National Philanthropy Day 2021

Philanthropy: A Bright Future
Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Learn, connect, and be inspired!

You’re invited to watch Advancement NW’s National Philanthropy Day 2021 event. This virtual event conducted November 10, 2021, celebrates the fundraisers in our community.

It includes presentations, musical performances by Ron Artis II and Alessandra Rose, and inspiring words to keep us all motivated! Our thanks to our NPD 2021 panelists, Elizabeth Ralston, Brian Tanner, and Shannon Wong.

Meet the Speakers

Elizabeth Ralston is a consultant with over 20 years of experience working with nonprofits, government agencies, and academic institutions. She has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and a certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington. Her expertise is in maximizing organizations’ success through accessibility, program development, and strategic communications. She is a seasoned storyteller, committed to amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.

Elizabeth is also the Founder of the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium, a grassroots effort to connect arts and cultural organizations with information and resources to improve accessibility for people of all abilities. Her creation of the Consortium emerged from deep listening to the arts community and people with disabilities about the gaps in accessibility. As a deaf woman who uses cochlear implants to hear, Elizabeth faces accessibility challenges every single day. And as a parent of two children with disabilities, she has had to advocate for her children’s access needs particularly in their education.

Shannon Wong has over a decade of experience in nonprofit leadership, community building, and advocacy for underserved populations. She is the Senior Manager of Individual Giving at the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), sits on the Board of Directors at Advancement Northwest (AdvNW)and is the Co-Chair of AdvNW’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Committee. As part of her institutional education, Shannon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington where she majored in Sociology.

Shannon developed a love and desire to help individuals living in vulnerable populations while spending over five years volunteering for the Seattle Red Cross of King and Kitsap County and founding the state’s first Red Cross Club. At the heart of her work, she is committed to dismantling systemic racism, advocating for health care and housing to end homelessness, and contributing to make the fundraising field more representative of the communities served by the non-profit industry.

Outside of work, Shannon is an avid crafter with a passion for all things colorful, too many sports teams, and never enough plant (and animal) children. She dedicates her time volunteering in her community and uses her Sociology education to advocate for social justice, poverty alleviation and racial equity.

Brian Tanner (Salish/Cree) is the Development Director for Potlatch Fund, an Indigenous-led nonprofit that provides grantmaking, capacity building, and advocacy for Tribal and Native communities in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to working in nonprofits, Brian worked for 13 years in federal contracting (DoD, NASA, DHHS) doing business development.

Brian grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, where he is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. He is also affiliated Rocky Boy Cree. Brian has a B.S. in Psychology/Communication from Washington State University and a MPA from the University of San Francisco. He currently lives in Seattle, WA in the occupied territories of the Duwamish People.