Brandon Prescott Is Doing a World of Good
Written by Meg Seitz · Photography by Julia Fay
Brandon Prescott is doing a lot of good in this world.
We’re talking good that improves the health and well-being of others; good that preserves naturally beautiful corners of the world; good that empowers multiple generations; good that changes living conditions and opportunities for parents and children. {Continued below}
As Director of Engagement for Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), Prescott serves as both fundraiser and ‘friend’-raiser for an organization driven by two big agenda items – transform lives and save the planet. SHI has been doing that work in the Central America for 20 years. In that time, the organization has made a tremendous impact. They’ve planted four million trees and served thousands of families.
“A lot of times, what you value in life can dictate what you do for work.”
How SHI creates that impact is unique. When a local family in Belize, Panama or Honduras chooses to partner with SHI, they enter into a four-year or five-year commitment. SHI’s boots-on-the ground team meets regularly with a family to teach them how to farm organically. The effort is two-fold: generate strength in their communities through agribusiness and stop deforestation.
Through this partnership, the family earns income that they can then use for education and healthcare.
Yes, it’s a sustainable investment that’s good for the families, the community and the planet. But it’s also about so much more. It’s about empowerment. Which is what Prescott loves about his work.
The work Prescott does now became a reality with advice from a career counselor; the advice was both serendipitous and empowering.
After leaving a job selling insurance, Prescott took a career counseling evaluation which yielded ironic advice – it recommended he go into sales. The career counselor advised him to consider sales with a more unique approach. “I remember he said, ‘Well, have you ever thought about working for a nonprofit?’” Prescott recalled.
Prescott took on sales from a different angle – fundraising. He was now responsible for selling a nonprofit’s mission and selling empowerment on a whole new level.
Prescott’s career in fundraising has moved him all over the U.S. – from Development Officer with the University of Southern Mississippi to Major Gifts Manager at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless to Major Gifts Officer for Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. He started with SHI in February 2018.
For Prescott, the goal is empowerment – for those he serves and supports and, also, ironically, for himself.
“A lot of times, what you value in life can dictate what you do for work,” he shares.
With perspective like that, we know a world of future good awaits.
Meet the Author: Meg Seitz is the Founder and Managing Creative Partner of toth shop, an agency with one goal: Elevate your brand’s content through powerful writing, creativity, and strategy. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor with Queens University and Founding Partner of the children’s book series, “Bea is for Business”.
She’s an English major with an MBA, so she can talk Homer’s “The Odyssey” just as well as she can talk sunk costs – though she’d much prefer the former.
Meet the photographer: Julia Murray, owner of Julia Fay Photography, feels most at home behind a camera with a story to tell on the other side. Her business began during her sophomore year of college, while majoring in radio and tv broadcasting. Now residing in Charlotte NC, she primarily shoots weddings and other local small businesses like her own. Her favorite part about her job is the connection it brings between art and people.
