EFE Office Updates

New Fundraising Team Provides Innovative Approach to EFE's Resource Development Center

"The cultivation of new private and public resources is essential to keep Equip for Equality on the cutting edge of innovative programs for fulfilling its mission and implementing its priorities," says Zena Naiditch, CEO and President. "The fact that we have doubled our size and budget over the past 21/2 years has permitted us to test new programs and greatly enhanced our ability to fulfill our mission."

Photo of Peter Grosz and Julie Ginsberg To continue this expansionary trend, EFE has adopted a dual approach to the business of fundraising. Julie B. Ginsberg is Donor Relations Manager. Peter Grosz is Corporate and Foundation Relations Manager. Together they make up the new partnership that heads EFE's Resource Development Office, which will strive to enhance the private sector's awareness of EFE's leadership role in the disability community.

"Julie and Peter are savvy, business-oriented individuals, who bring enormous enthusiasm, creativity and varied backgrounds to the challenge of providing the essential foundation for implementing our vital programs through resource development," says Naiditch.

Ginsberg, who holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago with concentrations in entrepreneurship and marketing, will spearhead aggressive campaigns, including special events and other strategies, to raise unrestricted funds through expansion of EFE's individual donor base. In conjunction with board members, she will also work to educate potential funders about EFE's many programs and services.

Immediately after earning her undergraduate degree in political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she went to work as deputy treasurer and business manager for Pat Quinn's statewide campaign for the U.S. Senate. However, her hands-on business experience has been acquired largely as an entrepreneur. In 1996, she founded Grand Scheme Events Inc., an upscale event-planning business geared to nonprofits and large corporations. One of her many major accomplishments was managing a broad-based fundraising effort for Prentice Women's Hospital of Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

For a short time, Ginsberg put her business aside to accept a full-time position as regional recruitment manager for Expanets Inc., the largest provider of networked communications solutions to mid-sized markets in the United States. When she returned to Grand Scheme Events, she also continued a consulting relationship previously begun with Equip for Equality. Altogether, she ran three successful EFE benefits before being hired full-time as a development officer in April 2002.

Grosz has master's degrees in both literature and business administration, the former from Northwestern University and the latter from the University of Chicago. His bachelor's degree, also in literature, is from Washington University in St. Louis and includes a minor in music composition. Of Czech decent and always drawn to the substantive issues of nonprofit work, his background permeates the trajectories of his work life.

He was president and founder of Milkwood International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Czech-based working residencies for artists and scholars drawn from the international community, as well as management of cultural events and programming. He partnered with or was sponsored by a variety of governmental, public and private entities, including the British Council, the U.S. Embassy in Prague, cities in the Czech Republic, Czech art museums, Seagrams and Czech Airlines.

Grosz also was a partner in Metropol Records, a Czech video production company contracted by broadcast stations, municipalities, state agencies and corporations in the Czech Republic to produce documentaries, industry films, advertisements, music videos and instruction tapes. Other pursuits have included work as an independent video producer, communications associate for the Chicago Dental Society and teacher in the St. Louis Public Schools (general studies and music), City Colleges of Chicago (English composition) and English as a second language in the Czech Republic.

His arts background (Grosz is also a pianist) and nonprofit inclinations extend to community activities, where he has previously served on the boards of Res Artis, a worldwide network of residential arts centers and programs, and the Cultural Foundation for the Town of Ceské Budêjovice in the Czech Republic. Currently, he is on the boards of Harper House (a day shelter and feeding center for Chicago homeless) and Plasticene, a Chicago-based experimental theatre group.

In his new position at EFE, Grosz is focused on improving the organization's system for garnering new funding by developing relationships with corporations, private foundations and government agencies, and cultivating their interest in EFE's programs. At the same time, he monitors and evaluates newly announced grants to determine if they are a match for a new initiative or special project that is in the wings, pending the funds to begin. It's about finding the right partnership.

"Our new development team has the skills and the vision to build a solid base of support for EFE necessary to ensure our growth and our long-term financial stability," says Naiditch. "I'm optimistic about the possibilities for the future." =

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