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Dwayne Ashley

Dwayne Ashley is an American nonprofit executive with over 30 years of experience as a fundraising and management expert for national nonprofit and higher education organizations.

He has worked with hundreds of Fortune 500 CEOs and has raised more than $1B throughout his career by relying on his skills in business strategies, management, operations, leadership, salesmanship, and a penchant for measurable outcomes.

Ashley is the Founder and CEO of Bridge Philanthropic Consulting LLC, the nation’s largest Black-Owned Full-Service Fundraising Firm in the world dedicated to communities of Color. Under his leadership, the firm has expanded to more than 100 consultants, public sector community work, and developing a suite of products for increasing awareness of philanthropy in communities of color.

Prior to starting his firm, he was the Chief Officer of Development for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, the world’s leading performing arts organization for jazz. He helped to transform the diversity of the board and membership and ran its first successful endowment campaign raising $75MM in 15 months--the largest endowment campaign ever run for Jazz.

Early Life and Education

Ashley descends from a Louisiana family with deep roots in supporting education that dates back to a great grandmother who donated land to establish the first school to educate blacks in Ringgold, Louisiana. He was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s of science degree from Wiley College, Texas’ oldest historically black college. He later earned a master’s degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fel’s School of Government.

Ashley has continued to sharpen his skills with continuing education and earned Executive Certifications from the Indiana School of Philanthropy’s Fundraising Program and Chevron/Texaco Non-Profit Executive Leadership Program.

Early Career

Ashley’s career in the non-profit sector began in 1990 when he became the Campaign Manager for the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, where he achieved a 20% growth annually in the corporate and foundation fundraising sector.

In 1992, he joined the United Negro College Fund as Area Development Director and was later promoted to the level of Regional Director, where he maintained responsibility for operational, fundraising, administrative, and support activities for a three-state region through 1996, where he worked with his mentor the late William H. Gray III.

Career

100 Black Men of America, Inc.

Ashley was hired by Atlanta-based 100 Black Men of America, Inc. in 1996 to be the national mentoring organization’s Executive Director/Chief Professional Officer. He oversaw a staff of 20 professionals and generated increase revenues of 850% from $400,000 to $6 million through securing corporate, foundation and individual gifts. He also developed new programs and products for revenue diversification, which generated $1 million annually in new unrestricted revenue. In addition, under his leadership, the organization launched international chapters and set global guidelines for fundraising and grants.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Inc.

Driven by his family roots in education and his own passion for education, Ashley relocated to New York City to accept the position of Executive Director of Thurgood Marshall College Fund (formerly Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund) in 1999. One year later, having been promoted to President, he continued implementing a strategy to grow the organization and broaden its base of support from corporate, foundation and individual donor support.

Ashley leveraged his skills in driving business growth to develop and execute fundraising campaigns generating $100 million in revenue for scholarships, capacity building and program funds. This represented a 1,400% increase in gross revenues and more than 85% of the organization’s gross revenues since 1999, when he joined TMCF. In 2004, he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer and led the organization’s management of a $15 million annual campaign with 20%+ growth annually.

Entrepreneurial Ventures

Ashley has owned and developed multifamily housing units in Philadelphia, Texas, New Jersey, and Louisiana.

Drawing on his entrepreneurial experience, Ashley left his position with Thurgood Marshall College Fund in December 2009 to become Interim Managing Partner of Generations Development Corp., his family’s firm and one of the nation’s pre-eminent rural real estate development companies dedicated to providing affordable housing for families, elderly and disabled.

Ashley provided day-to-day executive management of Generations, recruited investors for million-dollar projects, reduced the operating size of the business, and increased rental income by 30%. In 2010, he transitioned to a position on the Generations’ Board of Directors, allowing him the opportunity to become Chief Executive Officer of Global Operations for SFK-Success for Kids, Inc.

SFK-Success for Kids

As head of Global Operations for SFK in Los Angeles, Ashley managed operations, human resources, finance, led all fundraising, and oversaw a $15 million international budget. Using his expertise in operations and management, he set up international operations that resulted in 30% overall savings annually and his compliance strategy led to a 15% overall savings for SFK. Managing a global staff of 130, he directed the building of SFK’s budget, finance, and HR infrastructures and developed operations in eight countries abroad, while achieving an average donor gift increase of 10%.

Author

Ashley co-authored (with noted author and historian Juan Williams) the bestselling book, “I’ll Find A Way or Make One,” which chronicles the history of the nation’s HBCUs. He is also the author of “Dream Internships! It’s Not Who You Know …It’s What You Know; Eight Steps to Fundraising,” and published “Eight Steps to Creating Winning Events,” with Carol Campbell. He is widely published and has authored numerous chapters, articles, and opinion editorials, which have been published in newspapers and magazines nationally. He has co-authored eight papers on Black Philanthropy as part of his company’s Iconic Impact Series amplifying the voices of blacks in philanthropy.

Speaker

Recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities in education advocacy and non-profit management, Ashley is a highly sought speaker and lecturer on fundraising, leadership, and non-profit management. He has delivered more than 1,000 speeches throughout his career.

Boards, Honors, and Recognition

Ashley is active on numerous boards and non-profit committees and participates in many community and youth programs across the country.

He was named to Ebony Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Black Americans” list for six consecutive years and is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of the District of Columbia; Distinguished Alumnus Award from Langston University; Positive Image Award from the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity; and numerous other awards and honors. He holds membership in the Association of Black Foundation Executives, Life Membership in Fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Inc. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Giving Institute and Co-Chairs the Diversity Committee, the New York Society Library, and the Association of Black Development Officers.

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