NYC Chapter Annual Meeting

The Outlook for 2024 and the Impact on Fundraising

THIS EVENT HAS REACHED CAPACITY. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITLIST, PLEASE CLICK HERE AND FILL OUT THE FORM. YOU WILL BE CONTACTED ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS IF SPACE OPENS UP. 

These are profoundly challenging times that we expect will continue into 2024. In fact, the coming year could be even more challenging for our country and the world. No matter the cause, organization, or institution we may work for, we can all expect that the current and evolving state of our culture, economy, and politics will affect our work as fundraisers and nonprofit leaders. 

Join us at the Annual Meeting as we kick off a new year of programming and service to the New York City Metro fundraising community. We will address the challenges that lie ahead and have the opportunity to hear from some of the most compelling and innovative speakers and thinkers to help us strategize and think about how to navigate them.

Our program will include a dynamic panel of speakers exploring the challenging times we all find ourselves leading and fundraising in, the presentation of our prestigious Ralph E. Chamberlain Award to Poonam Prasad, remarks from our new Chapter President Craig Shelley, and we’ll close enjoying the talents and satire of Broad Comedy.

This promises to kick-off 2024 in both a thought provoking and fun manner. More details below. Join us!

PRICING: AFP-NYC Young Professional Member - $10 AFP-NYC Member - $25 Non-member (Guest of AFP-NYC Member) - $30 Non-Chapter Member - $35 Groups of 5 of more - $20 per person, contact admin@nycafp.org for registration assistance

PANELISTS: JAYLEN ADAMS, Executive Fellow, Our Turn is a dynamic force in the realm of education advocacy. As an executive fellow at Our Turn, a education nonprofit committed to amplifying student voices, Jaylen has played a pivotal role in shaping the narrative around educational equity. Her journey with Our Turn began over two years ago as a local organizing fellow in the North Carolina chapter, where she spearheaded the impactful One State, One Rate campaign. This initiative aimed to secure tuition equity for undocumented immigrants, advocating for in-state tuition for those raised within North Carolina borders. Jaylen's tireless efforts involved op-eds, in-depth research, and extensive engagements with representatives and legislative officials, resulting in the introduction of two bipartisan bills to the North Carolina General Assembly. In her current role as an executive fellow, Jaylen utilizes her storytelling prowess to lead comprehensive initiatives. She has been instrumental in the release of a series of student voice essays, facilitated panels on mental health, and actively contributes to the administrative processes of the nonprofit alongside the CEO.

Jaylen is also a dedicated full-time student at Columbia University, pursuing studies in political science and creative writing. Currently in her sophomore year, she has consistently earned a place on the Dean's List. Jaylen's academic focus spans American government and international relations, providing her with a nuanced understanding of legislation on both domestic and international levels. Jaylen is a founding member of the Crown, Columbia's first and only black magazine, and a founding member of Columbia University's Period Chapter, advocating to end period poverty in New York. Her activism extends to Albany, where she has passionately advocated for the end of legacy admissions following the overturn of affirmative action. Jaylen is also an active member of the Black Pre-Law Society.

During the summer, Jaylen served as an Ombudsman and marketing intern for Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and Legal Aid. In this role, she took on the responsibility of assisting Medicaid and Medicare recipients in North Carolina, guiding them through the complexities of healthcare navigation. In the fall semester, Jaylen interned for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, contributing to office management and handling constituent affairs. Additionally, she works with distinguished fellows at the Institute of Global Politics, collaborating with influential figures such as former Secretary Hillary Clinton, former Representative Stacey Abrams, and former UNICEF Executive Director Henriette Fore.

Jaylen is a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, LEDA Scholar, Thrive Scholar, and Kluge Scholar of Columbia University. She has been published in HuffPost, American Journal News, Wisteria Magazine, and the New York Times. Jaylen Adams is committed to making a lasting impact in the fields of education, advocacy, and public service.

ANDREA JUNG is President and Chief Executive Officer of Grameen America, the fastest-growing microfinance organization in the United States. The former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avon Products, Inc., and longtime champion of women’s issues, Ms. Jung was appointed by Grameen’s Founder and Chairman and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus to the position in April 2014. Founded in 2008, Grameen America is dedicated to helping women who live in poverty build small businesses to create better lives for their families. Since Grameen America's inception, the organization has invested over $1.7 billion to more than 133,000 low-income women across the United States through its unique social capital model.

Ms. Jung, the longest-serving female chief executive in the Fortune 500, is respected as a trailblazer for women. She served as CEO of Avon from 1999 through April 2012, and as Chairman from 2001 through December 2012. As Avon’s first woman CEO and Chairman, Ms. Jung was also the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association, and as Chairman of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations. During her tenure at Avon, she was responsible for developing and expanding economic earnings opportunities for over six million women in more than 100 countries. She has been lauded globally for her pursuit of public-private partnerships to end violence against women and to stem the breast cancer epidemic. Under her leadership, the Avon Foundation for Women raised and awarded nearly $1 billion to support health and empowerment causes, becoming the largest women-focused corporate philanthropy around the world. Ms. Jung's efforts were recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative, which in 2010 honored her with the Clinton Global Citizen Award for her visionary leadership in solving pressing global challenges. 

Throughout her corporate tenure, Ms. Jung ranked consistently among the top leaders on lists including Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women in Business,” Forbes’ “Most Powerful Women in the World,” and the Financial Times’ “Top Women in World Business.” Ms. Jung is a graduate of Princeton University. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., Unilever, Rockefeller Capital Management and Wayfair Inc. She previously served on the boards of General Electric and Daimler AG.

ADAM MARTEL is CEO and Founder of Givzey, nonprofit fundraising’s first Retention & Gift Agreement Platform. Adam is also known as the 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 challenges within fundraising.

STACY PALMER is chief executive of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and has overseen the organization’s transition as it became an independent nonprofit in April 2023. Palmer helped found the Chronicle in 1988, when it was started by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc. She has served as its top editor since 1996.

Under Palmer’s leadership the organization has evolved from its roots as a biweekly newspaper for social-sector professionals into an organization that offers a monthly magazine, robust news, advice, and opinion sections, and a host of webinars, briefings, and other services.

In addition, she helped forge a partnership with the Associated Press and the Conversation designed to educate the public about the nonprofit world and to establish a fellowship program to coach local journalists to provide more sustained and sophisticated coverage of nonprofits and foundations.

Palmer has appeared frequently on radio and television to offer commentary on news in the nonprofit world. She is the editor of Challenges for Philanthropy and Nonprofits, a book published by the University Press of New England that collects three decades of observations by the nonprofit activist and Chronicle columnist Pablo Eisenberg. Before she helped found The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Palmer was editor for government and politics at The Chronicle of Higher Education. She was also a longtime member of the Chronicle of Higher Education Inc., leadership team.

ISOKE SENGHOR is the co-founder of The Village House Pantry, a Brooklyn-based community organization working to eradicate food insecurity throughout New York City. She is also a Civic Fellow of DoSomething, a non-profit organization centering and supporting youth-led initiatives that positively impact themselves and their communities. In 2020, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies and Spanish, with a concentration in the African Diaspora as a Posse Scholar from Dickinson College. While completing her undergraduate studies at the start of the pandemic, Isoke became deeply involved in food justice at the invitation of her mother and neighbors. Along with her parents and team of fellow organizers, she rescues food, administers distributions, maintains community fridges, and conducts volunteer outreach. In the summer of 2020, Isoke and her team partnered with Black Farmers upstate to conduct a 16-week Community Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) program, providing local and seasonal food to Black families throughout New York City. In 2021, Isoke and her team were able to establish a distribution site to facilitate local food distribution and act as a drop-off/pick-up site to 4 other distribution points in surrounding neighborhoods. Today, The Village House Pantry team serves over 5000lbs of food to more than 400 individuals every week. 

Isoke is also a contributing writer for the Voices of Lefferts Journal and is an oral history interviewer currently working on Whose Streets? Our Streets? Stories of Struggle, Joy and Change in Flatbush, an oral history project aiming to collect and preserve the written, verbal and visual histories of the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. Along with being a food justice community advocate, Isoke is a wellness entrepreneur and owner of ‘BushBaby By Iso, a company centering physical, mental and spiritual well-being with handmade products and services such as body butter, affirmation card decks and yoga classes as an RYT-200 hr certified instructor. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her family and friends, and cooking new recipes. Hailing from a family of community organizers, Isoke is fortunate to witness the transformative power of her efforts and is highly motivated to uplift the voices and advocate for the well-being of underserved communities.                 

MODERATOR: SUNIL OOMMEN, is President of Oommen Consulting a boutique fundraising practice with a specialty in major gifts, foundation relations, and events. His life’s mission is to ensure equality, dignity, and respect for all human beings everywhere. After more than 20 years working toward this mission through various roles in the nonprofit sector, he's been blessed to learn a few things, meet amazing people, and reflect on hard lessons that have made him an effective fundraiser, board member, and nonprofit team leader. Most recently as a full-time employee, Sunil served as Senior Director of Development for Human Rights First, an international human rights organization. Prior, he served in various fundraising and leadership roles at Amnesty International USA, A Better Chance, South Asian Youth Action, GLAAD, and the New York Blood Center.  Sunil serves on the Board of Directors for the New York City Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, for which he launched the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) programming for the chapter. He also spent 10 years on the Board of Directors of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a national civil rights organization. A life-long New Yorker, Sunil earned his Master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s degree from American University in Washington, DC.

RALPH E. CHAMBERLAIN AWARD 2024 RECIPIENT:

POONAM PRASAD is a skilled and strategic leader dedicated to helping nonprofits do more by exceeding their fundraising goals. She established Prasad Consulting & Research, a national fundraising consulting and prospect research firm, in the late 1980s to help nonprofits facing public funding cuts attract private philanthropic dollars. The firm has helped raise billions of dollars for hundreds of local, national and international organizations from every sphere of nonprofit work, by providing advanced research, audit, capital campaign, individual and major giving services as well as board and staff training. Numerous clients have stayed with the firm for over a decade or are repeat clients or referrals. 

A pioneer in helping organizations craft major donor strategies for individuals and groups with differing cultural values, the firm has counseled campaigns targeted to African American, Chinese, Dutch American, Hispanic, Korean, Scandinavian, South Asian, Sephardic, Turkish American, LGBTQ, and female populations.

A sought-after trainer for nonprofits and professional organizations, Poonam has served on the Faculty of the MS in Nonprofit Management program at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philanthropy and Fundraising at NYU’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising for 15 years, developing new curricula and mentoring a vast network of fundraisers.

She serves on the Executive Committee of the Giving Institute and the Editorial Review board of Giving USA, the Advisory Committee of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy and the Advisory Board of the Women’s Coaching Alliance. Previously, she was President of Women in Development New York and a Board Member of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement International and the New York Women’s Agenda. 

Poonam was previously honored by the US Ambassador to Jamaica for “outstanding service, unrelenting dedication and resourcefulness” as President of the American Women's Group and by the Rotary Club of Calcutta Midwest. She began her career as an investigative reporter and worked in journalism, advertising and public relations in India, Korea, Hong Kong, and the US before transitioning to fund-raising for nonprofits. 

DON'T MISS THE EXCLUSIVE PERFORMANCE BY BROAD COMEDY ​Join us for some musical comedy by special Broad Comedy guest, Danielle Cohn!

Ever wonder what would happen if SNL and Tina Fey had a child and hired Neil Patrick Harris as the manny? We have the answer!

Broad Comedy has been producing snarky, provocative and loveable feminist comedy and musical-satire since 2001. They perform Off-Broadway, tour the country, and raise money at progressive organizations' fundraisers, galas and events! Broad Comedy has helped raise over $2,000,000 for progressive causes including Planned Parenthood, The ACLU and numerous Women’s Health Organizations. The Broad’s customize all of their content to focus on the issues that matter to you. As long as you are not planning on voting for Donald Trump, and you think equality is sexy… Broad Comedy has got your back!

“For well over a decade, the critically-acclaimed, nationally-touring musical comedy and sketch troupe Broad Comedy has used its hilarious blend of song, dance and political satire to take an unblinking look at our society. Think of these ladies as the voice in your head—only funnier.” — TIME OUT NEW YORK

Want to check it out for yourself? Click here to watch Broad Comedy's sizzle reel, and click here to learn more about how we can work together to raise money at your next fundraising event!

THANK YOU TO OUR HEADLINE SPONSOR:

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:  

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Download our 2024 Annual Meeting Sponsorship Prospectus!