Tiffany Scott
Senior Director of Development
OneGoal-Metro Atlanta
Tiffany attended Spelman College and graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics and minored in Business Management and Organization. After several years as a planning analyst in New York City with ANN Taylor INC and Ross Stores, Tiffany relocated to Atlanta and transitioned into the non-profit sector as a fundraising professional. Tiffany is currently the Senior Director of Development for OneGoal- a national nonprofit with the mission to help all students achieve their highest post-secondary aspirations. In this role, she creates funding strategies and secures funding by analyzing, identifying, and defining supporters to help execute a broad vision of realizing education equity in Atlanta.
She dedicates most of her civic time to child literacy and local education initiatives that ensure students are prepared for the workforce. Tiffany is currently serving her fourth year as a Power Lunch Volunteer with Everybody Wins Atlanta at Thomasville Heights Elementary. She is also a 2019 Association of Fundraising Professionals Diversity Fellow and the 2019-20 Fund Development Chair for Urban League at Greater Atlanta Young Professionals and a graduate of United Way of Greater Atlanta V.I.P. program.
How did you get interested in the fundraising profession?
After I finished college, I started my career in corporate America. The organization I worked for at the time had solid core values that extended to community-based work around children’s well-being and women’s rights issues. When our organization decided to launch a more formal relationship with a local nonprofit, my manager chose me to lead a staff fundraising and volunteer challenge for our division. It was at that moment that I truly caught the fundraising bug. What I enjoyed most about my volunteer role was the ability to share more about an organization with my colleagues and see them gain excitement as they started to learn ways, they could truly make an impact in the community. Through strong relationship building, I led our division to raise the most money in the company and I was able to learn firsthand how those funds could truly transform someone’s life.
Coming off the success at work, I was recruited to join an advisory board for a student mentor organization I was volunteering with. The advisory board position allowed me to see how my skills from the for-profit sector and passion for my community could truly be of value in the fundraising profession. Later that year, I left the corporate life behind. I took a gamble on investing in my personal interests and pursued an opportunity in the fundraising profession where passion, purpose and personal core values aligned -- and I haven’t looked back since.
What is something you wish you knew early on in your fundraising career?
Early in my career, I thought that a title or positional authority was needed to be a leader of influence. Since then I have learned that a leader of influence is most successful when they work to remove the obstacles preventing people from performing effectively.
What is the one quality every fundraiser should have?
Fundraisers should be good listeners. Active listening when building relationships with donors is incredibly important as you begin to truly uncover their motivations and barriers. Listening ensures you properly center on a donor’s interests rather than aggressively push your organization’s case. This sets a strong foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship.
What inspires you about the fundraising profession?
The fundraising profession gives mission-minded individuals an opportunity to be a conduit to community transformation. In our unique roles, we are given the opportunity to identify the root cause of a need and carefully work to educate the masses. I gain the most inspiration when I can gather diverse perspectives and empower individuals to home in on their skills to create a solution to a community need.
How do you want to be remembered as a professional?
I would like to be remembered as someone who lived and breathed diversity, equity and inclusion. As a fundraising professional, I pride myself on bringing a diverse perspective to the table so we can truly build a community that is supportive of everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status.