Imoleayo (Ayo) is a third-year Ph.D. student at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Prior returning to academia, she was a non-profit professional with fifteen years of work experience in program management and fund development. 

As a professional fundraiser, Ayo developed foundation-specific fundraising resources and tools for over 350 American Red Cross relationship managers and created value propositions for the organization’s signature $1 million high school blood scholarship program. She managed American Diabetes Association donor relations efforts, community relations, and workplace giving in Indiana State. In 2018, she relocated to Edmonton, Canada where she became the Donor Relations Advisor with AdaptAbilities.She consulted for Food Banks Alberta, a network of food banks in the Western Canadian Province. Ayo is grades national scholarship applications for the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy, Canada, and sits on the board of AFP Canada. She’s a recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 and most recently, she co-authored a chapter on health for the 2023 GivingUSA.

Ayo received her M.A in Philanthropy from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, MSc. degree in Finance from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and Bachelors in Accounting and Management from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Nigeria.

Imoleayo Adeyeri