OFFICE DOORS {valley changemakers}
A DAY WITH CATHY KLEEMAN
Vice president of development at Fresh Start Women’s Foundation
As told to | Julie Coleman
5 a.m. >> A FRESH START TO A BUSY DAY
9 a.m. >> FASHION-FORWARD
I still love to read the newspaper, so I start my day by reading the paper and eating breakfast. And then I head to the gym to work out for about an hour, run home and shower. At home, or on the drive to work, I am on the phone with our volunteers as I manage three different boards: the executive board; an auxiliary board, a relatively new and young board that organizes a fantastic event called Wine Women & Shoes in September; and a men’s board that manages an annual golf tournament. Fresh Start is privately funded, and that has a lot of perks. Because we don’t receive federal funds, we can see what’s going on in the community, what the women need, and then morph to meet those needs. On the other hand, with private funding, you start at zero every year, and it takes a little over $3 million to run the Center.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
12 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | MARCH 2020
I spend some time going through my emails, and then at 9:30 a.m., meetings begin. Right now, we’re in the countdown to gala mode, which is our largest fundraiser in March and what keeps the doors to the Center open. I want our gala donors to be engaged by seeing firsthand what we do at Fresh Start. After we tour the Center, I answer donors’ questions and try to find out what touched their hearts. We do so much, and I want to make something customized to what makes that person’s eyes light up.
10:30 a.m. >> DIVERSIFIED FUNDING IS IN SEASON
Before joining Fresh Start five years ago, I thought I knew all the answers because I had been a board member for nine years and chaired several events. And then I came in and realized
