Meet the 2023 Inclusive Fundraising Fellowship Cohort
Brittany Clayborne
Resource Development Director, The Haven Shelter & Services, Inc. (The Haven)
Brittany Clayborne graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a BA in Sociology in 2016. A month after graduation, she began working at The Haven as a Crisis and Support Services Coordinator, answering the hotline and working directly with program participants at the shelter. In the Fall of 2016, Brittany became the Volunteer Coordinator and created a plan for growth for The Haven Volunteer Program. For the next six years, she worked closely with The Haven's volunteers to help meet the needs of the agency either through donations of their time or in-kind donations. Now In 2022, Brittany continues to work with volunteers and assist with community outreach to better serve the Northern Neck and Essex County, as well as manage the social media, website, fundraisers, and other events for The Haven as their Resource Development Director. Brittany's passion for supporting those impacted by gender based violence is continuously shown through her hard work and dedication in supporting programming for those in need.
Margaret Dodson-Cordrey
Advancement and Stewardship Manager, YWCA Richmond
Margaret Dodson-Cordrey (she/her) is a queer, non-profit professional from Richmond, Virginia. Her background is in fundraising and stewardship. Margaret worked in higher education at her alma mater, Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, for 4 years. While there, she worked on stewardship projects, focusing on generational differences in giving, event attendance, volunteerism, and social media behavior. Looking for more service-based and social-justice opportunities, Margaret entered the RVA non-profit world, working with volunteers at Feed More, and now fundraising at YWCA Richmond.
Margaret’s current position as the Advancement and Stewardship Manager at YWCA Richmond focuses on translating stories into calls to action. Those calls to action could utilize time, talent, treasure, and/or testimony. Her professional interests focus around generational relationships and giving, community care, re-inventing fundraising to reflect the values of new generations.
Margaret’s passion for service and community has led her to become a Board Member at The Hanover Arts and Activities Center and The Poe Museum. Margaret is a seasoned knitter, and you can find her at the Center of the Yarniverse on Saturdays. Her greatest loves are her wife, Kelsey, and their dog, Phoebe.
Victoria Jackson, MBA
Development Coordinator, SPARC
Victoria Jackson is a hardworking development professional with over 5 years of experience in nonprofit operations. Victoria is an alumnus of Virginia Commonwealth University and recently received her master’s degree in business administration. As a recent graduate, Victoria is inspired daily to continue her learning and passion for organizational leadership. Alongside the development team at SPARC – Youth Performing Arts, Victoria has reached fundraising goals by planning and executing events, donor outreach initiatives, and communication campaigns. With training in both music and business administration, Victoria manages to juggle being a performer of the arts and business professional. Victoria has the ability to adapt to new environments, think through challenging situations, and is an advocate of inclusiveness and diversity.
Dylan Jones
Development and Communications Manager, Groundwork RVA
Dylan Jones is the Development and Communications Manager at Groundwork RVA. Through her work, she helps to ensure that the youth Groundwork RVA serves have programming that honors them as whole people, and that their stories, voices and the voices of their community members are uplifted ethically and authentically. Dylan has spent much of her personal and volunteer time on DEI initiatives across the city, including sitting on the Stonewall Sports Leadership Board as DEI Director, and most recently by joining Us Giving Richmond Connections on their Black Pride RVA committee. Outside of work, Dylan is a ceramic and performing artist, teaching clay classes at a neighborhood studio and traipsing across the stage at various theatres in Richmond.
Josh Leidy
Special Assistant for Alumni Engagement, VCU
Josh Leidy works as an alumni engagement assistant for VCU's Inclusive Engagement & Philanthropy team, primarily focusing on LGBTQ+ initiatives and parent fundraising. He has spent his professional career as well as volunteer time building affinity among groups in higher education in various capacities. Leidy earned undergraduate degrees in kinesiology and psychology from the University of Virginia and a master's in higher education from Virginia Tech. Outside of work, he coaches at a HIIT-style gym, loves to play any type of game and spends time watching TV and movies with his husband, Gordon, and their dog, Sadie.
Jada Perez
Grant Writer, Greater Richmond Fit4Kids
Jada graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018 with a Bachelor's in English. She began her career in fundraising as a Grant Writer for Greater Richmond Fit4Kids in 2021. Since then, Jada has been interested in immersing herself in the non-profit sector and furthering community engagement efforts. She serves as the Staff Liaison for Fit4Kids Young Professional's Board, a sub-sect of the Board of Directors. Jada is passionate about equitable access to education, wellness offerings, and community resources and is excited to grow as a leader in equitable fundraising strategies.
Zoe Thomas
Development Manager, Voices for Virginia's Children
Zoe Thomas is the Development Manager at Voices for Virginia’s Children. She works to build strong fundraising relationships with individuals, corporations, and foundations. She loves finding opportunities for stakeholders to support Voices work in a meaningful way through community-centric fundraising.
Zoe has spent much of her life in the non-profit performing arts world, from community theatre to regional theatre festivals. She has worked in front of house, box office, event planning, and fund management. Zoe was most recently the Donor Relations Coordinator at the Richmond Symphony where she used her passion for donor-centered fundraising to drive individual giving and assist with concerts and special events. While at the Symphony, Zoe also created and produced the Symphony’s first ever podcast, “Can Someone Give Me an A?!”
Zoe holds a B.S. in Theatre Arts Management from Ithaca College. She is a cat mom to Rowan and Aspen and enjoys nothing more than a nice long walk while listening to one of the 23 podcasts she is currently following.
Salman Zaman
Major Gifts Officer, ACLU of Virginia
Prior to joining the ACLU-VA, I worked with Islamic Relief USA, International Rescue Committee of Maryland, Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Joel Rubin for Congress, where I honed my skills working in advocacy, community organizing, program management, and fundraising. And now, I am genuinely honored to be the new Major Gifts Officer for the ACLU of Virginia! What I love about my role is being able to communicate with the community and get them engaged and involved with the work we are doing. It is extremely easy to get cynical or jaded by the news we read and watch, but for me what re-instills my faith in humanity is the outpouring of support behind the scenes that most folks do not see. The work that the ACLU is doing is only possible through the support of the community at large. These fights are our fights, and these victories are our victories. Together, we can make a more perfect union!
About the IFF Program
The Inclusive Fundraising Fellowship (IFF) offers inclusion-oriented education, training, networking activities, and one-on-one mentorship for Central Virginia-based mid-level and emerging (2- 5 year range) nonprofit professionals representing a wide range of diverse backgrounds and interests. For the purpose of this program, we define diverse as a concept encompassing, without limitation, race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or identity; religion, nationality, economic class, language, and physical, mobility and ability. The state of being diverse means having the broadest possible representation of individuals, experiences, and perspectives in all-encompassing terms.
The goal of this program is to:
● Build a pipeline of fundraising leaders that reflect the diversity of our communities and develop practices that make a more just, equitable, and holistic Richmond fundraising community.
● Share the learnings from this experience with the Richmond non-profit sector through individual projects.
What sets IFF apart from other programs?
IFF uses a holistic framework developed by Nicole Jones and Nadia Gooray. This framework has three pillars: (1) centering the whole person, (2) foregrounding systems change, and (3) embedding equity and community-centered practices.
Inclusive Fundraising Fellowship Planning Committee Members
Alana Ama, Recovery Grant Administrator, Virginia Department of Emergency Management
Robert Chisley, MSL, University Development Engagement Officer, Virginia Commonwealth University
Molly Lukschander, CFRE, Director of Individual Giving, Family Equality – Co-Chair
Yasmin Gregg, MNS, Development Operations Manager, ChildSavers – Co-Chair
Mario Guevara, Development Director, REPRO Rising Virginia
Shelley Thompson, Director of Advancement for Community Engagement, St. Andrews School
Session Facilitators
Nadia Gooray, Director of Equity and External Affairs, YWCA
Nicole Jones, Deputy Director, ART 180
The Inclusive Fundraising Fellowship is generously supported by:
