ABOUT
EMILY WEISGRAU
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Emily was that kid who wrote and designed programs for the shows she put on in her parents’ living room. It turned out she liked the publications more than the performances.
In the Venn diagram of her career, you'll find her at the intersection of marketing, fundraising, communications, and branding. She is a communications strategist, a champion of philanthropy, and a stickler for good design. For more than 25 years, Emily has helped to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for nonprofits through carefully crafted and award-winning communications and fundraising programs.
She received her BA from Vassar College and MA from American University.
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Emily founded Weiswood Strategies Ltd. in 2019. Day to day, Emily and her partner Robert now collaborate with national and international institutions like Dartmouth Health, Lambda Legal, Jane Goodall Institute, and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Emily has been quoted in Forbes, HigherEdJobs, and other major media outlets, was a guest on the Nonprofit Vision podcast, and has presented at regional CASE and AFP events.
Emily began her career as a fundraiser working in annual, institutional, and planned giving for performing arts organizations and at The Philadelphia Foundation. Emily then made her way to Haverford College where, for seven years, she oversaw campaign and other fundraising communications, supervised publication design and production for dozens of offices across campus, and served as the College’s brand manager.
Prior to founding Weiswood, Emily was the director of advancement communications at Swarthmore College where, in addition to managing campaign communications, she wrote for key leaders including the president and board chair. She also chaired the faculty/staff/student non-partisan Get Out the Vote Committee.
Emily graduated from Vassar College with a BA in drama and holds an MA in arts management from American University.
ROBERT ALFORD
PARTNER & VICE PRESIDENT
Robert has always been curious about larger systems and how they work, which has led him to study media networks, map experience paths for donors, and generally learn far too much about too many things.
From his time working at and with many institutions, Robert knows how critical ongoing engagement and stewardship can be for a campaign to meet and exceed expectations. At Weiswood, he brings this expertise to plans that inspire all of your stakeholders to contribute to campaign success and communications that keep donors engaged and poised to grow their support.
He earned his BA from Swarthmore College and MA and PhD from UC Berkeley.
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Robert joined Weiswood Strategies Ltd. in 2023 as partner and vice president, bringing experience in campaign planning, strategy, and donor relations to Weiswood’s core strengths in fundraising communications. With Emily, he serves nonprofit clients in higher education, arts and culture, and social impact spaces, and his writing has been featured in Inside Higher Ed.
Most recently, Robert was an associate at SteegeThomson Communications in Philadelphia where he worked closely with clients to develop campaign and development communications plans, create highly visual messaging and cases for support in print, video, and digital vehicles, and steward donors. Clients included Yale Law School, KIPP Foundation, Seton Hall University, and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert’s career in development began at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles where he worked as a grant writer. From there, he joined the team at UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture as assistant director of donor relations before moving east to work at Swarthmore College, where he met Emily. Prior to his career in fundraising, Robert earned a PhD in film and media at UC Berkeley, where he gained recognition for his teaching excellence and won the Philip Brett LGBTQ Studies Award.
Featured Press
Why Weiswood?
Weiswood combines “weiss” (the German word for “white”) and the English word “wood.”
White wood calls to mind aspen trees, which work together via their root systems to support the sustainability and growth of the trees above, keeping the grove healthy and thriving.
Similarly, our goal is to support the sustainability and growth of mission-driven organizations.