-: So my name is Jordan Evangelista.
I'm currently an Advancement and Giving Specialist
at Penn State Hershey, working primarily with Four Diamonds
to raise money to beat and defeat childhood cancer.
So it's basically fundraising and
increasing knowledge of philanthropy.
So what I do is I meet with donors all around the country
and solicit funds for the Four Diamonds organization,
to raise money for beating cancer.
So some of the time is spent in the office,
gathering data on different individuals that would be
appropriate to solicit for money for Four Diamonds.
And some of it is spent out on the road
actually meeting with these donors
and hearing their stories,
figuring out why they're passionate about our cause,
and eventually asking them to continue
or start to support the cause.
We get a list of individuals that have
previously supported the cause,
or for some reason show up on our radar
as having interest in supporting our cause.
From there, we'll just get a little bit of their history,
maybe see what they're involved in,
what they've supported in the past.
Reaching out to them directly via phone and email,
trying to set up a lunch or coffee meeting.
And eventually meeting with them,
sharing more about our cause, figuring out what areas
would be best suited for them,
and getting their dollars in the door
in hopes that their money will go towards
what they're passionate about.
There can occasionally be special circumstances
where we're trying to raise more dollars
if there's different initiatives
that we're trying to support,
or in order to make a bigger impact
at various points of the year.
Obviously THON is one of our big fundraising opportunities,
so we're really trying to get
as many dollars in the door as possible before THON,
so that we can elevate those numbers
and make that project an even bigger success.
So fundraising is a lot of people skills.
So learning peoples' interests,
learning, sort of, what their passion is,
and where their interests lie.
And I was a psychology major here at Millersville,
so my understanding of the human experience
and how the mind works,
allows me to be an effective fundraiser, which is helpful.