Joy Gooding currently works at Seneca College, and is responsible for securing major gifts for programming, capital initiatives, sponsorships and financial aid. She has held senior fundraising positions at The Next 36, Toronto International Film Festival and JAZZ.FM91. Her experience includes annual and major gifts fundraising, donor relations, project management, event planning, and volunteer management. Throughout her career Joy oversaw a variety of annual programs including direct mail, telemarketing, on-air campaigns, on-line and special event fundraising. Joy graduated with honours from both Radio and Television Broadcasting at Seneca and Fundraising and Volunteer Management at George Brown College. Joy sees her role as a facilitator, helping organizations achieve their marketing and social responsibility goals and inspiring individuals to realize their philanthropic priorities.

When not at work, Joy’s interests include travelling, film, and recently, astronomy.

Nneka Allen is a Black woman, a descendant of the Underground Railroad, an Ojibwa of Anderson Nation, a Mother and a sixth generation Canadian.

Born in the 70’s, Nneka was raised during a time of Black power and acute political awareness in North America. As a result, the air in her childhood home was generous, brilliant and proud. Her parents and their siblings with great intentionality poured their consciousness into her multi-ethnic identity. 

As a lover of justice, Nneka has inspired philanthropy in the non-profit sector for 20 years. She honours the spirit of generosity in all people and is passionate about the many contributions of Black Canadian philanthropists and fundraisers. 

Nneka is an author and joint editor of a book featuring the first person narratives of 14 Black fundraisers in the United States and Canada called Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain,Freedom, Love (collectingcourage.org). She is also one of the founding members of the Black Canadian Fundraisers Collective, a group dedicated to the advancement of Black fundraising professionals.

Nneka is also the principal and founder of The Empathy Agency (theempathyagency.ca) where she helps organizations deliver more fairly on their mission and vision by coaching leaders and their teams to explore the impact identity has on organizational culture and equity outcomes.

Nneka’s ultimate joy is her daughter Destiny, an Environmental Scientist working with Indigenous communities in British Columbia. Together Destiny and Nneka continue their family legacy of philanthropy and activism in Canada.

An avid reader, gardener and sports enthusiast, Nicole is anchored by family and a deep appreciation of strong personal relationships. She embraces her natural curiosity with a thirst for variety and new challenges. A skilled presenter and communicator, her work style is collaborative and she places a high value on building relationships based on truth, respect, integrity and trust. 

She has spent the majority of her professional life working within the non-profit sector with over twenty-five years of fundraising and senior leadership experience. In 2014, Nicole founded Boundless Philanthropy, a fundraising consultancy providing a range of services, including interim leadership, fund development strategy support and planning, and board and leadership development. Prior to founding the consultancy, she was Director of Fund Development at Oxfam Canada. 

She serves on the board of Realize, an organization working to improve the lives of people living with HIV and other episodic conditions, and is Board Chair of WellFort Community Health Services. A Book Review Panelist with The Charity Report Literary Hub, she is also a co-editor of the soon to be released book (November 2020) called Collectng Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love (www.collectingcourage.org) which features first person narratives of 14 Black fundraisers from Canada and the United States. She is also an inspired member of a Black Canadian Fundraisers Collective.