DESCRIPTION:

Diversifying your organization’s fundraising strategies is an important part of any development plan and partnering with local, regional, and national businesses may help you achieve your programmatic goals. But where to start? Do you currently have businesses contributing a significant portion of your annual operating budget or would like them to? Would you like more insight into the different paths corporate partnerships may take? This session will focus on how to identify, solicit, and steward potential new business partners in an ever changing economic climate. It will include information on sponsorships, in-kind donations, volunteer collaborations, cross-branding opportunities, and other ways corporate partners may connect with your mission while addressing for-profit’s giving timelines, expectations regarding marketing benefits, and best practices for maintaining this specific type of relationship. Joining the discussion to provide a corporate donor’s perspective and insight, is one of the Gallatin Valley’s most philanthropic businesses, First Security Bank.

WHO SHOULD JOIN:

Any nonprofit staff, board members, or volunteers in the Gallatin Valley with an interest in beginning a corporate giving program or elevating their existing one, would find this session informative.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Brittany Eilers has spent eighteen years working in the nonprofit sector and has served as an intern, an AmeriCorps member, a program manager and coordinator, and for the last seven years, as a development professional. As Thrive’s Business Partnerships Officer, she developed and implemented their current corporate philanthropic program and was responsible for securing the largest corporate donation in the organization’s history. She expertly manages a portfolio of 150 influential business donors, strategically navigating both for-profit and nonprofit industries to create maximum impact through meticulously crafted initiatives and focused fundraising opportunities. Believing that building relationships and the power of connection are important keys to success, she is the president of a nonprofit networking group, is a part of the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce Membership Committee, and has served as a Leadership Bozeman co-chair. Committed to donating her time, she volunteers as a board member for the Friends of the Bozeman Public Library, as a CAP mentor, and supports several other organizations in the region. She is a birder, a reader, and enjoys exploring Montana with her husband.

Jenifer West worked with First Security Bank in marketing and the emerging of electronic services from 1995 to 2005. She returned to First Security Bank after a 14-year absence working with her husband at their custom residential design firm in Bozeman. As First Security Bank’s Business and Community Development Coordinator, Jenifer manages the bank’s sponsorship and donor request process and coordinates the employee volunteer outreach efforts. Originally from Wyoming, Jenifer enjoys skiing, fly fishing and recreating in the Gallatin Valley with her husband and adult daughter

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If there is anything One Valley Community Foundation can do to make this session more accessible for you, please contact Jill Ellwood at jill@onevalley.org or 406-587-6262 x 20.