BUILDING STRONG GIRLS

Building Strong Girls Beyond Graduation

Lexie Hill discovered her dream career path through philanthropy

By Laura Mishkind (Colorado-Boulder)

“My story is a long one of how I got here, but it all started with Gamma Phi,” Lexie Hill (George Mason) says. The 2022 graduate recently began her career as an annual giving specialist with Girl Scouts of Nation’s Capital while earning her master’s degree in public administration and a graduate certificate in nonprofit management. Her passion for philanthropy began on the second day of recruitment when she fell in love with the concept of Building Strong Girls.

Lexie joined Gamma Phi Beta, and during her sophomore year, she was elected philanthropy chairwoman. She applied for an internship with Girls on the Run (GOTR) Northern Virginia (NOVA). After interviewing, she was offered the role of development intern, and that’s when everything changed.

“I fell in love with the work that everyone was doing, the passion of the staff and knowing there is a direct positive impact of the work,” Lexie explains. She had originally wanted to pursue a degree and career in education policy, but seeing the work being done at her internship changed her plans. “During my first semester interning with GOTR, I declared a concentration in nonprofit management. I continued to intern for GOTR (Magee or NOVA) until I graduated college.”

While interning with GOTR NOVA, Lexie assisted in fundraising appeals, inputting donor information, stewardship and 5K prep. At the GOTR Magee council in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lexie worked with volunteers and supported new program site onboarding and volunteer management logistics. Once graduation arrived, Lexie was confident she wanted to work at a nonprofit focused on inspiring women, but she wasn’t sure it would be possible as her first job after college. “When I saw the job listing, I immediately started the application because it seemed like a perfect position for me at an organization focused on empowering young females. I was fortunate enough to be offered the job, and I have loved knowing that my work leads to young females turning into strong women,” she says.

Now, as an annual giving specialist at Girl Scouts, Lexie says her job is a perfect mixture of development and volunteer management. “I always struggled to decide if I wanted to do volunteer management or fund development since I loved both so much. In volunteer management, you work directly with the people that spend their free time volunteering for a cause that matters to them. In development, you work with donors who gift their hardearned money to your organization,” she explains. At Girl Scouts, Lexie gets the best of both worlds and oversees more than 800 volunteers!

“Everything I know and my personal successes stems back to Gamma Phi Beta,” Lexie says. “I chose Gamma Phi largely because of the philanthropy. However, there was also that gut feeling when going though primary recruitment and talking to sisters.”

Thankfully, Lexie joined Gamma Phi Beta and learned more about GOTR and Building Strong Girls, which led her down the path she’s following today.