Deb Cunningham Email & Phone Number

Cambridge, Ma

The Executive Director, Strategic Information Management (ED) is responsible for the overall leadership and direction of the Office of Resource Development's appropriation, analysis, management, and reporting of data relevant to its fundraising efforts, and for the harnessing of that data to enhance prospect development and management to achieve its ambitious fundraising goals. The Prospect Development (Prospect Identification, Research and Management) team and the Resource Development Information Technology (RDIT) team report to the Executive Director. The Executive Director is responsible for determining, implementing, and managing strategic direction for both organizations including change and process management, data analytics, technology adaptation, prospect research, identification and management.

Cunningham, Scarlett & Associates (CSA) provides strategic management, reporting and system architecture, as well as process consulting to non-profits. Our mission is to thoroughly understand our customer’s strategic goals and assist in the selection, implementation, and efficient utilization of solutions that support a highly successful non-profit operations. As a consulting team, Deb brings strategic leadership to any project, while Tom provides the technical expertise and strong knowledge transfer skills to support the road map developed in partnership with our client. Together we understand the complexities and challenges faced by non-profit operations and work in tandem with our clients to provide successful solutions that are of the quality expected by our customers.CSA limits our caseload to 3-5 customers at any given time in order to provide the focus and attention required to achieve success. Customer satisfaction is measured by the effective implementation of solutions that can be built and managed by strong internal teams and partnerships, strategic reporting and information solutions that are designed to be end-user facing with strong performance as a key goal in every case, and efficient processes and workflows, all of which are necessary to provide a strong infrastructure for best in class fundraising organizations. We offer our skills as partners, while also identifying and providing additional skills when needed, using our on-going relationships with many outstanding independent consultants and key marketplace vendors whom we work with on various projects. We are able to be flexible and assist our clients in building teams that are appropriate to the scale of small and large projects.

University Of Connecticut Foundation

While continuing with the oversight of Advancement Services, added oversight of Human Resources and Facilities Management. Developed a 10 year facilities plan, including the President’s Hartford residence, to manage costs and smooth budget expectations. Minimized leased facilities costs by negotiating optimally sized facilities, enhanced work space to increase the number of individual work spaces while supporting a more collaborative work environment in four facilities. Launched the first leadership training program for middle managers working collaboratively with UConn Business School faculty to design and deliver the curriculum. Championed the first in-service program at the Foundation.Enhanced on-boarding and recruiting processes to effectively incorporate managers and team members into the process and provide a more positive and informational experience for new staff members.

Storrs, Ct

Strategic leadership of Advancement Services and Annual Giving, with five direct reports and a staff of 30. Implemented the new Blackbaud CRM system to support strategic fundraising and alumni programming. Developed a strategic prospect management program and corresponding reports that focus on behavioral fundraising metrics as well as retention and annual giving solicitation analysis, opportunity pipelines, finance, and endowment reports. Completed successful Information Technology and Gift audits. Implemented PCI compliance within the organization and across vendor platforms. Reduced security risk by eliminating Social Security Numbers from all Foundation systems. Developed the first comprehensive student crowdfunding initiative to include both board challenge grants and student club competition. This continues to be a highly effective student philanthropy program. Increased annual giving 10% per year by enhancing all phone and mail segmentation while maintaining donor participation.Reduced all vendor licensing fees through strategic negotiation and the addition of caps on any increases moving forward. Eliminated substantial IT costs and improved security by moving to an alternative backup and disaster recovery solution.

Boston, Ma

Project lead for the development of an integrated fundraising system designed to service all Harvard undergraduate and graduate programs. Delivered core fundraising functionality to 1000 system users by providing leadership and knowledge transfer to 15-20 programmers, analysts, and trainers. Completed comprehensive system design and mapping for multiple schools and units. Developed business policies for the processing of both biographic information and contribution management. Developed comprehensive training curriculum that was delivered to all system users.

Waltham, Ma

Strategic consulting services to assist clients with fundraising systems, process planning, reporting and workflow analysis, development of policies and procedure supporting fundraising data management. Responsible for planning and oversight of comprehensive system implementations for the following clients: University of ColoradoCalifornia State SystemDartmouthColumbia Notre DameGeorgia TechTexas A&MEmory RutgersPrincetonVanderbiltUniversity of Chicago

United States

Management of the computing, data administration, and research departments that supported the alumni relations, development and communications efforts at the University. Designed and implemented a comprehensive prospect tracking system. Managed the implementation of a new fundraising system. Implemented a comprehensive database screening process to identify new prospects and directed a national donor identification program resulting in a successful $300M campaign.

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Business Administration And Management, General

Bachelor Of Science (Bs), Special Education And Teaching

Education