup, more name dropping here…

True giants; people like Jon Thorsen, Randy Lakeman, Pamela Poland, Liz McHugh, Karen Greene, Mark DeFilippis, and so many others. People who would become a part of my professional network, and people I have come to call my friends. Each touched my life in different ways. Me, a guy who never thought he’d make a career out of prospect development. 

How cool and unique is it to know so many people who have truly impacted the prospect development and the fundraising world as a whole?  When I look back through the years, I am humbled to know so many of them and to have an opportunity to engage with them.

The people in our field are so accessible. I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone who wasn’t willing to spend time sharing their knowledge. Ours is an industry full of great teachers, coaches, innovators and leaders. We are an industry of givers, of difference makers and I believe prospect development represents the best of the development world as a whole.  We know each other.  We advocate for one another.  We learn from one another.  We really are a tribe.

My story could be anyone in prospect development’s story. All I did was reach out, shake hands, introduce myself and engage over and over again.