Visionary Voices

Authors & Contributors to philanthropy.org

Visionary Voices features original work from experienced fundraisers, nonprofit executives, advisors, and practitioners writing from direct responsibility.

This is a curated forum. Contributors are selected for depth of experience, operational credibility, and demonstrated results.

Visionary Voices is intentionally limited and does not publish: early-career professionals, academic commentary without applied responsibility, vendor marketing content, trend-driven opinion pieces, or personal brand publishing.

If your work has not been shaped by accountability, consequence, and execution, it does not belong here.

Sara Anhar

Sara Anhar is a Co-Founder of FundRobin, an AI-powered platform working to democratize access to funding opportunities for mission-driven organizations. She brings more than eight years of hands-on experience in the social impact sector, having worked across diverse contexts from grassroots organizations in Bangladesh to major international agencies including UNICEF, World Food Programme, and Malaria Consortium in the UK.
With dual Masters degrees in Health Economics and Development Studies, Sara has witnessed firsthand the systematic barriers that prevent innovative social solutions from accessing appropriate funding. Her experience spans grant management, program development, and organizational capacity building across multiple continents, providing her with unique insights into the global funding landscape.

View all posts
Sarah Pinto

Sarah Pinto is a certified fundraising executive and chartered advisor in philanthropy with over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. In addition to being a full-time fundraiser, Sarah serves as contributing writer for GIVING Magazine.

View all posts
Scott Janney

Dr. Scott Janney leads a 29-person team that produces $200 million each year in current funding for The Salvation Army’s mission and capital needs. His team of 16 frontline fundraisers records $80 million in new planned gifts annually. He’s helped secure many gifts of over $1M, including record-breaking donations at Villanova, AtlantiCare, and St. Mary Medical Center. A longtime Strategic Consultant at PlannedGiving.com, he specializes in transformational and blended gifts. Scott holds a Doctorate from Temple, an M.Div. from Princeton, a Bachelor’s from Asbury, and is a sought-after national speaker and author.

View all posts
Scott Thomas

Scott is the founder of Stewardship Matters, Inc., a wealth advisory firm in Maitland, Florida. With nearly four decades of experience since 1986, his guiding principle has been: "To become more, so I can be more for others in my life." Scott specializes in financial stewardship, charitable giving, and retirement income planning, helping clients discover hidden opportunities. He has led seminars for the Florida Institute of CPAs, Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Charitable Gift Planners. A former board member and past president of Charitable Gift Planners of Central Florida, Scott teaches through online courses, podcasts, and videos. He earned his Business Administration degree from the University of Central Florida.

View all posts
Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor helps nonprofit CEOs fund the strategic plans they've already written — expanding budgets and growing unrestricted revenue. Her clients diversify income, build sustainability, and convert development teams and boards into high-ROI revenue generators focused on relationships rather than events and appeals. She has been featured in the Forbes Nonprofit Council and The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and co-hosts The Nonprofit Show, ranked #1 on Feedspot's 100 Best Nonprofit Podcasts. Learn more at QuamTaylor.com

View all posts
Steve Blank

Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship. Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.

Photo © Eric Millette

View all posts
Susan Brekelmans

Benefactor Group Senior Consultant Susan Brekelmans’ expertise as a fundraising strategist is grounded in a lifelong career in the nonprofit sector that includes major gifts, annual fund, and special events experience. As a member of the Capacity Building team, she leads clients through development assessments and supports them as they implement development plans. She is also a skilled writer and editor, helping clients shape their philanthropic vision and tell their stories to maximize donor engagement and support.

Before joining Benefactor Group in 2019, Susan spent a decade at a major adult acute-care hospital in Western Canada, gaining experience in all aspects of fundraising. She led a team focused on building strategic partnerships with physicians to maximize philanthropy. She has also raised funds for national literacy organizations as a staff person and as a volunteer and has worked in media relations and radio/TV production. A Certified Fundraising Executive, Susan has an MBA in Nonprofit Management with a specialization in arts, media and entertainment management from the Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto.

View all posts
Tara Green

Tara is a contributor to philanthropy.org and manages our Foundations section. Born in Iran and resettled in Canada as a refugee, she holds a master's degree focused on refugee children's access to education. Her work spans nonprofit, education, migration, and private sector environments across multiple countries. She is currently based in the UAE, where she writes on Gulf philanthropy, Islamic giving culture, and cross-sector approaches to social change.

View all posts
Tess Conrad

Tess Conrad is a seasoned fundraising professional with more than 10 years of experience and has held her CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) since 2021. She also holds a Certificate in Fundraising Management from BCIT. She loves planned giving — the type of fundraising she believes drives the most meaningful relationships between nonprofits and their supporters. Her planned giving fundraising has built and grown 6-7 figure programs at mid-sized organizations, and she is a passionate planned giving educator.

View all posts
Todd Hiestand

Todd is a nonprofit strategist, author, and speaker with more than two decades of experience helping mission-driven organizations grow and communicate with clarity.

He co-founded and led a community-based nonprofit for 14 years, and has since served as an executive director, director of development, and communications director for national and international organizations — consulting with hundreds more along the way, guiding them through digital change and helping them build communications that actually advance their mission.

He is the author of The Welcoming Nonprofit and the creator of the Four Spaces of Nonprofit Engagement — a hospitality-based framework for how people come to belong to an organization. He speaks regularly on brand clarity, trust, and fundraising.

Most recently, he co-founded and led Liminal, a messaging-first branding agency built for liminal spaces — the in-between moments when organizations are moving from where they are to where they want to be.

Todd lives in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife Melanie, four sons, and a lively menagerie of goats, ducks, chickens, dogs, and other creatures.

View all posts

Become a Contributor

Share your expertise with thousands of nonprofit professionals. Contribute to GIVING Magazine, PlannedGiving.com, or philanthropy.org and help shape the future of philanthropy and planned giving.

Submit Your Article

Visionary Voices

Authors & Contributors to philanthropy.org

Authors List

Become a Contributor