Jill Gwydir-Govel, Trustee
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Jill is a seasoned non-profit professional with a solid track record in strategic fundraising and development initiatives, including special, third party and community events, donor prospecting, cultivation and relationship management; database management and analytics; volunteer management and training; financial reporting and budgeting.
Currently serving as the Development and Communications Director at Lunch Break, Jill started as a development assistant and quickly worked her way up. Within the last five years, she has gone from assistant to associate and assumed the role of department manager in 2019. She hit many fundraising milestones during this period: overseeing a data migration to a new donor CRM, mastering the software and training staff; stepping in to run the department after a senior management staff change; successfully navigating the department and her staff through COVID crisis fundraising; and assisting in the launch of a capital campaign in the midst of the pandemic.
During this time of social distancing, Jill kept in touch with Lunch Break’s supporters with virtual town halls, zoom coffee hours and recently organized and executed a Creative Philanthropy Zoominar focusing on planned giving.
Jill began her career in human services and the non-profit world after graduating from college and joining the Peace Corps. She served for two years in Ecuador as a community development professional, teaching health and English, developing small income projects, writing grants and serving as the Corps’ coordinator of the Women in Development office. Upon returning to the States, Jill served as a development associate at the YWCA of Manhattan where she focused on corporate relations, events, advocacy and strategic fundraising. She also has consulted on events with the National Society for Multiple Sclerosis and Easter Seals early in her career.
Jill received her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College in political science and international studies and an associate degree in paralegal studies from Brookdale College. As an environmentalist, Jill served for nine years as the Chair of the Environmental Commission in Shrewsbury, earning a Sustainable Jersey certificate for the town three times over that period. She lives in Shrewsbury with her husband. They have five adult children scattered along the eastern seaboard who keep them very busy.