Next May our chapter will host the Mid-America Conference (MAC) on Fundraising here in Wichita. This is the longest running regional conference offered in the country and usually attracts several hundred attendees. Mike Wescott, our chapter’s president-elect, is chairing the planning committee, and the work has already begun to make the conference a great one.

At a recent meeting the committee began to brainstorm around a title or theme for the conference. Last year’s conference was in Sioux Falls and their theme was “Fiesta at the Falls”. When our chapter hosted the conference several years ago we played off the idea of Wichita being the “Air Capital” and “Soaring to New Heights in Fundraising” set the tone for the gathering. So what might we use for MAC 2019? Well, frankly the committee is struggling a bit.

One idea that was presented played off of the party theme like Sioux Falls used with the idea of a fiesta - “Finding the Fun in Fundraising” or simply “FUNdraising ICT”. It sounded great to me! I have a blast raising money. Even more so now that I am in the role of executive director of my organization. I have to deal with all sorts of yucky things – employee issues, budgets, facility maintenance – the list goes on! The best part of my week is when I get to go on a donor call with a member of our development team. Learning how to have more fun while raising money sounded exciting.

Others on the committee disagreed. Several shared that a conference around putting the fun in fundraising would not appeal to them and it got me thinking . . . do you think raising money is fun? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Email me at wglick@CatholicCharitiesWichita.org. We’ll see how much fun we are all having at being fundraisers!

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AFP Member Spotlight: Mike Wescott

Number of years as an AFP Member: 13 years
Family: Wife Therese, 6 children, 9 grandchildren
Occupation: Director of Development and Planned Giving, Catholic Diocese of Wichita
Accomplishments: 39 years married, wonderful family, my faith, CFRE since 2010, GWAFP Fundraising Executive of the Year 2018, lead a capital campaign for the Diocese that raised $26M, started a new 501(c)3 organization and am currently operating it
Hobbies: Woodworking
Reasons you love being a member of AFP: The opportunity to network with other professionals, receive regular educational opportunities
Share a funny story or situation you have experienced in your profession: A funny thing happened once when I called a donor to thank them for a gift. This donor had the same name as someone else I knew very well, so I started referencing my familiarity with the donor. The donor said that no she wasn’t that person and so I apologized and hung up. I thought maybe I had called the wrong person. But after some research that I should have done before the call, I realized that I had called the right person who made the gift and had just assumed some things about the donor. It was both embarrassing and humbling at the same time. I was glad that the donor had a good sense of humor.