Virtual and hybrid events are here to stay.
They served as a bandaid for in-person events in 2020, but going forward, they will be considered a new category and an integral part of diversifying every org’s event and fundraising portfolio. To take advantage of their potential, now is the time to start investing resources into developing new quality programming designed for the user experience.
Join this session to hear first hand from the Sierra Club about their engaging format for their City Hike series and their process for creation and planning for events despite the uncertain future of in-person fundraising.
Speakers
Jessica Dean
Head of Team Sierra, Sierra Club
Jessica Dean is the Head of Team Sierra, the online community fundraising program for the Sierra Club. Jessica joined Sierra Club 5 years ago to create a new fundraising program, Team Sierra, from the ground up, from the infrastructure, to campaign realization, partnerships, marketing, and recruitment. She’s grown Team Sierra through digital strategies and partnerships with brands like Vacation Races, Marine Layer, Parks Project, and AllTrails. During the pandemic, signature events like Earth Month and City Hike had to be reimagined. New digital tactics and campaigns kept the fundraising community activated and expanding.
Jessica resides in Portland, OR with her husband and 3-year-old son. She loves to hike, bike, and find creative ways to hide vegetables in baked goods.
Colleen Healy Fitzgerald
Managing Partner & CFO, OP3
Colleen Healy Fitzgerald is a Managing Partner and co-owner of OP 3, an event production and peer-to-peer fundraising consulting firm that specializes in both virtual and in-person event experiences. Colleen joined OP 3 in 2005 in a fundraising coaching role and gained a wealth of acquisition, retention, and overall strategy experience before becoming a critical part of the production department and leadership team.
In her 15+ years working in large-scale event production, she has successfully directed the logistics of a national fundraising series, concepted, built, and launched new signature events, established comprehensive risk mitigation strategies, and built interactive budgets to help client partners quickly and confidently make better, data-driven decisions.
Since COVID hit, Colleen and the team at OP 3 haven’t slowed down a bit, helping clients transition in-person portfolios to hybrid and virtual experiences while anticipating what’s next and developing the resources that will be needed for those events now and in the future. Colleen is passionate about creating memorable experiences that keep fundraisers connected and energized…even right now while we have to be apart.
Colleen graduated with a B.S.B.A. in accountancy from John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. This may explain her obsession with all things budget-, data-, and finance-related, a point of pride that inspires the whole OP 3 team to constantly reach for new heights in vendor negotiation, cost control, and expense management. Colleen is an avid runner and swimmer, but she spends more time chasing her four kids than training for triathlons these days.