“Gayle is the living definition of expertise! Look no further when you are seeking wisdom, knowledge, background, experience and understanding. The Institute is far better off as a result of her counsel.”
Joseph Grieboski, Founder and President
Institute on Religion and Public Policy
Past Projects
Association of Fundraising Professionals: Golden Gate Chapter
With over 30,000 members internationally, the Bay Area chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals for over 50 years has played an essential role in promoting philanthropy and providing support to local fundraising professionals. I am honored to be a former volunteer Co-Chair of their diversity efforts, mentoring over thirty fundraisers from diverse backgrounds and identities.
BCS is dedicated to improving academic performance and building self-esteem among San Francisco Bay Area children. Their academic enrichment programs reach 5,000 students annually in over 130 Bay Area schools. In partnership with Firehorse Nonprofit Development, I helped BCS create a new case statement, researched new sources of institutional funding, and facilitated creating a new annual fundraising plan.
Brava's mission is to redefine the American stage through an aesthetic that focuses on theater by women and people of color, and to improve the quality of life in San Francisco's Mission District by providing cultural, social, and economic opportunities for its residents, with a particular emphasis on youth. I provided the agency with foundation and government grant writing services, including a successful $450,000/3-year city contract proposal.
With 18 chapters across the country, Bread for the Journey teaches a simple practice of neighborhood philanthropy based on simplicity and relationships. I delivered a workshop entitled "The Sacred Activity of Fundraising" at their annual conference.
Calle 24 was created in 1999 by a group of longtime residents, merchants, service providers and art organizations concerned with quality-of-life issues in San Francisco’s Mission District. Their diverse membership consists of merchants and residents of different ethnic backgrounds, genders, lifestyles, and economic levels. I facilitated a board planning retreat that helped them through a transitionary growth period.
Compton's Cafeteria Riot 40th Anniversary Commemoration
Three years before the famous rioting at New York's Stonewall Inn, there was a similar riot in San Francisco at Gene Compton's Cafeteria. I led the 40th-anniversary commemoration fundraising efforts, including recruiting, training, and managing a team of community volunteer fundraisers. Other tasks included writing a case statement and fundraising plan, supervising major donor solicitations, advising on house parties and other public events, coordinating publicity efforts, securing international press coverage, and ensuring timely gift processing and donor acknowledgments.
Development Executives Roundtable
Henry A. "Hank" Rosso, one of the early leaders in the fundraising field, founded Development Executives Roundtable (DER) in the late 1960s. DER builds thriving organizations and communities by helping nonprofit professionals teach the joy of giving, providing accessible training and peer support for Bay Area fundraisers at all stages of their careers. I'm grateful to have been on the board for six years, including two years as president, leading the agency through a period of organizational transition and growth.
The Center enhances the lives and promotes fairness for LGBTQ people in Santa Cruz County. I have mentored their Executive Director for over a decade, trained their board on corporate solicitation techniques, and written multiple major donors and general fund solicitation letters on their behalf.
Gum Moon / Asian Women's Resource Center
Founded in 1868, Gum Moon/AWRC maintains safe and affordable transitional housing for Asian immigrant women, educational programs, and family support services to low-income households. I assisted them in writing several institutional funding requests, including securing a new $450,000/3-year city contract.
Jewish Partisan Education Foundation
The Foundation's mission is to empower Jewish youth of today to embrace their Jewish identity through teaching about the 20,000-30,000 Jews who fought back against the Nazis as partisans. My services included grant management, and event planning, and leadership development support.
Larkin Street Youth Services is a nonprofit empowering young people to move beyond homelessness. Founded in 1984, they have helped over 80,000 young adults in San Francisco by providing a continuum of healthcare, housing, employment, and education services. In my role as Chief Development Officer, I supervise a team of 12 professionals, who over a five-year period raised over $50M in private funding. I also provided support to a collaborative public/private fundraising campaign, in partnership with the City and other community organizations, that successfully raised $50M to rapidly housing capacity to help young people off the streets.
LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The LightHouse provides solutions for living with vision loss. I have delivered coaching and professional development support to several of their staff members.
LYRIC envisions a diverse society where LGBTQ youth are embraced for who they are and encouraged to be who they want to be. In my first full-time staff development position, I was responsible for all institutional giving and public relations at this $1.5 million community-based youth center. Some of my successes included increasing foundation support by 245% in year one and securing three cover stories in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Openhouse is dedicated to creating and sustaining a senior residential community for LGBTQ seniors. After an executive leadership transition, I helped updated grant management systems, including bringing foundation and corporate prospect list up to date, clarifying program objectives and outcomes, and writing new funding proposals and letters of intent. I later joined the staff as Senior Development Officer in charge of corporate and major gifts solicitations, helping open one of the nation’s first senior affordable housing facilities designed to be LGBTQ welcoming.
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
I provided start-up business, fundraising planning, and executive consultation to the PGSP's Ph.D. program's Center for LGBTQ Evidence-based Applied Research (CLEAR). Now part of the Palo Alto University, it was a new initiative designed to research diverse sexuality and gender expressions that directly impact the lives of LGBTQ individuals, their families, and communities.
PRC helps people affected by HIV/AIDS, substance use, or mental health issues better realize opportunities by providing integrated legal, social, and health services that address the broad range of social risk factors that impact wellness and limit potential. The agency has a total budget of $25 million, employs 250 people, and delivering services to over 5,000 clients annually. I supervised a professional staff of six full-time employees, six independent contractors, and nearly 150 actively engaged volunteers.
During my tenure, I helped secure over $100M in new and renewing government grant contracts; develop and launch $25M multi-year, comprehensive capital campaign; double the size of the annual fund donor pool in less than eighteen months; merge and integrate the fundraising systems, including donor databases and volunteer programs of three established nonprofits; and supervise the production of multiple large-scale annual special events, including the agencies first-ever annual gala dinner.
Rebuilding Together San Francisco
Rebuilding Together San Francisco provides free home repair and renovation programs for low-income, elderly, and disabled San Franciscans and nonprofit and neighborhood facilities. I gave fundraising solicitation training to their board of directors.
Rockwood Leadership Institute is the nation's premier nonprofit organization that promotes social change through leadership training and consulting to progressive nonprofits. As a consultant, I provided them with prospect research, grant writing, and strategic consulting to strengthen and expand their relationships with multiple foundations, such as the Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the Arcus Foundation. I later joined their staff full-time as Director of Resource Development.
San Francisco LGBT Community Center
The Center provides San Francisco with a vast array of programs and services for LGBTQ people, friends, and families. I spent three years in the Development Director position responsible for the development and management of the Center's marketing, communications, and private and public fundraising programs for the annual operating budget. These included strategic planning, public relations, major gift programs, and corporate solicitations, including cause-related marketing programs, planned giving, direct response, telefunding, and sale of specialized products.
Sojourn began in the 1970s as a chaplaincy program of the Diocese, providing visits at San Francisco General Hospital to AIDS patients, their families, and caregivers. Since then, Sojourn's volunteer network has expanded, and they now visit over 11,000 patients, staff, and loved ones at the hospital every year. Sojourn is also a professional internship training site for chaplaincy students. I designed and facilitated a board retreat, successfully developed their new annual fundraising plan and provided ongoing donor prospecting, solicitation training, and executive support.
SHP's mission is to engage people of faith in the endeavor and partnership of building and maintaining a just and nurturing community. Services include a community food shelf and emergency shelter housing. I was honored to facilitate a board retreat to build organizational sustainability.
StartOut's mission is to inspire, educate, and support existing LGBTQ entrepreneurs, and to foster a new generation of business founders and CEOs. I provided strategic fundraising planning, institutional and individual campaign management, and executive coaching. One of my first tasks was developing their StartOut Awards sponsorship, table, and ticket sales campaign, which exceeded their fundraising goal by 150%.
Driven by the leadership of trans women of color, along with individual and organizational allies, the mission of TAJA’s Coalition is to stop the genocide of trans women of color. I wrote their initial strategic plan and government funding request, which secured $200,000 in start-up capital.
The Transgender Law Center is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities and gender non-conforming individuals. My services included board development training, annual gala event coordination, and direct response fundraising consultation.
Since 1975, USENIX has been the nation's leading trade association for developers, researchers, and users of advanced computing systems. Their services include continuing education and leadership development, networking and community-building opportunities, and access to information and resources. I helped them update their donor communications, fundraising research, and annual planning.
Youth ALIVE! is a nonprofit public health agency founded in 1991 and is dedicated to preventing youth violence and generating youth leadership in California communities. They work in urban areas that have been dubbed "murder central, ground zero, or the killing fields" by young people who live there. I'm honored to have provided them executive leadership coaching and board development support, as well as staff public speaking training.
Youth Outside develops and transforms underserved youth by investing in effective programs and creating strategic initiatives that connect kids to the great outdoors. My services included fundraising planning, foundation research, and executive coaching.
it's been a privilege to serve these organizations.
“Gayle Roberts epitomizes the term ‘development professional.’ She is a strategic thinker, who understands that mission, values and ethics are the foundation of a development program and fundraising is only one of the tools needed to be successful.”
George Clark, Former Chief Development Officer
LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired