A Fundraising Family: Chris, Kevin, and Emily Collins Talk About Donor Engagement

Sometimes, fundraising is just in your DNA. That’s the case with Emily, Kevin, and Chris Collins. They grew up around higher education and advancement, and now work across different organizations to engage donors.

In these three new Fundraising Voices podcasts, the Collins family breaks down some of the key challenges of engaging donors in a pandemic, and share stories of both inspiring gifts and the work of our student ambassadors.

Chris Collins engages donors to support the COVID vaccine and healthcare transformation at Vanderbilt Medical

Chris Collins, vice president for development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, talks about engaging donors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of generous gifts to fuel vaccine research, and what’s special about working to support a higher education and healthcare partnership.

Kevin Collins keeps Hawkeye supporters engaged in a challenging time at the University of Iowa Athletics

Kevin Collins is associate vice president and assistant athletics director for athletics development at the University of Iowa. He’s been engaging donors for decades across a wide range of institutions. I talked with Kevin about the incredible generosity of athletics donors, even when they can’t see competitions or be at events in the same way during the pandemic.

Emily Collins maximizes donor engagement and mentors the next generation of fundraising professionals at RNL

Emily talked with me about why she followed her fundraising family into the field, how she mentors young people to look at philanthropy as a career, and how things are going with student engagement ambassadors in today’s remote environment.