AFP Greater Toronto’s New Director
By Penny Connors
As we begin a new year and a new decade, I want to take a moment to introduce myself to all of you. My name is Penny Connors and I am excited to be taking the lead as the new Executive Director at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Toronto Chapter. I am honoured to have been selected from a group of seasoned professionals after a comprehensive recruitment process led by the team at KCI (Ketchum Canada Inc.) and am honoured to have had the opportunity to meet some of you at the Chapter’s Congress conference this past November. I look forward to working with the Chapter Board of Directors, staff team, partners and sponsors, volunteers, and members, to continue to build on the success of the Chapter and contribute to advancing new initiatives in the Chapter’s Strategic Plan.
I am lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my predecessor, Cynthia Quigley, over the past few weeks in order to begin to familiarize myself with the Chapter’s programs and events and have come to understand that I have some pretty big shoes to fill! For the past 25 years, Cynthia has been a phenomenal lead for the Chapter and leaves an inspiring legacy — something that I hope to build upon. I am grateful for all of her hard work and for her transferring of knowledge, so that I can continue to work with all of our members, volunteers, sponsors and community partners to take the Chapter to new heights.
I come from a background of extensive experience in the non-profit and regulatory sectors, leading teams to enhance certification standards and processes, working with not-for-profit Boards and Board committees in Finance, Governance and Human Resource oversight and leadership of member service initiatives. My education includes degrees in Psychology and Business Administration from York University, the Certificate in Human Resource Management (CHRM) from the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) of Ontario, the Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation, the OISE Certificate in Adult Education and the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation through the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE). I am excited to bring my knowledge and experience to help deliver on Chapter goals, and to enhance and deliver on member services and AFP’s mission to provide education, training, best practices, and resources to fundraising professionals.
As a racialized woman with certification and experience delivering workplace discrimination and harassment prevention training through the Employment Equity Office of the Government of Ontario, I look forward to supporting, improving and advancing the AFP’s inclusivity, diversity, equality and access (IDEA) initiatives and celebrating new and diverse voices and perspectives within the sector. This includes working with our Board, staff, sponsors, partners and volunteers to ensure we are building effective and transparent processes to ensure programs are reflective of and responsive to the communities we serve.
Personally, I have lived and worked in the greater Toronto area my whole life and enjoy spending quality time with family and friends. I am a proud mother of three.
I hope to have the opportunity to meet you at upcoming Chapter events and in the meantime, welcome you to connect with me at pconnors@afptoronto.org. You can learn more about our 2020 programs and Chapter initiatives by visiting www.afptoronto.org, by following us at @afptoronto on Twitter and LinkedIn.
I look forward to working with you & wish you all the best for 2020!
Penny Connors, BA, BComm, CRM, CAE is executive director for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Toronto Chapter.
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