Chapter Annual Membership Meeting, 2025
Non-Profit Partnerships: Collaborative Solutions for Complex Challenges
In today’s world, where the challenges facing our communities are increasingly complex and interconnected, partnerships within the non-profit sector have never been more essential. By working together, organizations can leverage their unique strengths, share resources, and develop innovative solutions that make a measurable impact. These partnerships break down silos, inspire collaboration, and create a unified approach to tackling issues like food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty. For non-profits, the power to move the needle truly lies in collaboration—working collectively to make progress that no one organization could achieve alone.
Join us for the AFP-NYC Chapter Annual Meeting to hear from some of the leading voices in New York City who are addressing food insecurity. Our panel features Leslie Gordon, President and CEO of the Food Bank For New York City; Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest; and Grace Bonilla, President and CEO of United Way of New York—three visionary leaders who have come together to form the Consortium, a groundbreaking partnership dedicated to addressing food insecurity across New York City. Moderated by the Consortium’s Chief Transformation Officer, Coleen Curry, this panel will provide valuable insights into how these organizations are working collectively to ensure that every New Yorker has access to essential food and support.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from these experts and discover how, together, we can all contribute to a more equitable future.
We'll also celebrate the presentation of the prestigious Ralph E. Chamberlain Award to Gregory Boroff, Chief External Relations Officer of City Harvest and witness a thought provoking conversation between our Chapter President, Craig Shelley and Adam Martel, CEO of Givzey and Version2 as they discuss AI in fundraising and the invention of the first fully autonomous fundraiser.
This event promises to kick off 2025 with a renewed sense of purpose, encouraging us to discover how, together, we can make a meaningful difference.
More details below—join us!
AGENDA:
8:30am - 9:00am: Registration, Networking, Continental Breakfast
9:00am - 9:25am: Program + Presentation of Ralph E. Chamberlain Award
9:25am - 10:20am: Panel Discussion + Q&A
10:20am - 10:40am: A.I. in Fundraising, Interview
10:40am - 11:00am: Networking
LOCATION:
Fashion Institute of Technology
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
300 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
ENTRANCE:
Via the Pomerantz Art and Design Center Lobby
(located on the Northwest corner of West 27th Street and Seventh Avenue)
Getting to FIT
PRICING:
AFP Young Professional Member: $30
AFP-NYC Member - $40
Guest of AFP-NYC Member - $45
Non-Chapter Member - $50
*Groups of 5 or more - $35 per person
(Please email admin@nycafp.org for assistance with group registrations)
Full participation in "Chapter Annual Membership Meeting, 2025" is applicable for 1.25 points in Category 1.B -Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification​.
THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT HEADLINE SPONSOR:
THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT PREMIER SPONSOR:
THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT SUPORTER:
**ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES ARE AVAILABLE!**
CLICK HERE TO VIEW.
MEET OUR PANELISTS:
Grace C. Bonilla, Esq.
United Way of New York City (UWNYC)
President and CEO
Grace C. Bonilla, Esq. has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the nonprofit and public sectors. She joined United Way of New York City (UWNYC) as President and CEO in July of 2022. Under her leadership, UWNYC has taken steps to drive lasting, systemic change to empower all New Yorkers with dignified access to tools and resources needed to thrive.
In her current role, Grace has spearheaded several transformative initiatives aimed at bridging the equity gap across the city's most vulnerable populations. She has played an integral role in UWNYC working with hundreds of trusted community partners to distribute 14 million pounds of food to families in need, expanding preventative healthcare access for over 100K community
members while growing support for the program from $8 million to $15 million, and delivering over 230,000 books and 5,000 stocked backpacks to kids in New York City’s public school system. Under her leadership, UWNYC published the True Cost of Living Report, which found that 50% of New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet. She also worked to create safer neighborhoods, with UWNYC delivering $1M in grants to violence prevention organizations. Further, with her guidance UWNYC allocated nearly $1 million to migrant-serving organizations while driving recommendations to address the migrant crisis and the impact on children and families.
Grace was featured on City & State New York’s “2024 Power of Diversity: Latino 100” list, which highlights journeys of the most influential Latine leaders in New York’s government and nonprofit sector. She also earned a place on City & State New York’s “2024 Manhattan Power 100” list which spotlights the most impactful figures, including elected officials, advocates, business executives and more. She lives in Queens with her husband and three sons.
Coleen Curry
Consortium of City Harvest, Food Bank For New York City, and United Way of New York City
Chief Transformation Officer
(MODERATOR)
Coleen Curry is the Chief Transformation Officer of the Consortium of City Harvest, Food Bank For New York City, and United Way of New York City. In that role she convenes internal leaders across the three organizations and drives the process for strategic planning and implementation of Consortium activities to address need.
Prior to her role as Chief Transformation Officer, Coleen worked for over twenty-five years as a consultant focused on developing and implementing strategies for mission-driven philanthropists and nonprofit leaders in maximizing social impact.
Coleen has deep expertise in food security issues. She brings strengths in understanding complex social and business objectives, developing detailed strategies, facilitating leadership teams through a collaborative process to make key decisions, and setting and achieving measurable goals. Representative consulting clients include Crown Family Philanthropies, National Public Radio, Feeding America, Lockheed Martin, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Enterprise Community Partners, NeighborWorks America, Wells Fargo, AARP, and United Way Worldwide.
Coleen also served in a nonprofit leadership position as the Senior Director for Innovation, Planning, and Grants at Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit focused on ending childhood hunger. In that role she led the organization through several strategic planning processes, oversaw granting strategy and implementation, and led the program team’s outcomes measurement and data analysis. She has additional management consulting experience from Kearney, where she served Fortune 50 clients in the retail, technology, pharmaceutical, and foodservice industries. Coleen has an MBA from the University of Virginia and a BA from Colgate University.
Leslie Gordon
Food Bank for New York City
President and CEO
Leslie Gordon is the President and CEO of Food Bank For New York City, where she has driven transformative change since March 2020. Taking the helm during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Leslie guided one of the nation's largest food banks through an unprecedented crisis, doubling its annual food distribution from 70 million pounds to nearly 150 million pounds in less than 18 months. Under her visionary leadership, Leslie launched Food Bank's first major gifts program, established a new transportation department, and introduced its inaugural in-house truck fleet. Her strategic approach also led to the formalization of the board recruitment and renewal processes, a comprehensive brand refresh including a new mission statement, and key infrastructure enhancements such as the installation of a mechanical lift at Food Bank For NYC's Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in Harlem and the expansion of the cooler at Food Bank For NYC's Warehouse & Food Distribution Center in the Bronx.
Leslie's leadership has been crucial in enhancing Food Bank For NYC's operational efficiency and expanding its reach. Her efforts have significantly bolstered the organization's ability to deliver critical resources to those in need and strengthened its capacity to respond effectively to increasing demand. Through her hands-on approach, Food Bank For NYC has successfully navigated challenges and leveraged opportunities to advance its mission of empowering every New Yorker to achieve food security for good. With over two decades of experience in the hunger relief sector, Leslie previously served as President & CEO of Feeding Westchester. There, she rebranded the organization from "Food Bank for Westchester" to "Feeding Westchester," increased the distribution of fresh produce to over 40 percent, and boosted overall food distribution by 20 percent. She also formed strategic alliances with health institutions to address diet-related diseases.
As Chair of the Board of Directors for Feeding New York State, Leslie continues to shape the future of hunger relief across the state. Her visionary leadership at Food Bank For New York City remains central to its ongoing success, ensuring that the organization meets the needs of New Yorkers across the five boroughs and drives meaningful change in the fight against food insecurity.
Jilly Stephens
City Harvest
CEO
Jilly Stephens is CEO of City Harvest, New York City’s first and largest food rescue organization. City Harvest rescues high-quality, nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivers it for free to New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity. For almost two decades, Jilly has overseen the organization’s efforts to meet the rising need for food assistance during numerous crises, including Hurricane Sandy and the pandemic, while putting in place long-term initiatives to address the nutrition needs of low-income communities across the five boroughs.
To meet the urgent need for emergency food during the COVID-19 pandemic, City Harvest stepped up its operations and, from March 2020 through June 2022, rescued and delivered nearly 300 million pounds of food as well as 193,000 prepared meals donated by City Harvest’s restaurant partners. In addition, City Harvest distributed 30.5 million pounds of food through a pop-up network of 59 emergency sites and regularly delivered personal protective equipment to its network of partner agencies. Under Ms. Stephens’ leadership, all of this was accomplished while the organization operated from temporary warehouse facilities while its Sunset Park, Brooklyn headquarters was being renovated.
Stephens has dedicated her career to helping New Yorkers in need. She joined City Harvest as Senior Director of Program Development in 2004, leading the expansion of nutrition education programming and the development of community-based programming including Mobile Markets®, and retail partnerships, which now collectively reach over 400,000 New Yorkers annually. Prior to City Harvest, Jilly served as Vice President of Program Operations at ORBIS International, a nonprofit dedicated to the elimination of avoidable blindness through surgical training and education.
MEET OUR 2025 RALPH E. CHAMBERLAIN AWARD RECIPIENT:
Gregory Boroff
City Harvest
Chief External Relations Officer
Gregory Boroff, Chief External Relations Officer at City Harvest, oversees the organization’s fundraising, marketing, communications, volunteer services and special events initiatives. Gregory returned to City Harvest 17 years after having worked there earlier in his career. Over his 25+ year career working with nonprofits, Gregory has raised more than $900 million for organizations that include Friends of Hudson River Park, amfAR, Food Bank For New York City, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). BizBash Magazine named Gregory one of the most innovative people in the event industry. Gregory serves on the Board of EventFluence, as a member of the Steering Committee for Allies in Action, as a mentor for AFP-NYC and as Co-Chair of the Chapter’s Annual Meeting. He has previously served on the Board of the Greater New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, as Chair of AFP’s Fundraising Day in New York, as a member of the BizBash Magazine Advisory Council, on the Board and as Program Dean of the CAE Career Enrichment Committee for the New York Society of Association Executives, and as a mentor for the Point Foundation.
RALPH E. CHAMBERLAIN AWARD
Ralph E. Chamberlain, CFRE had a long and distinguished career of service to the AFP, beginning in the 1960s when the organization was first established as the National Society of Fund Raisers (NSFR), through the late 1970s when the name was changed to the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE), and until his death in 1999. Ralph helped form our NYC chapter, then the Greater New York Chapter. Most of his fundraising career was spent with The Salvation Army, serving many years as the director of development and director of the National Information Service. He was also founder and chairman of the board of Precise Kit Promotions Inc., a manufacturer of disaster aid kits for private and government agencies. He was a deeply committed philanthropist and volunteer and devoted much of his time to education, health and arts programs and causes. He served on the board of Hartwick College (Oneonta, N.Y.), Hassett Healthcare (Cooperstown, N.Y.), Glimmerglass Opera (Cooperstown, N.Y.), the Farmer’s Museum (Cooperstown, N.Y.), the Bergen County, NJ 200 Club and the Do-er’s Club of Bloomingdale, N.J. He frequently helped those organizations with their fundraising campaigns and other activities. A music lover himself, Ralph played the trombone with a professional orchestra in Syracuse. Ralph’s dedication to the organization was widely known. Because of his long-time support of the Foundation’s annual fund and generous planned gift, the IAFP Board of Directors renamed their Conference Scholar Program in 2000 to honor his memory and commitment to the Association.
The award is designed to honor an area fundraising professional for a lifetime of service to the fundraising profession and to AFP and our Chapter.
Past Ralph E. Chamberlain Award Recipients:
2024: Poonam Prasad
2023: Michele Hall-Duncan (in memoriam)
2022: Dianne Armstrong
2021: John Hicks
2020: Stephanie Thomas
2019: Mark Hefter
2018: Laura Fredricks
2017: Harry Lynch
2016: Mark Kalish
2015: Hank Goldstein
2014: Jane O’Connell
2013: Susan Ulin
2012: Penny Stoil
Fully Autonomous Fundraising: The AI That’s Already Raising Money
Every day fundraising teams across the country are faced with a real challenge: they are not able to personally engage 1-to-1 with the majority of their generous donor base. There’s a wide gap between the personalized engagement,cultivation, and stewardship of a donor assigned to a gift officer’s portfolio and the unmanaged majority receiving direct marketing campaigns. The gap leads to challenges with retention, pipeline building, and diminishing connection between the donor and the organization.
In this conversation, Craig Shelley, CFRE, Partner and Chief Growth Officer for Orr Group interviews Adam Martel, CEO of Givzey and Version2 to discuss AI in fundraising and the invention of the first fully autonomous fundraiser. Alongside 13 Innovation Partners, Adam and his team introduced Virtual Engagement Officers (VEOs) to portfolios of 1,000 donors this past fall. Within eight weeks, the VEO raised $275,045 through 1,600 donor engagements and 27,249 donor activities, all fully autonomously.
Adam Martel
Givzey/Version 2
CEO + Founder
Adam Martel is CEO and Founder of Givzey, nonprofit fundraising’s first Intelligent Gift Documentation Management Platform and Version2.ai, Givzey’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) R&D design lab dedicated to create and accelerate the advancement of autonomous fundraising technology and mimic the cognitive functions of a fundraising staff to amplify the mission of every nonprofit organization changing the world. Adam is also known as the author of The Future of Fundraising Newsletter, which has more than 50,000 subscribers, and founder and former CEO of Gravyty, the fundraiser enablement solution that first introduced AI to the nonprofit sector. Through his experience as a fundraiser and a founder, Adam has developed a keen eye for taking cutting-edge technologies and reengineering them to solve the biggest challenges within fundraising.
Craig Shelley, CFRE
Orr Group
Partner + Chief Growth Officer
Craig is a trusted partner and advisor to the nonprofit sector’s most ambitious leaders. He advances the missions of nonprofits by bringing a change-management and entrepreneurial approach to strategy, organizational development, fundraising, and board optimization.
In addition to his direct work with clients, as a Partner and Chief Growth Officer at Orr Group, Craig helps to set the course for the firm’s continued success. He leads the firm’s Impact Group, focused on identifying and meeting the needs of its nonprofit partners and projecting its best practices and viewpoints across the sector, as well as its Growth Team, which is responsible for our brand, marketing, communications, thought leadership, and business development efforts.
Beyond his role at Orr Group, Craig is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and frequently speaks at conferences and publishes articles on leadership and philanthropy. Craig is President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ New York City Chapter, is a member of the Global Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Leadership Institute Advisory Committee, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for NonProfit PRO. Prior to joining Orr Group in 2013, Craig was the National Director of Development and Corporate Alliances for the Boy Scouts of America. In this position, he was responsible for leading annual fundraising, corporate partnerships, and alumni relations for the organization. He also provided training, support, and consulting to nearly 300 local Boy Scouts affiliates, which collectively raised over $250 million annually.