Be a Changemaker

Alumni

Meet Tom Duggan: Associate Director of Individual Giving at Plan International Australia.

Tom’s responsible for raising $24 million each year to support the work of Plan International, for the protection of children and girls across the globe.

Tom began his career in fundraising at Cornucopia in 2004, starting as a face to face fundraiser before becoming a team leader after a few months.

Continuing to rise up the ranks, within six months he was running an office in Western Australia, managing teams and subcontractors, and eventually became a Client Account Director after stints in New Zealand and the UK.

Tom says it’s amazing how many of his peers from those years at Cornucopia have gone on to change the world wherever they are now. He credits his success to the skills and experiences he gained in those early years.

“My work at Cornucopia is directly responsible for my career.”

“As a face to face fundraiser you literally stand right next to people as they make a choice whether to give or not. There is no better way to understand the psychology of why people give – what makes them say yes or no.”

Meet Steve Martin: Director, Individual Giving & Direct Marketing at The Fred Hollows Foundation

Steve made the call to move from the UK to Australia when he joined Cornucopia as a face to face fundraiser.

Seeing his achievements since, it’s no surprise that he has zero regrets about that decision.

Starting in face to face, then moving through several other great management roles at Cornucopia, Steve spent seven formative years as part of the Cornucopia team.

He’s now responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of The Fred Hollows Foundation’s global individual giving fundraising and direct marketing programs, leading the Australian National Direct Marketing team’s acquisition, retention, bequests, data analytics & insights, database & donor care and strategic projects functions, as well as consulting on international individual giving fundraising in existing and new markets for The Foundation.

Steve says there’s nothing more satisfying than raising funds to help restore sight and end avoidable blindness.

Like our other impressive alumni, Steve says that his time at Cornucopia began it all. He says he learned his confidence, his skills, and his passions because of our supportive, flexible environment. And we agree!

“I loved the sense of team and purpose, the camaraderie, the networks, the industry connections I built at Cornucopia. I loved representing so many amazing causes, including The Fred Hollows Foundation.”

“The team at Cornucopia were loyal and supportive and they were the reason I ended up moving from the UK to Australia.”

Meet Bethany Smith: Donor Development Specialist at MS Queensland.

Bethany describes herself as a strategic storyteller – a role that combines her two passions: communicating with donors, and data!

She began at Cornucopia in early 2011 as Pays & Reporting Assistant in the Data Services Team, moving through other roles including Data Services Team Leader. Her legacy here was helping establish Cornucopia Calling as the call center specialist advisor.

Now, Bethany works with the amazing team at Queensland, looking after individual giving appeals, regular giving, and donor engagement.

Since working at Cornucopia, she’s worked at other great organisations like Mater Foundation and The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation.

Having worked as a face to face fundraiser before arriving at Cornucopia, Bethany says that the team here saw the insights she’d gained on the front lines and her ability to take them to a role with data. She was ‘the right cultural fit’ because could speak both languages: fundraising and data.

Meet Will Pye: Founder of Privi Fundraising, Life Coach, Speaker, and Author

Will loves to inspire people through written and spoken word and see their transformation as human beings – a process he went through himself during his 8+ years.

Will began as a street and door-to-door fundraiser in Australia, and was a key part of the team helping to launch our operations in NZ before becoming General Manager of Sales and Operations Australia & NZ.

Since leaving, he’s gone on to make waves in the fundraising world.

Will launched his own face to face agency, Privi Fundraising, three years after leaving Cornucopia and has pursued more work inspiring others as a life coach, international speaker, author, and leader of retreats and workshops.

He says that many people recognise his fundraising skills as an essential and foundational experience for what he’s achieving today.

“There are so many ways that working for Cornucopia set me up for a great future career. I was able to learn, practise and develop my communication, leadership, entrepreneurial and management capacities which have been the foundation of all that has come since.”