Bellingrath Gardens and Home hired Tom Livers as Director of Development. His duties include securing and directing all annual and capital gifts for the Bellingrath Gardens and Home Foundation, as well as a focus on elevating and enhancing Bellingrath’s physical campus, programs, outreach, and reputation through fundraising.
Livers is an award-winning fundraiser with an exceptional track record of success. Over the course of more than two decades in development, he has raised more than $70 million through major gifts, corporations and foundations, and has overseen numerous successful capital campaigns and endowment initiatives.
Livers, who resides in Biloxi, Mississippi, has worked extensively in the Gulf Coast region. Previously, he was president of Commonsense Fundraising, a consulting firm that provides in-depth planning, implementation and management of development campaigns for nonprofit organizations. His work experience in Mobile includes leading the development department at the Community Foundation of South Alabama, where he managed the establishment of new agency endowment through the three-year Kresge Foundation “Partnership to Build Community Capital” three-to-one match challenge grant.
In 2004, he was named Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year by the Gulf Coast Association of Fundraising Professionals. Also, he was twice nominated Fundraiser of the Year for the International Association of Fundraising Professionals.
“We could not be more pleased to have Tom join the team at Bellingrath,” said Dr. Todd Lasseigne, Executive Director. “Tom’s decades of experience in the development world, plus his connections to the Mobile community, will greatly benefit Bellingrath Gardens and Home as we embark on efforts to restore and enliven it and present it as ever relevant to our visitors, members, patrons, and community partners.”
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Livers earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at the University of Louisville and completed graduate zoology studies at Butler University and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.
