Alex Comfort, a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), is joining Asheville Watchdog as director of fundraising programs for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization. A fundraising professional for 35 years, Comfort was formerly Associate Vice Chancellor for Development at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, and has twice been named “Outstanding Fund Raising Executive” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, first by the AFP chapter of Greater New Orleans in 1995, and then for the western North Carolina AFP chapter in 2010.
He has also been a capital campaign field director for Ward, Dreshman & Reinhardt; Director of Development for Covenant House New Orleans; Vice President of the LSU Medical Center Foundation in New Orleans; and Executive Director of the Cradle of Forestry Interpretation Association in Brevard, North Carolina.
A consultant in fundraising since 2011, Comfort is a popular public speaker and has taught a “Fundraising Boot Camp” course in regional universities since 2013. He is the author of “Even a Blind Squirrel Finds an Occasional Acorn: Fundraising Tales from the Front Lines.”
Comfort graduated in history from Sewanee: The University of the South, and earned a master’s degree in medieval history from Duke University. After service in the Air Force, he returned to Sewanee and received a Master of Divinity (M.Div) degree. He was an Episcopal priest in Beaufort, SC, New Orleans, and Jackson, TN.
Comfort lives in Mars Hill with his wife, Kippy, and their dog, Gumbo, a Corgi-plus mix. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Comfort is a long-suffering Cleveland Indians/Guardians and Browns fan. He is a fanatic about golf, has managed a fantasy baseball team for 22 seasons, and plays the five-string banjo.
Congratulations on gaining Alex Comfort. He is a remarkable addition.
Congratulations to Watchdog and to Alex! He’s the best mentor I’ve ever had in fundraising and helped to shape the career I’ve had now for 20+ years. Yay