Jessica Channell-Iler

Director, Fundraising Intelligence,
Analytics, & Report

University of Nevada-Las Vegas

Nevada

"This isn't a job. This is a community. And we all provide a service to the people we work with." Jessica Channell-Iler is my first guest to represent Nevada, joining us from UNLV.

Jess has held roles in the center of orgs. in various states and Apra chapters (OPRN, MidSouth, SWARO), bridging the technical gaps between frontline fundraisers and the analytics, research, and database functions. "It's been so cool!" she adds, while dropping the new-to-me term "funky tech."

One of my favorite quotes, from manager Leigh Petersen, is "I can teach skill. I can't teach personality." Jess embodies that in a positive way: she has and keeps learning the skills, and her solutions orientation and "Jess Language" to translate between teams are awesome personality traits.

Jess talks about the generations of prospect development, acknowledging the impact that BWF CEO Joshua Birkholz has made with his "History of Prospect Development" presentation. Jess mentions the key mentoring of Sabrina Latham and Regina Alhassan in helping Jess catch the vision of Apra volunteer leadership. She mentions Emily Walsh, Drew Krewer, Jeanne Sharp, and Gregory Duke in their efforts to launch Apra SWARO.

Our chat concludes on the importance of capturing origin stories of prospect research, management, and analytics from industry veterans. Look for my efforts there in season 3 and beyond of "People in Fundraising!"

P.S.- This interview was the same day that my first prospect research manager, Val Roberts, retired. Thank you Val for the impact you have had on my career!