Grant Writer, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank (Harrisburg, PA)

My education at UMass Amherst prepared me for a career I didn’t know I wanted: fundraising.  While in the UMass Public History MA program and Arts Management Certificate program, I learned to research and write well-crafted arguments tell meaningful stories about the past, adapt my message to my audience, share authority, and build community.  All of this has served me well as a fundraiser, as I work to connect peoples’ passions to organizations’ missions, ultimately making our community a happier and healthier place to live.

After graduating from UMass, I worked for 3 years at Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania as Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Donor Relations writing grants and annual appeals, facilitating programmatic partnerships with local organizations, and overseeing the donor database.  I wrote about my time at GSHPA and my transition from historian to fundraiser on the AHA’s perspectives blog.

I currently work as a Grant Writer for Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, raising money to help feed more than 400,000 food insecure children and families across 27 counties in Central Pennsylvania.  I graduated from Leadership Harrisburg Area’s Community Leadership Series in 2019, and currently serve as the Young Professionals Chair of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.