About TKC

My entire working life has been in the nonprofit sector. In my capacity as Executive Director at the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, I nurtured an organization from grassroots to a sophisticated, highly-functioning nonprofit providing a steady stream of revenue. “Grassroots” in this case means I began with a few prospects and ended up managing a $2 million operating budget and dozens of cultural and educational programs. I flew solo for eight years. On any given day, you could find me arranging chairs for an event, preparing board packets and later discussing a named endowment with a legacy donor.

That experience afforded me the opportunity to wear multiple hats from fundraising and donor stewardship to programming and administration. In addition to creating a membership program and fundraising at every level, I wrote all publications and communications, managed all website content, trained board members and implemented robust systems to support the growth of the organization. 

As a Philanthropy Officer at Mercy For Animals, in addition to managing a major gift portfolio, I wrote winning grant proposals to the Annenberg Foundation, McGrath Family Foundation, The Greenbaum Foundation, Sam Simon Charitable Foundation, Stray Dog Institute, Dr. Bronner’s, Diane Warren Foundation, Plum Foundation, Empathy Foundation and the ASPCA among others. I created effective major gift appeals, quarterly impact reports and monthly donor updates for the Development Team. Along with two other major gift officers, we raised more than $3 million of the $15 million operating budget.

I adopted a plant-based lifestyle after seeing documentary work on factory farming and images of global animal exploitation by renowned photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur. I have spent every Sunday for the last 20 years, when not traveling, volunteering at the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter.