38: Moms in Fundraising

Parents At Work

In this episode of Parents at Work, Lori Mihalich-Levin and Jason Levin interview two amazing working moms who are leaders in the fundraising profession, Pradnya Haldipur and Kara Barnes.

Pradnya Haldipur is the Vice President of Development at Code.org, where she leads fundraising and philanthropic strategy. She has more than 24 years of development and management experience in a myriad of national and international settings. She went to Code.org with experience from prestigious academic medical institutions such as Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC, Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, and Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as think tanks, global development organizations, and the arts. Over the course of her career, she has raised more than $145M to support research, capital projects, endowment, operations, and programmatic projects. Pradnya was born in Mumbai, India but grew up in New Jersey. She resides in Silver Spring, MD, with her husband Joe Clemons, their children, Mirza Cate (age 8) and Xavier Anant (age 6) who are avid Code.org users.

Kara Barnes is the Senior Director of Planned Giving at American University in Washington D.C. where she helps donors structure gift arrangements that create a meaningful legacy at the university and positive change in the world. She has over 20 years of experience in non-profit fundraising, with a focus on major gifts and planned giving. She has served in development positions in the arts and public media as well as higher education. Kara is a proud mid-westerner and lives in Washington D.C. with her husband Dave and son Lewis.

Pradnya and Kara share the tensions and benefits of being working moms involved in mission-based roles that they are very passionate about, and how they manage to stay committed to their work and families while maintaining good physical and mental health. You won’t want to miss this truly engaging conversation about boundaries, relationship-building, and passion.. The lessons to learn are unmatched. So stay tuned!

Show Highlights

• Being a mom while moving the mission forward at work (03:15)
• Kara’s working mom story: Integrating her love and passion for fundraising into her family life (05:11)
• How to go about boundary setting between work and family (09:11)
• The lack of more extensive maternity leave policies and the harm it causes (12:15)
• Anticipated changes in non-profits that will be geared towards better support systems for their employees (17:02)
• Changes happening in the fundraising industry that will affect working parents (21:32)
• How having children has made these leaders more successful in their careers (25:20)
• Forming great work relationships from the authenticity of inviting who you are and your family life into your work related interactions (28:14)
• Kara’s way of staying grounded in her work and family life (32:12)
• Adopting a mindset of loving both work and home life while using technology to achieve balance (35:37)

Links and Resources

• Positive Encouragement Parenting
• What's a Freemie? A genius invention for working parents
• Jason's Website
• Jason on Linkedin
• Lori's Website
• Lori on Linkedin