Why Do It Again? Part 1 of 2
I’m typing this blog post as I fly from Indianapolis – after three months of leisure and family time – into Washington DC for my new role with Avectra. I am more than excited, so I thought it might be best to share the reasons for both my excitement, and for parking the life of leisure I have been leading the last few months.
Over the last couple of years I have either been totally away from the charity sector that I so dearly love or involved with portions of the sector which were not part of my heart and soul. In 2013, I will be celebrating 30 years of being immersed in so many facets of the fundraising processes of non-profits.
During those 30 years I have met thousands of the best fundraisers and fundraising consultants in the world. Many of them were kind enough to teach me key portions of this marvelous art form which makes nearly every NPO mission spring to life. Often they said to me that they felt by sharing what they knew, would allow me to have more of an impact on the technology and databases so critical to their success. You know they were absolutely right!
In my first engagement with technology I was part of Master Software. Some of you reading this may recall our flagship product, Fund-Master. During those early years in the 80’s we made a PC-based fund raising software package come to life. Fund-Master truly changed how fundraisers could communicate with, and nurture, donors. I still recall many of those visionary fundraisers who immediately grasped the power this tool would bring to their world. Those visionaries helped us shape the future of fundraising.
I would be remiss if I did not mention three key mentors from my Master Software/Epsilon experience. They were Gene Schulstad and Bill Bond of MSC, and Gene Henderson of Epsilon. If you were a Fund-Master customer, or also had the wonderful experience knowing either Gene S.,Gene H., or Bill, please hit the comment button below and let me know. There were such strong “bonds” with those mentors and customers I so would love to hear from you!
My next engagement was with a company called Target Software and their superb product called Team Approach. I had the pleasure of working with some of the largest charities in the world as well as a large number of PBS stations. They taught me loads more about multi-tiered communications and the immense value of donor loyalty. My mentor at Target Software was the king of large database fundraising systems, Chuck Longfield. Although I was there for a much shorter time period than my 14 years at Master Software, the experience was still very rich. Part of the reason for that good experience is that Bill Bond was again part of my tenure there. Once again, if you were part of the customers and consultants we worked with, I would love to hear from you via our comment section below.
Since the creation of eTapestry is about the half-way point in my career of serving the non-profit world, I will save “the rest of the story” for my next blog post . . .
Tags: Avectra, Fundraising, Jay B. Love, Jay Love, Nonprofit
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Comments (6)
Jessica White
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Jay, of course I remember Gene. We were just reliving some of those Master Software days last week with a colleague. I’m excited for your new gig and want to hear more.
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Debbie Durst
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I had the extreme pleasure of working at MSC wtih Gene S. and Bill B. It was a great place to work and we were like family. I do remember Gene H. when he would come into town. During the final days at MSC, it was Jay’s great leadership that got us through it. Jay was a mentor to many of us! Looking forward to hearing more!
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Peg Donahue
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Jay, I fondly remember you, Gene S, Bill B. and of course, Gene H. for whom I worked directly while at Epsilon. It’s so nice to find you here in the blogging world! I wish you all the best at Avectra.
I found your blog post as I begin a job search after some very nice family and teaching (SNHU) time this summer.
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Jay Love
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Thanks for the warm comments and helping us all recall those key leaders serving the charity sector!
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Why Do It Again? Part 2 of 2 | Avectra Blog
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[...] my last blog post I outlined a few portions of my first sixteen years of serving the charity sector. During those [...]
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Ron Coscia
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Hi Jay,
If you remember…I believe I accomplished some of the first data conversions to Fundmaster as a contractor. Never having worked directly with MSC, I don’t recall most of those names, but I do remember working with Debbie Durst, and, of course, yourself. I wish you success in your venture.
Ron Coscia
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