The Shade Tree’s executive director new to Las Vegas, not fundraising

Stacey Lockhart has a knack for fundraising. She got her start selling the most Girl Scout cookies in her group and later worked for the city of Spokane in Washington, where she was responsible for raising money and assisting with events.

Lockhart has been working in the nonprofit sector for 30 years, also serving as the executive director of the Wenatchee Valley College Foundation in Washington and as the development director of U.S. Figure Skating. She’s hoping to bring those skills to her new job as executive director of The Shade Tree, a North Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization that provides shelter to homeless and abused women and children in crisis, as well as their pets.

Lockhart already had planned to move to Las Vegas from Washington with her husband of 10 years when she accepted the job in June. Both wanted more entertainment options and to escape the colder weather, she said.

Lockhart said she wanted to join The Shade Tree because of the passion she saw in the people who worked there.

She said that although she doesn’t have “significant contacts” in the Las Vegas area yet, she is confident she will be able to do what she did in Washington.

“I am not shy,” Lockhart said. “And I don’t have any problem reaching out and introducing myself, and jumping into the community.”

Sara Lippert, a board member for the Wenatchee Valley College Foundation, said she expects Lockhart will thrive.

“She has a great amount of compassion and energy,” she said. “If she sets a goal, it happens. … When she wrote a letter to raise money, people would send money (to the foundation).”

Over the eight years that Lockhart worked as the director of giving for Eastern Washington University — her alma mater — that school’s donations went from about $76,000 to about $2.5 million, she said. The donations were mostly small gifts.

Robert Sandidge, who is also on the board for the Wenatchee Valley College Foundation, called Lockhart a great leader. He and his wife own a production company that donates funds from ticket sales to the foundation.

“She was very supportive of what it is we’re trying to do and helping us find community leaders to help support us as well,” he said.

Lockhart said her goals are to provide leadership to strengthen the organization internally and support the board. She also hopes to raise awareness and charitable donations, which were less than $1 million last year, she said.

“I think a lot of people like to fund programs for specific things, but to me, the most incredible investment we can receive is unrestricted support … those are designated dollars, but in the meantime we need toilet paper towels for the facility. We need sheets for the beds. We need to pay the light bill.”

For example, the organization distributed 15,000 diapers last year, she said.

Lockhart said she wants to be at the point where “people believe in us enough and trust in the organization and leadership to invest in us and say, ‘I want to help you and use this where you need it the most and where it will be most impactful.’”

Contact Kailyn Brown at kbrown@viewnews.com or 702-387-5233. Follow @kailynhype on Twitter.