Deborah Winston Callard
Deborah Winston Callard moved to Baltimore from Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1972. A mother of five, Callard entered the workforce in 1979 at almost age 40 in an entry-level development job at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and worked her way up to become executive director of the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine, where philanthropic giving increased 60 percent. After retiring in 1994, she worked as a fundraising consultant for a range of educational, cultural and environmental clients. In 1997, she moved to Boston to become director of stewardship at Trinity Church in Boston's Copley Square, where she successfully led a $53 million capital campaign. In addition to OSI-Baltimore's board of directors, Callard serves on the board of WYPR-FM, Parks and People Foundation and the Institute of Christian and Jewish Studies.
Sometimes, you have to go away to come home. When I returned to Baltimore after six years in Boston, I found how much I really loved the city and appreciated its quirkiness, its grittiness, its charm and its cost of living. This city has such a vibrant, grassroots, artistic, entrepreneurial fabric. I also had more time to get involved in extracurricular activities. And that's when I met Diana Morris. Listening to Diana describe OSI 's strategic approach to the city's problems, I thought something has to be done. This city is too good to suffer from chronic, life-sapping social and economic injustice. At first, I volunteered to help pro bono, and then Diana asked me to serve on the board.
Fundraising seems like such a hard profession, what draws you to it?
Fundraising is so mischaracterized and misunderstood. People always say, 'I can't do what you do. I never could ask for money.' What I like about fundraising is finding out someone's real interest and figuring out what you represent that captures this person's heart or mind and playing to that strength. I love to fly fish. Fundraising is just like fly fishing. In fishing, you try to select the fly that will make the trout come out of the water. Fundraising is not dissimilar. You are unlocking the combination of what would make this person give.
How do you convince someone to give?
Trust is a huge factor. People need to know that you aren't after them, but you want to make something possible and that you won't push so hard so as to spook them or have them lose interest. You listen and try to figure out what motivates them. With individual donors, it's a subtle reading of the person and how ready they are and what would really intrigue them.
What progress have you seen in Baltimore?
It is the emergence of this grassroots fabric of smart, gifted young people across the city. OSI has focused on that with the Baltimore Community Fellows. They are part of this grassroots talent pool. OSI is a major player in Baltimore's progress. The partnerships, the alliances, the coordination function that OSI plays is not well enough understood. OSI builds private/public bridges and makes unusual alliances possible that foster this progress. OSI is results-oriented and sets measurements to assess effectiveness in its grantmaking. I do see progress, and I do see hope. The city is too good not to keep at it.