The people behind Guiding Good

Regarding community involvement, Dr. Alex Herzog has done just that — he gets involved. He and his family are always looking for ways to serve the community. From his involvement with service organizations such as Kiwanis, the American Legion and the local Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Herzog's drive to improve lives is evident in projects like the development of a campus food shelf, scholarship fundraising, and his efforts to address veterans in distress in the communities where he has lived. Being active in his community is not just something to do — to Alex, it is how you live life.

With over 30 years of experience volunteering in nonprofit environments, Alex's service includes Scouts BSA as a Scoutmaster and District Chair, serving on the Claremont School Board, Secretary of the Price Kiwanis, and Chair of the Claremont Community Media Center public TV station board. He also hosts a public television show, Along the River, which interviews nonprofits and community members doing good things in the community.

Dr. Herzog has been active in many professional organizations throughout his career in education. He has worked with the statewide New Hampshire Career and Technical Administrators Association and the Utah NASPA organization, and served as President of the National Association for Campus Auxiliary Services West Region. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors for his work, including Advisor at Yavapai College, Alpha Delta Pi Professional of the Year 2001, the CEU Sun Center Outstanding Campus Partner Award of 2009, the Civically Engaged Staff Member Award from the Utah Campus Compact, and Sullivan County Partner of the Year, among many others.

His work in higher education is informed by his own education: an A.A. from Adirondack Community College, a B.A. in Labor Relations from SUNY College at Potsdam, an M.S. in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana State University, and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Whether presenting at national conferences, serving on conference hosting committees or serving on boards, Dr. Herzog has been deeply committed to giving back to the profession and to his community.

When not working, you might find Alex seeking new adventures — snowshoeing, hunting down a new farmers' market, camping or hacking away on a golf course, usually with his family in tow.

Alex brings extensive nonprofit experience both as a volunteer in leadership positions and as a paid staff member. Guiding Good is an effort to help nonprofits achieve greater success in their missions through coaching, training and consulting.

Jennifer Nelson is a seasoned nonprofit professional with over 30 years of dedicated service. A Dartmouth College graduate with a B.A. in Psychology focused on learning and information processing, Jennifer brings an analytical perspective to her work.

With a strong foundation in data-driven strategies, she spent two decades in development, providing support to fundraising teams and large fundraising events. Her team delivered onboarding and ongoing technical instruction to groups of up to 300. Her expertise in crafting and analyzing metrics and reports was instrumental in achieving fundraising goals of up to $5 million for the Cancer Center.

In her own words

I grew up working in my parents' garden right here in Claremont. Every day my dad was out there tending corn, tomatoes and squash as long as I can remember, and I was usually happy to be out there with him sowing, weeding and harvesting.

Eventually it was time to leave home and the garden behind. I attended Dartmouth College where I met my husband, Joshua. I had not forgotten my love of growing things, and we soon returned to Claremont to raise a family and start our own little garden. This was when I realized how much planning, adjusting and paying attention to the small details can make big differences to my eventual harvest. Even today I spend much of the winter reviewing last year and planning for the next. We raised three great children here in Claremont and have been fortunate to be near family and lifelong friends.

I was at Dartmouth for 30 years, working with and for Advancement operations at the College, the Medical School and the Hospital. That allowed me to put passion for a cause into effect and to see firsthand the positive outcomes of doing good work globally and locally. My role was supporting the systems, training and support of the frontline fundraisers. The same attention to planning and adjusting made for more successful projects.

In 2019 I left Dartmouth to join Edward Jones. I saw so many similarities between planting, growing and nurturing a garden and putting that same care into clients and their financial needs.

Throughout the pandemic, I noticed that when a vulnerable population was struggling, there were a myriad of nonprofit organizations stepping up to fill the need — from the Soup Kitchen and the NH Food Bank for food insecurity, to our local teachers pivoting to online classes for students.

Outside work I enjoy being a member of the Sugar River Rotary Club and, of course, Claremont's Garden Club. Both organizations let me roll my sleeves up and get my hands dirty helping Claremont become a bit more beautiful.

All of this has given me the chance to appreciate more deeply the scope and depth of the organizations in our area dedicated to the service of others. I also realized there are occasional gaps and struggles within these organizations and groups. I want to provide my support and experience to lifting up the organizations that serve our community.

Darin Hollingsworth serves as a Strategic Advisor to Guiding Good, where he focuses on individual and organizational coaching as well as facilitating workshops, seminars and retreats. He specializes in relationship-based fundraising, and in working with boards, executives and talent in transition.

Darin is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, where he began his philanthropy career with a major regional healthcare system working on employee giving, annual giving, events and major gifts. Before nonprofits he refined his relationship-based skills as a successful sales professional. While still in Memphis, he transitioned from healthcare to another of his passions and worked in the arts at a regional art museum.

Life and work took Darin to Las Vegas in 2000, where he joined the Foundation and College of Business at UNLV as Director of Development. That role offered the full spectrum of fundraising — annual giving, major gifts and event-based fundraising. Several College of Business alumni recognized his approachable personality and ability to build meaningful relationships quickly, and recruited him to work as a financial advisor for a group that wanted to bring philanthropic advising to clients interested in giving. Darin then moved on to become President and Executive Director of the Liberace Foundation and Museum.

Throughout his career, colleagues and friends looked to Darin for encouragement and expertise in navigating their own careers. He became a diligent student of research-based best practices in organizational culture, with an emphasis on gratitude and appreciation in the workplace. In 2010 he began to pursue coaching and consulting full time.

Darin has a passion for helping nonprofit organizations and professionals move through a continuum of surviving to thriving to flourishing. He has worked as a senior philanthropic advisor for a national children's healthcare nonprofit while maintaining a coaching client base. An additional passion is helping professionals blend self-care with professional success, with particular focus on mental health.

As a skilled facilitator for teams and groups, Darin brings energy, enthusiasm, expertise and approachability to create engaging experiences that benefit both the hosting organization and the individual participants. He produced and hosted the podcast Working Gratitude, with over 70 episodes from 2012 to 2020, featuring guests from teachers and artists to executives inside and outside the nonprofit sector.

Darin cultivates relationships with clients based on gratitude, accountability, authenticity, curiosity, kindness and compassion. In every community where he has lived and worked he has volunteered on boards and committees aligned with his passions — one primary focus being mental health and suicide prevention. Darin openly shares his journey with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

Among his other personal passions: his 16-year-old dog Herbie the Love Pup, living in Jackson, Tennessee with his best friend — his mom — and travelling as both a tourist and a trained tour director. During the pandemic he found a creative outlet painting kindness and gratitude rocks to share anonymously in his community and on his travels, including contributing over 50 painted stones to an effort to build suicide awareness.

Read Darin's article on relationship-focused fundraising →