Kate Nimety
Zuri Group
President, Management Consulting

Your volunteer roles with aasp

• Best Practices Review Panel (2017-2018)
• Program Committee (2019 - present)
• Design and Orchestrate Elevate Pre-conference Session at AASP Summit (2020 - present)

What motivates you to volunteer with aasp?
The nonprofit industry is very broad, including many industry verticals, different types and sizes of organizations, and different roles needed to serve each organization's unique mission. aasp has provided a needed space for operational, organizational, data, and technology-focused individuals to engage with one another and share their innovations in a way that supports all missions inclusively. Our network acknowledges the practitioners, vendors, thought leaders, and faculty of educational programs to gather throughout the year on even ground, able to ask questions and share frustrations. I believe that this space is necessary for everyone to find success, grow our programs, and support the work of fundraising for our missions. Since no physical space exists to foster this collaboration, it is critical that aasp creates this space through the annual Summit, Webinar and seminar series, and in publishing works that enable the collaboration and innovation to happen organically.

Which events have you attended?
I have been attending aasp Summit since my time at Yale University in the IT department (2014)
My first Leadership Preconference Session (now Elevate) was in 2014
I attend as many webinars and Summer Series as possible each year

The most memorable: My first time organizing the Leadership Preconference Session in 2020, about CRM selection and implementation. It was during COVID and so the entire Summit experience was virtual. I had organized 3 different panels into 3 different segments for the session, with the first panel being representatives from the main CRM systems or platforms. I was able to negotiate with the competitor panelists, so they felt the session was equitable and non-competitive. It was deeply informative to the audience and helped me personally to better understand how to work alongside other vendors without conflict.

How have you benefited professionally and/or personally by volunteering with aasp?
I started my work with aasp as a practitioner in Advancement Services and have since grown into a consultant helping everyone with the work of supporting their missions. Volunteering has helped me understand more about our industry, specifically the organizations that I do not interact with in my work. I love planning and helping with the logistics of a major event, helping to introduce people to one another with shared interests, and put innovation on display so that others can learn about it. Volunteering has helped me focus on those things to the benefit of my peers.

What motivated you to nominate yourself for the new Director of Knowledge Base position?
I was an early helper with the Best Practices committee and knew how valuable those published articles are to the industry. When the announcement about the prospectus for a new Knowledge Base came out, I was very curious. I had an opportunity to talk about it with aasp Past President, Jessica LaBorde, who gave me even more detail about the Board's vision for the way to connect our network with our published knowledge, and inform the generations to come about the practice of Advancement Services. After a few more conversations with current Board members, I jumped at the nomination with the hope that my technical background, objectivity, change management expertise, and my willingness to learn as I go would benefit starting something this foundational from scratch.

What are you looking forward to or most excited about for this role?
I am delighted that so many members have raised their hand to get involved as volunteers for the Knowledge Base Committee. That along speaks volumes about how important this resource will be to our community and how eager everyone is to build it and start using it. I am looking forward to building our Committee in a way that sets the expectation for new and valuable content, academic rigor, and to start developing the place to share and take advantage of our collective knowledge and expertise.

Other than your volunteerism with aasp and your career, what are your interests/passions?
I am a fine artist by trade (jewelry design and metalwork) and so the arts hold my heart. I love viewing art, exploring artistic spaces, and making my own sometimes! I have a big, energetic family, two dogs, and my family lives aboard a boat each summer - it's never boring for the Nimetys!