Marketer of the Year Past Winners

2002-2003 Marketer of the Year

Kay Partney Lautman, CFRE
President, Lautman & Company

Excerpts from nomination submitted by Lisa Maska:

There are so many reasons why I’m nominating Kay Lautman for the DMFA’s first Marketer of the Year award.

One obvious reason is that Kay is simply one of the most important leaders in our industry. In her 35 years in fundraising— first at the World Wildlife Fund, then with the Oram Group, and now heading up Lautman & Company — she has raised money for some of the most important causes of our times. Her work has helped fight social injustice…protect animals from cruelty and abuse … feed homebound elderly people… find homes and jobs for the homeless…save endangered species…provide services for people with AIDS…and protect women and children affected by domestic violence.

She’s also helped raise money to build some of our country’s most treasured monuments to the human experience, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, the National Japanese American Memorial, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial and the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial.

Kay has been dedicated to the DMFA from the start. She helped found the DMFA thirty years ago, and has been an active member ever since, speaking frequently at luncheons and workshops, and encouraging her staff to be active in the DMFA as well.

I truly admire how generous Kay is in volunteering her time with numerous professional associations. In addition to the DMFA, she speaks frequently for the AFP, the DMA, and DMAW, and she has served on their boards. Within the direct marketing consulting community, she promotes ethics and integrity in practice as well as through her work as a founding member of the Association of Direct Response Fundraising Counsel (ADRFCO).

Most people in the industry know that Kay wrote the book on direct mail fundraising—literally. Her first book—Dear Friend, Mastering the Art of Direct Mail Fundraising— was a classic. For years, her book was given to recipients of the DMFA’s Sanky Perlowin Award winner. Now that it’s out of print there are only dog-eared copies of that yellow primer around. Kay recently took time to write a new book, Direct Marketing for Nonprofits.

Those are all good reasons to nominate Kay. She’s made enormous contributions to the practice of direct mail fundraising.

But there is another reason that I think you should consider. And that is what’s in her heart.

Kay has worked tirelessly on behalf of the homeless of DC. She helped create a local organization in her neighborhood—the Community Council for the Homeless. She has been a very active board member, and recently served as co-president of the board. She does pro-bono direct mail work for them, too, helping to raise much-needed funds. It’s a wonderful group, which has done enormous good in this community. And she brings this passion and dedication to each and every one of the organizations with whom we work.

It’s her commitment that makes Kay so special. Yes, she has developed countless successful packages, launched many organizations in the mail, and helped shape our industry. But beyond that, it’s her deep concern for the causes she cares about …and for making the world a better place…that make her the ideal candidate for this award.

Thank you for considering Kay for this award.

Besides, she’s always so disappointed when she buys raffle tickets at the Holiday Party and doesn’t win anything. This would really mean a lot to her.