Julie Bowditch, 36
Advancement officer, community fundraising
UMass Medical School & UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester
Residence: Worcester
Birthplace: Fitchburg
College: Worcester State University
Bowditch has been fundraising professionally for UMass since 2012, promoted to advancement officer last year. In just a year, Bowditch has grown the program by 85% and played an integral role in raising $2 million at the UMass Winter Ball, an all-time high in the 10 years for Central Massachusetts’ premier fundraising event. She has found a calling for fundraising and donor relations after a decade-long career in special education, where she was a founding board member for Diamond is the Sky, a service for social gatherings for those with autism. Bowditch was given the 2015 Making a Difference award from the Worcester autism services agency HMEA’s Autism Resource Central. Bowditch’s yearning to give back comes from having grown up as the only biological child of a family with many foster children, including those with special needs. Bowditch is a lead volunteer on a committee planning a fall event for the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester and is a board member for the group Women in Development. She’s served on the board for the Young Professional Women’s Association. In April, she ran the Boston Marathon in honor of her uncle who died of ALS and helped raise $100,000 for the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund, a 30% jump from what UMass raised the prior year. – Profile written by Grant Welker
What four people would you like to travel with for a year? Michelle Obama, Mahatma Gandhi, J. K. Rowling and my dad. Wisdom, peace, cleverness and wit. Can’t beat that squad!
What would you tell an intern entering the nonprofit fundraising field? It is giving others an opportunity to contribute to something bigger than all of us. Be empowered by that.
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