-Mary Schumacher
Volunteer NSWP Steering Committee Member
Cyndi Wood
Principal / President
Contact me: cyndi@cyndiwoodassociates.com
Ms. Wood has over 30 years of experience working with local, regional, and national nonprofit organizations specializing in strategic planning, fund development, community organizing and volunteer management. Over the years she has raised millions of dollars for various organizations and has worked with thousands of volunteers and community partners.
During her tenure as Development Director for a small nonprofit, Ms. Wood increased their annual revenue from $348,000 to more than $1.3 million expanding from three to seven programs. In addition, she completed a $4.5 million dollar capital campaign during that time. She accomplished these efforts by creating new partnerships, developing funding sources, creating strategic planning, and communicating with diverse audiences to convey the need for shelter and homes within Dane County, Wisconsin. She also worked closely with the organization’s leadership to change their name, created the new logo, and directed the branding and marketing efforts.
Since the 1990's, Ms. Wood has been a small business owner. Formerly known as, Madison Business Solutions, we provided consulting, technology, and branding/marketing support. Ms. Wood is a former graphic designer and wrote volume licensing agreements for software companies collaborating with more than 100 universities nationwide.
Ms. Wood enjoys working with diverse groups to help them identify their needs. She has a passion for her community and has served as a volunteer on several projects to shape the future of north side of Madison, WI. Ms. Wood Co-Chaired the Northport, Sherman Avenue and Warner Park (NSWP) Steering Committee for the City of Madison and for five years, on the Northside Planning Council’s Board of Directors, she served for five years as the Volunteer Coordinator and Chairperson for American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure planning committee and served Board of Directors for Head Start's Dane County Parent Council for four years.
In addition, Ms. Wood has consulted with numerous nonprofitsregarding their fundraising, development needs, volunteer recruitment, special activities and board development.
She attended the Leadership Circle program, which teaches community organizing. She has participated in Leadership Greater Madison (LGM16) and is a former Loaned Executive for the United Way of Dane County (2002 & 2005). Her affiliations include: the Rosenberry Society, Key Club, and Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of Associate Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and currently working towards her Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) designation. She is trained in using Blackbaud’s eTapestry software, is familiar with Raiser’s Edge as well as several other software programs.
Merri Oxley
Senior Consultant
Merri Oxley has more than 30 years of experience in strategic planning, marketing, public relations, writing, special events, media relations, nonprofit and corporate management, strategic partnerships and business development. She founded The Communication Team in 2006 and has provided strategic expertise in those areas while also collaborating with a team of 20 other consultants she created, to provide a range of services to clients.
In 2012, Merri also co-founded The Results Group of Wisconsin, LLC, in Madison, WI, with Cyndi Wood. The focus of this group was to provide nonprofits, foundations, and associations with strategies to help them achieve their fundraising, marketing and membership goals.
Previously, Merri lived in Washington, D.C., where she held the position of senior vice president for Devillier Communications, a public relations and marketing firm. She led national PR and marketing campaigns to develop national brands, provided media training, facilitated interviews, managed national and local special events, and developed 70 national strategic partnerships. Previously she managed the Viewer Relations department for Discovery Communications, Inc.; directed two chambers of commerce; and was the community and business liaison for a country supervisor.
Some of TCT’s clients include: the Wisconsin Economic Development Consortium, Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium, UW School of Business, UW Alumni Association Wisconsin Education Communication Board, WI Conference of the United Methodist Church, Gathering Waters Conservancy, Driftless Area Land Conservancy, Black River Falls Hospital JG Development Corp.
Over the years her clients have been featured in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, online, radio and TV programs across the country and in Wisconsin.
Jess Mari
Project Manager & Consultant
Ms. Mari has more than 13 years experience managing and implementing projects through working behind-the-scenes on special events, print production and administrative tasks.
Growing up in a philanthropic environment, Jessica has volunteered her time with local nonprofits in numerous capacities. Through those experiences, she understands how the lack of time and money can impact an organization. She strives to provide excellent service that exceeds expectations for both our non-profits and for-profit clients.
Ms. Mari attended University of Phoenix for Business Administration and is trained in CWA's T3 Time. Treasure. Talent Holistic Development model.
Shannon Hayes
Database Manager, T3 Trainer
Ms. Hayes has more than 20 years of experience working with nonprofits in the U.S. and Africa. She was a co-founder of a well-known homeless shelter organization (The Road Home of Dane County) in Madison, WI, and sat on its Board of Directors for two and a half years, before resigning to become a staff member. Ms. Hayes developed curriculum, led training and managed thousands of volunteers each year from very diverse backgrounds. She recruited 52 congregations in south-central Wisconsin. She has more than eight years of Racial Justice Training through the YMCA and led workshops on poverty, cultural competency and homelessness for the agency.
Most recently, she worked for six months in an HIV clinic in Uganda and subsequently became interested in helping the street children of Uganda. This has led to her becoming the U.S. liaison for a new Uganda nonprofit, Friends of Street Kids and Orphans of Uganda (FoSKOU). Previously to residing in Uganda, Ms. Hayes taught English at the King Saud University, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for three years.
She has a M.S. in educational psychology (Focus on human learning and gifted children) from University of WI, Madison; a M.Div. from Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, and a B.A. in Community Service (Focus on social work and special education), from University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. She received a TEFL Certificate in 2011 from WESLEY, Madison, WI.
Mark E. Andersen
Communication Consultant
Mark is a published short story author, a featured writer for Daily Kos, and has written for the website Politix.
Mark is a U.S. Army Veteran, where as a Combat Engineer, he served on the East/West German border with the 54thEngineer Battalion at Observation Post Alpha, and Wildflecken, West Germany. When his overseas tour was over, he then served with the 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. After Mark completed his military service he went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix. In 2012 he earned a Master of Science in Technical and Professional Communications from the University of Wisconsin – Stout.
Mark’s passions are in helping groups formulate a message that resonates with the community they are trying to reach and educating people about how to use social media and its pitfalls. Mark believes that social media education is especially important in today’s ever-changing fast paced environment – one miss-step on social media can ruin months or even years of messaging.
Services Mark can provide are writing, editing, proofreading, messaging, and social media instruction.