Molly Ball is the Director of Individual Giving for Kalamazoo College. She has been with the college for five years serving in many capacities, primarily major gifts. She began fundraising in 1999 when she became the executive director of the Michigan FFA Foundation, which transpired into a position with the National FFA as the director of individual giving. Throughout her career Ms. Ball has been a part of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and has spoken at several workshops in Indiana and Michigan. During her tenure at Kalamazoo College she helped to wrap up a $75 million dollar campaign and is embarking on a campaign that will double the last. Over the last year, she has directed a major gifts, annual fund, donor relations and planned giving department of more than 10 employees.
Sam Kennedy, CFRE, has 32 years of experience in fund development with expertise in resource development strategy. While his achievements in developing personal gift strategies and designing campaigns are numerous, he is also well-versed in establishing rapport with boards, volunteers and donors. He has supervised the raising of over $900 million, mostly in major gifts, while managing fund development campaigns ranging from $1 million to $150 million. Sam is an advisor to annual, capital and endowment campaigns around the country. He is also skilled in organizational analysis and has had countless opportunities to create, re-create or turn-around new or struggling development programs. Sam is a charter member of the Detroit Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and was the founding president of the Michigan Association of School Development.
A graduate of Huntington University (Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Management) and Anderson University (Master of Business Administration), Jeff has been in higher education fundraising over ten years. He began his career at Huntington University (Huntington, Indiana) as the Director of the Annual Fund and ended his six-year tenure as their Director of Major Gifts. Being a part of the team that successfully completed a $50 million campaign was the highlight of his Huntington experience. Jeff served as the Director of Advancement at Kuyper College (Grand Rapids, Michigan) for three years and lead his team to record annual fund support, over $700,000 in new endowed scholarships and the three most successful annual fundraising banquets in the organization`s history. He currently serves as the Associate Vice President for Advancement at Cornerstone University (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and directly oversees database services/gift entry, annual fund, and planned giving promotion.
