Keys to Advancing Your Nonprofit Career (Brian Collier)

Are you advancing your nonprofit career? Do you have the skills and experiences necessary for senior leadership? Brian Collier, a thought leader in the philanthropic sector, shares his advice for aspiring leaders eager to ascend to a senior leadership role in episode #213 of Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership. Brian shares his concerns about nonprofit proliferation and imparts his keys to a successful grant application. Nonprofit leaders know the importance of community collaboration, but how do you evaluate its effectiveness? Brian talks about the dynamic between nonprofit leaders and their board of directors and how to foster strong, proficient relationships. 

"No career path is linear; be intellectually curious and resilient along the way."

ABOUT BRIAN

Brian Collier is the new President of The Gambrell Foundation after serving as Executive Vice President for Foundation for The Carolinas for sixteen years. While at FFTC, he handled the Foundation's competitive grants programs across thirteen counties in North and South Carolina. Brian also led the Foundation's Robinson Center for Civic Leadership and the development of community initiatives including Veterans Bridge Home, Read Charlotte, Carolina Thread Trail, Project LIFT, and Leading on Opportunity, a nationally recognized, multi-year initiative to identify and implement community strategies addressing upward mobility and economic opportunity. During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Brian worked in partnership with organizations like United Way of Central Carolinas to raise and award over $25 million in private & public funds to help individuals and families affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Besides his work at FFTC, Brian served on the executive leadership team at KABOOM! in Washington, D.C. and as the Founding President and Executive Director of Victory Junction, a state-of-the-art medical camp in Randleman, North Carolina for children suffering from chronic and/or life-threatening illnesses. The camp resulted from a unique partnership between the NASCAR motorsports industry, NASCAR drivers Richard and Kyle Petty, and actor Paul Newman. Brian began his career as a trial attorney with Rumberger Kirk--one of the country's premier commercial litigation firms--in Orlando, Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Florida's Levin College of Law and the University of Central Florida. He resides in Charlotte with his wife and daughter.

EPISODE TOPICS & RESOURCES

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen
• Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World and Why Things are Better than you Think by Hans Rosling et al.
• Learn more about the Gambrell Foundation and Brian here
• Check out Patton's new book Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership: Seven Keys to Advancing Your Career in the Philanthropic Sector