Kathryn Ward

Kathryn Ward is Senior Vice President of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). The Institute is a more than $33,000,000 not for profit organization located in Washington, D.C. Kathy carries responsibility for all administrative, web, and development activities. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive who has been involved in philanthropic fundraising for more than forty years, eighteen of them with the Mental Health Association, and twenty-five with AICR.

Since 1985 Kathy has served at American Institute for Cancer Research first as Vice President for Development and now as the agency’s Senior Vice President. During her tenure, she has been instrumental in increasing the Institute’s annual income from non-direct mail sources (which includes matured bequests and major gifts) from $60,000 in 1986 to approximately $18 million in fiscal year 2009. In addition she is responsible for the Institute’s web site and all web income generating activities. She also manages the HR and Administrative services, customer service, fulfillment, data base services, cage and response activities of the organization.

Kathy has served as President of the National Capital Gift Planning Council (formerly the Planned Giving Study Group of Greater Washington, D.C.) and has been a delegate to the National Committee on Planned Giving Assembly. In 2007 she was named that organization’s Distinguished Service Award recipient. She currently serves as a member of the Ethics Committee and as co-chair of the Masters Study Group.

The local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), formerly NSFRE, recognized Kathy as the 1995 Outstanding Fundraising Executive. She is a Past President of the AFP Greater Washington DC Metro Area Chapter, and has served on the AFP National Regionalization Commission.

Additionally, Kathy has been a Board Member of the Easter Seals Society for Disabled Children and Adults and has been active with the Development Committee of the National Mental Health Association. She has served as a committee member on the Direct Marketing Association’s Teleservices Ethics Committee. Kathy is a member of the Direct Marketing Association’s Not For Profit Federation Advisory Council, as co-chair of the Federation’s Government Affairs Committee and as a member of the Ethics Committee. She also serves as a member of the DMA’s Environment and Social Responsibility Committee. In addition Kathy currently serves on the Fairfax County Park Foundation Board.