Mirenda & Associates is fortunate to have assembled one of the most specialized teams in the institutional advancement field. Our consultants bring a wealth of experience to each client, allowing them to provide the right counsel at the right time and turn any potential problem into a wonderful opportunity. While having a wide range of experience, our consultants share one unifying characteristic: they genuinely enjoy making good things happen.
Because “client chemistry” is crucial in today’s competitive development world, senior members of the Mirenda & Associates team work directly with our client base to ensure the utmost confidence in our results. As former leaders in many aspects of institutional ourselves, we stand by our reputations as well-skilled professionals who have led numerous trained and enriched boards of directors, managed capital campaigns, personally conducted countless leadership gift solicitation calls and created institution-specific action plans to enable our clients’ leadership to take their organizations to the next level of excellence in delivering their missions.
View the profiles below to learn about our partners and how they are uniquely qualified to serve you.
Ron Mirenda
During his career, Ron has managed or played significant roles in campaigns whose combined goals approached $850 million, including the $180 million campaign to build the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport. His areas of expertise include board enrichment, campaign design and management and developing leadership gift strategies.
During these significant fundraising projects, Ron worked closely with each organization’s board to engage and train them in effective fundraising leadership. At the same time, he recognized the critical importance of thoughtful, strategic board leadership in other areas of governance as well. Because of these enlightening, informative experiences, he has spent an intensive amount of time and research into acquiring, understanding and sharing the best practices of nonprofit board leadership, and is one of a small group of individuals nationally who is a Certified Non-Profit Board Training Consultant by Board Source, Washington, DC.
Andrea Mirenda
Andrea Mirenda brings over 30 years of knowledge, skills, and experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors in marketing, human resources, organizational structure and culture, strategic planning, board engagement, communication, and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion/Accessibility (DEIA). As an entrepreneur, she has led numerous startups and is accomplished at building and implementing systems and structures to ensure long-term success. As an executive coach, Andrea specializes in fostering empowered communication and building empathetic relationships – critical elements for any successful team, campaign, or collaboration.
A skilled problem solver, Andrea utilizes creative and analytical perspectives to identify core issues, ensure all parties feel heard, and help to create equitable solutions that engage all stakeholders. She has led organizations through the creation and implementation of diversity policies and practices, from small arts and education nonprofits to USA Dance, a national Recognized Sport Organization of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. An accomplished coach and public speaker, Andrea has trained thousands of athletes, artists, teachers and business professionals how to confidently present themselves at their best.
Having been the executive director for eight years of Heart of Dance, an arts and education nonprofit, Andrea draws from personal experience as well as best practices when advising clients, particularly to define the crucial board/staff relationship. Leading an organization from startup to stability, then stewarding it through Covid shutdown to successful regrowth, she understands all phases of the organizational life cycle and can speak to the unique challenges of each.
Bunny Lester
Bunny Lester has 40 years of fundraising, program development and project management experience. As Vice President for Development at Sesame Workshop, she managed a seven-person team that raised and stewarded $25 million annually from foundations, corporations, individuals and federal agencies for domestic and international projects and productions, She has raised and managed multi-million dollar grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the U.S. Department of Education.
Previously she was Executive Director of Foundation and Government Underwriting at Thirteen/WNET in New York, securing funding to bring to broadcast PBS programming including the ”PBS News Hour,” “American Masters” and “Great Performances.” She has served on review panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Program Fund and currently serves on the Graduate School Advisory Board of the University of Colorado.
Carla Goring-Madden
Carla Goring-Madden has broad expertise in research, information management, donor relations/stewardship and communications/marketing. She has identified major gift prospects for multi-million-dollar capital campaigns, including a $60 million naming gift for the $180 million campaign to build the Steven Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum, The Smithsonian Institution. In addition, she has provided valuable, in-depth data on individuals, corporations and foundations for countless prospect rating sessions, board development sessions, program planning and successful solicitations.
Ms. Goring-Madden is a former president of APRA Metro-DC. Ms. Goring-Madden also served on the APRA (National) Awards Committee as well as APRA (National) Service Award Committee member and chair. Carla has served as a training consultant for the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, and as a presenter for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Conference (2004). She is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.I.S degree in Business Culture and Managerial Communications