Melissa Durda

Experience

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  Open Society Institute – Project Syndicate

  Jun 1994 - Sept 1999

  Business Manager/Business Development Associate

  Business Manager. Responsibilities included:• Increasing organizations income base by directing membership expansionary activities into new markets in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa.• Organizing events/round table discussions with high level government officials and policymakersBusiness Development Associate. Responsibilities included:• Researching and identifying potential sponsors for 60 member newspapers in East Central Europe• Establishing contact and meeting with over 100 multinationals active in the region.• Managing the implementation of region-wide sponsorship deals. Show less

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  Euro RSCG New Europe

  Nov 2000 - Nov 2001

  Project Manager

  • Managing regional client satisfaction campaign – created research tool, collected and analyzed data from over 90 clients in 10 countries in East Central Europe.• Representing Prague office at regional meeting in Paris to Executive Board of Directors.• Drafting and giving presentations on regional and local projects.

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  Initiative for Policy Dialogue

  Dec 2001 - Jul 2002

  Program Coordinator

  • Maintaining relationships with donors and partner institutions, including SIDA, CIDA, UNDP, Charles Stuart Mott Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Ford Foundation.• Organizing events/round table discussions with high level government officials and policymakers

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  Concern Worldwide

  Aug 2002 - Nov 2004

  Program Officer

  • Maintaining donor relations and managing over $5 million in grant awards annually for international relief and development programs from USAID. • Researching and identifying funding opportunities for Concern’s overseas programs. In 2 years secured $7.2 million in USAID grants for relief programs in Sudan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Burundi, Eritrea and Liberia.• Representing Concern on substantive issues at regular donor meetings at the United Nations and USAID.• Monitoring US funded programs through site visits to Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Sudan.• Participating in the evaluation of Concern Worldwide’s 2003 emergency response in Ethiopia. Show less

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  The Synergos Institute

  Nov 2004 - Apr 2008

  Senior Manager, Global Philanthropists Circle

  • Serving as the key Relationship Manager for 30 member families and at least 10 prospect families.• Working closely with member philanthropists working in Africa to help them refine or develop their giving strategy, learn about effective approaches to addressing issues of poverty and select effective local projects that were in line with their philanthropic goals.• Plan annual events enabling member and prospect philanthropists to have the opportunity to connect to each other, leverage their knowledge and resources and act in new, more effective ways. • Generate revenue through member recruitment and renewal to ensure financial targets are achieved. Show less

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  Forum 2000 Foundation

  Oct 2008 - Oct 2011

  Philanthropy and Corporate Partnerships

  • Creating and managing a philanthropy program for high level individual donors working in the areas of human rights, peace, democracy building and support and civil society development.• Creating and managing a program for paying participants to attend the Forum 2000 annual conference.

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  Durda Philanthropy

  Sept 2010 - now

  Philanthropy Consultant

  ServicesDelivering expertise and a comprehensive suite of charitable management services to individual donors and corporations so they may be more effective and efficient in their giving and maximize the returns on their philanthropic investments. Providing one or more of the following tailored services, in strictest confidence:Strategic Approach to Giving• Guide the creation of a mission or program focus for giving• Assess the impact of current giving as it relates to your desired results• Develop future plans to maximize giving to generate specific outcomesProject Selection• Based on in-depth research, identify the best organizations and projects that are in line with your giving strategy• Work with non-profits on your behalf to select a project for your donationMonitoring and Evaluation, Measuring Impact• Set up grant structures so your donations can be tracked over a specific grant period• Review the project results to track and measure the impact of your grantmaking Show less

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  Synergos

  Feb 2012 - now

  Melissa Durda is Senior Director, Bridging Leadership at Synergos, a global nonprofit organization that brings people together to help solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action.Melissa oversees the Synergos Spiritual Civilization program for members of the Global Philanthropists Circle, where we seek to increase awareness of the ideals that drive people to work towards the greater good in order to accelerate positive change. Prior to this, Melissa created and managed a Philanthropy Program at Vaclav Havel’s Forum 2000 Foundation. In this role she worked with private philanthropists promoting human rights, civil society, and democracy. Melissa’s nonprofit project management experience is in a variety of fields (education, children, nutrition, advocacy, emergency response, water, media) on projects in the Czech Republic, Africa, Asia, and the United States.Melissa has a MSc. in European Political Economy: Transition from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Relations from the University of Virginia. Show less

  • Senior Director

    Jan 2018 - now

  • Director, Global Philanthropists Circle

    Feb 2012 - Dec 2017
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  Durda Coaching, www.durdacoaching.com

  Apr 2021 - now

  Holistic Life Coach

  Helping people find their inner joy, peace & harmony by connecting mind, body & spirit.