By Shayna Mace | Photo by Hillary Schave
The seeds for Sandy Morales’ journey to become CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County (BBBS) were planted years before she ever joined the nonprofit.
Prior to working at BBBS, Morales held roles in marketing and development at United Way of Dane County. The two nonprofits often worked together on events and initiatives and are even located in the same building on Madison’s East Side. Morales also had a friendly relationship with BBBS’ CEO at the time, Dora Zúñiga. Occasionally, she sought career guidance from Zúñiga.
“She was one of the first women of color that I knew that was leading an organization [in the area]. So [eventually] I sought out [Zúñiga’s] advice and asked her, ‘How did you do this? How does someone become CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters?’” says Morales, noting she admired Zúñiga’s success.
Zúñiga explained that Morales should go into development to learn what it takes to raise money to be able to sustain an organization. Morales took her words to heart and started working in fund development at United Way. Zúñiga’s words echoed in her head: “She [said], if you don’t have money, you don’t have a mission,” says Morales.
In 2013, Zúñiga recruited Morales to be BBBS’ fund development director. At the time, BBBS only had nine employees. (Now they have twice as many.) Morales’ plan was to bring more structure to the nonprofit’s fund development.
“When I came here … I wasn’t on a development team. I was the development team. It was myself and the development coordinator,” she says.
A year into Morales’ tenure at BBBS, Zúñiga stepped down as CEO. Soon, people started asking Morales if she was the interim CEO — or if she was going to apply for the position. “[I thought], ‘I’ve never been a CEO. I don’t even know what that would entail, or do I even want that?’” she reflects. “But … I got a lot of external encouragement and even a couple of board members that encouraged me to go through the [interview] process.”
In 2015, Morales was hired as CEO and in 2016, she officially took over — during BBBS’ 50th anniversary year. Morales says she’s proud of the nonprofit’s successful track record since she’s been CEO.
“When I came to this agency … we were a national brand — but we didn’t have a lot of recognition. So that has been one of the biggest accomplishments for me — elevating the brand in the community. Some of it I’ve taken on myself, but some of it has been by hiring a team,” she says. “I pride myself in the team that we’ve built, being able to identify talent and giving people a chance to grow. A lot of the people that are in leadership positions [now] didn’t start there — they’ve been promoted — which is great.”
Morales, similar to many of BBBS’ mentees, has also gained confidence through her role.
“We certainly have a good number of kids that come in who are shy or lack self-confidence — [but] have this little spark. And they’re just waiting for someone to come and fan that fire and make it brighter. And I’ll say that’s definitely what keeps me here at the organization.”
What is Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission?
“Our mission is to ignite the power and promise of youth, and we do that through one-to-one mentoring relationships between kids and volunteer mentors in our community. I think one of the best things about [BBBS] is that you’re building a relationship with someone that you wouldn’t otherwise.”
Read more from our September/October 2024 cover story “Success Stories” here.
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