Jim Yunker

NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY DAY 2025: Lifetime Achievement in Fundraising

Jim Yunker’s office offers a window into his lifetime of achievement in philanthropy. There’s a framed menu from a luncheon celebrating a $72 million campaign for Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Charming animal photos that were featured in a campaign brochure for Capital Humane Society in Lincoln, Nebraska, fill a collage frame. A vase recognizing his time as chair of the Giving USA Foundation decorates the window ledge.

“Every organization that has invited us to help them has been rewarding,” he said, noting that, in his consulting career, “the highlight was having the breadth and depth.”

Yunker has spent that career “Helping Others Make A Difference.” He’s so committed to that mission that his company, The Yunker Group (founded in 1995 as Smith Beers Yunker & Company), trademarked the phrase. 

Now his help to others is being recognized by the Cincinnati chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals with the  Lifetime Achievement in Fundraising award.

His “helping” mindset can be traced to his childhood. Yunker grew up on a farm in Howe, a small town in northeast Indiana. The youngest of four children born to his doctor father and nurse mother, he milked cows before school and participated in 4-H. 

Although he never heard the word ‘philanthropy,’ his parents personified it with their generosity and volunteerism.

“They were good role models,” he said. 

Exiting a comfort zone

At Ball State, he majored in journalism and public relations as an undergrad, becoming editor of the daily paper his senior year. As a graduate assistant, he edited the alumni magazine. It was serendipitous that alumni and development shared an office: That experience – complete with phone-a-thons – gave him “the itch” for development and fundraising.

“It was helping people make a difference,” he said, echoing his firm’s mission. “It was fun; it was exciting; it was goal-oriented, striving to meet typically ambitious friendraising and fundraising goals. I’m basically an introvert in an extrovert occupation, so it made me reach outside of my comfort zone to help others.”

In 1983, he entered fundraising and search consulting in Chicago, relocating to Cincinnati in 1993. Two years later, he co-founded his own firm and consulted on executive searches, fundraising and fundraising management, volunteer coaching and strategic planning. 

Along the way, he accomplished what he considers one of his biggest achievements – marrying his wife, Dawn Simpson Yunker, in 1986. Much like his parents, the Yunkers volunteered in their kids’ schools (Andrew is now 36; Alison is 34) and their Anderson Township community. Yunker did pro bono work on school and safety levies and fundraised for the schools. For his efforts, he was named Citizen of the Year by the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce and was given the Forest Hills School District’s Friend of Children award.

Beyond Anderson, Yunker’s volunteerism includes being a founding member of Social Venture Partners-Cincinnati; 31 years with Rotary Clubs; and serving as board chair of ProSeniors and the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, among others.

Nationally, he’s a founding director of the Association of Philanthropic Counsel; past chair of the Giving USA Foundation, publisher of Giving USA; and past board leader of The Giving Institute.

Melissa Brown, principal of Melissa S. Brown & Associates in Vancouver, Washington, emphasizes the extent of Yunker’s impact. 

“Jim holds an Ed.D. from Indiana University, and his dissertation was one of the very first specifically about corporate support of higher education, and among the first about philanthropy of any kind,” she said. “He took Giving USA in new directions and guided the emergence of philanthropy as a field of study.”

He’s been recognized with the Spirit of Philanthropy Award from the IU Center for Philanthropy (now The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) and by Sigma Chi Fraternity as a Significant Sig.

A new giving role: ‘Opa’

These days, one of Yunker’s most cherished roles is that of “Opa” (“grandfather” in German). “Everyone told us it would be fun being grandparents; they just didn’t tell us how much fun,” he said. That’s why you won’t find him in his office on a Friday: It’s his “Opa day.” 

Another change based on his stage of life: The Yunker Group now focuses only on searches, which they’ve done for as varied of organizations as the Cincinnati Art Museum, TriHealth and NewPath Child & Family Solutions (formerly St. Joseph Orphanage). “The searches are more project-oriented and shorter in duration” compared with the multiyear campaigns he’d take on in the past. 

He may have scaled back, but he’s not stepping down. “I don’t plan to ever retire,” he said. “My wife will tell you this is as much my hobby as my profession.”

In reflecting on his career legacy, he talks about his fundraising philosophy – raising friends first and then sharing a good story.

“People want to give,” he said. “But you’ve gotta ask. I don’t know how many coaching sessions I’ve been in where people say ‘I can’t ask my friends.’ Would you tell them about a good movie, a good restaurant, a good wine? Well, then why wouldn’t you tell them about a good cause?

“Maybe that is my legacy: Trying to grow the belief that fundraising is a noble profession,” he said.

“Jim has worked on countless fundraising campaigns throughout the region, ensuring  organizations reach their dreams and make the Greater Cincinnati community a better place to  work, live and play,” said Danielle Gentry-Barth, president and co-founder, of MASON Consulting Group.

“With each campaign, Jim has done more than meet a single fundraising goal … He brings you into his fold, and suddenly, there’s a new-found confidence that, together, anything is possible.”

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Association of Fundraising Professionals Cincinnati presents its annual National Philanthropy Day Luncheon, honoring Dianne and David Rosenberg, Barbara Weyand, Scripps Howard Fund, Impact 100, Zach McGinty and Jim Yunker. 

Thursday, Nov. 20, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Music Hall Ballroom

Movers & Makers is media sponsor.