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March Workshop: Giving Through Us, Not to Us
Friday, March 07, 2025, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM CDT
Category: Education Event

Join us on March 7, 2025, for Giving Through Us, Not to Us, our first hybrid education event of the year! In today’s philanthropic landscape, understanding how to engage and retain donors is crucial for fundraising success. Giving Through Us, Not to Us is a workshop designed to help fundraisers foster deeper connections with their donors by emphasizing the impact of their contributions, rather than focusing on the organization itself.

Research shows that donors are motivated by the desire to see tangible outcomes from their gifts. They want to know that their contributions lead to real, positive change in the causes they care about. In this workshop, we’ll explore practical strategies for engaging donors by demonstrating how their donations make a direct, meaningful impact on the mission they support.

Who Should Attend:
This workshop is ideal for fundraising professionals, nonprofit leaders, development officers, and anyone involved in donor relations. Whether you're working with a small nonprofit or a larger organization, the insights shared in this workshop will help you deepen connections with your donors and inspire more impactful giving.

Join us to learn how to empower your donors to make a lasting impact, not just by giving to your cause, but by giving through you—becoming true partners in creating change.

Date: March 7, 2025

Time: 9:00 am to 10:30 am

Location: In-Person at DPS Association Management, 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL OR Virtually on Zoom 

 Registration for this event has closed. If you are interested in a receiving a recording of the workshop, be sure to sign up for our Workshop Bundle! 

Presenters: 

Mark DeMott - Director of Development, Rush University System for Health
Mark DeMott is Director of Development at Rush University System for Health, with a focus on securing major, principal, transformational and planned gifts to support key funding priorities in neurology and neurosurgery. With more than twenty years’ experience in higher education, healthcare, and nonprofit sectors, a passion for community development, and a love for the City of Chicago, Mark partners with physician scientists and philanthropists to advance research, education, and clinical care, driving Rush’s Without Boundaries campaign toward completion.



Kevin Moore - Director of Major Gifts, The Nature Conservancy
Kevin Moore is Director of Major Gifts for the Illinois chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest conservation organization working in all fifty states and 78 countries around the globe. Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Kevin served in executive leadership positions in nonprofit, professional theatre organizations including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre Communications Group in New York and Arizona Theatre Company in Phoenix and Tucson. He is a proud graduate of Furman University in Greenville, SC and currently resides in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago with his husband Michael and his golden doodle, Vivian. 


Jacki Davidoff - Principal, Davidoff Strategy
Jacki Davidoff is the Principal of Davidoff Strategy, a national consulting firm specializing in strategy, culture, and leadership development for philanthropic organizations. She works with organizations, boards, and teams to drive growth, enhance effectiveness, and remove internal barriers to success.

Davidoff clients include the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Christopher Family Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation, One Hope United, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Public Health Institute, Public Narrative, NORC at the University of Chicago, and Seattle Foundation.

Jacki is also an executive leadership coach and sought-after facilitator, supporting individuals, teams, and boards to create drama-free, high-functioning cultures aligned to principles of self-awareness and other-awareness. Jacki has been actively involved in racial justice training nationally and locally. She is immediate past Board Co-Chair of Chicago Women in Philanthropy and is former Co-Chair of the Racial Equity & Social Justice committee. Jacki completed the inaugural cohort of Dismantling White Supremacy led by Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy and University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute on Race and Public Policy. 

Jacki is founder and facilitator of the Leadership Forum, a monthly convening for diverse nonprofit CEO’s and Executive Directors; and the Leadership Intensive, supporting women at all levels of leadership. She is also co-founder and co-facilitator with Jessyca Dudley, founder of Bold Ventures, of The Self-Aware Leader: Understanding How Race Affects Your Leadership, a 12-week cohort women’s leadership group for women of color and white women launched in April 2022.

Jacki’s communications background includes 30 years in leading national advertising agencies including Ogilvy & Mather and DDB, and executive positions in Chicago nonprofits. Prior to joining Davidoff, Jacki completed nine years at the Chicago Botanic Garden where she worked in corporate/foundation fundraising, increasing the organization’s national and regional presence and growing its corporate support to record levels. 

Originally from Houston, Texas, Jacki earned her BS in Advertising with highest honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Transformational Leadership and Coaching at Wright Graduate University for the Realization of Human Potential in 2017.