Curriculum vitae:
Tom Ahern
Typed April 23, 2018
My personal reason for being at St. Mary's UMN (hint: it's not the money): so SMUMN students — who tend to rise to leadership positions amongst North America's 2 million or so charities, a little private research I conducted found, so this may be NEWS! — will learn the best (cheapest, highest ROI) ways to fundraise money via nonprofit communications.
This will replace learning slowly through bitter experience with a quick training.
The ultimate goal: by following this advice, fundraisers will make for their employers (far) more money ... from the very same base ... doing the very same stuff already being done.
Imagine this in Latin:
Just change the way you're talking, you'll raise a ton more money. Mutato tu dicas tibi tollere pecuniam ton.
Exhibit A:
As of April 23, 2018, @thattomahern, had 5,284 followers.
Let any who have more followers cast the first stone.
As of April 30, 2018, after cleaning the list of never-openers, my how-to e-newsletter had 10,307 active subscribers.
Exhibit B: Recent testimonials
- "In a crowded field, Tom is among a small handful of the best." Jerry Panas, CEO, Jerold Panas, Linzy & Partners; author of Asking; high-hundreds of successful capital campaigns under his belt, concentrating in higher ed
- "We created a donor-focused fundraising campaign that is already exceeding expectations. Your presentation was definitely a turning point for us." Holly C., Choices: Memphis Center for Reproductive Health
- “Now, not only does the newsletter generate tons of planned giving leads ... but it ALSO generates a lot of revenue for the annual fund. In fact, I just found out that this … issue distributed to about 15,000 people generated over $227,000. Wow!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.” Greg Warner, founder, MarketSmart
- "We saw a 366% uptick in giving from the newsletter." Charla I., Annual Giving Manager, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
- "I want you to know your advice has helped us raise more than $9,000,000 since I started following you!" Pat Bradley, co-founder, Crisis Aid International, a Christian relief charity
- "Your training has made a huge difference in our fundraising. We adopted your [advice about] 'donor-centricity' and donations linked to the newsletter increased by 150% with 52 more donors than the previous year." Christi B., Maggie's Place, Phoenix, AZ
- “Our donor newsletter went from making zero to becoming a license to print money. It now outperforms our appeals.” 2017: ED of a $60 million refugee aid charity
- “…much of what we are doing now in regards to donor centricity was inspired by your wonderful presentation.... I am convinced that the reason why we have grown in the last years of tough economic conditions in the country is because of that wonderful switch that you inspired [in our communications].” Angel Aloma, ED, Food for the Poor, America's 9th largest charity
Exhibit C: My latest bio
In November 2016, the New York Times called Tom Ahern "one of the country’s most sought-after creators of fund-raising messages."
[can stop here]
He specializes in applying the discoveries of psychology and neuroscience to the day-to-day business of attracting and retaining donors. He's authored six well-received books on that topic; his latest is What Your Donors Want...and Why! Each year, he trains thousands of fundraisers internationally through conferences, webinars and online courses.
[or here]
He is an award-winning copywriter and journalist. His recent clients for direct mail, capital campaign case statements, audits and training include [alphabetically] the Anchorage Museum, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Chabad on Campus, Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Friends of the Mississippi River, Lollypop Farm (animal rescue, NY), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Sharp Healthcare (nonprofit hospital system in San Diego), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (USA) ... and dozens more, large and tiny.
[or here is good]
He works with Prof. Adrian Sargeant and psychologist Jen Shang, principals at the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, Plymouth University (UK). Tom sits on HCSP's advisory board. HCSP includes among its many outreach activities the world's top fundraising think tank, Rogare (Latin: to ask).
[bitter end; when you have to fill space]
Tom Ahern has a BA and MA from Brown University and a Certificate in Advertising Art from the RI School of Design. He lives with his wife, nonprofit consultant and author Simone Joyaux, in Rhode Island and France.