Meet Our Team
Our combined 65+ years of experience marries fundraising leadership with a distinct capacity-building approach.
The fundRISING Experience
Whether your organization is on the cusp of expanding and needs a stronger revenue engine or your struggling with all-too-familiar issues, fundRISING can help you build a sustained, stable funding program.
Our team of nonprofit professionals relies on 65+ years of combined experience. Our model is comprehensive, addressing the integrated nature of a successful funding program in today’s environment. Our team will figure out what is working and what needs work. Then we will map out solutions. Finally, we will help launch the new program and keep it going.
Meet Our Team
Abigail Goliber
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Brett Norton
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“There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now.” – James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name Abbie is a founding partner of fundRISING with over 15 years of nonprofit experience. Before launching fundRISING, she worked in-house for organizations with operating revenues of $1 to $20M, honing subject expertise in policy & advocacy, human rights & civil liberties, and workforce development. She has overseen corporate, government, and foundation giving and launched and managed major donor programs, securing multiple five- and six-figure gifts from all four verticals. Abbie has increased operating revenue at each of her former organizations, often facilitating 10-15% growth each year. Abbie is a recipient of Georgetown University’s Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate. She has earned her Master of Public Administration from George Mason University, Master of Philosophy from American University, and Bachelor of Philosophy from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She is a lifelong resident of the Washington, DC, area and lives with her husband and two children in Silver Spring, MD.
“Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” - Ian MacLaren Brett folded his private consulting practice into fundRISING in July 2019 and became a founding Principal for the new company. He leads business development and partner outreach for the firm and manages a portfolio of clients. Brett is a nonprofit executive with 20 years of leadership, fund development, team management, and communications experience. He consistently doubled, and even tripled, the revenue of organizations he has worked with. As a senior staff member and a consultant, he has raised tens of millions of dollars throughout his career. A teacher by trade, he works to pass on his deep expertise building successful relationships with foundations, corporations, and individuals. His background and wealth of experience is spread across virtually all facets of organizational and fund development. If you want to create social change, you have to shift resources to make that change possible. That’s dollars, sure, but also the will of many people working together. That, in a nutshell, is why Brett loves raising money. To him, it’s not about securing a big, sexy gift (although, ring the bell when it happens!). It is about building one honest, passion-aligned relationship after another to form a community. Fundraising isn’t a chore, it sits at the heart of mission fulfillment. It also doesn’t hurt that Brett is an extrovert and gains energy from meeting people and talking with them – finding out what they care about. To see each of them start as a stranger and become a champion of a cause is thrilling for him. Brett earned his bachelor’s in English and education from the University of Wisconsin and his master’s in business administration from George Washington University. Brett is generally well thought of by his daughter. He is often found yelling at the TV while watching the Chicago Bears. His love for the Washington, DC area and its people started the week he moved here in January 2001.
Quizaira Recio
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Christopher Wallace
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“If there is no struggle, there is no progress” – Fredrick Douglass Quizaira has over a decade of experience working with small and mid-sized nonprofits and has a keen understanding of the challenges they face. She specializes in cross-functional collaboration, business process improvement, IT budgeting and grant planning, and data management. Prior to joining the fundRISING team, Quizaira held roles as a Program Manager at 501cTECH/Tech Impact and Training & Logistics Manager at Byte Back. Quizaira believes that progress on the backs of the most marginalized people is not progress at all, and that long-term progress and impact means collaboration. Collaboration means connection – and in that connection, people find out who they really are. Quizaira earned a bachelor's in multicultural humanities from the University of Central Florida, where she was both a Bright Futures and a Latino Scholar. Quizaira lives in Silver Spring, MD with her husband.
“Time was liquid.” – Kurt Vonnegut Christopher is a Partner at fundRISING and a seasoned development strategist with more than a decade of nonprofit experience. After collaborating with fundRISING for two years, he joined the team in 2021 and has led clients through multi-million-dollar fundraising efforts. Previously, Christopher led development at a DC-based nonprofit, supporting growth from a sub-$2 million to a $3 million+ budget through strategic fundraising and diversified revenue planning. He has managed all aspects of sustainable fundraising, from foundation and corporate giving to government and individual support. Christopher believes in the power of process—even for creative work. Process drives fundraising success and ensures organizations can fulfill their incredible missions. He holds a master’s in business administration from Quantic and received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology, history and classical civilizations from Indiana University. He enjoys hiking and cycling, and you might find him outside exploring with his wife and daughter.