Nonprofit To-Do List for the “New Normal”

Ms. Duerr is the President of Shifting Gears Consulting, an independent consulting firm that focuses on training, communications, writing, and sales/fundraising support for both for-profit and not-for-profit entities.

She gained her experience in financial services as a Vice President with CoreStates Bank in Philadelphia, PA where she sold treasury management services to the large corporate market. She also served on many internal product development teams and conducted training sessions in the areas of Trade Show Management, Certified Cash Manager Exam review, and Customer Service for Cash Management. She has presented at both the local and national level for the Association of Financial Professionals and is permanent Certified Cash Manager.

With a passion for not-for-profit work, Ms. Duerr has years of experience in that sector. Most recently, she served as Development Director and Co-Director of Family Promise of Hunterdon County, an agency focused on sheltering and eventually housing homeless families. It was there that she gained enormous insight into the challenges of running a social services agency on a tight budget. She also honed her skills in: development planning, social media marketing, non-profit budgeting, organizational leadership, board collaboration, and even some case management. That is not to minimize skills gained in the areas of: pest control, waste disposal, child care, and storage of unwieldy objects, among others. Prior to that, she was Vice President of America’s Grow-a-Row, Development Officer for the Hunterdon Medical Center Foundation, Founder of a Fit for Cancer fundraiser, Coach/Fundraiser for the Philadelphia Youth Organization, and thousands of volunteer hours given to a long list of charitable organizations. Her responsibilities both as a volunteer and as an employee have included: fundraising, volunteer management, education, database implementation and updates, marketing, website creation and management, event management, social media strategy, communications, and assistance with budgeting and long-term organizational planning.

Ms. Duerr earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the Pennsylvania State University, including a semester abroad at the University of Manchester, England. She is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), holds a certificate in Non-Profit Management, has taken several college-level Web Design and HTML courses, as well as Intermediate Spanish classes. At the tender young age of 41, she earned her Black Belt in Taekwondo (#hardestthingever). At 50, she ran her first marathon (#neveragain) and at 51 completed her first olympic distance triathlon (#notawful). Most importantly, she takes every opportunity to read relevant books, take classes, attend seminars and use the web as an educational tool – she’s always trying something new and always learning!