Eric Thom, Senior Manager, Individual Giving, Food Lifeline
Eric Thom grew up in a family dedicated to public service. His mother was director of Physical Therapy at the VA in St Louis and later became an elementary school teacher. His dad taught at both the university and high school levels, concluding his teaching career as a high school librarian. His sister is the operations director for the National LBGTQ Task Force.
His three decades in fundraising have taken him from community-based radio stations to the Puget Sound Blood Center and Seattle’s NPR affiliate. Prior to Food Lifeline, he spent seven years as deputy director of development at Hopelink, based in Redmond, WA.
He has hands-on experience in major gifts, annual fund, and events. At Food Lifeline, he designed their Mid-Level giving program resulting in increased renewal rates and overall giving. He has deep knowledge of fundraising proven practices as well as donor and client/community-based fundraising.
As a gay man, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice are important to Eric. He serves on the Diversity & Inclusion Committee at Food Lifeline and has over 50 hours of in-service training in this area.
Eric makes his home in West Seattle with his husband Michael; Maggie, a Springer Spaniel; and Gnocchi, an orange tabby. Eric and Michael are proud grandparents of two, as Garrison Keillor would say, “above average” grandkids.