OUR FOUNDER
Armando Zumaya
Founder & Executive Director
[email protected]
Armando Zumaya has been in fundraising for over 40 years in a variety of roles that have given him a unique perspective on all aspects of development offices, fundraising culture and Latinx in the US nonprofit world. He founded Somos El Poder because of his experiences of his long career in development, his success in teaching fundraising and a deep pride in his Chicano heritage.
He is a noted expert on Latino Major Giving and all aspects of fundraising with the Latinx community. He has direct experience raising five, six and seven figure gifts from Latinx. He lectures and writes about the Latinx experience in the nonprofit world. His work includes direct experience raising five, six and seven figure gifts from Latinx in the US. He is an active development officer.
He has spent the bulk of his fundraising career as a Major Gift, Leadership Gifts and Annual Fund Officer on two $1+ billion dollar campaigns at Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley. He began his career in 1985 as a canvasser for SANE/FREEZE in Los Angeles and Ithaca N.Y. where he led door to door canvassers in the field for 5 years. He has served in the Vice President of Development, Director of Major Gifts and Chief Development Officer, Annual Fund and Leadership Gift roles.
He is well known for his work in teaching prospecting, solicitation, cold calling, major gifts techniques and remote constituency fundraising. He has been a tireless advocate for improving the Prospect Researcher/Fundraiser relationship and creating a prospecting culture inside development teams.
He is a well reviewed speaker. His session at the 2018 AFP International Conference was one of the few highlighted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy's coverage of that conference out of 116 sessions in their April 17th, 2018 issue.
Armando has also lectured at APRA, AFP Chapters, AFP Hemispheric, APRA Chapters, BBCON, GIFT, AFP, The Foundation Center, Development Executives Roundtable, CARA, SAWA, MARC, Compass Point, Blackbaud, Forum on Fundraising and Academic Impressions. He has been featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, APRA Connections, the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, and other publications.
He has been widely published including the nationally acclaimed OpEd in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on March 24, 2014 entitled “Give Fundraising Researchers More Influence and More Credit”. He has also been published in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, Currents (The Magazine of CASE) The Major Gifts Report Fundraising Compass, Bloomerang, Frost on Fundraising and others.
In 2024 Armando was recognized by the Nonprofit Times, being place for the first time on their "Top 50 List of Leaders of Power and Influence". This is for leaders who have created innovative, impactful new movements.
He lives in Northern California and is a proud alumnus of the University of California, Riverside and Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles.
Founder & Executive Director
[email protected]
Armando Zumaya has been in fundraising for over 40 years in a variety of roles that have given him a unique perspective on all aspects of development offices, fundraising culture and Latinx in the US nonprofit world. He founded Somos El Poder because of his experiences of his long career in development, his success in teaching fundraising and a deep pride in his Chicano heritage.
He is a noted expert on Latino Major Giving and all aspects of fundraising with the Latinx community. He has direct experience raising five, six and seven figure gifts from Latinx. He lectures and writes about the Latinx experience in the nonprofit world. His work includes direct experience raising five, six and seven figure gifts from Latinx in the US. He is an active development officer.
He has spent the bulk of his fundraising career as a Major Gift, Leadership Gifts and Annual Fund Officer on two $1+ billion dollar campaigns at Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley. He began his career in 1985 as a canvasser for SANE/FREEZE in Los Angeles and Ithaca N.Y. where he led door to door canvassers in the field for 5 years. He has served in the Vice President of Development, Director of Major Gifts and Chief Development Officer, Annual Fund and Leadership Gift roles.
He is well known for his work in teaching prospecting, solicitation, cold calling, major gifts techniques and remote constituency fundraising. He has been a tireless advocate for improving the Prospect Researcher/Fundraiser relationship and creating a prospecting culture inside development teams.
He is a well reviewed speaker. His session at the 2018 AFP International Conference was one of the few highlighted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy's coverage of that conference out of 116 sessions in their April 17th, 2018 issue.
Armando has also lectured at APRA, AFP Chapters, AFP Hemispheric, APRA Chapters, BBCON, GIFT, AFP, The Foundation Center, Development Executives Roundtable, CARA, SAWA, MARC, Compass Point, Blackbaud, Forum on Fundraising and Academic Impressions. He has been featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, APRA Connections, the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, and other publications.
He has been widely published including the nationally acclaimed OpEd in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on March 24, 2014 entitled “Give Fundraising Researchers More Influence and More Credit”. He has also been published in the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, Currents (The Magazine of CASE) The Major Gifts Report Fundraising Compass, Bloomerang, Frost on Fundraising and others.
In 2024 Armando was recognized by the Nonprofit Times, being place for the first time on their "Top 50 List of Leaders of Power and Influence". This is for leaders who have created innovative, impactful new movements.
He lives in Northern California and is a proud alumnus of the University of California, Riverside and Theodore Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles.
OUR LEADERSHIP
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Armando Zumaya
Founder and Volunteer Leader [email protected] A veteran fundraiser with over 38 years experience. He lectures internationally on fundraising in the US, Mexico and the UK. |
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Pavel Rutherford
Director of La Vanguardia Prospect Research [email protected] Strategist with a focus on creating resonance between individuals and brands/campaigns. Passionate about Deep Learning and its application in Philanthropy, Retail and beyond. |
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Ana Patiño
Associate Director [email protected] A committed nonprofit professional with over 12 years of experience in nonprofits in areas of program management, event management, fundraising, and public relations. She is dedicated to empowering communities through nonprofit support. |
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT TEAM
Visionality
Support Team.
Visionality partners with organizations to transform vision into reality by developing customized consulting strategies that also create resiliency.
Support Team.
Visionality partners with organizations to transform vision into reality by developing customized consulting strategies that also create resiliency.
Carolyn Vasquez
Volunteer at Somos El Poder and Prospect Researcher with our Freelance team.
Director of Prospect Research at Holy Name Medical Center
Volunteer at Somos El Poder and Prospect Researcher with our Freelance team.
Director of Prospect Research at Holy Name Medical Center
Alondra Apuli
Volunteer at Somos El Poder
Director of Development at Young Chicago Authors
Volunteer at Somos El Poder
Director of Development at Young Chicago Authors
Jesus Menera
Volunteer at Somos El Poder
Marketing Consultant at Oceanside Marketing
Volunteer at Somos El Poder
Marketing Consultant at Oceanside Marketing
“Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.”
-- William Sloane Coffin
-- William Sloane Coffin
"You can't wait for hope, you have to be hope"!
--Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
--Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“Es mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas.”
--Emiliano Zapata
--Emiliano Zapata
Para AMM !
