Fundraising support

Madam C. J. Walker became America’s first self-made female millionaire. This dynamic entrepreneur founded a cosmetics empire with a product she created to treat her own hair loss. She built her company in Indianapolis, Indiana, along with an architectural gem of a facility that combined a theatre with spaces devoted to community use. This building … Continued…

The Phoenix Theatre, an Actors’ Equity member institution, presents diverse plays, including recent Broadway hits (which it’s often the first Midwest theatre to stage) and new works by Hoosier playwrights. It mounts its productions on two stages in a renovated church that’s been its home since 1988. Faced with ongoing needs for updates to its … Continued…

A publishing executive who attended the 1963 March on Washington was moved by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech to create an organization designed to increase the representation of people of color in influential positions within American corporations. He established INROADS as a non-profit network of locally incorporated non-profits serving … Continued…

Crown Hill Cemetery embarked on a Master Plan to support this historic not-for-profit institution’s restoration, preservation, and community-partnership needs. Following up on the opportunities and challenges identified in this document, the Crown Hill Heritage Foundation used direct mail to reach its donor audience with a message about the cemetery’s origins. Titled “From Strawberry Hill to … Continued…

The emerald ash borer first reached the United States in the 1990s, stowing away in wooden shipping crates bound for Michigan from China. In the emerald ash borer’s native habitat, many trees display natural immunity to it. Not so in the U.S., where thousands fall prey to the insect’s devastating effects every year. At historic … Continued…

Indiana/World Skating Academy provides a place to learn and have fun, providing elite coaching for world-class ice-skating competitors from around the work and family togetherness for local residents. Since it opened its doors in 1987, I/WSA has nurtured talent, added ongoing revenue to the City of Indianapolis, and donated ice time to other community organizations. … Continued…

This 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization serving persons with disabilities needed a headquarters building that could bring all its staff together within the community they serve. To assist with fundraising efforts targeting the costs of designing and building the facility, I researched, wrote, designed, laid out, typeset, and produced a brochure that told the organization’s unique story … Continued…

Animal overpopulation contributes materially to euthanasia rates when unspayed and unneutered cats and dogs breed, and their litters become strays. In Indianapolis, Indiana, the percentages of stray and surrendered animals euthanized at the city’s two animal shelters vastly exceeded comparable statistics in smaller metropolitan areas and even entire small states. The Indiana Companion Animal Network … Continued…

The City of Indianapolis committed $19.6 million to a project targeting one of its major east/west arteries, 38th Street, originally dubbed Maple Road. This busy thoroughfare evolved from a residential corridor to a site for small commercial districts that served burgeoning northern suburbs, and eventually became a conduit across the city rather than a destination … Continued…

On Your Level Youth Project uses broadcast media, online resources, and face-to-face interactions to encourage teens to explore and accept diversity, communicate honestly and openly, and seek out productive life paths as they forge their way into adulthood. The project is the brainchild of teacher, media personality, and spoken word artist Blair Karsch, a multi-decade … Continued…

In Indiana’s Decatur County, the Greensburg area serves as a focus of travel and tourism. The 501(c)(6) non-profit Decatur County Visitors and Recreation Commission needed a headquarters location with enough programming space, parking, and public amenities to host its own functions and offer a home for other, smaller non-profits. A $1.5 million capital campaign sought … Continued…

Nearly a decade after the events of September 11, 2001, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began accepting petitions from communities that wanted to develop local 9/11 memorials. Petitioners whose plans gained acceptance received Ground Zero artifacts to incorporate into their sites of remembrance. Indianapolis firefighter and paramedic Greg Hess, who had … Continued…

The Indianapolis Senior Center supported residents ages 50 and older with an extensive menu of services focused on independent living, good health and well being, intellectual and cultural enrichment, and travel and tourism. Its quest for a better alternative to its long-standing facility ended with the determination that buying and renovating its current facility offered … Continued…

Many not-for-profit organizations, especially those that provide vital social services to otherwise under-served populations, stand or fall on their infrastructure’s ability to support their programming. When Boone County Senior Services outgrew its longtime headquarters in Lebanon, Indiana, its not-for-profit foundation embarked on a capital campaign aimed at raising the $2,000,000 necessary to build a new … Continued…

The Indiana War Memorial Commission preserves and showcases a portfolio of museums, monuments, and artifacts, telling the stories of Hoosier veterans and their service from the American Revolution to the present day. Among the IWM’s most treasured holdings: irreplaceable hand-made battle flags, many from the American Civil War, the majority endangered by wear, age, contaminants, … Continued…

Many new college graduates migrate to other parts of the country in search of job prospects that they either know or believe they cannot find in their home states. Fewer college students opt for teaching careers. Because of these trends, the aging teacher population, and other factors, many schools scramble to fill their teaching ranks. … Continued…

Girl Scouts of Central Indiana provides organizational leadership for girls and adults in a large number of Hoosier counties: 35, at the time GSCI embarked on a capital campaign to replace its longtime office space with a building more suited to its mission and its people. I researched, wrote, designed, laid out, typeset, and produced … Continued…