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Catherine Garvens
Senior Managing Director, Advancement CRM at Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association
Professional Background
Catherine Garvens is a distinguished professional with a robust background in library science, journalism, and advancement management. Currently, she serves as the Senior Managing Director of Advancement CRM at the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, where her leadership and expertise have been instrumental in driving innovative strategies for alumni engagement and fundraising initiatives. With her strong foundation in communication and research, Catherine has profoundly influenced the nonprofit sector, leveraging her skills to enhance organizational effectiveness and connect with stakeholders profoundly.
Prior to her current role, Catherine has accumulated an impressive portfolio with the University of Wisconsin Foundation, where she held several positions, including Senior Director of Prospect Management and Senior Director of Development-Research. In these roles, she demonstrated her exceptional analytical skills and strategic thinking, overseeing prospect research and management efforts that contributed significantly to the foundation's successful fundraising campaigns. Her work has continually emphasized the importance of data-driven decision-making, ensuring alignment with the foundation's mission and vision.
Catherine's early career experiences at Capital Newspapers and Star Photo laid the groundwork for her communication and marketing skills. As the Co-Op and Niche Publication Coordinator at Capital Newspapers, she honed her abilities in content creation, targeting specific readership segments, and executing successful marketing strategies. Furthermore, her role as Retail Sales and Advertising Coordinator at Star Photo provided her with valuable insights into customer engagement and sales techniques, reinforcing the importance of understanding consumer behavior in the media landscape.
Education and Achievements
Catherine Garvens is a proud alumna of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she earned both her Master of Library Science and Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Her graduate studies equipped her with essential management skills and specialized knowledge in information organization and retrieval, which have proven to be invaluable in her later roles. Her undergraduate degree in Journalism has provided her with a strong foundation in storytelling and effective communication, critical skills necessary for her subsequent work in public relations and advancement.
Additionally, Catherine holds an Associate's Degree in Liberal Studies from Madison Area Technical College, further broadening her academic perspective and reinforcing her commitment to lifelong learning. Her educational background has empowered her to engage effectively with diverse communities, both in the nonprofit sector and in academia.
Key Achievements
Catherine Garvens has achieved numerous accolades throughout her career, showcasing her dedication to her profession. Her innovative approach as the Senior Managing Director of Advancement CRM has transformed how alumni relations are conducted at the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association. By fostering data-informed decision-making, she has significantly improved donor engagement strategies and strengthened alumni connections, leading to measurable increases in philanthropic support.
Moreover, her remarkable tenure at the University of Wisconsin Foundation is characterized by notable successes in campaign management and prospect research. Through her strategic oversight, her teams were able to identify and cultivate relationships with potential major donors, which resulted in unprecedented levels of financial support for the institution's educational initiatives and scholarships.
In her various roles, Catherine has exemplified a commitment to collaboration, mentorship, and continuous improvement, inspiring those around her to strive for excellence. Her innovative mindset and results-driven approach have made her a respected leader in her field, earning her recognition among peers and stakeholders alike. She is dedicated to empowering organizations by enhancing their technological capabilities and optimizing their advancement efforts.
Throughout her career, Catherine has also actively participated in professional development and networking opportunities, further establishing herself as an authority in the advancement world. Her attendance at conferences and workshops allows her to remain informed about the latest trends and practices in fundraising, data management, and community engagement, ensuring that she continues to bring cutting-edge ideas to her organizations.
Conclusion
Catherine Garvens's professional journey is marked by passion, expertise, and an unwavering commitment to advancing educational opportunities. Her academic credentials and extensive experience in nonprofit management and advancement make her a highly respected figure in her field. As she continues to break new ground at the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association, Catherine remains dedicated to fostering sustainable relationships between institutions and their communities, underpinned by the belief that education is a powerful tool for societal advancement.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
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Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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