Jennifer Vickerman Akaolisa, Cfre Email & Phone Number

Saint Paul, Mn, Us

Saint Paul, Mn, Us

I am a member of the Philanthropic Services team, which is the driving force behind growing and supporting the Foundations' network of Minnesota philanthropists. Made up of experts from a variety of sectors, this energetic team works with individuals, organizations, and financial and legal advisors to help them make a difference in Minnesota communities. The team provides a range of services—from estate planning support to the latest online tools for managing and tracking individual giving—and access to resources that help others be effective in their giving.As a Gift Planner with the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, I build and cultivate relationships with the goal of bringing new donors to the Foundation, largely through client referrals from professional advisors (e.g. wealth managers, estate planners, attorneys, accountants)

Nixa, Mo, Us

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Focused on managing and growing the major gift and planned giving program.Defined the strategy for the planned giving program, including negotiating with and contracting with three vendors for data analytics, marketing, and donor services. Created a new comprehensive planned giving guide for prospective donors.Built and refined major gift portfolios for all fundraising roles in the organization.Developed and executed donor engagement plans for 125 donors using the Donor Engagement Plan and Qualification Process from The Veritus Group. This resulted in building relationships with donors who had previously only made gifts via direct mail.Developed donor stewardship plan for Library Leadership Circle ($1,000+), major gifts ($10,000+), and Library Legacy Circle (planned giving society).

Saint Peter, Mn, Us

Secured major gifts through donor cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, and volunteer management.Managed a portfolio of 175 donor households with FY '22 contributions over $1,000,000. Gift asks focused above $25,000. Established three new endowment funds for international music tours that provide direct student support, with a goal of leaving no student home because of financial need.Excelled in leading the fundraising efforts for the Gustavus Music Department, resulting in more than doubling the amount of Friends of Music supporters in 7 years. FY '22 contributions from Friends of Music supporters were over $250,000. Managed and set strategic priorities for the Friends of Music Leadership Council, which is looked upon as the model for other volunteer councils across campus.Developed, managed, and executed the 50-year reunion giving strategic plan for implementation with alumni volunteers, leading to increased volunteer engagement and class gifts each year.Created and launched Gustie Women for Good, a multi-generational women's giving circle for Gustavus alumni and friends in support of initiatives for Gustavus students.

Saint Peter, Mn, Us

Focused on building annual fund leadership gifts through volunteer management, personal solicitation, donor cultivation and stewardship.Developed, managed, and executed a new class reunion giving strategic plan for implementation in FY '17.Led Friends of Music, an affinity group of over 100 donors to support fundraising for the Gustavus Music Department.Managed a portfolio of over 250 donor households.

Salt Lake City, Utah, Us

Team leader for made in the USA consumer goods company. Focused on providing spa-grade, affordable pampering products. Build and maintain a customer base. Motivate and coach a team of consultants. Led a regional training for 150 consultants in October 2014.Earned a monthly award based on personal sales and new team members in November 2013.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Senior leader in generating, testing, and refining new business ideas. Utilized a 5-step discovery-driven planning process on all projects. Created and implemented marketing plans and tactics. Assessed progress of programs against goals and presented go/no-go recommendations to senior leadership of the organization.Engaged over eighty women in a new community for small business owners. Over thirty of these women chose to deepen their relationship by becoming Thrivent Financial members within the first year of their participation in the community.Collaborated with consultants to develop marketing and communications materials for a church event program. This program produced new business relationships and awareness of the Thrivent brand in emerging markets.Managed a team consisting of an administrative assistant, a writer, and a graphic designer.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Collaborated with leadership of the internal wholesale team to develop, implement, and train team members on initiatives for financial advisors.

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Assisted Thrivent members and prospects in their efforts to be wise with their money and live generously through the gifts of their time, talent, and treasure. Offered a full range of financial services including planning, insurance, and investments.Grew a new client base through networking groups and women-centered community events, resulting in over 30 new members in 18 months. Insured over 20 members with disability income insurance in 18 months. This was one of the top performances in the region.Completed 6-figure 401(k) rollover transactions with a number of existing and new Thrivent members.Taught seminars on financial management and values-based personal finance, which led to numerous prospects becoming Thrivent members through insurance and investment sales.

Richfield, Minnesota, Us

Within this network of thousands of employees and customers, I collaborated with 10-15 female Best Buy customers and small business owners in a 90-day process to identify innovations, and make recommendations for Best Buy’s executive leaders to consider. Recommendations of the Gifting Initiative Team resulted in the nationwide roll-out of Best Buy’s gift registry program.Ideas presented resulted in the development of a toolkit for future teams to plan and implement volunteer events.

Collaborated with the Director of Loss Prevention to develop company-wide strategies to protect assets and prevent revenue erosion.Assisted in implementing and managing a new loss prevention program for 420 retail locations. This program showed a substantial decrease in product loss due to theft across the company.

Richfield, Minnesota, Us

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Formed successful relationships with regional, district and store managers to ensure effective training, performance counseling, investigations and terminations decisions for over 200 retail locations.Achieved 19% reduction in loss in the region, the most significant reduction in the company in 2002.

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Bachelor Of Arts, Music Performance And Theatre

Fundraising Certificate, Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management

Mini-Mba Certificate, Nonprofit Organizations