10 Jul

Carme Williams, C.F.R.E.

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Carme WIlliams, C.F.R.E.

Carme Williams is the Senior Vice President of Development at The Harris Foundation. She manages all of the fundraising efforts for the Foundation, which is an organization that invest in community based initiatives to support education, health, and wealth socioeconomically disadvantaged, underserved and underrepresented populations to recognize their potential and pursue their dreams through our interactive STEAM-based programs. Previously, she was the executive director of the Houston Community College Foundation. During her short tenure at the Foundation, Carme has secured a monumental gift of $7.5 million dollars for the Firefighter Academy at HCC and worked to increase the presence of the Houston Community College in the Texas Medical Center through the Center of Excellence of Health Science Coleman College. Williams, a native of North Carolina, has more than 18 years of experience in leadership, management and fundraising in the nonprofit arena, as well as several years of management experience from the corporate and banking industries.

From 2005 to 2013, she worked in the Resource Development Office at Rice University, where her efforts contributed to securing funds for the $1 Billion Centennial Capital Campaign. As a Development Director, Central Development and Director for the School of Humanities, she developed priorities, strategies, internal and external marketing material for the launching of the campaign and led all fundraising activities in the School of Humanities. She also created and implemented a comprehensive strategy targeting diverse alumni and friends to engage with the university through participation and financial support to the campaign.

Prior to joining the Resource Development team at Rice University, she worked with Church World Service (CWS), an inter-faith international humanitarian non-government organization consisting of 36 mainstream denominations in over 80 countries. While at CWS, she held the positions of Major Gift Officer and Planned Giving Associate, and traveled with constituents overseas to view projects. She was credited with raising over $10 million dollars to help with education and advocacy, emergency response, health care, HIV/AIDS, hunger relief, refugees, and water preservation from individual donors, foundations and corporations through grants, major gifts, planned gifts, pledges, and sponsorships.

Williams has utilized and enhanced her talents by serving on the board and committees of local agencies. Currently, she is the immediate –past President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Houston Chapter, which has a membership of 700+ fundraisers and financial advisors across the City of Houston. Previously, she served as the Vice President for Professional Advancement and Vice President of Diversity and Community Outreach, and chaired the AFP 2013 Ask the Experts Conference, which provided fundraising education to over 350 fundraisers in the Houston. She is also a board member of the United Nations Association of Houston Chapter and the Houston Public Library Foundation.

Williams holds a B.A. degree in business management with a minor in finance from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina and a Certified Fundraising Executive Certificate (CFRE) since 2009.

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