About Me

Ms. Holly Harrison Fiala joined Wheat Ridge Ministries in January 2007 as Vice President for Advancement. In this position, she directs the development functions, including major gifts, planned giving, donor relations and special events. Prior to her arrival at Wheat Ridge, Harrison Fiala had served as an independent consultant since 2004. Among her clients, she worked with the Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska (ROSSIA) in Anchorage, Alaska, regarding campaign readiness for restoring landmark church properties in the state. Harrison Fiala also consulted with a Chicago-area non-profit that serves the elderly to help the agency reconstitute their board of directors while positioning them for effective fund raising in the private sector. From 1999-2004, Harrison Fiala was the Regional Director for the Western Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is dedicated to protecting America’s irreplaceable historic buildings and the neighborhoods they anchor. As regional director, she was responsible for an eight-state area of the West, including Hawaii and Alaska, providing program services and launching fund raising efforts. From 1991-99, Harrison Fiala served as the Executive Director for Inspired Partnerships, an organization founded to assist congregations in the Chicagoland area with the care of their religious properties so they could serve the community’s civic needs. Launched with an initial $1.5 million grant Harrison Fiala secured from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., Inspired Partnerships doubled in size while increasing the annual operation budget and also its membership program to nearly 800 congregations. The organization also received numerous national and local acclaim, including awards from the National Park Service, the National Center for Appropriate Technology and the Chicago Leadership Award for Technology. Harrison Fiala has authored several articles including, “Landmark Churches Preserving a Legacy of Faith and Community,” “Conservation of Surplus Schools” and co-authored “Conservation of Urban Religious Properties,” which was distributed nationally by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A member of the Association for Fund Raising Professionals, Harrison Fiala graduated from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, with a bachelor’s degree in education and earned a master’s degree in art history from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a certificate in non-profit management from the University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, and certificates in fund raising planning and major gift development from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana.