Jacky Alling

Jacky Alling recently retired from her role as the interim executive director for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the state of Arizona. She was in that role from January 2023 through July of 2024.

Prior to that appointment,  Jacky served for 20 years at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF) in several roles.  Her most recent position there was as Chief Philanthropy Officer for over a decade.  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 has served as a member of the Leadership Council of the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation since 2009 and is currently the Center’s Senior Fellow for Philanthropy, a post she has held since 2021. In her role Jacky works to grow the Center’s PhilanthropyMatters programming while serving as a resource to the staff team, Leadership Council and university on how to add value to the philanthropic culture of Arizona and beyond. This includes the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (NLA) program at ASU in supporting students and alumni. Jacky 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 currently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Social Venture Partners Arizona, Vice Chair of the National Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Board and as a board member of the Arizona Town Hall. She has previously served on the board of the Arizona Grantmakers Forum and as a founding board member of the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, an organization established to support the work of nonprofits across the state.

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.

Prior to that, Jacky has held positions at the Phoenix Boys Choir, ASU Cultural Affairs and the ASU Theatre Department.

Additionally, previous leadership roles included serving as a Program Steering committee member for the national Council on Foundations and she is a recent graduate of the national “Community Foundation Leads” Executive Leadership group. Jacky earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies from Arizona State University. 

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.