Advisory Panel

Lisa is a direct marketing professional with over 25 years of experience. Currently the Head of Fundraising at The Smith Family, Lisa is responsible for leading the overall strategic direction, development and management of their individual giving portfolio.

Over the course of her not-for-profit career she has led teams that have raised more than $640m from the Australian public.

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An experienced and ambitious fundraiser, Chandini is a passionate change maker who truly wants to make a difference in the world.

Chandini specialises in donor retention and donor loyalty. Prior to her role as Head of Individual Giving at Foodbank NSW & ACT, Chandini led fundraising programs at Australia for UNHCR, Camp Quality and the Heart Foundation.

Chandini’s LinkedIn Profile

With 20 years’ experience in fundraising, Tom is passionate about using data to inform strategy and innovation in fundraising. Having started as a face to face fundraiser, he is has worked for environmental, health and development organisations. He holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and sits on the board of Climate Action Network Australia.

Tom is Head of Fundraising at MSF Australia and New Zealand. He is responsible for raising $100m each year from Philanthropy, Gifts in Wills, Corporate Giving, Regular and Cash Giving.

Tom’s LinkedIn Profile

Maisa is an activist at heart. Her core value is courage. She’s a lifelong learner and teacher, inspired by the legacy of knowledge sharing.

Currently the Head of Digital Fundraising at Cerebral Palsy Alliance, an NFP transforming the lives of those living with disabilities. During her 12 years at CPA, the team has raised more than A$400M for the mission. Maisa is also an online and in-Class tutor for the FIA.

5+ years of experience at national level sector contribution voluntary opportunities for the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA), at the Include a Charity Committee and more recently at the NSW FIA Committee. Maisa was nominated Fellow of the FIA in 2023.

Maisa’s LinkedIn Profile

Kate is a fundraising strategist that has been involved in creating and managing hundreds of direct marketing campaigns for charities based in Australia and Aotearoa.

Her and the team at Public Outreach specialise in creating truly engaging content and having deep and powerful conversations with donors.

With almost 20 years experience, Kate is passionate about combining powerful stories, data insights, and a positive staff culture in order to build more sustainable streams of donor support.

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Erin has been a part of The Fred Hollows Foundation team since 2012, working in data and donor services before moving into analytics. Since then, she’s been leading a variety of fun data analysis projects including digital transformations and creating Power BI reports.

You’ll also find her helping the team use those reports and other predictive modelling tools to drive decisions around strategic planning and donor journeys. She’s passionate about using data for good, and empowering people with knowledge to make better decisions.

Erin’s LinkedIn Profile

Katie joined The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ as their Philanthropy and Communications Director in January 2024, coming on board with over 23 years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector.

She has built a career in fundraising & marketing through her work with not-for-profits across the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and has played a pivotal role in the strategic development and growth of many high-profile charities.

This includes over eight years at The Fred Hollows Foundation Australia and for Amnesty International in both Australia and the UK. Katie has experience across the many disciplines of fundraising and is passionate about building successful and sustainable programs with a diverse fundraising and marketing mix. She has built small organisations from the ground up, as well as managing established multi-million dollar programs.

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Christina has worked for over a decade to take Save the Children NZ’s individual giving programme from declining to thriving across a multi-channel regular giving acquisition and retention programme as well as a dynamic appeals and single giving programme.

She has a passion for using data to get inside the donor’s head and create the best giving experience possible. At HomeMade, she works with clients to develop strategies and innovative campaigns that bring in new supporters and ultimately raise more money for amazing causes.

Christina’s LinkedIn Profile

As a two-time FIA award-winning fundraiser in 2023 and 2024, Lenny is passionate about utilising data and insights to drive impactful fundraising strategies.

Using analytical tools like the Benchmarking Project has helped Lenny understand where Australian Red Cross excels, can improve, and what levers we can pull to shift the dial forward. He will proudly serve on the Benchmarking Project advisory panel, welcoming the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of fundraising practices and outcomes to support the broader sector.

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Elizabeth is a strong senior leader specializing in data and the wealth of insights that can fundamentally change a business.

With more than 15 years of experience in data and strategic operations, she leads data strategy and business intelligence at Australia for UNHCR.

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Greg has worked in the NFP sector since 1987 and has gained experience in almost every market in the world.

Greg is currently the National Manager Fundraising for IHC New Zealand in Wellington.

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Linda leads Mission Australia’s fundraising and marketing data, insights, and analytics team whose role is to educate, support and challenge strategy and decision making with the common goal of working towards ending homelessness in Australia.

She is a strategic and visionary thinker with over 30 years of diverse industry experience, from clinical trial data entry and validation reporting in the pharmaceutical industry to working with client, marketing and sales analytics, eCommerce and subscription product data, insights, and reporting in the financial and professional services industries, as well as leading marketing teams.

Linda’s LinkedIn Profile

Over 25 years’ experience as a professional fundraising and marketing manager and leader within the charity sector in the UK, Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific.

Career goal is to use the skills, knowledge and expertise I have gained from my senior leadership roles in fundraising and marketing management to directly grow the income, profile and success of world leading charitable and philanthropic organisations.

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Prior to Donor Republic, Andrew led Guide Dogs SA/NT to experience significant fundraising growth from $1m to $9m over seven years. Andrew also led and launched a social enterprise by building a Guide Dogs Pet Hotel at the Adelaide Airport. Due to his leadership in fundraising, he chaired the Guide Dogs Australia Fundraising Committee where annual income grew from $53m to $87m.

Andrew is a past national winner of the Fundraising Institute of Australia’s Young Fundraiser of the year award, a Pro Bono Change Maker and an F&P Mover and Shaker. He is now Co-Founder and Director of Donor Republic, one of Australia’s leading Fundraising agencies with a team of over 50 amazing fundraisers partnering with over 120 NFPs.

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Jonathan is a 25-year veteran of direct marketing and fundraising. Currently Senior Manager, Fundraising at Uniting Vic & Tas, he is responsible for developing the fundraising strategy across all channels and leading the fundraising team that delivers it.

He loves a data driven and story led approach toward raising funds, and always has an eye for innovation.

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A professional speaker, philanthropist, and published author, Sean knows it’s the hard work and dedication of nonprofits like yours that can make that good happen.

He has a vision to train every nonprofit in the world to be superstar fundraisers.

Together we could change the world. They co-created Moceanic to train, empower, support and embolden a worldwide “tribe” of fantastic fundraisers. People like you.

Sean’s LinkedIn Profile

Roewen Wishart is a leading Australian authority on high-return fundraising strategies of for-purpose organisations, particularly major gifts and capital campaigns. Roewen is a director of Xponential Group. With over 27 years’ fundraising experience, he helps for-purpose organisations raise funds with high-return capital campaigns, major gifts and gifts in wills programs.

He was a member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia (FIA) Board and the FIA Code Authority. He is a Board member of Conservation International Australia and has been a Board member and volunteer advocate of Diplomacy Training Program, which provides training for human rights activists. He is one of Australia’s internationally Certified Fund Raising Executives (CFRE), and is a Fellow of the Fundraising Institute of Australia.

Roewen’s LinkedIn Profile