Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry announces the upcoming retirement of Tara Elgin Holley, the Episcopal Church Director of Development, effective October 31, 2018.  Holley has held the position since 2016.

“We are thankful to Tara for building a strong development staff and for laying a good foundation for our ongoing development work”, said Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry. “We pray God’s blessing on her in her new life chapter of retirement.”

Central to the success of any development effort is a mailing list of qualified donors. As director of development, Holley researched and increased the church’s mailing list significantly, adding close to 2,000 qualified donors during her tenure. She also introduced an annual appeal supporting the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church as well as raising funds for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Episcopal Migration Ministries.

This transition affords us an opportunity to do two things.

• First, it enables an opportunity to continue the good work that our development team is already doing. We have a wonderful and capable development team in place. We are not going to stop and start all over again. We are going to continue the good work that has begun and build on that.
• Second, transitions afford the opportunity to review and assess how we can do this work even better, more strategically and effectively, for a churchwide community.

Holley will contract with DFMS through the end of this year to complete several development projects she has spearheaded, while the Executive Leadership Team assesses the scope and structure of the continuing work.  As this office reports to the Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, Kurt Barnes will provide oversight supervision of the department during this brief transition.