Cara Fogarty
Social Purpose Sector Consultant
Maryland
Peace Through Action has selected Cara Fogarty as a Featured Peacebuilder because of her longstanding support to and advocacy for nonprofit social purpose organizations, which are centers for civic engagement, including volunteering, in their communities.
Cara Fogarty, MA, of Leonardtown, Md., is a senior consultant at the Nonprofit Institute at the College of Southern Maryland. Cara is responsible for the Institute and all of its work with nonprofits in the tri-county region. She is also a Standards for Excellence Institute® Licensed Consultant. Also Cara is an adjunct professor at College of Southern Maryland where she teaches writing and communication courses.
Cara possesses deep knowledge of the nonprofit sector in Southern Maryland. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served on the Charles County COVID-19 Recovery Task Force and on the Maryland Governor’s Nonprofit Working Group which made recommendations to Governor Hogan’s COVID-19 response plan, “Maryland Strong: Roadmap to Recovery.”
Prior to joining the Nonprofit Institute, Cara worked as the communications director at the Greenwell Foundation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. She also served on the Nonprofit Institute Advisory Council for St. Mary’s County and the St. Mary’s County Chamber of Commerce Tourism and Hospitality Advisory Committee.
Before working in the nonprofit arena, Cara had a career as a journalist. After working as a news reporter in Columbus, Ohio, and upstate New York, she joined the now-defunct Mutual Broadcasting System/NBC Radio Network in Arlington, Va., where she produced national newscasts. She later joined NPR in Washington, DC, where she was the supervising online editor for NPR.org in the early days of the web.
Cara holds a Master of Arts in journalism from The Ohio State University.
Cara is passionate about nonprofit organizations, which are the heart and soul of a community. Cara understands that nonprofits foster civic engagement through volunteerism – people can volunteer their time and share their knowledge and expertise. She has observed that volunteering creates opportunities for collaboration and networking, skill-building and leadership development, and establishing important social bonds. Many corporate and individual partners contribute to the governance and operations of these vital organizations by serving on a board of directors, assisting with special events, and lending their personal time and talent to fulfill the needs of the nonprofit. Cara recognizes that volunteerism truly helps build strong nonprofits and strong communities.