Bill TeDesco is a seasoned entrepreneur who has served as the founder and CEO of DonorSearch for over 16 years. He was also previously WealthEngine’s CEO and a minority owner before founding DonorSearch, which he grew from 2000 to 2007. Prior to that, from 1996 to 2000, he served as Executive Vice President at Target America,  an early prospect research company that was ultimately purchased by Blackbaud and folded into Target Analytics. Each of these start-ups became associated with ongoing innovation and, collectively, the source of strategic fundraising technology for thousands of nonprofits under Bill’s leadership.

Throughout his career, Bill has been an effective leader and motivator, with a proven track record of success in both the private and nonprofit sectors. Additionally, he is a strategic thinker who is constantly seeking out new approaches to increase efficacy and efficiency.  Bill’s nonprofit positions included Director of Development for the Fund for Educational Excellence, Baltimore’s public education fund, and a Major Gift Officer at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a strong advocate for the use of data and technology in the nonprofit sector and is extremely passionate about helping nonprofits achieve their goals. Bill holds degrees from Pennsylvania State University, a BS in Landscape Architecture and a Masters of Public Administration.  From 2009 to 2011, Bill was also a director and president of APRA-Maryland. 

Favorite nonprofit: Maryland FoodBank

Favorite quote: “We make our own luck when we are prepared for the opportunities we want.” 

Sarah TeDesco serves as the Executive Vice President and Co-Owner of DonorSearch, bringing over fifteen years of invaluable nonprofit expertise to the fundraising industry. Since 2007, she has worked to grow DonorSearch to become a nationally recognized and innovative technology leader in the nonprofit space. She continues to be inspired and motivated by nonprofits that work tirelessly to make the world a better place.

In her day-to-day role, Sarah focuses on company growth, operations, client success and marketing. Sarah has excelled and enjoyed partnering with organizations to craft strategic plans, introduce innovative products and systems, thought leadership and foster collaboration on transformative initiatives. Her commitment to the industry is driven by the opportunity to provide nonprofits with accurate and actionable information to increase funds. When it comes to the DonorSearch core values, two that drive her the most are Growth and Excellence.  

Sarah is a recognized speaker and educator for fundraising organizations such as AFP, Apra, AHP, The Giving Institute, Salesforce and more. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology, and will be a graduate with an MBA from the Smith School of Business in 2024.

Favorite nonprofit: Nature Conservancy

Favorite quote: Take pride in how far you have come, and have faith in how far you can go.

Patrick is the Executive Vice President and Co-Owner of DonorSearch with more than seventeen years of experience in the nonprofit industry. At DonorSearch, Patrick specializes in company growth, team building, establishing best practices, go-to market campaigns, and building client and partner relationships. For the last seventeen years, he has brought new products to the nonprofit market such as individual prospect research tools, data analytics, and AI and ML solutions to help fundraisers achieve success.

The foundation of DonorSearch’s product philosophy has been the combination of wealth and philanthropic data. As products were able to incorporate more data points from clients, DonorSearch was able to release online prospect research tools, consumable donor analytics, and AI/ML predictive models.

Each product was built with the express purpose of ensuring any development office could meet their year end goal. Patrick’s two passions in his professional life are “bringing order to chaos” and building “something from nothing.”

Nathan Chappell is the Senior Vice President of DonorSearch Ai where he leads our AI strategies and deployments. As a thought leader, public speaker, inventor and award-winning author, Nathan is one of the world’s foremost experts on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and philanthropy. As a volunteer effort, Nathan founded Fundraising.Ai as a global collaboration with a focus on data ethics, data equality, privacy, and security. He is also co-author of the award-winning book, The Generosity Crisis: The Case for Radical Connection to Solve Humanity’s Greatest Challenges.

What Nathan loves most about DonorSearch is our relentless pursuit of philanthropic innovation and desire to create more sustainable ways for nonprofits to leverage technology to promote a more generous society. It’s no surprise that the DonorSearch core value that resonates with him most is innovation. This is because he believes that it’s the responsibility of tech companies to chart new and more sustainable methods to benefit humanity. 

Favorite nonprofit: The Farmlink Project, this is because it personifies a story of  inspiration and hope of how a young generation of concerned citizens can address food insecurity in new and novel ways. . 

Favorite quote: “Never, never, never give up.”  -Winston Churchill

Cecelia Poplin is the Vice President of Client Success and has been with DonorSearch for four years. During her 20+ years in the nonprofit industry, spanning Blackbaud, WealthEngine, and now DonorSearch, she has seen technology rapidly advance and the accessibility of that tech spread to more organizations. Cecelia has collaborated with nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare organizations to improve processes and achieve goals. From wealth screenings, prospect research and management, to analytics, CRMS, and AI, she is proud to be part of the continual evolution of relevant solutions for our sector. Focusing on mid-to-large sized organizations, she has successfully helped nonprofits across the country surpass operational and revenue goals.

Cecelia’s favorite thing about working for DonorSearch is our culture of innovation and agility. She believes that all of our core values at DonorSearch work together to ensure success. To stay above industry trends, Cecelia is always reading, researching, and listening. While working with clients, she has the opportunity to listen to their needs, goals, and strategies that they’re implementing. 

Favorite nonprofit: Charleston Southern University because it is her alma mater. She believes that the fundraising they do is critical because the students there are mostly on scholarship. 

Favorite quote: “There’s a reason your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror. Where you’re headed is more important than what you left behind”

Rachael is the Vice President of Administration and has been with DonorSearch for seven years. She is responsible for growing the HR department from one to five employees today. She began her experience with nonprofits when she was a freshman in college at the University of Maryland. Her tasks included fundraising and cold-calling alumni to ask for donations. 

What Rachael enjoys most about working at DonorSearch is being able to help the ideas and visions of leadership and staff to become reality. She believes that the expectation to work hard is extremely motivating and is what pushes her to encourage others. To Rachael, growth is her most important core value because she sees roadblocks and curveballs as an opportunity to grow and learn more. She stays ahead of industry trends by learning and reading in her spare time. She also loves to listen to new podcasts that her coworkers recommend so she can gain new insights from different perspectives. 

Favorite nonprofit: ASPCA & Small Miracles Cat & Dog Rescue, as an animal lover and owner, she believes it is very important to advocate for animals who can’t for themselves. 

Favorite quote: “Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” -Mary Oliver

Brandon Lyons is the Vice President of Strategic Partners and has been with DonorSearch for eight years. He was the first in his family to attend a four-year university, and is now also a minority owner of a small business in Maryland. He began his start with nonprofits as a child by spending time with his grandmother after school while she worked as an Operations Manager for the Institute for Educational Leadership. He learned there just how important nonprofits are to communities all around the world. 

Brandon loves working for DonorSearch because he can look in the mirror every day and feel happy about the work that he does. His proudest moment was being asked to become the leader of his current department, which allowed him to continue to push his colleagues and himself to become better each day. 

Brandon believes the best way to stay ahead of industry trends is to always have an appetite for learning. 

Favorite nonprofit: Food banks, specifically Maryland, because he believes that food and water are a human right.

Favorite quote: “Never look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.” -Jesse Jackson

Bobby Dawson is the Vice President of Information Technology & Security and has been with DonorSearch for six years. With a rich background in the IT and web development industry spanning sixteen years, Bobby’s experience has been instrumental to company growth. Bobby began his career at DonorSearch as a junior developer, and rapidly ascended to a leadership role within the company.  

Bobby is the father of three children and during his free time, he runs a DJ company, a renovation business, and has created a Discord server to teach others how to day trade as an additional source of income. 

His favorite thing about working for DonorSearch is the ability to be flexible and continue to enjoy every day life. He also loves that he has found a second family with his team here. 

The DonorSearch core value that is most important to Bobby is excellence because he and his team constantly strives to be the best and he believes that his work should exemplify excellence. He sees no point in aiming for mediocrity. To stay ahead of industry trends, Bobby believes that the key is to constantly educate and innovate. There is always more knowledge to learn, so it’s important to keep an open mind. 

Favorite nonprofit: Habitat for Humanity

Favorite quote: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do” -Steve Jobs

Scott Rosenkrans is the Associate Vice President of DonorSearch Ai and has been with the organization for three years. He began his journey in the nonprofit sector twelve years ago as a prospect researcher. He quickly became fascinated with data as he noticed the organization that he previously worked for was amassing a wealth of information but was unsure how to efficiently use the data and resources to its full potential. This led him to become interested in predictive modeling and data analytics. During this time, he began to create an immense commitment to delivering tailor-made machine learning models to nonprofits. 

The thing that Scott loves most about working for DonorSearch is the ability to prioritize what is best for the client and nonprofit sector above all else. He believes that growth is our most important core value because the DSAi team continuously evolves and brings a unique perspective that provides value to our clients. He stays ahead of industry trends because of his insatiable drive to constantly try out new things. 

Favorite nonprofit: Shriner’s Children Hospital because of their extreme commitment to providing exceptional medical care, while also alleviating the financial burdens on families. 

Favorite quote: “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” -FDR

Ali Azizkeya is the Director of Data Collection and was the first non-family member to join the DonorSearch team in 2008 and hold the title of “Director.” Through his 14 years with DonorSearch, he grew our charitable database from 40 million to 189 million records. What he enjoys most about working here is knowing that our work helps nonprofits maximize their profits, which benefits communities altogether.

One of DonorSearch’s core values that is most important to him is integrity, without it, he believes we wouldn’t be the premier prospect research firm. To stay ahead of industry trends, he continues to collect data and listen to feedback from colleagues and clients. One of his proudest accomplishments is working with developers to create the Data Entry System here at DonorSearch

Favorite nonprofit: St. Jude because they will never turn away a family even if they cannot pay. 

Favorite quote: “Watch your thoughts…they become words. Watch your words…they become actions. Watch your actions…they become habits. Watch your habits…they become character. Watch your character…for it becomes your destiny.”

Jay is the Host of the Philanthropy Masterminds Series and has been with DonorSearch for sixteen years. The Masterminds Series is DonorSearch’s all-access pass to the top voices in the world of social good. Every week, we feature live interviews, CFRE-certified webinars, and a deep dive podcast with thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers in fundraising, philanthropy, and civil society.

Over his thirty years as a grantmaker, fundraiser, consultant, and serial entrepreneur, Jay has worked with thousands of organizations to identify and pursue billions in fundraising opportunities around the world. He has been recognized as one of America’s Top 10 Fundraising Experts by Philanthropy Media, Top Eight Fundraising Influencers by Elevation Media, Top 25 Fundraising Experts by Nonprofit Fundraising, 30 Nonprofit Tech Influencers to Follow by BizTech, and one of the Top Nonprofit Fundraising Consultants by Double the Donation. In addition to serving as host of the series, he is also a consultant to nonprofits and an advisor to companies serving the philanthropic marketplace. 

Favorite Nonprofit: Interlochen Center for the Arts

Favorite Quote: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou