Our Founder’s Story
My drive to create a better world is woven into my DNA. My parents, whose livelihoods were rooted in entrepreneurship, were always on a mission to do better, be better, and create better circumstances for others. They were always transparent with me about the inevitable highs and lows of running a small business and working at a family-owned company. Even in the lean times, they relentlessly gave – they sacrificed to make sure I could be involved in every activity I desired, they took care of others through tipping generously, plowing out neighbors in the winter, and always found a way to brighten someone’s day with even a small act of kindness. My parents instilled in me a model for what a community could look like when we give freely and often.
This early and ongoing exposure to both entrepreneurship and philanthropy inspired within me not only a dream to one day own my own business, but a deeply embedded sense of duty to go out and do some good in the world. I can now clearly see that my work was always going to be with the change-makers: nonprofits.
My actual path to this work was built on equal parts happenstance and tenacity, starting right after graduation with a chance internship at a cancer center that I still admire to this day. The then-CEO inspired me with her transparency, integrity and palpable care for the cause – and who saw my precocious hunger to learn and granted me opportunity after opportunity to fill it. I sharpened my skills and deepened my knowledge of successful advancement efforts as my career evolved into being the Manager of Advancement Operations at another nonprofit.
I quickly realized how vital clean, well-managed data is to an organization’s success, and how their ability to create meaningful impact depends on how well they can access and interpret it. From more than a decade working in this sector, I’ve come to see a healthy nonprofit as a blend of several vital parts. Donors are the heart, the humans who share their hard earned money toward a cause that’s touched their lives. The people within the organization are the brain, taking raw resources and creating something extraordinary with it. Donations are the muscle, providing the real power for impact, when deployed well. And the data is the backbone, the through line, the part that holds everything else together. These insights became the cornerstone of my own firm.
When life came to a crossroads in 2018, I had the choice to take a chance, chase my dream, and build a firm of my own. I knew this window was now or never, so I leapt. And though COVID asked us to make massive pivots to our budding business, I’ve never shied away from a challenge before and this wasn’t going to be any different. After some of the hardest work and longest days of my career, we not only made it through 2020, but have 10x’ed the business in the four years that followed. And this transformation is now precisely what we strive to produce for other organizations who are driven by big impact-making missions.
At Donor Database Experts, we optimize donor databases and analytics so nonprofits can maximize their impact. We lead with integrity, service and are committed to high performance. By bringing data clarity and support to our clients’ work, we help organizations create stronger, more connected communities and focus on doing what they do best – fundraising for their mission.
Philanthropy isn’t just my business—it’s the heartbeat of my life. Everything I do comes from a deep well of gratitude: for the opportunities I’ve had, the incredible people I’m surrounded by, and the potential we have to create something greater together. Paying good fortune forward isn’t just a “nice thing to do”—it’s a privilege, an honor, and a responsibility. I envision a world where every nonprofit is able to maximize their impact. That’s the world I want for my family. For all of us. If you share that vision, let’s make it a reality together.
Recent Posts
New Name, Same Mission: Marsherall Partners is Now Donor Database Experts (DDX)
How Nonprofits Use Data Analytics to Drive Meaningful Change
