Meet Rachel:
Rachel D’Souza-Siebert is the Founder and Chief Purpose Officer of Gladiator Consulting in St. Louis, Missouri.
Rachel was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri as a daughter of two Indian immigrants. She experienced the “otherness” of growing up in a place defined by a Black and white dichotomy. Her identity as a justice seeker and community connector started in the home of her immigrant parents and was cemented during her experience at the National Conference on Community & Justice’s Anytown Youth Leadership Institute which Rachel attended when she was just 17.
Upon obtaining a master’s degree in Public Policy Administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Rachel left her position in for-profit retail leadership to join the nonprofit sector. In her early nonprofit roles, Rachel developed both a deep appreciation for and a critique of philanthropy and resource development. In 2015, she founded Gladiator Consulting, a boutique consultancy with a holistic and community-centric approach to nonprofit organizational development + capacity building.
Rachel continues to build Gladiator Consulting to combine her experience in resource development and organizational culture with her deep personal commitment to centering community, seeking justice, and creating belonging for those who have been disenfranchised or targeted by institutions, systems, and policies rooted in white supremacy and patriarchy. Rachel models collaboration and learning from an abundance mindset, and insists on being transformational in her partnerships with clients, funders, and anyone else that crosses Gladiator’s path.
In 2011, eight days after the birth of her first child, Rachel survived a rare heart condition and subsequent “widowmaker” heart attack. Rachel has an authentic story about the choices that she was required to make as a SCAD heart attack survivor as a young mother.
After the birth of her daughter in 2015, Rachel founded Gladiator Consulting and sought to build a consultancy that would meet her– and parents like her– where they are.
At Gladiator, We believe that the power of community-led initiatives will disrupt and dismantle systems to achieve equity. Gladiator Consulting combines Rachel’s experience in resource development and organizational culture with her personal commitment to centering community, seeking justice, and creating belonging
In 2021, Rachel’s perspective on systems change in resource development was featured in the Blackbaud Institute’s npExperts publication, The Great Reset, and the Independent Sector’s Upswell pop-up “Early Learnings in the Community-Centric Movement. Rachel is a regular contributor to the CCF Content Hub and the Nonprofit Marketing Guide, as well as a guest author in Neon One’s recent report, Donors: Understanding The Future of Individual Giving. Through Rachel’s leadership, Gladiator has had the unique opportunity to embrace a community-centric orientation to fund development after Rachel’s annual attendance at SSIR’s Nonprofit Management Institute.
Rachel is a member of the inaugural CCF Global Council and has facilitated extensive trainings and workshops on implementing Community-Centric Fundraising to modern nonprofit and foundation practices. Over the last few years, Rachel has been teaching and facilitating workshops for organizations and convenings across the globe. A few of her engagements are listed on the following page.
Gladiator’s Core Values:
Social Justice & Racial Equity | Community | Belonging | Growth | Audacity | Imagination
Topics:
With Rachel as a speaker at your next engagement, you can partner with her to craft the perfect message for your audience. Suggested topics include, and are certainly not limited to, the following:
Health | Wellness | Motherhood | Resilience | Change | Entrepreneurship | Brownness | Allyship | Advocacy | Fundraising | Community-Centric Fundraising | Racial Equity Lens in Nonprofit Work|
Cost:
Rachel’s speaking fee is customizable based on the size of the convening, travel, and originality of the presentation. Interested in having Rachel speak or lead a training session for your organization or conference? Let’s connect. Contact Brooke Black, Operations + Content Manager of Gladiator Consulting, at Brooke@GladiatorRDS.com.
Past Presentations:
Limited to the last three years:
(2023, February 23). Reimagining Success in Nonprofit Work: How Systems Change can Drive Vision Forward. Bloomerang. Remote.
(2023, January 27). Funders’ Role in (Re)Building Nonprofit Capacity. Philanthropy Missouri’s Statewide Convening & Annual Meeting. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, December 16). Bringing Equity to Resource Development Booster Series #4. United Way. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, December 13). How to do Donor Stewardship in the Community-Centric Fundraising Model. Association of Fundraising Professionals St. Louis Chapter. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, November 15). Bringing Equity to Resource Development. Association of Fundraising Professionals Eastern Iowa Chapter. Iowa City, Iowa.
(2022, November 3). Get In Where You Fit In: Community Centric Fundraising and the Future of the Nonprofit Sector. Association of Fundraising Professionals Global Emerging Leaders Workshop. Remote.
(2022, October 19). Ask the Expert: So-Called Difficult Conversations with Major Donors. Generosity XChange with Neon One. Remote.
(2022, October 17-19). Greater STL DEI Panel. Forward Through Ferguson. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, September 28). Learning from Failure: How My Postpartum Heart Attack Should Change Patient Care. 2022 Maternal and Infant Health Convening. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, September 23). Keynote Presentation: Choosing Change. AFP Greater Austin 2022: Charged with Change. Austin, Texas.
(2022, August 24). Is Community-Centric Fundraising Still Working Two Years Later? w/ Rachel D’Souza Siebert and Henry Ramos. Season 4, Episode 1 Ethical Rainmaker Podcast. Remote.
(2022, August 4). Who Gives? Applying a Racial Equity Lens to the Donor Lifecycle. ELEVATE Gateway Conference on Philanthropy Presented by AFP St. Louis. St. Charles, Missouri.
(2022, July 28). Creating with the Culture: Honoring Community Voice in your Nonprofit Marketing. AFP South Carolina Lowcountry Chapter. Virtual.
(2022, June 10). How to Integrate CCF into Donor-Centric Practice. In Person at AFP’s New York Regional Conference. New York City, New York.
(2022, June 9). 2 Years Into The Movement: 4 CCF Practitioners Share their Experience. Facilitated Panel at AFP’s Advancement Northwest Conference. Virtual. Seattle, Washington.
(2022, May 26). In-Person Training at IDEALS Uplift Fundraising Training Program. Fayetteville, Arkansas.
(2022, April 27). Time for change: Reimagining Funder + Nonprofit Relationships. Neon One Webinar. Virtual.
(2022, April 26). Imposter Syndrome Presentation at AFP St. Louis Chapter Programming. In person. St. Louis, Missouri.
(2022, March 9). Ethical Rainmaker Instagram Live. Virtual.
(2022, February 24). LeadHER Roundtable. Presented as a Roundtable Panelist to FOCUS Women in Leadership.
(2021, October 13-15). Using CCF to Transform your Fundraising. Presented at BBCON. Virtual.
(2021, October 12). Get in Where you Fit in. Presented for No Stone Unturned Training. Virtual: United Kingdom.
(2021, September 23). How to Integrate CCF into Donor-Centric Practice. Presented at ADRP 2021: Big World, Big Ideas.
(2021, September 9-10). Presented at Rocky Mountain Philanthropic Institute. Virtual.
(2021, July 27). Let's Talk About Money: Early Learnings from the Community-Centric Fundraising Movement. Presented at Upswell 2020 Virtual Popup.
(2021. April 11). Modern Fundraising: Community Centric Fundraising Movement with Rachel D’Souza-Siebert. A Modern Nonprofit Podcast. Remote.
(2021, February 18). Rachel D’Souza-Siebert: Nonprofit Operational and Equity Mindsets. The Influential Nonprofit. Remote.
(2020) DEI in Resource Development. Presented to NMN, formerly CSRP.
(2020) Introduction to Community-Centric Fundraising. Presented to the Association of Fundraising Professionals.