Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort Joins Made Business
“I thrive off of building more sustainable non-profit organizations, so when Sadie asked me to join Made, I jumped at the opportunity. Our combined experiences in non-profit and business offer clients logical and innovative approaches to reach their goals. I’m excited to see where this collaboration takes us.”
- Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort
Made Business welcomes Averie Shaughnessy-Comfort to the team as 'Non-Profit Specialist’ to lead the firm’s Institutional division. Averie will use her years of experience to provide clients with the thoughtfulness, prioritization and access to increase fundraising and operational efficiency efforts within non-profit organizations. Although, this industry calls it ‘Fundraising’ and ‘Advancement’, the fundamentals are ‘Business Development’. Averie’s role will be to provide fundraising strategy, operational strategy, board training, fundraising partnerships and grant writing for our non-profit clients; including museums, charitable organizations, libraries, historical and botanical societies, and community cultural centers.
Averie is a nonprofit administrator dedicated to building sustainable organizations. She has over 5 years of administration and fundraising experience, particularly in arts administration. She currently serves as Development Director at the Erie Art Museum in Erie, PA. Her previous roles include Executive Director at the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM), interpretation at the Adirondack Experience, and office management for the Otsego Land Trust. Part of her work at MAAM included the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Museum Learning Hub -- a collaboration between all 6 regional museum associations funded by IMLS. Averie also serves as a board member on PA Museums and sits on the Program Committee and Advocacy Committee. Since 2019, she has been reviewing project grant proposals for the New Jersey Historical Commission. Averie is a graduate of the Cooperstown Graduate Program | SUNY Oneonta and holds a Master of Arts in Museum Studies. She also has a Bachelors in English from Saint Vincent College.