Gretchen Upholt
Treasurer, NPCA
Gretchen Upholt served as a Community Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Korop, Ukraine, where she designed project frameworks and wrote grants in partnership with a number of local government and non-government organizations based in her 4,000 person county seat. In addition to her site work, Gretchen sat on the committee tasked with making funding decisions for the USAID-funded SPA grant program. Gretchen joined the Finance Committee of the NPCA in 2018 and was elected to the board in 2019.
Currently Gretchen is a lead consultant for the Midwest office of FMA, a consulting firm focused on building the financial and operational capacity of nonprofits. In that role Gretchen is responsible for the business development and growth strategy of the Midwest region. In addition to her focus on business development, Gretchen splits her time between playing an active role as trainer, coach, and curriculum developer for FMA’s cohort training initiatives and as consultant to nonprofit clients across the country, helping nonprofit leaders improve their financial management skills and processes.
Before joining the FMA team, Gretchen served as the head of the Volunteer Department at the Thabyay Education Network in Thailand. Gretchen’s widely diverse nonprofit experience includes working on the corporate citizenship team at the TCC Group, designing and implementing a pilot research study on nonprofit talent costs for the Talent Philanthropy Project, as a project manager with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, and as Chorus Manager for The Choral Arts Society of Washington.
Gretchen holds a Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Arts and Cultural Management from American University in Washington, D.C. She currently lives in Chicago and is active in a number of local organizations in the Chicagoland area.
Currently Gretchen is a lead consultant for the Midwest office of FMA, a consulting firm focused on building the financial and operational capacity of nonprofits. In that role Gretchen is responsible for the business development and growth strategy of the Midwest region. In addition to her focus on business development, Gretchen splits her time between playing an active role as trainer, coach, and curriculum developer for FMA’s cohort training initiatives and as consultant to nonprofit clients across the country, helping nonprofit leaders improve their financial management skills and processes.
Before joining the FMA team, Gretchen served as the head of the Volunteer Department at the Thabyay Education Network in Thailand. Gretchen’s widely diverse nonprofit experience includes working on the corporate citizenship team at the TCC Group, designing and implementing a pilot research study on nonprofit talent costs for the Talent Philanthropy Project, as a project manager with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, and as Chorus Manager for The Choral Arts Society of Washington.
Gretchen holds a Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Arts and Cultural Management from American University in Washington, D.C. She currently lives in Chicago and is active in a number of local organizations in the Chicagoland area.
