Deborah Kaplan Polivy, PhD, Fundraising Consultant "Thank you for what I thought was the best donor cultivation presentation that I've ever heard. It was very clear that you had real-life examples from the wealth of experience you shared with us," wrote one Jewish Federation president after listening to Deborah Kaplan Polivy. Deborah began her professional career at Allied Jewish Community Services in Montreal, Quebec, and then helped establish two successful Jewish Federation foundations and also served as the Director of Total Financial Resource Development for the New Haven Federation. She was the Director of Development of Goodspeed Musicals, the originator of Annie. She has served as a research associate at Yale University's Program on Nonprofit Organizations where she conducted studies on the United Way and corporate charitable payroll deduction programs. She has taught at McGill University, Smith and Trinity (Hartford) colleges, and has published numerous articles on fundraising and the nonprofit sector. As a consultant, she has participated in several successful solicitations and trained many fundraising professionals on how to succeed in their positions, and she has led numerous workshops on the Role of the Board, particularly as it relates to fundraising. While she addresses all kinds of resource development, her specialty is endowment, and one of her favorite articles is "Annual Gift, Endowment Gift, or Both?," which appeared in Planned Giving Today. She has consulted with numerous organizations representing various fields of service. Her doctoral degree is from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and her website is www.deborahpolivy.com.