100 Days of Gratitude, Day 39 - Alexis Nadin

Alexis 

"When I first joined GlobalGiving as an intern in 2008, I was a firm believer in local solutions to local problems but, to be honest, I was skeptical about what small, community-based organizations could really accomplish.... But you proved me wrong. That first Open Challenge was a huge success. Twenty organizations from places like Nepal, Madagascar, Philippines, and Sierra Leone secured a spot on GlobalGiving."

That is from the blog post that Alexis Nadin wrote to project leaders announcing her departure from GlobalGiving.  As she says, she joined as an intern in 2008, but what she doesn't say is that within a few weeks, her colleagues and boss knew she was a "keeper."  Shortly after her internship, we hired her full time, and before long she was radically enhancing the way that GlobalGiving delivers value to project organizations around the world.

The messages coming in now from project leaders around the world are special because they show how Alexis combines technical excellence with real caring about people.  She knows that numbers are important - she is one of the reasons that GlobalGiving has helped channel nearly $200 million to 13,000 projects in 165 countries - but that people themselves are even more important.

Here is more from Alexis, who characteristically attributes everything she did to the people she was doing her best to assist:

In addition to the ins and outs of online fundraising and how to articulate and measure an organization’s impact, you’ve also taught me about the importance of building personal, human relationships.

Alexis is off to do some well-deserved traveling and then on to a graduate program in South Africa.  It's hard to believe it's been seven years since she joined.  But she achieved more in those seven years than many people do in their entire careers.

And I am really grateful for the chance to be part of an organization - and a real team -  that can attract and unleash the talents of someone like Alexis.  She is one of those people for whom "good enough" is never good enough.  She won't rest until something is GREAT, and then she makes it better.  She embodies the GlobalGiving ideal of "Never Settle."

Thank you, Alexis.