Q&A with Sarah Weaver
Senior Gift Planning Advisor, Sarah Weaver, is the newest member of the CICF Development Team. Weaver shares more about her background, her personal charitable passions and why she is thrilled to be working at CICF. You can contact her at sarahw@cicf.org or 317.634.2423 x 510.
What is your role at CICF?
I am a Senior Gift Planning Advisor on the Development Team. I work alongside professional advisors with our new and prospective donors to help them identify the type of fund that will best meet their needs and what kinds of assets will allow them to maximize their charitable contribution. Once a donor has a fund with us, I then work with our Philanthropic Services Advisors to ensure that we continue to meet the donor’s philanthropic goals.
What have you enjoyed most so far in your time at CICF?
CICF occupies a very unique space within our community, and the opportunity to come in and be a part of this organization that operates to improve Central Indiana on a truly systemic level was irresistible to me. And it has exceeded expectations. My colleagues at CICF are intelligent and entrepreneurial, collaborative and philanthropically-minded. They live our mission of inspiring, supporting and practicing philanthropy, leadership and service every day, and it has been a privilege to join their ranks.
How did you get to CICF?
I arrived at CICF after spending five years as an attorney at Ice Miller LLP. While I was there, I worked in the real estate and environmental practice groups. One thing I loved about real estate work, in particular, was having a direct connection to, and intimate knowledge of, many of the exciting real estate projects around Indianapolis. That investment in progress within our community has certainly carried over to my work at CICF, just through a slightly different lens.
My five years at Ice Miller gave me invaluable experience, but I had been plagued with a nagging urge to enter the not-for-profit sphere for some time. A friend told me about the open position at CICF, and it was as if the planets had aligned. Coming to CICF has allowed me to blend my technical legal expertise and background with my passion for philanthropy and this community.
What are your own personal charitable passions?
I am currently a volunteer facilitator and chairman of the board of directors for Brooke’s Place, which is Central Indiana’s only provider of ongoing peer-based support services for grieving kids and families. Having lost my brother in 2010, serving those living with grief is very close to my heart, and through Brooke’s Place, I have found a support system as I navigate my own grief journey. It’s an exciting time to be a part of Brooke’s Place as we look to expand the reach of our services. Grief is universal: it transcends gender, race, religion, ethnicity, age, income and geography, so we are constantly working to determine how we can serve more people in our community.
Are you originally from Indianapolis?
No, actually. I am from Nashville, Tennessee and ended up in Indy in a rather roundabout way. I started college at Michigan State, before transferring during my sophomore year to Indiana University Bloomington (IU). After graduation from IU, I went to law school at Washington University in St. Louis, landing in Indianapolis in 2011 to take the bar exam and start my job at Ice Miller. Although I grew up in the South, I’ve always considered myself much more of a Midwesterner because my parents are originally from Michigan. Having lived here now for over five years, Indy is home. I met my husband here, who, like my parents, is originally from Michigan, and we got married here. We love it, and I can’t imagine leaving.
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