Conservancy hires top fundraiser

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida hired a fundraising star to raise more money for the Naples-based environmental organization.

Paul Seifert recently joined the Conservancy from the Community School in Naples, where he was instrumental in coordinating a $5 million gift that was the single biggest donation in the school's history. The Conservancy broke ground in April on a $20 million headquarters and nature center after a successful capital campaign. In addition to operating the campus, the organization advocates for environmental issues across the region on development and growth.

Seifert, whose position with the Conservancy is vice president of marketing and development, previously was the architect and strategist for the largest pledge to St. Jude's Children Research Center. That pledge totaled $50 million. Seifert's career includes several other major fundraising accomplishments:

He was involved in two of the largest gifts received at Georgetown University Law Center, which totaled $15 million;

While at Georgetown, Seifert oversaw a successful capital campaign of $100 million as a part of the larger university-wide $1 billion campaign;

Seifert was involved in a $3.2 billion campaign at Johns Hopkins University in which the Bloomberg School of Public Health completed its portion of the campaign by exceeding its goal of $500 million by more than $82 million.