Team Updates

Home|Team Updates

Our Firm is Expanding

By Mary Moss and Susan Ross, Co-founders. moss+ross celebrated its 13th anniversary just a few days ago. Our firm has grown tremendously over these years, fueled by the increased demand for our extensive suite of services. In response, as of January 1, we named three longtime senior associates as partners. Joining us as senior managers will be Kim Glenn, President; Lizzy Mottern, Vice President of Talent; and Kate Hearne, Vice President of Corporate Services. Please join us in congratulating them on these new roles. We set a goal when we founded the firm to focus on relationships, not jobs. This deep caring for our community in which we both were born has been rewarded with continued year-over-year growth. As we look toward the future, we reflect on how moss+ross has grown its footprint in many important ways. 220 [...]

Welcome Dr. Bill Ingram

from the partners. moss+ross welcomes former Durham Tech President Dr. Bill Ingram to our Of Counsel team, starting August 1. Bill brings extensive experience in public higher education, having served as DTCC president from 2008 until his retirement last month. His 30 years at Durham Tech came during a period of tremendous growth, capped off by the recently completed $5 million Forge Great Futures campaign. His leadership at Durham Tech and in the Durham and Triangle communities gave him a valuable perspective on the importance of community partnerships in supporting accessible educational opportunities and other community needs. The moss+ross Of Counsel team is a select group of executive-level professionals who offer strategic counsel, sector-specific insights, and unique skills for client engagements. "We are thrilled that Bill has chosen to join our team. Mary and I have long [...]

2020-08-11T20:11:19-04:00July 31st, 2020|All Posts, Team Updates|

Double Digits

By Susan Ross. Mary and I are thrilled that moss+ross is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, and we just have to take a few minutes to reminisce about the journey. Over 10 years we have helped build shelters, schools, cathedrals, synagogues and museums; stabilized reserve funds and helped nonprofits merge; conducted assessments and written strategic plans; launched new initiatives and helped others reboot; managed dozens and dozens of searches and placed many interim staff members along the way.  We have worked on campaigns from $600,000 to $4.2 billion, and we still get excited when our clients get a big gift or cut a ribbon or hit their goals. moss+ross grew out of a shared vision to strengthen the capacity of our nonprofit community. We felt we could make a difference in this region with an expanded use [...]

2020-02-28T18:05:48-05:00January 9th, 2019|All Posts, From The Partners, Team Updates|

Our Role in the UNC Campaign

By Susan Ross. Our region of North Carolina is filled with top-rated colleges and universities, all of which set high bars for development excellence. Over the past eight years, moss+ross has worked on more than 20 engagements with UNC Chapel Hill and its various schools and programs.  We are particularly proud to be one of two named consulting partners for the $4.25 billion For All Kind campaign. Launched just over a year ago, the campaign has reached $2.3 billion in commitments. moss+ross clients have included some of the biggest efforts on campus: the $1 billion UNC Medicine campaign, a $500 million Rams Club campaign, $400 million for the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and a $300 million focus for UNC Global. We are also involved with schools and programs whose eight-figure goals present equally daunting challenges, such as the School of [...]

Second New Business Division Announced: m+r interim solutions

By Mary Moss. Our firm’s goal is to strengthen nonprofit capacity in numerous ways. Last month, we announced the creation of a new business division focused on communities of faith. More than 30 representatives of this rich fabric of faith in the Triangle recently attended two different workshops to learn about our new services.  Attendees stuck around well after the presentation to brainstorm how they were going to use new ideas and knowledge gleaned about preparing for a capital campaign, and how we could help bring those ideas to life. Today, just a little over a month later, Susan and I are delighted to unveil a second new business division for moss+ross.  After almost 10 years of serving more than 150 nonprofits, we are proud to introduce m+r interim solutions to this community.  Clients often call to ask [...]

2020-02-28T18:23:42-05:00June 21st, 2018|All Posts, From The Partners, Staffing, Team Updates|

m+r interim solutions: Personnel Services for Nonprofits

By Lizzy Mottern and LisaCaitlin Perri. Triangle-area nonprofits that need hands-on professional help with leadership, fundraising, grant writing, communications, database support, and more can now call on moss+ross for interim personnel services.Our new service, m+r interim solutions, provides our clients with talented professionals on cost-effective, short-term contracts to:Fill gaps due to planned and unplanned personnel absencesSupport temporary project needs, orAssist during peak workloadsmoss+ross affiliate contractors are highly qualified, experienced nonprofit professionals who work as interim members of a client’s staff.  moss+ross develops the scope of work and contract with the client, manages the client relationship, and provides oversight to the affiliate’s work. Affiliates are guided by moss+ross best practices and understand moss+ross expectations for delivering high-value service to clients.m+r interim solutions roles include:Executive DirectorDirector of DevelopmentGift OfficerDevelopment AssociateDatabase/Data ProcessingGrant WriterCommunications/MarketingEvents Coordinatormoss+ross understand the needs, opportunities, and challenges of area [...]

Expanded Focus on Faith Communities

By Susan Ross. Listening to the inspiring words of the Most Reverend Michael Curry on Saturday at the Royal Wedding reminded the world (or at least the two billion of us who watched) that there is power in love to help, heal, lift up, liberate, and show us the way to live. At moss+ross, we believe the work we do with our nonprofit partners helps to extend this power of love to neighbors throughout our communities. During the past decade, Mary and I have grown the firm to include 18 associates, enabling us to respond rapidly and effectively to our partners. To our original core business of campaign management and fundraising counsel, we have added capacity in executive search, strategic planning, data management, research, and other important areas. Today we announce an expanded focus on faith communities, knowing [...]

Fundraising and Faith Communities

By Wes Brown. Faith institutions require financial support for leadership, facilities, education, and mission outreach. Yet, many congregants insist that their giving is “between me and God,” and often the pastor or other spiritual leader does not know who gives how much—a very different situation from that of most nonprofits or educational institutions. Fundraising is necessary but often uncomfortable and difficult. Most non-profits employ staff specifically to manage fundraising efforts, but this is generally not the case for faith communities. While faith leaders know and love their people well, they are seldom experienced in managing campaigns, addressing family financial matters or discussing planned giving options. Members enlisted as campaign volunteers are reluctant, without good training, to approach fellow congregants about generous giving for fear of crossing personal boundaries. And there can be incorrect or inflated assumptions about the [...]

Treat your donors like family … and they will keep coming back.

By Susan Ross. I had 20 at my house for Christmas dinner.  As always, the family meal marked the passage of time, with a core group of regulars bookended by loved ones missing and by promising new relationships.Why do we value these celebrations so much?  It’s not my food, my decorations, or my presents.  I’d say it is because people find joy in spending their time where they are welcome and where they would be missed if they didn’t show up.Perhaps our donors feel the same way.<strong>Donor retention is a hot button in fundraising these days,</strong> because new studies have shown that we are losing donors in far greater numbers than in the past. Has our preoccupation with major gifts led to a falloff in our rank-and-file donor feeling valued and needed? If so, how can development professionals stem [...]

2020-02-28T18:33:18-05:00December 15th, 2017|All Posts, From The Partners, Team Updates|

Grateful for our community partners

When we started moss+ross in 2009, we made a strategic decision to define the Triangle and surrounding region as our service area. As we thought about our ideal nonprofit clients and the difference we wanted to make, staying local made the most sense. On November 28, many of us will shop at our favorite local stores in support of Small Business Saturday. As one of these businesses, albeit without a storefront, moss+ross is grateful to you, our clients, for shopping locally for the best nonprofit strategic planning and development counsel. We couldn’t be happier with the result of our local focus. To date, we have partnered with 106 clients, many of whom have hired us multiple times. Our clients enrich the fabric of our community, and we are grateful for our partnership with you!

Go to Top