EPISODE · Sep 23, 2020 · 57 MIN
37: Astria Smith, Payton Keith & Jo Lew, Southern Methodist University
from RAISE Podcast
About AstriaAstria L. Smith is the Senior Executive Director for Annual Giving and Alumni Relations at SMU. She provides strategic leadership and direction for efforts that engage, solicit and steward SMU alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends. This role allows her to integrate several areas of passion and expertise, including front-line fundraising, annual giving stewardship, multi-channel direct marketing, volunteer management and alumni engagement.Astria holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University and master’s degrees from Amberton University and SMU. She began her development career at Methodist Children’s Home in Waco, TX before joining SMU in 2007. Astria has been a presenter for a variety of conferences and webinars and has participated in numerous fundraising and alumni relations networks over her 16-year career in advancement.About PaytonPayton Keith is an Associate with Harris, DeVille & Associates, an issues management firm based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he provides a range of public affairs and governmental relations services to clients in the energy and manufacturing industries. He specializes in strategic planning, strategic communications, public opinion research, and public affairs management. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, he held various positions on political campaigns and in state governance before joining HDA.Payton currently resides in Port Neches, Texas, with his wife, April, and three daughters (Grace, Emma, and Charlotte).About JoJo Lew is a Sophomore at Southern Methodist University studying Political Science and Public Policy with minors in Economics, History, and Law & Legal Reasoning. She is involved in SMU's Student Senate as the Queer Senator, East Asian Student Association and First Generation Association as the Vice President, and Armstrong Commons Council as the Event Coordinator. In her free time she enjoys working on social justice activism projects and she is currently working on multiple majors at Southern Methodist University.
What this episode covers
How often do you get to hear directly from the fundraiser, donor, and gift recipient all together? In this episode of the RAISE Podcast, Brent had the privilege of hearing first-hand the story of goodwill that has thrust SMU alum, Payton Keith, and student, Jo Lew, into the spotlight. After Dallas Morning News published a story about the struggling SMU student, Payton was compelled to act - and swiftly. He setup a GoFundMe page that raised over $28,000 for Jo in just 48 hours and became a platform for SMU to gain support for ongoing initiatives to support more students like Jo. This episode so perfectly reveals the importance of higher ed fundraising and the power of goodwill - it left Brent, and all of us, in tears.
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37: Astria Smith, Payton Keith & Jo Lew, Southern Methodist University
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