If you are new to a fundraising role, you may know more than you think! In the hunt for a tiara and a college resume activity, I learned how much I already knew as a teenager, seeking my very own “Queen of Hearts” tiara – and some of what I learned about fundraising, I still use today.

I was an over-achieving junior in high school when I was invited to participate in the Central New Jersey chapter of the American Heart Association’s “Queen of Hearts” program. A pageant? There would be a party and I needed a red dress. My first reaction: I was definitely the wrong girl for that job.

But as my mom’s friend (I now realize she was an ideal event committee member) patiently and persuasively explained, this was a chance to take on a new challenge and add an impressive extracurricular to my college applications. Oh, right! Suddenly, she was speaking my language. And that is how before I really knew what I was signing up for, I was hooked. [Read more…]