Meet Penny Harris ACC

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Penny Harris ACC. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Penny, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I grew up on a large family potato farm and had about 3000 chickens for eggs. The commitment to work and ethics was at the center. Dad worked 7 days per week. Working hard was highly valued and I was given work from a young girl. I picked potatoes, packed eggs, fed chickens, and mowed lawns. I learned early work felt good because I felt part of the team.

Both my mother and father work hard together. It was not only hard but there was risk. Money was borrowed to plant the potatoes in the spring, growing season potatoes were cared for, and hoped the weather would make it a good growing season., harvesting in the fall to store crops until selling and wanting a good price to pay the loan and make a profit. They would finish in time to plant the next crop.

Time for fun was rare and vacations weren’t every year. I loved the space but missed a social life with other children I had lots of time and freedom to play outdoors. It wasn’t until I went to college that I began to have a social life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I started fundraising when I was doing community action volunteer work. As a League of Women Voters leader, I organized forums, debates, and registered voters. I organized the first US Stenator and Governorial debate that was televised statewide. A few years later I became a professional fundraiser. and love the work as all people involved are working together making communities better places to live.

Today after directing programs and campaigns, and consulting for many organizations, I am a certified coach working with CEOs, fundraisers, and consultants to change the money focus in fundraising to a mission-centered focus.. People work together to serve communities with a mission they care about. Money is how they help not why.

I am launching the Mission Centered Fundraising – MCF- system. This is an annual system to manage current individual donors for high renewal. Today fundraisers spend most time looking for new donors and money becomes the focus. Fundraisers change jobs in less than 2 years. and no one likes fundraising. MCF will change the focus given to support missions to community and joining with the organization to serve the mission. Donors are partners and fundraisers lead in connecting the community with the value of the mission. Generosity is recognized.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
From the beginning, for me, it has been about building relationships. to organize people and create a workflow to get the goal accomplished. Be willing to lead the process of fundraising.

Becoming a fundraiser today I would encourage them to build relationships that donors feel they belong, have meaningful connections, and understand the value of the mission to the community. Creating a system is efficient, and effective allowing the fundraiser to be resilient when things happen to take them off-track.

I would also support the fundraiser to be vulnerable and human in the process of fundraising. We all want to help and experience being with others who also serve the mission.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I am introducing a new way for people to experience fundraising. After designing a system that will change program management and prioritize renewing 90% of current donors, I find creating change hard. The system is called Mission Centered Fudnraising and is a repeatable process managed by fundraisers.. Money goals will be reached. People give for the mission and money is how they help not why. I want to change how people experience fundraising being all about the money they give and how much.. Supporting missions in the community is about generosity and community service making community better place to live. People give to join with organizations in their endeavor to serve the mission. They want belonging, meaningful connections, and know the value of the mission.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
I took these pictures. The one taken picking potatoes was taken years ago I have used this picture before. on Linkedin and I have published the picture of me picking potatoes on Linkedin. These pictures can be used and posted with an artlce about me. Send me a permission form and I will sign it. I don’t remember people in the picture I am leading a workshop. Ii is my picture. 3 people in photo at women’s conference are: me, Sarah Scala, Vicki Staebler Tardino

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