Nilanjana Chowdhury

I am a non-profit professional working in the sector for last ten years. Prior to moving to the United States of America I worked with Save the Children in India where I was responsible for implementing ‘new born child survival campaign’ in the state of West Bengal. I engaged with local government, media and celebrities from various walks of lives to ensure better impact of the campaign messages. I also developed yearly plan for campaign communications in this role and worked with partners and vendors to implement the same with utmost effectiveness. The role gave me ample opportunity to work with the partners in field. I could then bring the grassroots issues to the decision makers to facilitate policy change as well as to the general public with the help of popular celebrities, who worked for the cause with me. I have developed various communications materials, worked with vendors, edited and published newsletters and written donor reports while working for Save the Children. I therefore gained knowledge in both internal and external communication. My assignment previous to this with Oxfam India as Donor Services Officer at New Delhi gave me opportunity to initiate and develop a donor services manual for strengthening and bringing uniformity in donor relations all across India. Apart from this I was actively involved in making various strategies and implementation of activities for expansion and retention of donor base. The strategies included direct marketing appeals, handling donor queries, developing various templates for donor communications etc. I was awarded Atlas Corps fellowship in 2008 to work in Washington DC where in I got opportunity to work with InterFaith Conference and Grameen Foundation, US. I worked with communications and fundraising units of both the organizations during my yearlong fellowship program. Prior to the fellowship program I worked with Brooke India, an UK based charity for four years as Fundraising and PR officer. I successfully managed communications and fundraising related queries and activities for Brooke India operations on behalf of the UK team. I was the link between the fundraising team in the UK and program team in India. I moved to Philadelphia in 2013 for personal reasons. Currently I volunteer for few non-profits in the region and also for some non-profits in India. I have mainly supported these non-profits with fundraising strategies, online fundraising options, project design, social media engagement and direct marketing appeals while awaiting my Employment Authorization Document (EAD) approval. I have recently received my work permit in the United States and now I am eagerly looking forward to contribute my professional skills and experience to serve the community better. My detailed CV is attached with the application for ready reference.