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Nancy Bales
Executive Director of the Gray Family Foundation at Oregon Community Foundation
Professional Background
Nancy Bales is a highly accomplished and experienced Executive Director known for her extensive work with non-profit organizations, fostering partnerships, and advocating for public policy changes that enhance environmental literacy across diverse communities. Her professional journey is marked by a dedication to advocating for sustainable practices and community engagement in environmental stewardship, consistently embracing and amplifying the various perspectives and traditions that individuals contribute as caretakers of their surroundings. Currently serving as the Executive Director at the Gray Family Foundation in Portland, Oregon, Nancy has exhibited extraordinary leadership qualities that have made a lasting impact in the realm of environmental advocacy.
At the Gray Family Foundation, Nancy has successfully implemented initiatives aimed at promoting environmental literacy and has established vital community partnerships that embody the principles of sustainability and inclusivity. Her role necessitates a deep understanding of organizational management, fundraising, and volunteer management, all areas where she excels due to her vast expertise and a proven track record of success.
Prior to her current role, Nancy's career at Ecotrust highlights her ability to impact change on various levels within the organization. She wore multiple hats at Ecotrust, ascending from Event Coordinator to Director of Development and eventually serving as the Vice President of Development. This trajectory illustrates her strong commitment to the organization's vision and mission, as well as her aptitude for leadership in high-stakes environments. As Vice President of Development, Nancy was instrumental in crafting strategies that drove funding initiatives, allowing the organization to expand its reach and deepen its impact in the community.
Education and Achievements
Nancy Bales pursued her educational foundation in Business Administration, earning her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from Creighton University. This academic background provided her with essential skills in management, budgeting, and business strategy, which she has applied throughout her career in the non-profit sector. Her education is complemented by her hands-on experience in various roles across organizations where she honed her skills in proposal writing, fundraising, and advocacy, making her a well-rounded professional capable of addressing the complexities of non-profit management.
In addition to her formal education and work experience, Nancy has earned a reputation for her ability to successfully nurture relationships within both the private and public sectors. Her commitment to environmental issues and social responsibility has driven her to foster collaborations that not only further organizational goals but also generate positive outcomes for communities. Nancy's strategic mindset and innovative fundraising endeavors have led to significant achievements that empower organizations to flourish.
Achievements
Throughout her illustrious career, Nancy has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to the mission of the organizations she has been part of. Her role as Grants Manager at Ecotrust enabled her to secure critical funding that fueled various sustainability initiatives. Moreover, her early experiences at Starbucks Coffee Company and The Wilderness Society in Australia shaped her understanding of customer engagement and environmental conservation.
Nancy has been a mentor and advocate for countless volunteers, helping to harness their passion for environmental issues while equipping them with the necessary tools to support the foundation's initiatives. Her collaborative spirit and ability to articulate the value of environmental literacy have opened doors to new partnerships while earning her recognition within the community as an effective leader and change-maker.
In summary, Nancy Bales is an exceptional Executive Director committed to advancing environmental literacy through strategic partnerships and community engagement. With a strong background in non-profit management and development, she has uniquely positioned herself as a leader who prioritizes inclusivity and sustainability. Her journey from her education at Creighton University to her prominent role at the Gray Family Foundation exemplifies her dedication to creating meaningful change and advocating for a bright and sustainable future for all individuals.
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Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
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 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.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
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.