YMCA of Coastal Georgia Chooses Suzanne Duggan as Annual Campaign Director

SAVANNAH, Ga. - June 6, 2023 - PRLog -- (SAVANNAH, GA) The YMCA of Coastal Georgia, which operates 11 facilities across eight coastal Georgia counties, has selected Suzanne Duggan for the post of annual campaign director. In that role, her primary responsibility will be managing the annual Community Impact Campaign, the annual fundraising drive which makes so many of the YMCA's programs possible. This year's goal is $662,000 for a campaign that will run through Dec. 31, 2023.

Since her arrival in April, Duggan has already brought innovation to this year's campaign, creating the Founder's Circle as a premium donor recognition program that salutes the Y's long history in the area.

YMCA members, supporters and the general public can donate to the YMCA's campaign via its website, www.ymcaofcoastalga.org where they will find a clickable link marked "GIVE" or by going to YMCAofCoastalGA.org/Donate. Duggan also invites donors to contact her personally at her YMCA office at 6400 Habersham St., Ste. A, in Savannah, (912) 358-2651. Donations are tax-deductible.

Duggan comes to the YMCA from Durham, Ontario, in Canada, where her most recent role was fundraising and development manager for the Tom Thomson Art Museum in Owen Sound, Ontario. In that role, she partnered with that community's YMCA to create art camps, a community outreach program and an award-winning art program for teens with autism.

Duggan also worked with Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh in a fundraising and sponsorship role for seven years and, prior to that, spent 12 years as an archaeologist for a Pittsburgh engineering consulting firm.

She received a bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology/art history from the University of Pittsburgh and also studied Irish history and cultural studies at Saint Patrick's College Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. She has participated in archaeological work in Belize, serving as archaeologist and finds assistant at the Cahal Pech Archaeological Site, and also worked with the Wessex Archaeological Trust in England.

Duggan describes her hobbies as painting and a love of history and historical architecture, along with tennis and a new-found interest in pickleball. Her reading interests run to history, art history and murder mysteries, and she enjoys visiting art galleries and museums.

With a successful annual fundraising drive, the YMCA hopes to expand on 2022's very successful record. A total community benefit of $1.5 million was provided, and more than 80,000 members and program participants were served. Among the community service highlights, some 6,694 pounds of fresh produce were distributed, and 278 beds were delivered to children in the "A Place to Dream" program. Meanwhile, the YReaders program had an 87% success rate in bringing participants to grade level