USA for UNHCR Interim Placement in Major & Planned Giving

USA for UNHCR (U4U) experienced the perfect storm when Russia invaded Ukraine.  

The invasion created millions of refugees and Ukrainians who became internally displaced within their country. Americans responded by making charitable donations; one of the major routes to help Ukraine was through UNHCR.  
 
But at the same time, the major and planned giving team at U4U lost three of its seven staff members: one to resignation, one to retirement, and one to medical leave. They needed a leader to organize the remaining staff to cover both the emergency work and to organize the team to capitalize on the unprecedented number of new donors to the organization.  

They needed experience—and fast. From the first phone call to “in the chair,” Joan Russo was working within 48 hours.  
 
Joan said, “Turnkey asked me to interview for the role and coordinated communications. They facilitated an extremely quick turnaround on placement. I served as the Director of the Major & Planned Gifts Department. Turnkey coordinated the length of my placement, checking in monthly both with the organization and me to ensure all parties were happy with the placement. Then they negotiated the ongoing terms. Turnkey’s participation and support of my candidacy for the permanent role was crucial in my ability to move from an interim to a full-time position.” 

The engagement had begun in response to an emergency situation. Later it evolved into discussions about the future structure, strategy, and implementation of a successful major gifts program. As time went on, the engagement included creating a strategic plan for the next three years to meet increased goals from increased major gifts donors.  

 
Joan said, “[The engagement] changed because of the [Ukraine] emergency and because of the immediate impact I was able to make during the first two months of the engagement. I was able to build trust with the existing team, lead them to be able to respond to the crisis appropriately, and then mentor them about the future of the department. The CEO then engaged me to continue working on future plans to turn the department around, provide leadership to the team, and propose a structure that set them up for success.” 

Joan was hired as the Senior Director, Private Philanthropy in October 2022 (seven months after placement) and was charged with achieving the vision she created for the department. Joan says, “The department raised unprecedented revenues in 2022, approaching $27M. The department restructure is beginning to work well and we’re able to respond quickly to donors and begin to build relationships instead of having transactional encounters.” 

Note: When a nonprofit client wants to “keep” a consultant we have placed, Turnkey considers it to be the ultimate affirmation. Accordingly, our engagements have contingencies that make such transitions easy.