Pronouns : she / her / hers
Raquel has always felt drawn to public service and charity and spent almost a decade at a free dental clinic, first as the Director of Institutional Advancement before being promoted to Executive Director. She has experience working with nonprofits in public health, education, and libraries. As a Supervising Director at Elevate, she ensures the staff’s alignment to company goals, priorities, and expectations for client services.
Raquel is a long-time volunteer with her local Tots for Tots campaign, donating her time as its social media presence coordinator. Raquel earned an MS in Library & Information Science at Drexel University and a BA in Political Science at East Stroudsburg University.
When unplugging from helping to save the world, Raquel enjoys trying local coffee brewers and shops, walking along the canal towpath with her boyfriend and rescued black lab with a cold brew coffee, and renovating her late 1800’s historic home.
Pronouns : she / her / hers
Jaime has worked in the nonprofit development sector for over a decade, specializing in grants consulting for most of her career. She’s passionate about helping organizations achieve their missions, developing systems that increase efficiencies and impact, and supporting colleagues to achieve shared goals. Jaime brings project management and strategic grant program planning expertise to Elevate and has worked with a wide variety of clients ranging from multi-state hospital systems to small social service agencies.
Jaime graduated from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) with a BA in Political Science and Environmental Conservation. While in college, she worked at the UNH Writing Center as a writing fellow and academic writing tutor, solidifying her love for the written word. She currently volunteers as a Guardian ad Litem, advocating for children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect.
While not working, Jaime enjoys trying to replicate recipes she discovered on TikTok, traveling with her family, and spending countless hours singing to her dogs (even though she can’t carry a tune).
Pronouns: he/him/his
Christian comes to Elevate with over a decade of experience serving nonprofits in education, housing, health and mental health, the arts, and social services. Prior to joining the team at Elevate, he served as the Executive Director of Care to Learn, a nonprofit providing funding to address students’ emergent health, hunger, and hygiene needs throughout Missouri. Growing up in a family that valued volunteerism and community engagement, he has seen countless examples of the difference that nonprofits make in their communities and is excited to help Elevate’s clients increase their impact. Before entering the nonprofit arena, Christian worked (briefly!) as an attorney and professor, teaching courses on animal law and criminal justice.
Christian earned his JD from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law and a BA in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis.
When not serving Elevate’s clients, Christian enjoys spending time with his fiancé, Serena, and their daughter Keener, reading, gaming, playing guitar, or watching any horror movies he can find.
Pronouns: she/her/ hers
Abigail (Abbie) Fine serves as Supervising Director of Client Relations, supporting Elevate teams in building and maintaining strong partnerships with our clients. Abbie also supervises Elevate’s Senior Directors and works as part of the Client Services team to provide excellent strategic consulting services. Previously at Elevate, she worked in New Client Partnerships and led client teams in the Director role. Abbie enjoys partnering with clients to bring significant and breakthrough successes in institutional fundraising.
Abbie has more than a dozen years of experience in leadership and development roles at arts, culture, and education organizations. Prior to joining Elevate, Abbie served as Managing Director of NextStop Theatre Company. She was responsible for development, marketing, financial management, and administration, and proudly led the company through a significant growth period. Prior to that she was Director of Development for Fairfax Library Foundation, creating and expanding grant programs supporting early literacy, new Americans, scholarship programs, and other library initiatives.
Some semesters Abbie teaches Principles of Management as an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University. She earned her MBA from George Mason, where she was named “Outstanding MBA Student of the Year” by faculty and “Most Contributed to Learning” by her global residency classmates. Abbie received her BA from the University of South Carolina on a full academic scholarship, earning a double major in Theater and Economics. Abbie is an accomplished theater director, with over 20 professional credits, and a published author of fiction.
Outside of nonprofit management and creative pursuits, Abbie most enjoys spending time with her two young children, going flying with her husband in the single-engine plane he pilots, and reading novels.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
At Elevate, Ren specializes in writing grants for clients on a range of issues, primarily focusing on education and youth development, health care, and services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Her clients report that she has a knack for learning deeply about their programs and funding landscape to develop strategic grants that are highly competitive for funding. Ren draws from her own experiences as a Grant Writer to support the career development of Elevate staff in her current role as Supervising Director.
Ren has followed a passion for promoting access to health services in the United States and abroad throughout her career. While pursuing her Master of Social Work, she saw how access to high-quality physical and mental health care plays a vital role in enabling individuals to achieve their fullest potential.
Before joining Elevate, she worked as a Graduate Assistant for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, where she assisted with writing grants for their programs in Liberia and Haiti. She was also an intern with Georgia State Representative Shelly Hutchinson, where she conducted research and wrote policy briefs related to improving access to health services, immigrant rights, and criminal justice reform.
Ren graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master of Social Work and a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership. She also has a BS in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University.
In her free time, Ren loves doing anything outdoors! In particular, she enjoys hiking and playing ultimate frisbee.
Oumou is a Supervising Director at Elevate where she primarily manages Elevate’s outstanding Project Coordinators and leads work to support the company’s information, systems, and calendar management process across all teams.
Oumou first joined Elevate in 2017 as a Project Coordinator. In that time, she has served more than 25 nonprofit clients who work in a wide range of issue areas including Education, Civic Engagement, Social Services, Advocacy and Policy Change, and Food and Nutrition. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Outside of work, Oumou is an avid sports fan. She is particularly passionate about Formula 1. Oumou also enjoys loose-leaf tea, discovering new coffee roasters, house plants, and maintaining her spreadsheet with her favorite movies.
Pronouns: he/him/hers
Eric is Elevate’s Associate Vice President of Specialized Grant Services. In this role, he leads project-based services that leverage Elevate’s expertise to meet a wide array of institutional fundraising needs like prospect research, executive coaching, or complex proposal submissions. He also oversees Elevate’s external learning products, which provide a rotating calendar of informational and interactive webinars, as well as custom workshops or webinars for nonprofit organizations. Through these projects, Eric pursues a goal of supporting organizations in overcoming gaps in knowledge, capacity, or time to advance their institutional development program.
Eric joined Elevate in 2015 and in his roles as Grant Writer and Director supported more than 25 organizations in raising 20+ million dollars, with a focus on organizations working on systems change work through policy and advocacy. He especially enjoys helping nonprofits define a clear and concise theory of change that communicates their work and its impact. He has developed and facilitated a variety of workshops and webinars on fundraising for systems change, communicating impact, and preparing for federal grant applications, and has presented at the UL Innovative Education Award, Grant Professionals Association, and Providers’ Council annual conferences.
Eric is an avid plant dad and enjoys filling his home with as much greenery as it can fit (or as much as his cat and partner will tolerate). He is always down to trade cuttings or visit a plant shop.
