Message From Your Chair

In a time when the rules governing gift accounting are frequently changing, it is all the more important for gift-processing staff to engage in continuing education to keep their skills current. This workshop is a prime opportunity for staff to refresh their knowledge and keep current on changes in the industry, in order to make even greater contributions to our institutions' fundraising results.

With the resources available at the workshop, participants are sure to get top value for their investment of time. Learning from faculty and fellow attendees alike, gift processors can expect to gain new insights into best practices in the field, to strategize on how gift processing can have a greater positive impact on fundraising efforts, and to update their knowledge of the changing rules and regulations that govern our field.

This workshop contains something for professionals at all levels of gift processing. There will be presentations on the CASE Reporting Standards and Management Guidelines, policies and procedures, and streamlining operations for managers. There will be sessions covering gift crediting, as well as matching gifts, for the processors in the trenches. For the newcomers to gift processing, there will even be a Gift Processing 101 session to bring you up-to-speed with your peers. In short, there is something for everyone in gift processing, and we hope you will be a part of the workshop.

Gail A. Ferris, Conference Chair
Director, Development Services
The Catholic University of America

Since January, 2008, Gail A. Ferris has served as director of development services at The Catholic University of America. As director, he supervises the university's alumni records, gift processing, and prospect research and management, as well as the university's Millennium development information management system.

In 2006 and 2007, Ferris was director of development systems at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. There he had responsibility for maintaining the database tracking the museum's 200,000 members and the processing of all gifts to the museum. In February, 2007, he assumed responsibility for budget for the Development division, as well as interaction with the museum's information technology, operations, legal, and human resources areas.

Previously, Ferris served as director of development operations at the World Wildlife Fund - U.S., where he was responsible for biographic and gift records, including prospect research and management, budget and human resources. He also served as executive director for advancement records at The George Washington University (GW); as a consultant-in-residence at GW for Systems and Computer Technology Corporation (SCT); as director of information management in Georgetown University's Office of Alumni and University Relations; and as director of alumni records at Yale University.

Active in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), he has served as faculty member and chair for several CASE conferences and as chair of the Matching Gifts Advisory Council. He is the recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for outstanding teaching.

Amanda Brown
Senior Philanthropy Systems Specialist
The Nature Conservancy

Amanda Brown has worked for the Nature Conservancy for 10 years at both the local (state chapter) level and in the central Advancement Services Department. In her current role, she is responsible for processing gifts in accordance with donor intent and applicable finance and accounting rules; providing support for major gift fundraising such as input and tracking of donor information; and conducting advanced training for staff in the use of the donor database (Team Approach). Additionally, she is often involved in the review and updating of business procedures, training materials and other documentation used throughout the organization. Based in the Nature Conservancy's San Francisco office, Brown supervises five employees located throughout the western United States who have similar responsibilities.

Prior to working at the Nature Conservancy, Brown worked as a fiscal technician at the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds a bachelor's degree in natural resource planning from Humboldt State University.

Debby C. Charron
Director, Gift Administration
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation

In November, 2009, Debby Charron accepted the director of gift administration role for The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation. With a hospital-wide fund conversion project in the works, Charron's primary focus has been to create, systematize and manage a new fund cost center process for the foundation. Overseeing the daily operations of the foundation's data center, Charron is ultimately responsible for the management of all donations processing, receipting, acknowledging and pledge management activity for a department raising in excess of $55 million annually. Additionally, PCI compliance, lockbox/caging services and document imaging are all critical functions of the foundation's data center.

Prior to her move to Philadelphia, Charron spent several years in Atlanta, serving as the inaugural director of advancement services at the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (NFCDC). She was recruited by NFCDC while fulfilling a similar role for Oglethorpe University, also located in Atlanta, Ga. At both places, Charron's expertise in operations management was instrumental in providing a solid infrastructure to support efforts in data management/gift processing, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations, planned giving and stewardship.

Past and current accomplishments in the field include benchmarking for trends in development and communications work, measurable standards of employee performance, and the design and implementation of a three-system interface program to allow for systematic exchange and update of prospect and donor data.

Charron's work in the field of development services spans nearly sixteen years at various health organizations and institutes of higher education, including SUNY New Paltz and The Sage Colleges in New York.

Wayne Combs
Director, Advancement Services & Information Management
Occidental College

Wayne Combs is the director, advancement services and information management at Occidental College. Prior to Oxy, Combs served as manager, gift, data and record services at UC, San Diego.

 As campaign operations manager, he oversaw a three-year strategic plan for advancement services in support of University of Washington's $2.5 billion campaign. Combs began his career in higher education at UCLA by training advancement staff in the use of software and fundraising technology to prepare for a $3 billion campaign.

He received his master's of business administration degree in innovation and his master's of management degree in technology from the University of Washington. He received his bachelor's degree in economics and public policy from Pomona College.

Keynote Speaker

Jon Thorsen
Director of Advancement Services
The Nature Conservancy

Jon Thorsen is director of advancement services at The Nature Conservancy, where he oversees the areas of Business Information & Analytics, Fundraising Systems, Prospect Development and Prospect Management. A former university librarian and instructor, he joined the development profession in 1987 and has led research and advancement services operations for such organizations as Princeton University and the American Red Cross.

A former president of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement, Thorsen received the association's Distinguished Service Award in 1999. He currently serves as a consultant to the board of directors of the Association of Advancement Services Professionals and chair of that organization's Best Practices committee.

Thorsen has given presentations on many facets of the development profession at conferences of AASP, APRA, ADRP, AFP, CASE and other organizations. His articles on the advancement services profession have appeared in numerous publications, and he has contributed to the books, Constituent Relationship Management: The New Little Black Book of Politics and People to People Fundraising: Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities. He also contributed forewords to anniversary editions of Taft Foundation Reporter and the Corporate Giving Directory. His column "Up to Speed" appears monthly at https://workingphilanthropy.com.

This faculty member has earned a CASE Crystal Apple award in recognition of excellence in teaching at 10 or more conferences, workshops, and institutes.