AFP Honors Las Vegas Fundraiser, Michael Blimes, as a 2023 Distinguished Fellow

CONTACTS:
Natalie Paskoski, Manager of Content, (434) 236 – 5583, Natalie.Paskoski@afpglobal.org

(Arlington, Virginia) Michael Blimes, FAFP, of Las Vegas, NV is recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) as one of this year’s Distinguished Fellows. Blimes was nominated by the AFP Colorado Chapter, where he has spent half of his career to date, as a member and chapter leader.

The Distinguished Fellows Program recognizes individuals who have made significant leadership contributions to the association and the fundraising profession. The designation represents the pinnacle of service to the tenets of giving, volunteerism, and philanthropy. 

Michael Blimes serves as Senior Vice President of Client Development with Catapult Fundraising, Inc. in Henderson, NV and is an experienced nonprofit executive and consultant with experience in nonprofit leadership and securing philanthropic gifts. 

Over the course of his five-decade long career, he has worked on behalf of numerous causes including animal welfare, the arts, healthcare, higher education, human and social services, museums, and international affairs. 

His specialties cover a wide range of fundraising verticals including annual/major gifts, capital campaigns, planned giving, prospect identification, community relations, marketing, and executive management. 

In addition to his work with nonprofit organizations, he also founded his own consulting company, The MIDAS Consulting Group, and served as a senior consultant at the Minneapolis, MN regional office of the New York City-based national consulting firm, C.W. Shaver and Company.  

“Being selected as an AFP Distinguished Fellow is an incredibly humbling and unexpected recognition by my professional peers of my lifelong desire to make a positive difference in the world around me,” said Blimes, “I value the role I have played in various executive positions and as a consultant. My career in fundraising has allowed me to be a catalyst of change for the better with organizations, but also grow as an individual gaining so much knowledge about such a wide range of subjects and the needs of so many organizations in our communities, states, the nation, and the world.”     

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Since 1960, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) has been the standard-bearer for professionalism in fundraising. The association works to advance effective and ethical philanthropy by providing advocacy, research, education, mentoring, collaboration and technology opportunities for the world’s largest network of professional fundraisers. AFP’s more than 27,000 members in over 190 professional chapters raise over $100 billion annually for a wide variety of charitable organizations and causes across the globe. For more information, go to afpglobal.org.