Бывший руководитель фонда помощи детям из Сан-Леандро открыл собственную консалтинговую фирму в Дэвисе

I sat down with Ken Sommer at the Cloud Forest Café and over frothy cappuccinos, received a glimpse into the world of a nonprofit fundraiser, specifically KMS Fundraising Consulting LLC. Originally from Davis, as is his wife, Ken moved to the Bay Area for 50 years before returning to Davis three years ago so their younger son could attend Da Vinci high school, which he has since graduated and now attends UC Riverside. Ken’s father, Robert Sommer, was an internationally known environmental psychologist and a distinguished professor emeritus of psychology at UCD. In other words, Ken Sommer’s Davis roots run deep. “I’ve been a nonprofit fundraiser for over forty years, all in the Bay Area, and the last 15½ for a really amazing organization called the George Mark Children’s House; it’s kind of like a children’s hospice; it’s a hospice and respite and palliative care center and it’s in San Leandro…first facility of its kind in the country.” Once they’d moved back to Davis, Ken was commuting and “the commuting was killing me,” he shared. He decided to leave the organization and initially thought he’d try to find a job fundraising locally before deciding to try the “consulting route,” which he thought seems “like a good way to go. So I put out my shingle, KMS Fundraising Consulting LLC, and just now talking with two or three potential organizations to do fundraising for, whatever that may be.” I was curious as to what got him interested in this line of work to begin with. “I wanted to be a rock concert promoter,” Ken said quite intently and I couldn’t help but laugh. “In the late 70s, living in Berkeley…do you remember Bill Graham? Bill Graham Presents? He was the original kind of rock impresario…I wanted to work for him and I had no musical background, I had no experience in concerts, but I had the desire…I talked myself into an informational interview with his number two person. I said, how do you get into this?...he said… it’s like project management…so I took that to mean like events, so out of college, I graduated from Cal State Hayward, I turned myself into an events director in the nonprofit world and with my early jobs I was given the opportunity to sort of produce some comedy shows and some live music things, so on that path I then went to work for the San Francisco conservatory of music…producing concerts. They were classical but still concerts. Then I actually got laid off there cause they were having some difficult times and ended up going to work for the San Francisco opera and it was at that point that I decided you know, that rock thing, probably wouldn’t have suited me well but this nonprofit world I was really interested in.” Ken worked at the opera for 12 years, “the first 8 of that running the San Francisco opera guild…they do education outreach programs, but it’s also really known as the social scene so they do the opera ball…opening night, the fancy stuff. My bosses, the board of directors were the socialites of San Francisco but they were also major donors and so I worked directly with the fundraisers for the opera as kind of the ex officio fundraiser for the guild ladies as they were called back then, and so I really got interested in fundraising and then at one point the head of fundraising for the opera created a position for me within the development department as kind of a COO of that department, running…budgeting and finance and HR…so I really got to know fundraisers from some of the top professionals in the Bay Area. San Francisco Opera at that point was the second largest performing arts organization in the United States…responsible for raising about $35 million in fundraising and $35 million in ticket sales. So I really got to know that field pretty well.” After 12 years Ken’s job was eliminated and at that point he started doing his first consulting for an organization called the San Francisco Classical Voice, an online publication around all things classical music and they wanted to “ramp up their fundraising” so Ken did an assessment for them. I still wanted to understand what this work entailed and he described himself as a general. His area of expertise is around major donors so he will have a “one on one conversation with you and in a way it is sales.” Like when he was working for George Mark’s Children’s House. “I was selling this amazing service for sick and dying children and their families...in very real terms my job is as a story teller. I’m trying to tell you that this organization is worth your investment because we provide this incredible service, whatever that may be.” Ken eventually worked for other organizations such as the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development corporation that offers homeless housing and supportive services in the Tenderloin in San Francisco, then the GlIDE church and foundation, then Children’s Hospital Oakland foundation followed by George Mark’s Children’s hospital. “My job is to get people to support these wonderful, amazing organizations…I love it. I consider myself a people person, I think I can tell a pretty impactful story about the organization.” At some point an executive director suggested a change in Ken’s job title to director of storytelling even though such a job didn’t exist, yet that’s what Ken does. The title didn’t stick though and Ken is known as a professional fundraiser and even served on the board of directors of the association of fundraising professionals in the Bay Area for several years. “I really believe in the industry and I just really believe in the nonprofit world. Never wanted to go to the dark side, so to speak…the corporate world,” which Ken dabbled in at age 16 when he worked for Baskin-Robbins. “I really am mission driven in my career and so at this point, I decided whatever I do I’m not really driven by the arts.” While he loved working for the opera, he discovered that places like George Mark’s Children hospital and Children’s Hospital Oakland foundation, were where he found investing his time and efforts worthwhile. “God forbid I or somebody I knew was in a situation like those families find themselves in…I want to help that. I want to help support those folks in that type of situation and in some ways…my colleagues who do the real work, who work with the patients’ families, the nurses, the doctors, the psychologists. All of them. I couldn’t do what they do but I’m in awe…I work for them. At George Mark…that was the best job I ever had.” Ken realized the significance of this job after what he referred to as an “Aha moment.” He knew what George Mark’s purpose was, but initially he just needed a job. He shared that he got to know one of the fathers of a patient there and two weeks in, “an angel in the house email went out, essentially saying” that a child had died “and it was the son of this dad I got to know. And my office looks out on the parking lot…and I saw that dad walking, head down, just sobbing.” Ken had called his wife to say that he wasn’t sure he could do this job. Yet a little later he’d heard “all this laughter out in the lobby and I poked my head out…there was this dad, surrounded by about ten of his family members in this big group hug” and it was then Ken realized that they were going to be alright, and that it was these kinds of organizations that would support them in large part as a result of the funding it was his job to generate. It was then that he understood, “that’s what we do. That’s the importance of this place” and that was the moment he realized that he was “in exactly the right place” and he “never looked back.” Since then Ken has become involved with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross hospices, fundraising for this new client, already having secured a sizable donation for them. “They’re my first client since I’ve started my business” he explained. In fact, when we spoke he had yet to share the good news about the donation with his new client. Through this foundation Ken was connected to yet another organization promoting hospice and palliative care worldwide and just recently spoke with their executive director who showed interest in Ken’s services as well. “I may be ending up with this sort of niche around hospices…it’s a field that I am very, very passionate about…not that I was going to do that exclusively…the nonprofit world needs support and a lot of nonprofits…don’t feel comfortable asking for money…so that’s the double-edged sword; you have to do that to be able to operate the organization…that’s why often times organizations are very comfortable with grant writing…but that’s not always enough to fully support them…there are very few grants that support pediatric palliative care in children’s hospice…” and that’s part of Ken’s area of expertise. Telling stories to generous donors to continue generating much needed funds to keep important organizations doing valuable work. Among the many fundraising consulting services Ken Sommer offers: Fundraising assessments and strategic planning, development department evaluation and coaching, capital campaign planning and counsel, major gifts program development, annual fund strategy, board development and volunteer engagement, donor stewardship and relationship management, and campaign feasibility and readiness among several others. “The firm brings more than 40 years of executive nonprofit leadership and fundraising experience, providing strategic counsel and practical, hands-on support to organizations of all sizes.” To find out more, contact Sommer at  [email protected]  or 510-333-3242. ———— The next Davis Craft and Vintage Fair will be on Sunday, Sept. 6, under the Farmers Market Pavilion in Central Park.  The cooperative is a twice-a-month, open-air market for local artisans and vintage vendors, with food and live music, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  For information and directions, go online to https://www.daviscraftandvintage.org/. — New in town? 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