Jacky Alling

Jacky Alling, as Senior Fellow for Philanthropy at the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, works to grow the Center’s PhilanthropyMatters programming; serves as a resource to the staff team, Leadership Council and university on how to add value to the philanthropic culture of Arizona and beyond; and aids the Center in its mission to build the capacity of the social sector by enhancing the effectiveness of those who lead, manage and support nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.

Jacky previously served as the interim executive director for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the state of Arizona. Prior to her appointment with the Center, Jacky Alling was the Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Arizona Community Foundation. She served as a member of the executive staff and oversaw ACF’s donor services, new fund development, strategic grants, innovation prizes, education/scholarships and the various centers for corporate, sports and LGBTQ Philanthropy. 

Jacky currently serves on the board of the Arizona Grantmakers Forum. She serves on the Leadership Council for the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. She was a founding board member of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, an organization established to support the work of nonprofits across the state.

Previously Jacky has served as a Program Steering committee member for the national Council on Foundations and is a recent graduate of the national “Community Foundation Leads” Executive Leadership group.

Prior to joining ACF, Jacky served as Executive Director for the Arizona Alliance for Arts Education, a state affiliate of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She also served on the National Governing Committee for the Kennedy Center Arts Education Alliance Network.  

Tell us about an experience that got you interested in the sector.

I really evolved into the nonprofit sector through my background and interest in the arts. As a student at ASU I worked for the Theatre Department on the business and marketing side of theatre administration, and naturally my full-time job out of college was as a business manager for a large performing arts center. Originally it was run by a corporation whose primary purpose was to sell homes in planned communities, so after several years the entity converted into a nonprofit so that it could take in donations and provide the donors with charitable gift tax deductions. So overnight I became a nonprofit manager!

Clearly I could have benefited so much by what is offered by way of nonprofit leadership and development coursework and the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance at ASU! That is one of the reasons why I feel it is so important to support the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. A public charity is such a great beneficiary of those resources through the training provided to future nonprofit leaders and the resources the Center brings to the sector as a whole.

What advice would you give to a leader trying to make a difference in their community?

To be an effective leader in either the “mission driven” or the “for-profit” world comes down to many of the same principals. You have to have passion, drive, vision and back all of that up with follow-through and a strong work ethic. You have to be able to tell your story or your organization’s story in a compelling way to bring others along with you. Innovations and genius may emanate out of one person, but to create movement, you have to have many moving parts.