Brenda Kappel

Experience

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  The Foundation for Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

  Mar 2001 - Jul 2006

  • Developed and successfully implemented a five-year strategic plan (raised $678,500 in annual gifts the first year).• Analyzed campaign data semi-monthly; made ongoing decisions to improve annual giving results.• Prepared and managed yearly budget for the annual giving program.• Supervised the Annual Giving Coordinator on a daily basis; conducted yearly performance reviews.• Ensured accurate donor recognition in the Children’s Magazine, annual report, and on donor recognition walls.• Worked closely with major and planned gift officers to maximize donor involvement and overall philanthropy. Show less • Provided administrative support to the Major Gifts, Annual Gifts, Tribute Gifts and Planned Giving Associates.• Member of two database project teams for the conversion of the Foundation’s database to Raiser’s Edge.• Coordinated all aspects of donor recognition events (e.g., invitation lists, design/printing invitations, catering).• Assisted with list generation, mailing, analyses and gift acknowledgement letters for annual campaigns. • Gathered financials; oversaw completion of tax returns for the Pooled Income Fund and Charitable Gift Annuity.• Lead coordinator for developing and implementing a centralized filing system for the Foundation.• Interacted and built relationships with donors via the telephone, written correspondence and face-to-face.• Oversaw the annual review and updating of tiles on the hospitals two sustaining donor recognition walls.• Designed and produced reports using Raiser’s Edge and Microsoft Access.• Handled the 2003 John Fangman annual campaign raising over $25,000; a 53% increase over the previous year.• Interim Tribute & Memorial Gifts associate: oversaw all aspects of the Tributes program including direct contact with families and donors (8/12/02-01/17/03).• Interim Raiser’s Edge Administrator: reporting, list production, configuration issues (4/19/04-3/21/05).• Selected “Star Performer” at Children’s in 2003. This award recognizes employees who display quality work and dedication to the hospitals mission.• Presented with a “Champions for Children” award in 2004 recognizing outstanding contributions to Children’s. Show less

  • Annual Giving Manager

    Jan 2005 - Jul 2006

  • Development Assistant/Coordinator

    Mar 2001 - Dec 2004
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  Minnesota Independent School Forum

  Jul 2006 - Sept 2015

  * Implemented a 3-year strategic plan to recruit 200 new K-12 member schools.* Established/maintained strong retention rate averaging 94% in a six-year period. * Increased school membership from 29 to 165 schools over a 5-year period.* Developed, implemented, refined membership documents, policies, and procedures.* Strong writing, proofing, editing skills: wrote, proofed, and produced content for MISF’s E-News monthly newsletter, Annual Report, website, electronic communications, and marketing pieces. * Worked closely with staff and schools to obtain accurate and detailed information; produced quality, nearly error-free, professional publications. * Collaborated with outside production vendors; developed executable production schedule to achieve quality results of printed publications.* Created story boards and timelines; collected photos, quotes, materials; worked closely with videographer to meet target dates and produce effective MISF promotional videos.* Planned, managed, led meetings, and oversaw MISF’s annual Nonpublic Education Awards celebration, including budget, nomination process, committee management, sponsorships, communications/marketing, and follow-up.* Managed all aspects of MISF’s annual Member School Leadership Conference Retreat, including budget, agenda, registration, committee management, and follow-up.* Co-coordinator of MISF’s collaboration workshops: Development, Admissions/Marketing, and Technology.* Maintained and updated MISF’s website to ensure timely and accurate content.* Oversaw accuracy, entry, and confidentiality of data in Raiser’s Edge database; created and updated procedures. Show less • Developed and implemented strategic plan to raise $700,000-$900,000 in annual gifts via phone calls, personal visits, direct mail, sponsorships and grants.• Designed and created all direct mail appeal packages, including brochures, solicitation letters, and response devices.• Stewarded and cultivated a portfolio of over 200 current and lapsed donors. • Consistently closed gifts to meet annual fundraising goals. • Designed and managed DreamMakers, MISF’s tuition assistance scholarship program for disadvantaged students.• Conducted research and compiled an ongoing prospect list of Minnesota corporations and businesses.• Wrote grants to secure funding for need-based scholarships, conferences and workshops, and general operations.• Identified/cultivated/solicited businesses and corporations to serve as sponsors for MISF events and conferences.• Developed and maintained relationships with administrators and development directors of MISF’s member schools.• Wrote content for MISF’s website, e-News Essentials newsletter, and annual report.• Identified and recommended schools for MISF membership. Participated in meetings with prospective school heads.• Managed the Raiser’s Edge database; created and updated a procedure manual for users; ran reports and manipulated data using Microsoft Excel and Access.• Coordinated and oversaw MISF’s printed materials, including the Update (MISF’s newsletter) and Annual Report.• Assisted with MISF conferences, workshops, affinity group meetings, retreats and board meetings. Show less

  • Director of Membership and Networking

    Jul 2006 - Sept 2015

  • Director of Development

    Jul 2006 - Sept 2010
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  Lorton Data, Inc.

  Feb 2016 - Jun 2016

  Temporary Database Coordinator

  Spearheaded a temporary cleanup and organization project in JIRA---a database that housed all of Lorton's software development tasks, issues, and application improvements. Each item contained a history of specific information, notes, and programming steps necessary to enhance the company's mailing software products and applications using Scrum (Agile) methodology.Completed the following process: * Reviewed approximately 1,300 open issues. * Examined history of comments and findings entered by programmers and product support analysts.* Tested open items in respective software applications to gauge current status and better understand how to resolve the issues. * Collaborated with product support, information processing, and software development teams to gather essential data and findings.* Created and managed a review process whereby product support and information processing tested more than 500 issues to assess the relevance of each open item.* Entered findings from the review process into respective JIRA tickets.* Closed items that were resolved, duplicates, or no longer valid. * Coded each item with the correct category label, appropriate value, importance, and priority status such that the development team could more effectively perform ongoing Sprint planning.* Wrote a "Definition of Done" for each item summarizing the final steps or appropriate functionality of the issue to consider it complete.Results:** Avg Number JIRA Issues Closed per Month ** > 2013 through June 2016: 51.8 (since inception of JIRA) > February 2016 - June 2016: 69.0 (project time period) Show less

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  Entira Family Clinics

  Oct 2016 - now

  Office Float/Visit Planner

  Provide back up for all business office positions through the effective use of the clinic’s electronic medical record software, eClinicalWorks (eCW) as well as electronic/internet referral and insurance verification sites. Serve as a patient representative at the front desk. Responsible to check in patients, interact with interpreters for patients who do not speak English, update patient records, verify insurance, collect and post co-payments, schedule appointments, provide outside referral information for patients who need to see a specialist, prepare new patient welcome packets, monitor inventory of all front desk forms. Interact and communicate with doctors, physician assistants, and certified medical assistants to streamline patient visits. Verify/settle cash and prepare daily bank deposits. Accurately scan and label documents in patient records, review progress notes, and schedule appropriate visit alerts and recalls to patients for follow up care. Spearheaded revision of Provider Skills spreadsheet into a sortable format thereby creating a more efficient and effective tool for users to identify doctors and/or physician assistants at various Entira clinics who possess specialized healthcare skills and training (e.g., OB/GYN, DOT exams, geriatrics, etc.) to assist patients in need of such services. Show less