Founder and CEO
Sherry Bell
Grow's Founder and CEO is a passionate and proven business and nonprofit leader.
In 1998, Sherry began her career in sales in Phoenix, Arizona. She was a quick study and advanced quickly taking on more responsibility as a sales trainer and eventually, sales manager. As a corporate trainer and sales manager, team building and the pro
Grow's Founder and CEO is a passionate and proven business and nonprofit leader.
In 1998, Sherry began her career in sales in Phoenix, Arizona. She was a quick study and advanced quickly taking on more responsibility as a sales trainer and eventually, sales manager. As a corporate trainer and sales manager, team building and the professional development of others was honed as a core competency.
In 2000, Sherry followed her entrepreneurial spirit and established her first business as a sales consultancy providing sales staffing, training and account management to national and local corporate clients. Through 2004, this business expanded to 3 states and 4 cities through affiliates hired and trained by Sherry and her team.
In 2004, Sherry was recruited by an international fundraising agency looking to expand their business into the United States which had been attempted unsuccessfully the year prior. Sherry served as a regional fundraising director before being promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2005, and Executive Director in 2010. At this agency, Sherry and her team delivered face-to-face fundraising services to nonprofit such as Mercy Corps, The National Park Trust, International Hospital for Children, Plan International USA, ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Action Aid USA, SOS Children's Villages and USA for UNHCR. Sherry managed several multi-million dollar campaign budgets simultaneously and successfully for more than 7 years.
In 2011, Sherry was recruited by USA for UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency to bring her expertise in business, fundraising and team building to the USA for UNHCR team and build an internal face-to-face fundraising program. Additionally, Sherry was tasked to develop a sustainer stewardship and cultivation plan for all sustainers, regardless of acquisition channel. With additional expertise from her fundraising team, Sherry was able to grow the team from scratch to produce more than 20,000 sustainers within 12 months of launch. With exemplary quality acquisition and the development of an effective retention plan, the team was able to bolster 12-month retention more than 20% in three years over the previous internal team and subcontracted acquisition services.
Following her desire to make a continually larger impact on charitable fundraising, Sherry left USA for UNHCR in 2014, to partner with former colleagues to form a new agency committed to gold standard acquisition services and exemplary client service - donorworx. At this agency, Sherry served as the President and Co-Founder servicing nonprofit clients such as Save the Children, Smile Train, Project Hope, CARE and Pathfinder International. After expanding that business to three additional markets from 2014 to 2018, Sherry left to begin Grow Fundraising & Consulting Inc. for the opportunity to expand business services beyond acquisition to include other business services through consultancy.
While at Grow, Sherry provided direct acquisition services to several nonprofits including Save the Children, IFAW, International Rescue Committee, Cancer Council NSW and Susan G. Komen. In 2019, she transitioned services away from acquisition as direct service offering and focused on consultancy expertise in:
· Strategic planning
· Program audit and analysis (front and back end)
· Feasibility studies
· Infrastructure building
· RFP management
· F2F program launch, management, audit
· Interim position backfill or new position build out, onboarding and training
· Vendor management
· All things sustainer retention, cultivation, reactivation
· F2F program alignment, integration and leadership development
· Regulatory and compliance matters
· Leading channel expertise in F2F acquisition in street, door-to-door, events, retail and all public event fundraising.
Sherry has built a company that is known for integrity, quality and innovation with the ability to leverage long-standing professional relationships of other service providers to the best experience for her clients.
Sherry is a co-founder of the Professional Face-to-Face Fundraising Association (PFFA)and served as the President of the Board of Directors from 2018 through January 2023. Currently she serves as the Interim Executive Director as one of her consultancy remits.
Contact Sherry at: sherry@growfcus.com
