Nonprofit Coffee Break: Roxane Hill

I started in the nonprofit sector at the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance. New to the States and Kansas City, to be honest, it was a job! I didn't know much about nonprofits or Kansas City at that time. I started there as an Administrative Assistance to the CEO, Colleen Hernandez. She became a great mentor to me and offered me the opportunity to learn about fundraising, grant writing, and introduced me to many funders. I then became the Fundraising Manager for the organization and eventually Director of Development. Without her guidance, I'm not sure that I would have believed myself capable of taking on development work. I then moved to another organization and then onto The Children's Place. This is where I found my passion and voice, working for children. I understood that while I didn't provide direct support to them or their families, I could support them through raising funds, raising awareness, and bringing all the resources that the teachers and therapists needed. Children are the most vulnerable in our community. If we don't provide them every opportunity to develop and grow to their greatest potential, we are doing them a disservice. From there, I joined Wonderscope in 2016 as the Executive Director. I chose Wonderscope because I believed in its mission and passion for providing all children with a strong foundation for success. Wonderscope has been challenging, fun, stressful, but overall so incredibly rewarding.

There are two - the day we launched our capital campaign to build a new museum and the day we opened our new museum in the midst of a pandemic.

A previous boss told me that the biggest challenge I would face as a leader would be human resources; he was right. I feel a strong need to provide the best environment for everyone that works for the organization. I want everyone to feel truly vested and challenged, and happy. But I quickly realized that I couldn't control that. I couldn't control outside factors; I couldn't control their passion or work ethic. As much as I worked to make sure the environment was conducive for success for everyone, their ideas of success differed from mine; I couldn't make them passionate about what they were not passionate about.

Many are starting to understand that we are running a business, a not-for-profit business, but still a business. We need to hire the best and the brightest, and we need to provide a competitive salary package to retain them. I also believe funders now understand that and appreciate the expertise found on staff at any nonprofit. That excites me as there is so much that we can do with great staff and great resources. What concerns me is many funders or corporations don't understand what a children's museum is!! They don't understand its impact on a family, on a child, and a community. The educational resources and opportunity to learn through play sets up a solid foundation for success in school and beyond.

Find what you are passionate about; that will make the work easier. If you are a leader or in fund development, it is easier to tell the story if you are passionate about your organization's work. Learn everything you can about every job because they all intersect and help you do your job better. As an ED/CEO, be very active in the board member recruitment process.

The Barrio at Red Bridge. Their happy hour is the best, as is their patio. It's also frighteningly close to work - walking distance!

The institutes that are offered are great. I attended the Executive Director Insitute and got so much out of it and made some friends that I still occasionally connect with. My Operations Director attended the Management Institute, Development Director attended the Fundraising Institute, and our Director of Communications has attended the Marketing Institute. They are invaluable. I'll add one more, our Board of Directors engaged Luann Feehan to lead us through creating our new three-year Strategic Plan. Her guidance and check-in, and support were exactly what we needed to get us through the planning and eventual deployment of the plan.

Support nonprofits. Get involved. Do your research. There are many nonprofits; some are well-known, others are not, but they are all making an impact in the community in their own way. They all need support and need your voice, whether as advocates, staff members, board members, or donors. For nonprofit professionals, tell your story often! Tell it to anyone that asks and your story will garner their support.

Connect with Roxane and Wonderscope:

• LinkedIn - Roxane and Wonderscope
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Learn more about The Regnier Family Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City.

Nonprofit Coffee Break is presented by:


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