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 obligation of the charitable sector is to make the world a better place, and to lift up the people and beings living in it.
Fundraising is not about "shoveling coal into a machine." Your purpose has to matter to the communities you serve. You have to 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 personally believe in. When we work with a client, we throw our hearts and souls into the organization. Ultimately, we can't fake that. Causes that we personally support include public and community media, education, healthcare for the underserved, diverse communities, arts and cultural programs, progressive causes, social justice, social services, and our professional associations. We also work with teams that are passionate--about the cause, about learning, about improving, about making the world a better place--because if you're not committed to your cause, why should anyone else be? Finally, we work with people who are committed to the highest standards of ethics and professional practice. And don't just give that lip service—actually live it. Because of this philosophy, our vetting process is a two-way street. You, as the client, are learning more about our skills and services, and we are learning about your mission and your passion for it. So 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 empowering people to make a lasting impact on their community.
It's philanthropy: love of humankind. |
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 25 years of professional fundraising experience, not including her volunteer start at Wisconsin Public Television, blowing bubbles onto the set during pledge breaks for the Lawrence Welk Show.
Alice specializes in strategic and development planning, capital campaign planning studies, board and organizational training, executive leadership coaching, direct mail, and grant proposal creation and editing. Alice is the immediate past chair of the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) Credentialing Board, board member for CFRE International and advisory board member for the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business. Alice is also a past member of the AFP International Board of Directors and served as 2009-2010 Vice Chair for Membership Services, supporting the Association's efforts for the over 30,000 member organization. In addition, she is a two-time Past President of AFP Northern Arizona and is an AFP Faculty Training Academy graduate. She is also a three-time honoree as AFP-Northern Arizona Fundraising Professional of the Year. Alice is the 90th fundraising professional in the world to attain the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) credential and also maintains her Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) status, which she obtained in 1998. Alice is recognized for her on-air presence on many public television and radio pledge drives, and on the national PBS fundraisers, among them Downton Abbey, Suze Orman's Financial Solutions for You, Ken Burns: America's Storyteller, The Civil War, Black and White Night 30 and many more. Alice also teaches Chinese cooking and an occasional class in ballroom dance. Follow @aliceferris 
 Annagreta Jacobson
Annagreta Jacobson, Foundation and Corporate Grant Specialist, has over 20 years of research and writing experience, serving a variety of 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 in 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.
 Elta Foster
Elta Foster, Membership and Database Management Specialist, provides support for 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.
 Matthew Ferris
Matthew J. Ferris, Technical Assistant, was the inspiration for the start of this company, which was 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 at a workshop, is the senior employee. He specializes in website design and maintenance (including this one), original illustrations and digital art, conference and meeting staffing, and office support.
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 James S. Anderson, CFRE
James S. Anderson, CFRE, Partner, has more than 30 years of sales and sales training experience through his positions 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 marketing and branding strategy, social media marketing, multimedia production, direct sales and sponsorship training programs, and board and organizational training. Jim frequently supports public radio pledge drives with passionate, entertaining and effective on-air appeals coast to coast. Jim was the 2013-2014 President of the AFP Northern Arizona Chapter, 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 honored as 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 is ranked #141 worldwide on Foodspotting. Follow @goalbustersjim
 Dave Tinker, CFRE, FAFP
Dave Tinker, CFRE, FAFP, has more than 25 years experience of fundraising and nonprofit management 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, using 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, Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International recognized Dave as one of the first six Distinguished Fellows of AFP (FAFP). In 2013 Dave was recognized as AFP Western Pennsylvania Chapter’s Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year. Dave is a Past President of the AFP Western Pennsylvania chapter and a Past President of Young Nonprofit Professionals Pittsburgh chapter. He has 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 currently serves on the advisory committees of UpPrize.org and Velocity Pittsburgh. He is on AFP International’s Marketing, Awards, and Communications committee, Leadership Academy Task Force, and is 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  Justin Anderson
Justin Anderson, Communications Specialist, provides support for social media account creation for clients and campaign implementation and general communications strategy implementation. He is also a freelance composer, producer, vocalist and music instructor. Justin is 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.
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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.
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 JC Patrick
JC Patrick Consulting provides interim underwriting and membership staffing needs, development and underwriting program assessments, sales training workshops and board retreats, specific training to acclimate commercial sales staff to public radio, coaching on generational differences, marketing plans for public media in all market sizes and direct mail copywriting and campaign coordination. GoalBusters partners with JC for select clients.
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