Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt Welcomes Caroline Older
We are pleased to welcome Caroline Older, our new Vice President, to TW&B. To help you learn more about her fundraising and executive leadership expertise, we asked Caroline a few questions.
You have extensive fundraising experience and have served as an executive director several times. What drew you to consulting?
I am deeply committed to helping nonprofits achieve long-term financial, operational, and programmatic sustainability and growth. Joining TW&B enables me to partner with an exciting array of clients and deliver actionable solutions tailored to their needs.
Tell us how you became interested in development work.
Early in my career a mentor recommended that I learn to fundraise to understand a nonprofit’s operations and how funds are raised and spent. It was excellent advice and led to 20 years of job progression that began at The New York Botanical Garden and continued with positions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. I find that meaningfully connecting donors and funders to nonprofits is incredibly fulfilling. As a result, my development experience includes individual giving, major gift solicitation, comprehensive and capital campaigns, and corporate and foundation giving.
How will your executive director experience contribute to your consulting practice?
I have 11 years of nonprofit executive director experience across three organizations, the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids, Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC), and the Ragdale Foundation. Through those roles, I developed deep skillsets in strategic planning, program development, coaching & mentoring, board development, raising organizational visibility, driving financial stability, and achieving meaningful changes in DEAI. I have also successfully led two programmatic mergers with partner organizations and spearheaded an institutional relocation. With the experience of leading an organization as a whole, I am excited to work with clients on a variety of projects including interim staffing and transition counsel.
What is your style or approach to consulting?
I am a strategic and collaborative consultant. I believe in thoughtfully engaging teams, boards, and community partners to enable clients to achieve their organizational goals.
What made you want to join the TW&B team?
When I was the executive director of CAC, I engaged TW&B for a feasibility study and campaign counsel. I was impressed with the quality of services, the personalized attention given to CAC, and the collaboration among consultants. TW&B stood out to me then as a client and it does so now as a consultant. I am excited to join a firm where skilled consultants offer local and national clients a suite of services that are critical to sustainability and growth.
Caroline holds a BA in Art History from Williams College and a PhD in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Read her full bio or contact her about fundraising counsel at colder@twbfundraising.com.