West Palm Beach, Fla. – October 8, 2009 – The Association of Fundraising Professionals Palm Beach County Chapter welcomes speakers Jerry F. Smith and Peter Panepento, both nationally-recognized fundraisers, to their October and November luncheons, respectively.
Smith will be speaking about identifying major gifts prospects at the October luncheon, held October 15, 2009 from 11:30am – 1:00pm, at the Boca Raton Country Club, 17751 Boca Club Boulevard, Boca Raton. Panepento will be speaking on November 18, 2009 from 11:30am – 1:00pm, at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach.
Jerry F. Smith, author, lecturer, teacher and fund-raising consultant, founded the J.F. Smith Group in 1991, following a successful development career as Executive Director of Alumni and Development at Auburn University (including a $110 million dollar capital campaign, ending in 1985). The J.F. Smith Group has conducted feasibility studies and capital campaigns for clients all across the country - from Edmond, Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. and from Chicago, Illinois to Orlando, Florida. Significantly, the company has conducted two and three campaigns for many of these same clients. He has conducted seminars on an assortment of fund-raising topics both here in the United States, for CASE, ACSI, Blackbaud, AFP, NAADD and in Germany for the Catholic Fund-raising Institute. He has taught fund-raising courses at Troy State University and is also the recipient of the 2000 NSFRE Award for Civic Philanthropy.
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Peter Panepento, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s first Web editor, has been following the growth of philanthropy online since 2004, when, in a freelance report, he wrote the first national story on the use of blogs by nonprofit organizations. Since then, he has been working to reinvent philanthropy.com, managing and moderating its popular live discussions series, and closely following the use of social media by nonprofit groups. Before coming to the Chronicle, Panepento worked at the Erie (Pa.) Times-News as its first online reporter from 2005-2006 and as a business reporter from 2000-2005. His work in Erie earned national awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the National Headliner Awards, and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Panepento has also written for national magazines such as Reader’s Digest, Computerworld, and Men’s Health.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) represents nearly 27,000 members in 175 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education and certification programs. The Association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. For more information, go to www.afpnet.org.
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