Alice Ferris

Alice Ferris has served as KAWC's Development Director since January 2006. She has more than twenty-five years of professional fundraising experience, not including her start as the "human bubble machine" during Lawrence Welk pledge breaks at Wisconsin Public Television in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 2020, Alice was the 21^st worldwide recipient of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Founders’ Medallion, recognizing exemplary service to AFP Global, local chapters, and the sector as a whole. She is also a three-time honoree as AFP-Northern Arizona Fundraising Professional of the Year. Alice has served on a multitude of nonprofit boards, presently serving on Communication Arts Partners and the Bolz Center for Arts Administration Boards at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was the 90th person in the world to achieve the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) credential and has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 1999.

In addition to her work with KAWC, she is frequently spotted on PBS stations throughout the country and on Arizona PBS (Phoenix) and Arizona Public Media (Tucson) during pledge drives. She has been national pledge talent for Ken Burns: America's Storyteller, Downton Abbey, Suze Orman's Financial Solutions for You, and The Civil War. 

At KAWC, Alice manages philanthropic giving, pledge drives, grants, special events, strategic planning, and directs the development program. She is also the KAWC webmaster because she learned to program in BASIC on an Apple IIc in 5th grade and has been a bit of a geek ever since.