Join VAFRE on the afternoon of May 3rd as we honor our 2022 Nina Abady and Rising Star Award winners during a reception at The Virginia War Memorial.

This year's honorees are:

• Nina Abady Honoree Thomas C. Burke (pictured below at left)
• Rising Star Honoree Leigh Busby (pictured below at right)

Thomas C. Burke's career at VCU spans 34 years in leadership roles at the School of Dentistry, the VCU Foundation, and now leading the university's gift planning efforts. In total, Tom has been a professional fundraiser for 42 years, having worked in every aspect of philanthropy, most notably in board management and organizational leadership. Born and raised near Byrd Park, Tom has enjoyed an active role in the community.

Leigh Busby is the Development Director at Greater Richmond Fit4Kids where she oversees individual giving and donor relations, special events, and board engagement. She sought out Fit4Kids, where she was the first ever development professional on staff, because of her belief that physical activity and nutrition are transformative for children.

For more details on our honorees, visit the Awards page of the website.

Our Program

Intelligent Reinvention: Developing Strategy in the Face of Uncertainty.

Combining innovation and negotiation techniques, Ace Callwood and Scott Wayne of Envoy guide audiences through shifting team DNA, redesigning customer journeys, and building anti-fragile business models for the unpredictable future we face. Draw from the pandemic’s long-term lessons about building sustainable business models that flex in the face of uncertainty to make us stronger.

In a world packed with self-proclaimed thought leaders and influencers…Ace Callwood is a thoughtful listener, mediator, and guide. Yes, he happens to be a great speaker, but his kick comes from being able to read an audience - in person or digitally - and draw from them their toughest questions, greatest vulnerabilities, and boldest ideas. Whether it is business decisions to invest or liquidate, for non-profits to focus or broaden, or individuals to embrace diversity or reject it… Ace brings an intellectual openness and human humility to issues. He’s adept in ensuring audiences are respectful, while embracing the hard discussions and alternate perspectives necessary to find paths to move issues forward. An instinctive bridge-builder, Ace deploys the most sophisticated techniques to ensure parties truly hear each other and stretch their creative minds to find innovative solutions to some of the world’s most intractable challenges.

When the world is uncertain, we need guides to help us understand critical stakeholders and bring them together and reach agreement. Analyzing key decision-makers, building bridges, hosting summits for the toughest decisions. This is Scott Wayne’s world. Scott’s career is dedicated to investigating opportunities, building partnerships, and negotiating outcomes. He developed his trade as a British Diplomat representing the interests of the UK Government. In the private sector, he has built award-winning firms that apply negotiation techniques to help clients understand their market, agree strategies, and build partnerships to provide stability and fuel growth. He speaks on how to combine negotiation theory, behavioural economics, and stagecraft to understand human behaviours, design new products and services, and influence social outcomes.

Our Schedule

• 3:45 p.m. Welcome
• 3:50 p.m. Program: Intelligent Reinvention
• 4:30 p.m. Awards Presentations
• 5:15 p.m. Conclude Presentation/Champagne Toast/Networking
• 6:00 p.m. Adjourn

Many thanks to our presenting sponsor for their support

Cost to attend

• $35 for Members (no additional fee for Season Pass holders)
• $40 for Member Organizations
• $45 for Nonmembers
• For group registrations or sponsorships, click here.
• For virtual registration, click here.

SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

To ensure that VAFRE membership is accessible to, and truly reflective of, Richmond's diverse fundraising community, we are offering scholarships so that individuals may join VAFRE regardless of their financial ability or the financial ability of the nonprofits for which they work. If you would like to make a gift of any size to support scholarships for VAFRE memberships, please select the "Make a donation" button when you register for this event, and we will gratefully apply your donation to the Susan Early Scholarship Fund*.  

Questions?

Contact VAFRE Administrator Mary Kidd at (804) 368-3398 or by e-mail to admin@vafre.org.

*This donation is not tax deductible.