National Panel: Pandemics & Pivots – How Top Fundraisers Powered Their Missions

Clare Mitchell is the Chief Information Officer at GiGi’s Playhouse. With 46+ brick and mortar locations across the United States and Mexico and 200 inquiries to start new locations all over the world, GiGi’s Playhouse is the ONLY network of Down Syndrome Achievement Centers providing FREE, life-changing therapeutic, educational and career training programs for 30,000+ individuals with Down syndrome of all ages. Clare began her tenure at GiGi’s Playhouse as a volunteer assisting a fledgling nonprofit in selecting and implementing its first database.

As GiGi’s evolved into a fast growing, entrepreneurial nonprofit, Clare and her team developed robust automation and integrated software encompassing every aspect of the business including donation management, marketing, program and volunteer management and participation, and recording critical outcomes from our purposeful and progressive programs.

Prior to GiGi’s Playhouse, Clare spent much of her career in the software industry specializing in business process consulting and automation.

Mike Wilkinson is currently the Deputy Director of Events at the Human Rights Campaign where he works with a team of event fundraising professionals to produce 30 signature fundraising dinners nationwide. He previously worked for health-related non-profit organizations including the National Kidney Foundation and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Mike has worked extensively on creating innovations for on-site fundraising, ticket sales and registration, live and silent auctions and on-stage appeals. Mike and his colleagues at HRC have perfected the live appeal as well as overall event design to maximize the attendee experience in a way that drives revenue results. When he’s not traveling the country for events, Mike is a fitness enthusiast that teaches five workout classes per week.

Jason is passionate about helping nonprofits. He has a deep background in Nonprofit Technology, Event planning, Fundraising and Television. He approaches all fundraising from the viewpoint of understanding nonprofit challenges and needs, solving and sharing ideas for long-term

Justin is a Senior Director, National Fundraising Campaigns & Volunteer Engagement at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation is non-profit, volunteer-fueled organization dedicated to finding cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and improving the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. Since the organizations founding in 1967, the Foundation has played a role in every major breakthrough in IBD research. They have invested more than $384 million into finding the causes, treatments, and cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Justin joined the the Foundation in 2011 as an Executive Director for the Alabama/NW Florida Chapter and has since moved into a national leadership role for the Foundation’s Special Events department. He is responsible for partnering with chapters to implement best practice strategies that will enhance and grow each chapters special events productivity and volunteer cultivation footprint. Additionally, Justin is responsible for managing the Foundation’s national partnership with OneCause.