Philanthropy 2020

The Future of the Nonprofit Sector in North Texas

Thursday | December 5, 2019
8:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Reception to follow at 10:00 a.m.

Two Galleria Tower
13455 Noel Road | Dallas, Texas 75240
A light breakfast will be served.

In August 2019 – the Chronicle of Philanthropy released a new study revealing a growing crisis in the nonprofit sector – fundraisers continue to leave at an alarming rate. In the study, half of all fundraisers surveyed expect to leave their jobs in the next two years, and even more alarming, three in 10 said they had recently left or plan to leave the development field altogether in the next two years. Why is the problem getting worse? How does this impact the health of the nonprofit sector? What are solutions that corporate partners and community leaders can help implement?

Find directions below.

GUEST PANELISTS

Jennifer Bartkowski serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX). Ms. Bartkowski has been with GSNETX since 2009 and served as Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer before assuming the role of CEO.

Today, Jennifer is leading a business transformation for the organization that serves more than 25,000 girls across 32 counties. With a strategic focus on membership growth, 21st century programming and brand, Jennifer is committed to ensuring that Girl Scouts is relevant to today’s girl and her parents. With a commitment to changing the workforce pipeline of North Texas, Jennifer chairs a national STEM initiative that was inspired by the success of Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas’ $15M STEM Center of Excellence in southwest Dallas. This 92 acre campus is a living laboratory for girls to explore science, technology, engineering and math. Today, the STEM Center serves as a 21st century program facility for 6,000 local Girl Scouts and as a field trip destination for 4,000 public, private and charter school students throughout North Texas.

Before joining Girl Scouts in 2009, Jennifer served as the Senior Vice President of Workplace Campaigns for United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, responsible for leading an annual campaign of more than $50 million. Jennifer’s career began after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Public Administration, with a nonprofit management focus, at Texas A&M University. She has worked with a variety of organizations including the American Lung Association of Texas, United Way/Capital Area, private start-up Charitygift, and as an independent consultant.

Jennifer is a graduate of Leadership Dallas, Class of 2016, and a member of the Leadership Dallas Alumnae Board. She is also a member of the Dallas Summit. Jennifer is a board member and passionate advocate for Carson’s Village, an innovative, startup nonprofit organization. Jennifer is the recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s 2017 Women in Business Award and proud that Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas was recognized in 2016 as the Nonprofit of the Year by Dallas-based CNM Connect.

Jennifer is the mother of two children and is the proud recipient of the Girl Scout Silver Award as well as the Girl Scout Thanks Badge, recognizing her outstanding achievements as an adult member of Girl Scouts.

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Melissa M. Cameron is a 20 year veteran of Dallas area non-profit service; serving as a volunteer, board member and professional fundraiser. Formerly, she headed the largest division of the American Heart Association as Executive Director. Melissa was responsible for delivering 14 million in revenue in order to fund research leading to the next heart related breakthroughs in science and technology, in addition to transforming the health of communities. Also, as Chief Development Officer at Dallas Habitat for Humanity; Melissa worked alongside community leaders such Roger Staubach, Toni Brinker, Brint Ryan and Mike Gruber on a transformational $ 100 million dollar strategic community investment called, “Dream Dallas.” This historic initiative by a non-profit paired federal, city and private funds to revitalize five dilapidated neighborhoods in South and West Dallas; serving thousands of families through new home ownership, home restoration and foreclosures, tearing down blighted and nuisance properties and neighborhood outreach.

Affiliations include; membership in the largest single fundraiser for American Cancer Society – Cattle Baron’s Ball, Sustainer of the Junior League of Dallas, a member of Executive Women of Dallas, Dallas Regional Chamber’s 2010 Leadership Dallas class and named “Emerging Leader” in 2009 through Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program.

Originally from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Melissa graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.F.A. in Theater, using her talents as a national spokesperson for several Fortune 500 companies, but her passion is keeping up with her family; husband, Jeff and children Grant and Katie.

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Terry D. Loftis is the newly appointed Carlson President and Executive Director of TACA (The Arts Community Alliance). TACA’s mission is to support excellence and impact the arts in North Texas through grant making, capacity building and thought leadership. Prior to TACA, Loftis was Vice President of the Broadway Strategic Return Fund in New York. He was responsible for investor development for BSRF throughout the United States. Loftis spent the bulk of his career in marketing/advertising and was President of Dallas based, Eisenberg And Associates for four years. He is a Tony nominated Broadway producer, of Bandstand on Broadway in 2017 and received the Tony for Best Choreography and Orchestration. He received his first Tony nomination in 2015 for The Visit starring the legendary Chita Rivera. This year, BSRF as a co-producer won the Tony for Best Musical for Hadestown.

Loftis is a Dallas native and a graduate of the Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts. He has been actively engaged in the Dallas arts and non-profit community for many years and serves on the board of directors for Black Tie Dinner (Program Chair), Resource Center, Resource Center Foundation, The Dallas Way and the President’s Council of the Advisory Board of Booker T. Washington. He also served on the board for the Friends of the Katy Trail, USA Film Festival and TITAS. Additionally, he was a segment producer on NBC’s hit show, The Voice, Season 4 – producing the home segment for contestant Amber Carrington. Loftis is also a jazz vocalist and performs throughout Dallas as his schedule allows.

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Ellen Magnis is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Family Gateway, an organization dedicated to serving families with children experiencing homelessness. She is responsible for fundraising, community relations and staff development, including oversight of the community’s only emergency shelter that will serve any kind of family with children, complete with wrap-around services and an afterschool program, as well as programs supporting >150 families in supportive housing. Under her leadership, the agency is now recognized as the Access Point in Dallas County to assess families with children seeking shelter care and triaging them to the appropriate intervention.

She was formerly Interim Executive Director for Minds Matter’s national office, located in Manhattan. There, she was responsible for working with a Board of Directors to support chapters across the country to raise funds, build partnerships and find creative solutions to overcome barriers to serve more high school students from low-income families.

Ellen spent 8 years at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center as Chief of External Affairs, with responsibilities in fundraising, partnership development, legislative affairs and development of an education program, including an annual international conference for more than 3,900 professionals.

Ellen began her non-profit career at the national center of the American Heart Association where she was responsible for national strategic alliances and healthcare quality. In collaboration with numerous medical professional volunteers across the country, she launched a nationwide hospital certification program as part of a comprehensive effort to change the way care for stroke patients was managed at a systems level. This work is noted in medical literature as a case study on successful systems change.

With a personal mission to help transform the lives of children/families, Ellen is also a first-generation college graduate who knows she could have just as easily ended up as a client at Family Gateway. She has an undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychology, Sociology and Research) and an MBA with a concentration in Organizations and Strategy from the University of Texas at Dallas.