Meet Quinetha Frasier of Social Impact Technology

Today we’d like to introduce you to Quinetha Frasier.

Quinetha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always desired to be a part of the ‘change process’. First, I thought that I needed to be a politician, so I majored in Political Science at Tuskegee. Then, after interning at the White House, I just planned to work at the Housing and Urban Development Agency in Washington, DC. I ended up in Talladega, AL working in Institutional Advancement at Talladega College. This is where I learned the ABCs and seriousness of work WITHIN a nonprofit entity, in this case, a private institution of higher learning.

I quickly became responsible for raising money for the College’s premier programs, historical buildings, and Capital Campaigns. I left Talladega after spending 5 years learning under my aunt, former California Congressperson Marguerite Archie-Hudson, Ph.D. the then Interim President. She was tough, but taught me how the university works, from a funding and operations perspective. I love it so much that I started my first company in 2004, focused on helping smaller nonprofits and churches to “Fund their Vision”.

Working full time, attending graduate school and taking clients as I found them, I built my company to serve as the most reliable source of workshops grant writing for organizations that were in the business of creating change. After completing my MBA in Charleston, SC at the Lowcountry Graduate Center, I set off to Birmingham, AL to work for (then) Wachovia Bank. They invested heavily in making me the best salesperson in Alabama. IT worked and I was a top producer in the south. I had put my new company on the back burner but longed to get back out in the community.

I eventually landed in Atlanta, GA in 2007, where I decided to ‘Jump off the Cliff’ and work for my company full time. My first two clients was a small local College and Space and Robotics nonprofit, who is still my client today. Atlanta gave me my wings to connect with major entities and companies looking to create impact across the globe. I landed feet first as a major speaker and facilitator for the Foundation Center, GA Center for Nonprofits and Congressman John Lewis’s office. After meeting an ex-Silicon Valley Bank exec and forming a second company.

Social Mission Architects, I became an avid student and teacher of impact investing (equity for impact-focused for-profit companies. We helped to prepare them for a variety of types of funding by defining the metrics that funders use to measure their social impact. We worked closely with GA Tech’s Business School and the Global Social Venture Competition. IT was during this time that we landed our biggest client, the Southeastern Council of Foundation (SECF) a membership organization for Grantmakers. I designed and implement a 12-month leadership program for SECF, the Hull Fellows.

I’ve become somewhat of an agitator in the nonprofit community because I’m A proponent of nonprofits making profits and for-profit companies defining their social, environmental and economic impact. After raising $86k in a month from African American professionals in Charleston, SC. With the local United Way, I became heavily involved in creating more fundraising opportunities for individuals- specifically minorities and women. I serve on boards that support this personal mission, The SC Community Loan Fund, The Nature Conservancy SC Board, Palmetto Project and the Charleston Chapter of the LInks, Incorporated. My ‘disruptive’ ideology about how nonprofits really thrive is what led me to serve as a CEO of a Saas Technology company in Atlanta.

MyPledger was an automated pledge collection system that helped organizations raise more money through pledges in the event space. I’ve become a technology evangelist for nonprofits, especially, because its is a way to accelerate our impact work with more tools to measure the outcomes that are produced. Organizations consult with me to better understand how to implement the best tech tools to increase their capacity to raise more money. As an 18 year fundraiser and nonprofit developer, I have spent most of my career in boardrooms, on stages and in front of people heralding the need for more social innovation and impact funding.

Today, Social IMpact Technology promotes that mission by providing management consulting to organizations seeking to raise bigger dollars from the best corporate partners; training investors and Grantmakers how to make the most impact with their dollars; and teaching and coaching individuals across the globe about how to start, grow and fund their vision. I will spend the rest of my career in this space, as a true leader and speaker.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to this place has been laced with a variety of lessons that sometimes have cost me time, money and (even) access. The most transformative obstacle that I have learned to overcome -and translate into success has been working with philanthropists (donors) with very visible racial and socio-economic biases.

When I accepted the role as a Major Gifts Officer for a United Way in the Deep South, my boss reaffirmed with me that I would have to become comfortable with being the first African American to manage their top donors, who were all “wealthy and White”. I confidently reassured him that this reality is one that I have learned to navigate while maintaining my personal identity and connectivity to my Gullah/Geechie roots. People are just people without the ‘tags’ of association to whatever they judge themselves by.

This seemingly challenging reality has been the highlight of my career. I have gained friends across the spectrum of wealth and access because we simply could not deny what we actually had in common. Sometimes the ‘thing’ that we had in common was our desire to connect to a cause that they believed in. More times than I can count, the donor ‘forgot’ about their bias and became longtime friends of mine.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Social Impact Technology – what should we know?
Our company is unique in that it is fueled by results and relationships. When we commit to working with social entrepreneurs, we commit to ensuring that they can confidently make the ‘Big Ask’ from among our network of funders.

We are intentional about the companies that we choose to work with. This is because we take our calling to the Philanthropic. Sector seriously; we feel an obligation to increase the capacity of our social impact companies and organizations to do MORE across the world.

(We have over 30 years of experience advising the founders of stellar nonprofits, like ReimageATL (add http://www.reimagineatl.com/), on formation paperwork and early funding options. They skyrocketed into the corporate partner’s space and are one of the most sought-after nonprofit provider of in school and mobile programming for youth.

Our Advisors have successfully provided Leadership Development curriculum development and management for regional grantmakers associations, like the Southeastern Council of Foundations (add link to http://www.secf.org). We live and breathe the social impact-funding ecosystem. Often, our clients find funding partners from within our professional and personal networks. We make connections that attract millions of dollars of support for organizations and companies who are willing to define their work and the program benefits for partnering with them.

Whether grants, CDFI loans, impact investment, angel investment, crowdfunding or conventional early-stage equity, we enjoy making the ask with you. We specialize in an early stage, high performing startups like the honor code (www.honorcodeatl.org) who are on course to deliver high-level social impact outcomes in Education and scale their model in less than 3 years clients. We loved helping Techbridge (www.techbridge.org) to develop a corporate grants program when it was growing its presence across the state of Georgia.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Awareness is the most important characteristic of a successful leader. There is always more to learn, things to improve upon and people who align with your purpose. It is only when you have a developed, keen sense of awareness that you can live in these opportunities and build success.

Pricing:

• 1-on-1 Coaching with Que- $500 a month for 6 months
• 12-month management consulting contract for growing nonprofits begin at $2,500/month
• Que will come to organize and lead a funds development workshop or keynote- $2,500

Contact Info:

• Address: 976 Brady Ave. Atlanta, GA 30308
• Website: Www.theQbrand.com
• Phone: 339-793-8637
• Email: que@socialimpacttechnology.com
• Instagram: TheQueBrand
• Facebook: Quinetha Frasier
• Twitter: TheQbrand

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.