Naomi Swinton

1997

Naomi Swinton

Developing Donors/Creating Change

http://www.grassrootsleadership.org/

Wilmington, North Carolina, United States

Community Improvement & Economic Development

The Bold Idea:

Developing Donors/Creating Change is a fundraising skills resource based at Grassroots Leadership. Workshops and materials focus on the resource needs and involvement of youth, lesbian/gay/bisexual and African-American community groups. The advisory board and trainers work from an understanding that progressive social change is fueled by the time, money and skills put into it and that it is necessary to learn to access and cultivate sustainable resources to support social change work. Training materials are available in workshops, over the web and through the mail. These materials reflect research on philanthropic trends in particular communities and provide analysis around issues of fundraising. Materials also present exercises intended to help other organizations strengthen the impact of service and organizing work through donor-based fundraising.

Biography:

Naomi Swinton was an Echoing Green Fellow in 1997 when she founded Developing Donors/Creating Change.  She is now the North Carolina field organizer for Grassroots Leadership, a southern resource organization working for social change. Grassroots Leadership is currently focusing on community-labor campaigns to challenge privatization of prisons and other public services. Naomi has served as a development director, campus trainer, ED of a student-led service learning organization, founding board member, and worked with students from all over the world to develop and implement "Knowledge in Action" community service projects. She has been involved in donor-organizing work over the last six years and in family and personal philanthropy since she was little. She lives in Wilmington, NC with her son and partner. She is also a part-time poet.