![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IntroducingJessicaCloud-1024x576.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nA Winding Road into the UU World<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I became a Unitarian Universalist the way I suspect a lot of people do: I wandered in, felt something
true, and never quite left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had visited UU congregations on and off over the years, but it was Flower Communion in 2015 at Shortly after joining, I did what any curious new UU might do: I Googled “How to become a UU I applied. I interviewed. And I had instant rapport with Starr King’s new president, Rev. Rosemary I spent years at Starr King growing the school’s fundraising program, and over the course of that Here’s the thing I come back to again and again, in every training session and every consulting Early in my career, I worked in political fundraising. I was taught that fear and guilt were powerful Later, when I moved into higher education fundraising at my alma mater (The University of That conversation reframed everything for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If education is good, then raising resources for education is good. If your mission serves a real That’s the belief I build my work on. I don’t believe in pressure tactics or scarcity-driven appeals that Mindset matters enormously here. How your team thinks about asking, about money, about whether I founded Real Deal Fundraising because I wanted to help mission-driven organizations and My work is grounded in evidence-based, community-centered practices. I believe in planning with Outside of this work, I write poetry, watch documentaries, and travel with my husband and two Flower Communion is still one of my favorite days of the year. Some things don’t change. In gratitude,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jessica Cloud, CFRE Hi, UUMFE friends! My name is Jessica Cloud, and I am so glad to be here. I’ll be working with UUMFE as a fundraisingconsultant, and before we get into the work together, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myselfproperly. Not just the resume version. The real one. A Winding Road into the UU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":12551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12550,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12547\/revisions\/12550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uumfe.org\/uumfe-wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Our Home Universalist Unitarian Church in Ellisville, Mississippi that settled it for me. I walked in
with my small children, watched them participate in that simple, beautiful ritual of bringing and
receiving flowers, and something clicked. These were my people.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
minister.” I’m not a minister, but like so many of us, I’ve spent a fair amount of time wondering
whether I should be. That search led me to Starr King School for the Ministry. And then, in one of
those moments that makes you believe the universe has a sense of humor, I was job searching just a
week or two later and saw that Starr King was hiring a Vice President for Advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bray McNatt. Just like that, I went from brand-new UU to working alongside some of the luminaries
of this movement. I still shake my head a little when I think about the timing of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
work, we more than doubled our overall and unrestricted fundraising, grew our endowment with
many new scholarships, and grew the Starr King Sustainers monthly giving program from 11
participants to over 100. That work taught me a great deal about what it means to raise money inside
a community that holds deep values about justice, relationship, and the sacred. It wasn’t just
fundraising. It was something more.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat I Believe About Fundraising<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
engagement: fundraising is not a side function of your organization. It is mission work.
I didn’t always see it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
motivators. Create urgency. Highlight threats. Push emotional buttons. And it worked, at least in the
short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Southern Mississippi), I sat in a meeting with Aubrey K. Lucas, the beloved president emeritus who
had led the university through decades of growth. He was meeting with the new development
officers, and he said something I’ve never forgotten: negative fundraising is rarely truly successful.
We were raising money for education, he told us. Education is a universal good. Something to be
proud of. That effort should be rooted in conviction, not pressure or fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
human need, then securing funding for that mission is honorable work. And UUMFE’s mission
absolutely serves a real human need. Which means that every ask made on behalf of this
organization is an invitation, not an imposition. It is a chance to connect someone’s generosity with
something that genuinely matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
make donors feel guilty for not giving more. I believe in clear plans, honest conversations, and a
culture where fundraising feels like a supported, dignified part of the work rather than something to
dread or apologize for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
your mission is worthy of support, those beliefs show up in your results. You have to believe that
fundraising is a noble endeavor. Because it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat I’ll Be Doing with UUMFE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
congregations move past overwhelm and into clear, focused action. I’m known for being candid and
practical. I’m not here to give you a framework you’ll forget by next Tuesday. I’m here to help you
build something that actually works, in your organization, with your team, given your specific
circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
intention, tracking what matters, and making decisions from data rather than anxiety. And I believe
that the people doing this work deserve to feel capable and confident, not burned out and alone.
I hold a master’s degree in English Literature and I am a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).
I’ve trained boards, coached staff, and spoken at conferences across the country. I bring honesty and
encouragement to every room I walk into, because I think you need both.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Little More About Me<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
children whenever we can manage it. After my years in Mississippi, our family now lives in
Hartsville, South Carolina, where I’m a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am genuinely excited to be in community with UUMFE and to support the important work you
are doing in the world. Generosity, when it is invited well and received with gratitude, changes
people. It changes organizations. I believe that. And I can’t wait to get to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founder, Real Deal Fundraising<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"