Our Philosophy
(a.k.a. the "Manifesto")
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At GoalBusters, philanthropy, and fundraising, is not about money. Yes, money is involved, and we help our clients raise money and do more with the resources they have. But fundamentally, the charitable sector must make the world a better place and lift up the people and beings living in it.
Fundraising is not about "shoveling coal into a machine." The purpose of your organization must matter to the communities you serve. You must care about more than yourself. It comes down to the root of the word philanthropy: it means love of humankind. Therefore, we work with causes that we believe in. When we work with a client, we throw our hearts and souls into the organization. It's about authenticity, and ultimately, we can't fake that. Causes that we support include public and community media, education, healthcare for the under-served, diverse communities, arts and cultural programs, progressive causes, social justice, social services, and our professional associations. We also work with organizations that are courageous and invested--in your cause, in a growth mindset, in making the world a better place--because if you're not committed to your cause, why should anyone else be? In addition, we work with people who are committed to the highest standards of ethics and professional practice. And don't just give that lip service—live it. Finally, we work with people who find joy in what they do. Because without joy, you're just shoveling coal. Because of this philosophy, our vetting process is a two-way street. You, as the client, are learning more about our skills and services. We are learning about your mission and your excitement and commitment for it. We hope you are sincerely passionate about what you do, so that we can be too! With this philosophy, we have helped raise more than $100,000,000 for organizations and philanthropic causes globally, nationally, next door and down the road. |
Fundraising is not about "shoveling coal into a machine." Fundraising is about making lasting change for the better in our world.
It's philanthropy: love of humankind. Our mission is to help small and mighty fundraising teams overcome barriers and find the path to making big dreams a reality. We provide customized, practical, and creative solutions to ignite your program through training, coaching, strategy development, and implementation.
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What GoalBusters Delivers
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What we hope You Bring to the Table
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 Alice L. Ferris, MBA, CFRE, ACFRE
Alice L. Ferris, CFRE, ACFRE, Founding Partner, has more than 30 years of professional fundraising experience, not including her volunteer start at PBS Wisconsin, blowing bubbles onto the set during pledge breaks for the Lawrence Welk Show.
Alice specializes in strategic and development planning, campaign and development program assessments, board and organizational training, executive leadership coaching, individual giving, and grant proposal evaluation. Alice is an advisory board member for the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Communications Arts Partners. Alice is also a past chair of the ACFRE Credentialing Board and a former officer of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Global Board. In addition, she served as president of AFP Northern Arizona five times (don't ask) and is an AFP Master Teacher. In 2020, Alice became the 21st recipient of the AFP Founders' Medallion, recognizing extraordinary service to the sector. She was the 90th fundraising professional to attain the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) credential and also maintains her Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) status, which she obtained in 1999. Alice is also the only three-time honoree as AFP-Northern Arizona Fundraising Professional of the Year. Alice is recognized for her on-air presence on public television and radio pledge drives, and on the national PBS fundraisers such as the original run of Downton Abbey. Alice also teaches an occasional class in Chinese cooking and ballroom dance (not together, although that would be fun). Her personal blog is alicesrestaurants.com. Follow @aliceferris 
 Annagreta Jacobson
Annagreta Jacobson, GPC, Consultant/Grant Specialist, has over 20 years of research and writing experience, serving various organizations including Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Family YMCA, Northern Arizona Food Bank, and Mountain Charter School. Contributing to the success of GoalBusters clients since 2010, Annagreta’s research and proposal development experience also includes a variety of education, social service, science, and public media projects. Annagreta started resource development work in Seattle, Washington, at the United Way of King County and the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. Later, while pursuing a Masters in Not-for-Profit Leadership, Annagreta served as an annual giving manager and major gifts officer for Seattle University within the Albers School of Business and Economics. The joy of writing project proposals to secure student scholarship and professorship endowments led Annagreta to pursue grant writing beyond the university arena. Since 2004, Annagreta and her family have enjoyed living in the Flagstaff community, raising two kids, and pursuing life interests, including residential architectural drafting, hiking, skiing, and teaching yoga. She earned the Grant Professional Certified credential in 2022.
 Amanda Butterworth
Amanda Butterworth,
Executive Assistant, supports conference and presentation services, travel, and meeting logistics. She has been involved with nonprofits and charities for the last ten years, has served on two different charity boards, and enjoys volunteering in her spare time. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston.  Justin Anderson
Justin Anderson, Video and Communications Specialist, leads GoalBusters media editing and production and supports social media strategy implementation. He is a voiceover actor, freelance composer, producer, vocalist, and music instructor. Justin has also been a television and film extra for many productions in New York City, where he is based. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Bio-Medicine and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition from Northern Arizona University. More on his production work is available on his website.
 Matthew Ferris
Matthew J. Ferris, Technical Assistant, was the inspiration for this company’s start, founded while Alice was a stay-at-home mom, going crazy with a newborn. Matthew has attended meetings for GoalBusters since he was born and, as was pointed out by Jim, is the senior employee. He specializes in website design and maintenance, data entry support, design, and conference and meeting staffing. Matthew is majoring in economics at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business in Montreal, Québec. Matthew notes that he’s the Lifetime Intern.
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 James S. Anderson, CFRE
James S. Anderson, CFRE,
Partner, has more than 30 years of sales and sales training experience with local media and national research companies such as Nielsen Media, Simmons, and Scarborough Research. Consistently recognized as a top revenue producer ($30 million+), Jim earned "Sales Executive" and "Negotiator of the Year" awards. Jim specializes in donor psychology, marketing and branding strategy, social media marketing, multimedia production, live stream and online event producing, direct sales and sponsorship training programs, and board and organizational training. Jim frequently supports public radio pledge drives with passionate, entertaining, and compelling on-air appeals coast to coast. Jim currently serves as the immediate past president of AFP Northern Arizona, after completing his third term in this volunteer role at the end of 2020. Jim previously served on the AFP International Communications and Marketing Committee, the Committee on Directorship, and is an AFP Faculty Training Academy graduate. In addition, Jim was the 2010 Association of Fundraising Professionals Northern Arizona Fundraising Professional of the Year. He received his Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) credential in 2013. Jim has an extensive background in media production and has created projects ranging from training videos for 300+ television stations nationwide in the USA to promotional videos for client events. As an instructor at Northern Arizona University, he received superior evaluations from the hundreds of students who participated in his "Communications Analysis" and "Sales, Research, Marketing and Promotion" classes. Jim speaks Spanish, is an avid photographer, and has more than 90 million views of his photos on Google Maps. He also married his cousin, but it didn't last. Jim also has a list of "world-famous" (or maybe just infamous) Jim-isms. Follow @goalbustersjim
 JC Patrick
JC Patrick, Consultant, has almost 30 years of development experience and an extensive background in marketing. She specializes in corporate and individual giving programs, direct response campaigns, writing donor communications, development and social media program analysis, sales training workshops, board retreats, and marketing plan designs. JC spent ten years as the Station Development Manager for NPR. She worked with 800+ member stations in all areas of corporate fundraising, focusing on online sponsorship and generational marketing. She held two positions at Houston Public Radio – Director of Marketing and Development and Director of Corporate Support. Her prior careers include retail and agency advertising and commercial television production. JC is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and recipient of several national development awards in marketing, underwriting, and overall development. She holds a BA in Radio/TV from the University of Houston and is a graduate of the Honors College. She successfully earned RAB’s title of Certified Digital Marketing Consultant.
 Dave Tinker, CFRE, FAFP
Dave Tinker, CFRE, FAFP,
Consultant, has more than 25 years of fundraising and nonprofit management experience after a summer internship at Ketchum, Inc. Fundraising Counsel led him to change his career path from medicine to fundraising. Dave has worked in education, health, and disability nonprofits throughout the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Dave specializes in grant proposal creation and editing, prospect research, capital campaigns, technology in fundraising, social media marketing, major gift and planned giving programs, annual giving programs, team problem solving and collaboration, and board and volunteer management. In 2016, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International recognized Dave as one of the first six Distinguished Fellows of AFP (FAFP). In 2013 Dave was honored as AFP Western Pennsylvania Chapter’s Outstanding Fundraising Executive. Dave was appointed to the Brentwood School Board in 2020 and was elected to his first full term in 2021. He previously served on the boards of Brentwood Athletic Association, Brewhouse Artists, Pittsburgh Planned Giving Council, East Liberty Kiwanis, and was a PA Kiwanis Lt. Governor. Dave also serves on UpPrize.org and Velocity Pittsburgh’s advisory committees and chairs AFP International’s Marketing, Awards, and Communications committee. He is also an AFP Faculty Training Academy graduate. He received his Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) credential in 2001. Dave has been an adjunct professor of informatics at Muskingum University for their Master of Information Systems, Strategy, and Technology program since 2011. Dave is a youth softball coach, band parent, and volunteer at his church. Follow @davethecfre  Elta Foster
Elta Foster, Membership and Database Management Specialist, supports clients seeking to build their first donor database, rebuild an existing database, or optimize a current database. She also provides client-specific training on Bloomerang, Raiser's Edge, and eTapestry.
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GoalBusters Partners
Dennis Gilliam
SIGNALS RADIO provides cost-effective and creative broadcast engineering, including transmitter installation, renovation, and relocation, studio build-out, renovation and upgrades, emergency engineering services, and more. We have worked with principal Dennis Gilliam for 10+ years, and he has never let us down.