CEO & Founder Chris Hammond
“We love our clients, we love our team, we love our work and we truly believe that the best is yet to come.”
Contact: Email chris@cgcgiving.com or call 323.238.5431
Chris Hammond’s Story: On a hot summer day in 2014, I sat at a neighborhood Capitol Hill restaurant with my cousin and swapped stories about our current jobs. I was a Development Director for an international nonprofit organization and he was a congressional staffer. We were both growing tired of our roles and feeling powerless in creating sustainable change in our respective fields. He asked me what was the largest challenge that I had faced in my 4 years in the nonprofit industry and my answer was simple: “Corporations. I can never speak to the right person and when I finally do, they have already decided that they are not interested.” I explained to him that all I need is a meeting. An honest meeting where I could explain how a nonprofit organization could strategically provide value to a corporation’s marketing, their employees and, most importantly, their ROI. “Have you heard of the dating service called It’s Just Lunch? Well we could name this company It’s Just a Meeting and our job would be to serve as a matchmaking service to develop strategic partnerships for nonprofits and corporations and ultimately maximize their impact.” He laughed. I didn’t.
In the upcoming months I became obsessed with the idea of It’s Just a Meeting. However, due to my workload, the idea remained dormant. I found myself increasingly busy in roles that I wasn’t great at performing. With the end of the year rapidly approaching, I found myself doing a balancing act with event management, individual giving, corporate giving, public relations, social media, board management and grant writing and I could barely keep my head above water. By not dedicating the proper amount of time to each role, I was letting my team down. It was clear I needed help, because I am not coordinated enough to juggle these responsibilities and I had a feeling I was not alone. This was no longer just about getting a meeting, it was bigger than that. I needed support.
After months of reflection, it became evident that there was one clear challenge that both nonprofits and socially responsible corporations faced: bandwidth. For most corporations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was just another role being balanced by the HR department. Rather than thinking strategically, CSR was often viewed as a task that needed to be completed, with limited focus on the marketing and business development opportunities that could result when executed properly. Nonprofit organizations were no different. Their lean approach left them struggling for support, where they were often forced to fill marketing and development roles with under qualified staff members. It was finally clear, whether you were a nonprofit or a corporation, we all need bandwidth. Now we just needed a name.
Corporate Giving Connection was built on the idea of providing support and bandwidth for both corporations and nonprofit organizations so that they could finally be both strategic and effective in their charitable work. However for nearly a year that was all CGC was…an idea. There was one missing link: Brandon McCarty. Brandon had been one of my best friends for years, he possessed every skill I lacked: systematic, structured, and great attention to detail. Brandon was a natural-born leader and he was the yin to my yang. When Brandon came to CGC, our bright idea had finally become a reality. Two years later and we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else in this world. We’ve had the opportunity to work with incredible organizations that have taken us all around the world. We love our clients, we love our team, we love our work and we truly believe that the best is yet to come.
Chris Hammond’s Bio: Chris Hammond founded CGC in order to simplify the giving process between nonprofits and corporations. He developed this unique concept as a result of his experience in working in fundraising and nonprofit consulting management. By means of his pursuits as a nonprofit fundraising consultant, he recognized the need for an all-encompassing company that would utilize the “four pots of fundraising”: event management, grant writing, individual and corporate giving.
Chris has 8+ years of event management and 6+ years of nonprofit fundraising consulting & leadership experience. He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University.
Chris has previously worked as a fundraising professional and event facilitator at Best Buddies Virginia and at the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. While at Best Buddies, Chris both increased revenue by record-breaking margins and established strategic relationships and partnerships by means of recruitment for the organizations’ board. While at the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, he exhibited his event management acumen by creating multiple record-breaking revenue Run/Walks to Break the Silence on Ovarian Cancer. He also created and directed the Taste of Northern Virginia Golf Tournament and Tasting Reception.
Currently an Advisory Board member for Spark Program, Chris exhibits an energetic determination in pursuing his passion of working with nonprofit organizations to increase their revenue streams to ultimately enact change within global communities. He is grateful to have the opportunity to pursue his passion for philanthropy with CGC. Read the WashingtonExec interview with Chris.