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Toby Parker Pearce
Adaptive Nonprofit Leader + Relationship Manager + Tenacious Fundraiser + Cause-Marketing Expert
Professional Background
Toby Parker Pearce is a distinguished development executive with an impressive track record spanning over seventeen years in the non-profit sector. His career has been characterized by a relentless pursuit of fundraising excellence, contributing to the successful generation of more than $100 million for various philanthropic causes. Notably, Toby currently serves as the Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Hudson River Park Friends (HRPK Friends), where he has played an essential role in managing and expanding the Development team to new heights.
At HRPK Friends, Toby initiated pioneering fundraising and marketing programs, campaigns, events, and initiatives that have significantly raised the organization's profile. Under his leadership, he successfully doubled the annual operating revenue of HRPK Friends to an impressive $5 million. Toby's vision and leadership were instrumental in launching the organization’s first-ever capital campaign, which resulted in raising an additional $2.5 million dedicated to the redesign, renovation, and construction of the award-winning Chelsea Waterside Play Area (CWP). Additionally, Toby is spearheading the ambitious fundraising effort to secure $3.5 million for the upcoming Pier 26 Science Play Area, showcasing his commitment to enhancing park facilities and educational programs.
His marketing contributions are equally noteworthy. Toby played a pivotal role in refreshing the HRPK Friends brand alongside the celebrated design firm Pentagram. He has also transformed the Annual Gala into a star-studded affair, generating over $3 million while achieving nearly 600 million impressions through strategic media engagements. The growth and transformation of HRPK Friends extend beyond fundraising; since his involvement, the organization has seen significant expansions, including ventures like Community Composting and Park over Plastic, alongside the completion of significant projects such as Pier 26 and the construction of “Little Island” at Pier 55. Overall, these projects represent a remarkable total investment of approximately $1 billion.
Education and Achievements
Toby is a proud alumnus of The George Washington University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs. This academic foundation has provided him with the critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to navigate the complex world of nonprofit fundraising and donor development. His educational background, combined with his natural aptitude for leadership, has positioned him to create meaningful change in his field.
Before joining HRPK Friends, Toby demonstrated his exceptional capabilities in various prominent roles within the fundraising and development arena. As the National Development Director for the Northeast at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), Toby was instrumental in enhancing philanthropic contributions across all operational areas. His adeptness in cultivating corporate partnerships using a “triple bottom line” framework led to his recognition as the number one regional fundraising performer. Under his strategic direction, annual donations to HSF soared from $11 million to over $20 million, illustrating his effectiveness in driving significant growth in philanthropic support.
In collaboration with the HSF leadership team, Toby played a key role in launching a national advertising campaign titled “Generation 1st Degree.” This inspiring initiative aimed to ensure that every Hispanic American household had access to at least one college education, resulting in over $10 million in donated media and generous outreach through more than 200 million impressions.
Community Involvement
Outside of his professional obligations, Toby is actively involved in various community engagement efforts. He is a member of the NYC Parks & Open Spaces Partners (POSP) collaboration and serves as the Co-Lead of the Development Subcommittee. His expertise and insights are invaluable to these initiatives, as he works to promote and enhance green spaces throughout New York City.
Toby's commitment to fostering professional development extends into his role with the NYC Association for Fundraising Professional (AFP). During his tenure, he served as a Director, contributing his knowledge and experiences to support his peers in the fundraising community. He has also co-chaired multiple tracks at the AFP Conference, including the Corporate & Foundation Track in 2016 and 2017, as well as the Advanced Fundraising Track in 2018. He remains dedicated to offering guidance and support for organizational membership efforts as a member of the Membership Committee from 2019 to 2020.
Toby Pearce’s extensive experience, prominent positions, and passion for development in the nonprofit sector truly exemplify a commitment to making an impact. His strategic foresight, innovative fundraising solutions, and collaborative spirit serve as a powerful catalyst for change, thereby enriching the communities in which he is involved.
Achievements
- Successfully raised over $100 million for various nonprofit organizations including HRPK Friends and Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
- Doubled the annual operating revenue of HRPK Friends to $5 million.
- Launched the first capital campaign for HRPK Friends, raising $2.5 million for the Chelsea Waterside Play Area.
- Spearheading the fundraising effort for a $3.5 million Pier 26 Science Play Area.
- Elevated HRPK Friends' Annual Gala to a $3 million event with nearly 600 million media impressions.
- Increased annual giving at HSF from $11 million to over $20 million.
- Co-led the “Generation 1st Degree” campaign, generating $10 million in media support and over 200 million impressions.
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Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.