Lorna Flynn

Favorite inspirational quote:

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

— Agatha Christie

Pronouns: she/her

Areas of expertise: major and principal gifts, strategic planning, donor cultivation and stewardship, donor communications, board engagement, capital campaigns

Causes I’m most passionate about: food insecurity, poverty, humanitarian crises, climate change and the environment, criminal justice reform, silent disco

My fundraising story: I started my working life in Sales & Marketing roles within Publishing, including client-facing roles at Lonely Planet, and The Guardian. I began in the nfp world in events, and was the Deputy Director of Development for three years at PEN America, the largest branch of the literary and human rights organization. My work there included augmenting PEN's fundraising events and growing its Major Gifts program. For five years I was a Major and Principal Gifts Officer at City Harvest, New York City’s largest food rescue organization. During that time, I helped increase the organization’s annual revenue from $27M to $75M, managing a personal portfolio of up to $6M/year, and completing a $75M capital campaign.

Why I care about helping nonprofits grow: We—as neighbors, communities, nations and human beings—are most successful and happy when we all work together for the good of each other. Nonprofits enable this, and nimbly solve the inequities of our governmental and business systems to meet people where they are and level the playing field. At their best, they help us all demonstrate our shared purpose.

Hobbies: tennis (playing and spectating), traveling, Agatha Christie, diving, trying new things (trapeze, shoe-making, etc)

Unusual talent: I’ve won many limbo dancing contests in my time.