A New Face on the Team: Meet Caitlin!
Hi Friend,
I’m a new face on the Further Together team, and I wanted to introduce myself.
I’m Caitlin and I've been fundraising professionally for over a decade. Over the last few years, I’ve been a one-person fundraising team in small, grassroots organizations — which means I know the hustle it takes to keep the doors open and programs growing to meet an ever-increasing need.
But even in all the hustle, I like to do fundraising a bit differently. I believe that fundraising isn’t just about finding dollars, it’s about finding the right fit between donors and organizations. For me, fundraising is matchmaking — matching donors who want to change the world with organizations who are making that change happen.
This is the part about fundraising that drives and inspires me. Because when you approach fundraising as matchmaking, you realize that this is a profession built on love. Every donation is an act of love, and every story shared is an act of love back. As a fundraiser, I feel so lucky to be the conduit for so much love. Every day, I get to connect donor passions with charity missions, and share the incredible impact these partnerships make in our communities.
But that means there’s more to fundraising than finding those illusive pots of gold your board expects you to uncover. Successful, sustainable fundraising takes time. It takes a foundation of good internal systems. It takes responsible, ethnical storytelling. It takes a plan — and an acceptance that the plan will change.
Scariest of all though, it means being able to say no. Not everyone with deep pockets will be a good fit to fund your organization. Sometimes they will be actively harmful to it. I’m so excited to work with Further Together and disrupt these systems that tell us we have to bend to anyone with a chequebook, because you know what? We can do better.
We can do fundraising in a way that feels good and benefits our community. It’s true! And I can’t wait to be on this journey with you.
Until next time,
Caitlin
