Giving Day Leader Origin Stories
How to Become a Philanthropic Hero for Your Community with a Giving Day
Original Recording: June 15, 2022
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Giving Day leader! As with any great hero, every philanthropic leader comes with an origin story— The reason why they stepped up to support their community and where their motivation to spark lasting change first developed.
By hosting high-impact digital fundraising events for their communities and networks, these philanthropic leaders have generated a force for good, offering hope and relief for critical causes.
In this webinar recording you will hear from three nonprofit leaders about what problems hosting an innovative, digital-first fundraising event solved for their communities.
Meet the Speakers
Brandi Yee
Chief Program Officer
at ACT for Alexandria
Giving Day: Spring2ACTion
Brandi oversees the community foundation’s community investment initiatives, including the Alexandria Resilience Fund, Capacity Building Grants, Racial Equity Capacity Building Initiative, Spring2ACTion, Youth Council and Youth Support Network. She is passionate about strengthening the nonprofit sector, building cross-sector partnerships, connecting donors and nonprofits, and incorporating a trust-based approach into all areas of the foundation’s work.
Brandi has an M.S. in Organizational Learning from George Mason University and a B.A. in Rhetoric & Communication and Sociology-Organizational Studies from the University of California, Davis. Brandi is a member of the Diaconate and Women’s Leadership Council of Grace Presbyterian Church – DC and is a founding board member of Girls on the Run – DC.
Kelly Mattox
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
at Horizons National
Giving Day: Horizons Giving Day
Kelly leads marketing and digital strategy for Horizons National, whose mission is to advance educational equity by building long-term partnerships with students, families, communities and schools to create experiences outside of school that inspire the joy of learning. A member of the Horizons National team since 2010, Kelly led the creation of “Horizons Giving Day” – Horizons’ annual virtual fundraiser powered by the more than 70 affiliates in the Horizons network.
Now in its 8th year, Horizons Giving Day has raised more than $10 million dollars across the Horizons National network. Kelly is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of all marketing strategies, communications, and public relations activities for Horizons National and oversees external and internal communications, plus marketing and fundraising resources, for affiliates.
Kate Harmon
Giving Day Coordinator
at White Rose Leadership Institute
Giving Day: Give Local York
Kate Harmon is a recovering newspaper reporter and editor with over a decade's experience in content, editing, and social media. After spending years doing marketing and development with some of York's nonprofits, she's just finished up her first Give Local York as the Give Day Coordinator.
While Kate's been involved with Give Local York since day one, she was brought on in 2021 as the second employee. She also has several years’ experience in nonprofit fundraising and event planning in Pennsylvania and Florida, and run's the region's largest and best Labor Day food truck festival that brings in over 20,000 people to York.
While she's partial to Give Local, she also loves fundraising for The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and has brought in over half a million dollars for research in the past 10 years.
