Holly Michaelson
Consulting Team Lead, Digital Strategy & Customer Success
@life
Holly was born and raised in North Adams, MA nestled in the scenic and relaxing Berkshires. She has lived in VT, Spain, Maine, Ohio, and eventually settled in Delmar, NY, a small suburb just outside of Albany. She is very crafty (both cardmaking and jewelry-making), loves a wide range of music (Tim McGraw to Lady Gaga to Josh Groban to Ella Fitzgerald and most things in between!), enjoys baseball and organizing her Little Free Library and seeing what is new! Her motto is “In a world where you can be anything, be kind!” She spends her personal time volunteering and fundraising for her passion projects and has founded an annual Random Acts of Kindness event called “Hope Days.”
WHAT CAUSE ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?
Several health and environmental causes are currently my top priorities, but I have been involved with the arts, equity, and neighborhood blockwatch in the past. There are so many amazing causes that need and deserve support, I only wish there were more hours in the day! Lucky for me, I also get to spend my work day supporting the amazing work of our clients!
HAVE YOU EVER WON A CONTEST?
Several in middle school! In 6th grade, I won the Halloween contest for my “Miss Trash” costume, I dressed up like a beauty queen wearing a trash bag gown decorated with clean waste. This was surely a prelude to my interest in recycling and conservation work! In 7th grade, I won the contest for reading the most unassigned books. My “Pac Man” emoji made it all the way around the room, indicating how many books each student had read. How appropriate that I am now a library steward! And in 8th grade, I won a contest for selling the most candy bars in the entire middle school. I was motivated by the prize – a stereo! This was a school fundraiser and I credit this to being the start of a highly successful fundraising career.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST INVENTION OF YOUR LIFETIME?
I think I would have to say the smartphone. Remember when we memorized people’s phone numbers, called each other on party lines on physical telephones plugged into the wall, and paid per minute to talk to our friends and family long distance? You had to end your call because someone else in your family needed to use the single phone line… Now we each personally have this robust tool that allows you to call, text, email, take pictures, record video, manage your calendar, surf the net, donate, track miles, stay connected, stay up to date, and best of all – fundraise!
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE VACATION SPOT?
We love Boston! This is a short getaway for us, something that we can do on the weekend. Boston is a vibrant, walkable city with great food and lots of friends! We have our favorite restaurants in the North End and the Seaport, must have cuisine, and even a little artist fair that I love to frequent. It goes without saying, we attend as many Red Sox games as we can whenever we are there! We’ve taken a tour of the Green Monster, but I look forward to watching a game from there! Go Sox!!
@work
For more than 25 years, Holly has supported the nonprofit industry driving transformational change and growth to accomplish or exceed organizational objectives. She started off leading environmental change management at Middlebury College and in Toledo/Lucas County, Ohio and then spent more than two decades at JDRF focused on traditional and digital fundraising. During her tenure, JDRF helped to transform care for people living with type 1 diabetes through research powered by fundraising dollars.
Her nonprofit work has included strategy, program development and management, education and training, event management, as well as volunteer management at the local, regional and national levels.
Holly brings her unique blend of event fundraising and technical expertise to Charity Dynamics in her role as Principal Consultant, Digital Strategy & Customer Success. As a fundraiser that always embraced technology, she thinks like a fundraiser while leveraging innovative technology solutions. She offers our clients actionable insights and forward-thinking solutions to help power their missions.