10/09/2026
FACILITATOR FIVE - Jamie Sechrist
October 2026
The comments and opinions of our Facilitators represent their personal perspectives and not those of the WILL organization.
I am Jamie Sechrist, the Executive Director of the Gila Community Foundation.
1. What would you like to share about your professional/personal history?
Jamie SechristI’ve spent more than 16 years working in the nonprofit sector, although I’m not sure I ever sat down and decided, “I’m going to make a career out of nonprofits.” It just sort of happened—and then I realized I loved the work. Today, I’m the Executive Director of the Gila Community Foundation (GCF), where I get to work with nonprofits, donors, local governments, community leaders, and some incredibly passionate people throughout southwestern New Mexico. Before coming to GCF in 2024, I spent nearly a decade working in nonprofit fundraising and marketing in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico. I’ve also spent about 20 years living and working in small communities, and I think that has shaped me as much as anything professionally. Small communities teach you the importance of relationships, collaboration, and finding ways to bring people together around a common purpose. I believe very strongly in community, collaboration, and getting things done. I’m also a bit of a nonprofit governance and compliance nerd, which is probably not something most people willingly admit in public.
2. How did you get interested in your topic for the class?
One of the things I discovered after coming to the GCF is that a lot of people know of the organization, but they don't necessarily know everything we actually do. And, to be fair, community foundations can be a little difficult to explain! People may know us because of Give Grandly, a local nonprofit or community project we fiscally sponsor, a charitable fund, an emergency response, or a grant we helped bring into the community. But those are all pieces of a much larger picture. That is what interested me in doing this class. I wanted an opportunity to pull back the curtain a little and talk about what a community foundation actually is and the wide range of philanthropic work GCF is involved in throughout southwest New Mexico. We help people create charitable funds and endowments. We work with donors who want to make a difference in their communities and we fiscally sponsor emerging projects and organizations. We also help strengthen nonprofits through training and technical assistance and we bring funding into the region, support community initiatives, help connect resources with needs, and sometimes simply help someone with a great idea figure out how to turn it into something real. To me, philanthropy isn't only about writing a check. It's about people sharing their money, time, knowledge, relationships, and ideas to make their communities stronger. My hope with this class is that people walk away saying, “I had no idea GCF did all of that.” And maybe they'll also see a place where their own interests, ideas, or generosity can connect with the work happening throughout our region.
3. What brought you to WILL?
Curiosity.
I love the whole idea behind WILL because I don't think we ever reach an age or point in our careers when we should stop learning. One of the things I find fascinating about Silver City is the incredible amount of knowledge tucked away in this community. You meet someone and discover they were a professor, an artist, a scientist, a business owner, a government official, a world traveler—or they have spent 40 years becoming extraordinarily knowledgeable about something you know absolutely nothing about. WILL gives people a way to share all of that. So when I was asked to present, it was an easy yes. I may technically be the Facilitator, but I guarantee there will be people sitting in that room who know things I don't. That's part of what makes it fun.
4. How about living in Silver City, what brought and keeps you here?
Silver City is a little hard to explain to someone who hasn't lived here. We're quirky. We're creative. We're independent. We have strong opinions. And somehow, it works. What keeps me here is the sense that you can actually make a difference. In a larger city, it can be easy to feel disconnected from the problems around you. Here, you know the people doing the work. You see them at meetings, community events, restaurants, the grocery store, and everywhere else. There is something incredibly rewarding about living in a place where relationships still matter and where one person with a good idea can actually get some people around a table and make something happen. And then there is southwest New Mexico itself. The mountains, the open spaces, the history, the arts, the cultures and the people make this a pretty extraordinary place to call home. I genuinely care about what happens here, and I want to be part of making it stronger.
5. One little known fact about you?
I think one thing people may not know about me is how much I genuinely enjoy building things from the ground up. Give me an idea that isn't quite fully formed yet, a problem that needs solving, or something that everyone agrees should exist but no one is quite sure how to create, and I'm probably going to be interested. I enjoy figuring out how all the pieces fit together—who needs to be at the table, what resources are available, what's missing, and how we move from talking about something to actually doing it. Maybe that's not particularly surprising given what I do for a living, but it's definitely part of who I am. I'm much happier asking, “How can we make this happen?” than explaining all the reasons why it can't.
Bea McKinney, WILL's Facilitator-Five Coordinator
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