Advancement
Associates News
1/31/2008
Kennell departs AAI
After more than nine years of service, Jerry Kennell, founder and principal of Advancement Associates, Inc. has left the firm. Richard Gerig and Rebecca Drumm, also principals of the firm, will continue the consulting business which serves peace church related nonprofit organizations and congregations in the areas of strategic visioning, fundraising, communications and enrollment.
Kennell founded the firm in 1998 as JK Advancement, following 22 years of nonprofit leadership including service as executive director of two Mennonite related nonprofits, coordinator of major gifts and staff assistant to the president of New York University, executive director of a hospital foundation and six years as vice president for advancement of Bluffton University.
Beginning in January 2008, Kennell will serve as a regional representative for Mennonite Foundation, a job that will allow him to spend more time in his home community of Fort Collins, CO in order to “be a more present parent to two young adults and a teenager still living at home.” Kennell notes that consulting for Mennonite organizations in Mennonite and Canada has kept him consistently on the road during most of three weeks each month.
Reflecting on his years with AAI, Kennell states “I can’t imagine greater satisfaction than I have had being involved with communities and organizations at all levels in the Mennonite Church at times when they wanted, together, to take their organizations to new levels of service. Partnering with Rich, Becky and the AAI associates has also been a rich blend of professional growth and deep personal friendship.”
Of Kennell and the future of AAI, Drumm stated “When I first started working in development, I knew that Jerry [then at Bluffton University] was someone I wanted to meet. He was very open to sharing and mentoring me in my new role. Ten years later, I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to join the AAI team and have the opportunity to work with Jerry, Rich and the other team members. Once again, Jerry shared his skills and ideas with me as I grew in my role as a consultant. It has been a great pleasure to work with Jerry.” Gerig added, “As an AAI colleague Jerry invited my ideas, respected my opinions, and gave me the freedom to develop my own consulting style. Most of all, we shared a common understanding of and commitment to our company’s values for engaging individual congregations and church-related organizations with integrity in business and service. These are values that Becky and I will continue to uphold as AAI moves forward.”
Current and former clients of AAI include institutions in education, health and long term care, developmental disabilities, as well as camp and conference centers and a wide variety of denominational offices and agencies. The company approaches its work from a philosophical base that sees organizations as expressions of the heart and will of a faith community and also teaches fundraising as ministry to the donor, a concept developed especially by Rebekah Burch Basinger, a former principal of the firm.
To read more of Kennell’s departing thoughts, click here.
