Jeff Dunbar
Southwest Representative

I have been playing Ultimate for eight years now. Like so many UPA members, I was introduced to the sport during my freshman year in college. My team struggled to win more than a handful of games each year, but I fell in love with the sport anyway. As a senior, I was captain of my college team. In my post-college years, I have been splitting my time between casual summer league teams and competitive open and mixed club teams in New Jersey and Washington, DC.

Last year I took up a highly rewarding coaching gig for my alma mater, and two years ago I began volunteering my time as the UPA Mixed Sectionals Coordinator (XSC) for the Founders' Section in the Mid-Atlantic Region. In my XSC role, I have really enjoyed the experience of being on the front lines of the Club Championship Series administration, and I have come to appreciate the complexities of many of the issues that the UPA has recently confronted. In particular, I believe the UPA has made great strides in professionalizing the general operations; standardizing the membership, rostering, and waivering processes; clarifying eligibility requirements; refining the way size/growth bids are awarded; improving membership services; and promoting the growth of Ultimate at the high school level.

Outside of Ultimate, I have a strong professional background in nonprofit management and fundraising. At present, I am nearly finished with a two-year Fellowship at a private foundation that awards hundreds of grants to nonprofit organizations in New Jersey each year. In my current position, I get paid to determine the effectiveness of 40-50 nonprofit organizations each year while reviewing (and endorsing or declining) their annual grant proposals. I also get paid to help craft and refine the Foundation's strategies for distributing its $20 million annual grantmaking budget. Working for this foundation has given me invaluable experience in helping nonprofits to evaluate their past performance, assess their strengths and weaknesses and improve their current and future effectiveness.

Before I began working for this foundation, I spent a year on the exact opposite side of the table while working as a fundraiser for my alma mater. In that position, I spent 50% of my time soliciting major gifts ($25K+) from fellow alumni/ae and 50% of my time tending to the "care and feeding" of the school's existing and potential future donor base. In other words, I asked lots of people for lots of money and I threw lots of parties. Surprisingly, I found this work to be truly rewarding, and I left that position with a great education about how the nonprofit fundraising game is played.

Through my service on the UPA board of directors, I hope to help the UPA evolve into a stronger, more efficient, and more member-friendly organization by combining my well-rounded perspective as a seasoned Ultimate player with my diverse experiences as a working professional in the nonprofit sector. As such, I look forward to working with the board and the general members to address a variety of issues in the governance, membership services, and fundraising arenas.

Committees Serving On in 2005:
Conduct Committee, chair
World Games Fundraising Committee