Rally Foundation Founder & CEO Dean Crowe shares nonprofit expertise with College of Human Sciences philanthropy students

College of Human Sciences students in the Gender, Wealth and Philanthropy class were treated to a special guest speaker on Jan. 28, as Dean Crowe, Founder and CEO of Rally Foundation, touched on a variety of topics related to philanthropy and fiscal responsibility and shared what it means to help lead a 501(c)(3) nonprofit raising awareness and funds for childhood cancer research.

Crowe, also an Auburn alumna, founded the national nonprofit based in Atlanta and since 2005, she and her team have guided the Rally Foundation to award more than $40.5 million in research grants nationally and internationally through a dual peer-review process.

While back in the classroom at Auburn, Crowe gave students essential advice pertaining to running nonprofits including the importance of an elevator pitch while dealing with potential donors, having a strong C-suite document, the need to understand basic business and economic terminology, having strong ethics and morals and more.

“Something my daddy taught me and it is something you can take with you for the rest of your life especially going into fundraising or business and that is that everyone puts their pants on the same way and that is one leg at a time,” said Crowe. “That said, no one is better than you and there’s never a reason to be intimidated. No matter if you are speaking to a CEO or who it may be, just take a deep breath and realize they are no different than you.”

With Rally Foundation, Crowe is extremely proud of how the foundation has been positive stewards of donor funds the last two decades, touting that 93 cents of every dollar given supports the Rally Foundation’s mission.

“A huge part of our mission is education and awareness. Just being here and sharing with you about childhood cancer alone is fulfilling our mission,” said Crowe. “I don’t know what seed is being planted right now in this classroom. Where will you be in five years and where’s your career going to take you 10 years from now? You might meet someone or you are going to know someone personally affected by childhood cancer. Then you can tell them about me and the Rally Foundation as a whole.”

In closing, Crowe said one litmus test that has gotten the foundation to where it is today is to ask, “is it legal, is it ethical and is it moral?” If the answer is yes to all three of those, then you are making a good decision. If the answer is no to any of those, then the foundation says no.