Jefferson Community College is pleased to announce the appointment of Christine M. Rizzo, Dexter, to the position of college development officer for the Jefferson Community College (JCC) Foundation. As executive director of the JCC Foundation, Ms. Rizzo will be responsible for the development and implementation of strategic advancement objectives for the College including cultivating financial support, planned giving, grant coordination, alumni programming, and special event planning.
Ms. Rizzo brings to Jefferson more than thirteen years of fundraising, grant-writing, management, and supervisory experience in the non-profit sector. Most recently, Ms. Rizzo served as the area director for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Syracuse where she was responsible for raising program funds through grant applications, mail campaigns, and personal appeals. She facilitated partnerships between the AFSC and the Mohawk community, acted as liaison, and cultivated relationships between the Quaker community and regional AFSC administrators. During her eight-year tenure at AFSC, Ms. Rizzo managed an internal advancement staff as well as AmeriCorps volunteers.
Prior to joining AFSC, Ms. Rizzo served as director for resource development at the InterReligious Council of Central New York (now Interfaith Works). In this role, Ms. Rizzo cultivated donor relationships, wrote and administered numerous grants, planned and coordinated special advancement events, and created and implemented the organization’s annual mail appeal. Upon moving to the North Country earlier in the year, Ms. Rizzo joined the House of the Good Shepherd in Watertown as the health care integrator for the Bridges to Health program.
Ms. Rizzo holds a bachelor of science degree in education from Cornell University. She also earned both a master of divinity degree and master of arts degree in theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in Missouri.
