People in Fundraising, season 3, ep. 14: Children's Miracle Network Hospital's Matt Jennings

To help bring awareness to Children's Miracle Network's annual Children's Hospitals Week - starting today and being celebrated at Walt Disney World - I am delighted to feature Matt Jennings of Children's Miracle Network (CMN). Matt is the Senior Director of Business Development for Salt Lake City, Utah-based CMN, where he works with corporate sponsors and donors for CMN funding initiatives.

In our conversation, Matt discusses:

* His role at CMN, where he has worked for just over one year, and what led him to join CMN. CMN was founded just over forty years ago.

* How he learned about and entered the nonprofit profession while working at his alma mater, Texas A&M University ("Gig 'em Aggies!"), what it meant to work for A&M, and how his fundraising career grew there over a two-decade span.

* Realizing that he, as a Texas A&M student, and I, as a prospective student visiting the College Station campus from Massachusetts, were at the same Texas A&M football game against Rice University in the fall of 1992!

* His thoughts on this Brene Brown quote, "If we're not practicing gratitude and allowing ourselves to know joy, we are missing out on the two things that will actually sustain us during the inevitable hard times." As CMN's mission is to support local children's hospitals in the U.S. and Canada, treating thousands of children facing dire medical conditions each year, Matt's thoughts on how this quote applies to his work is moving and meaningful.

 

Thank you, Matt, for a truly enlightening and enjoyable conversation. Best wishes for a successful Children's Hospitals Week!