Did you know that May 7th-16th is National Public Gardens Week? I didn’t until recently. This week’s podcast guest knew, of course. Joan Lucchese is the Executive Director of The Gardens at Heather Farm, a nonprofit organization that operates a free public garden, education center, and special event venue on six picturesque acres in Walnut Creek, CA. Joan has been supporting non-profit missions for over 30 years as a volunteer, board member, and executive director. She says that having a passion for the environment and a life-long love of gardening makes coming to work each day a pleasure. Joan also believes public gardens play an important role in lifting the spirits of visitors and healing the community. We’ll talk about how Joan has worked toward building The Gardens membership program in this conversation.
Connect with Joan:
www.gardenshf.org
****
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Yes, there is a “real” Joy in The Joy of Membership.
Founder & CEO Joy Duling has been working with leaders of associations, trade groups and nonprofits since 2005.
She has also walked the same journey, serving for nearly 10 years as the Executive Director of a membership-based nonprofit which she helped launch from scratch and led to annual revenues of more than $1M exclusively from membership contributions.
Joy has been widely recognized as a speaker, an online educator and a trusted advisor, twice winning the “Unsung Hero Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners' Central Illinois Chapter. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Social Work with Specialization in Policy, Planning and Administration. She has extensive experience in strategic planning, team facilitation, change management, and association operations.
But beyond industry experience and education…
Joy Duling is the calm voice you want to have in the room when you, your team, or your board is overwhelmed by ideas and options.
She's a trusted resource at the other end of an email or phone call who knows the answer, or can find the answer, when it's not clear what to do next in your approach.
She's a planner of systems and driver of progress that helps your organization achieve stretch goals.
She's a gifted facilitator of conversation, collaboration and constructive growth.
And she's approachable and results-oriented, which makes it easy to shake loose of the old and start fresh on the new.