Meet Aileen Gabbey

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aileen Gabbey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aileen, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
In leading nonprofit organizations – and, as a facilitator now – I interact with a variety of groups….staff, Board members, donors, volunteers, clients, the media. I always want the language I used to be accessible. I am definitely not a fan of business ‘jargon.’ And, sharing stories is a great way to share the good work of our missions. It makes the cause come to life with a specific instance of how organizations help and can be much more memorable than mere statistics.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
After leading nonprofits for 25+ years, I began offering facilitation and consulting for nonprofits (and other groups). I focus on strengthening Boards of Directors. If the Board is healthy, the mission of the organization is better served. This includes everything Board-related including Board retreats, bylaws, setting up committee structure, and – something quite popular and necessary – the Board’s role in fundraising. I often do speaking engagements in the community, and Meaningful Board service is a common theme. The Board members have great ideas of how they can support the organization. Their involvement in generating those ideas gives them buy-in and creates a variety of choices that can fit with each member’s comfort level.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Self-discipline helps a lot having your own business. Clients are relying on follow-through and support. Being a servant leader is also helpful. I no longer have a large staff (it’s just me now), but, the concept of being there to help clients is very important. Continuing to learn from others is extremely valuable. I recently hosted a party at my home to thank the many mentors I have had as I’ve grown my business. They’ve taught me so much.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
One of my mentors, Marjorie Young, wrote a book called ‘The Reputation Matrix.’ She is a wonderful and natural entrepreneur. She shares concrete ways to develop a business that is strategic and relationship-focused. I often recommend it when I do pro bono speaking engagements. Its advice is transferrable to many industries – and, I even encourage it for nonprofit fundraisers for ideas on keeping donors engaged.

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Headshot by John Alexander

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