Business / Fundraising

 

Jim Thomas has spent his entire professional life fundraising, more than 35 years and counting, not including earlier roles as a farmhand, high school teacher, medical equipment sales, or pastoral associate, although Jim would be the first to tell you he was “fundraising” then, too.

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Jim’s fundraising career began at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, where he learned the fundamentals of donor relationships, mission-driven work, and the power of authentic conversations, lessons that would shape the rest of his career.

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Over the years, Jim has held senior advancement leadership roles at the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and the Archdiocese of Detroit. Collectively, he has helped raise more than $3.7 billion from thousands of donors. Along the way, he has met face-to-face with more than 6,000 donors, prospective donors, and on the rare occasion, pretend donors, and learned plenty along the way.

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Jim has led good, great, and unforgettable teams, including one he would love to forget. He has made plenty of mistakes, many of them his own, but thanks to generous mentors (many of whom were donors), he learned how to fix what was broken, especially the things he broke, and build high-functioning fundraising organizations one conversation at a time.

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Jim currently serves as Vice President of Advancement at Ave Maria University, where he leads the fundraising efforts for one of the nation’s premier Catholic universities. Previously, he led fundraising for the Archdiocese of Detroit, supporting more than 200 parishes, 80 schools, and Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In Detroit, he worked closely with Archbishop Allen Vigneron and managed the Archdiocese of Detroit Endowment Foundation.

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Before his work in Detroit, Jim served as Vice President of the the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, successfully growing fundraising efforts in spite of and during a period of significant organizational upheaval.

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Earlier, as Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at Western Michigan University, he implemented an organizational model that resulted in a remarkable 160% increase in gifts over five years.

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Jim also served at the University of Michigan, where he ultimately served as the Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations and led the Michigan Difference Campaign for Medicine, helping to raise $742 million. He additionally played a leadership role in a comprehensive university campaign that raised $3.2 billion.

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Beyond his professional roles, Jim is a trusted adviser, mentor, and coach to nonprofit leaders, pastors, bishops, school principals, colleagues, and emerging advancement professionals. He credits much of what he knows about fundraising to donors themselves, who taught him both the art and the discipline of authentic engagement.

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Jim holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree from St. John’s Provincial Seminary. He has been married to his wife, Marie, for 35 years, and they have two adult sons. Jim is an avid reader and enjoys golf, pickleball, skiing, and dance lessons.

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Jim and Marie live in Ave Maria, Florida.

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