January 2023 - Pamela Shepherd, CITP, CIS, CTA

Pamela Shepherd, CITP, CIS, CTA - Director of Strategic Partnerships 

Early in 2022, as your Director of Strategic Partnerships, I was tasked with creating a fundraiser that would benefit our chapter.  Two things came to mind, how do we capitalize on the 50^th Anniversary of MPI with our fundraiser, and how will our fundraiser assist our members, not just MPI Georgia, as an organization? It was not about raising money for the chapter as much as what value those dollars brought to our members.

After an anniversary discussion during an MPI Chapter Leadership call, the Nifty 50 campaign was created.  At first, it was just a name, but with the support and creativity of our leadership team, Lance Hornecker, and Tara Zeravsky, the campaign's purpose became more evident. First, create a campaign that supports our "Impact Fund," which supports our fellow MPI Georgia members in their financial struggle to stay involved and contribute their time to our chapter.

How is this?

The plan was to create a marketing campaign (to build awareness and a bit of FOMO) thru our website, podium announcement, and simple calls/emails to our members.  A request to help your peers was all it took.  "If you were in a financially challenging situation, how valuable would assistance be from MPI Georgia.”  Whether you were a 20+ year member, a "sophomore" member, or a Past President of MPI GA, everyone was more than willing to help grow the funds in our Impact fund.  Of course, as the year went on, the Nifty 50 campaign took on many new "personalities" and continued to evolve as we introduced the "swear jar" during the Phoenix Awards and then the "Gopher It" jars at the 2022 Caddy Shack Fall Classic.  You did not want to miss out on contributing and being one of the "Cool Kids"…FOMO at its finest!

By the end of 2022, we exceeded our goal of $5000 thanks to online contributions, cash donations at events, and our members scanning the QR code for the fund whenever digitally or physically presented.  As this campaign comes to a close, and we now look for exciting new ways to involve our members in the financial growth of our chapter, I continue to believe in our chapter's collective creativity and endurance to create a more relevant tomorrow.

I am blessed to have been a catalyst for our chapter in helping MPI Georgia support our members.  Through the relationships I have built for over two decades as an MPI Georgia member and leader, I have learned that if you create trust among your peers, deliver what you promise, create value, and extend an emotional reward for them; they will support your quest for a better tomorrow.

Pam Shepherd