AFP consulting group offers nonprofit staff a window into flexible expertise
AFP’s consulting group met via Zoom as A Simple Gesture weighed when outside experts can help with green bag pickups, fundraising, and food recovery.
AFP’s Consulting Affinity Group met July 15 from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern via Zoom, one of six 2026 sessions the association scheduled for consultants on the third Wednesday of the month. Catherine Ashton and Jaye Lopez Van Soest served as facilitators, giving members of the fundraising field a place to compare how project work, interim help, and specialty consulting fit into nonprofit operations.
AFP’s affinity groups are spaces for thoughtful conversations among like-minded fundraising professionals, with membership accessed through an AFP member account and a community presence on AFP Connect. A Simple Gesture in Greensboro faces that staffing question directly.
A Simple Gesture in Greensboro works across Guilford County to provide a sustainable supply of food to local food pantries, food banks, and other nonprofits serving meals or clients. Its Green Bag Food Donor Program brings donations from doorsteps, while its Food Recovery program focuses on keeping good food from going to waste. A July 25, 2026 volunteer-driver date appears on the group’s calendar.
On Feb. 25, 2025, A Simple Gesture’s Facebook page put the total collected at more than 19 million pounds of food. On May 12, 2026, WFMY News 2 put demand at local nonprofits including A Simple Gesture at about 40% above the year before. In August 2025, the group received a $50,000 grant to expand Green Bag Recovery, Food Recovery, and SHARE.
Philanthropy.org shows A Simple Gesture - Greensboro Inc. receiving $569,000 across 49 grants from 19 funders between 2020 and 2024, with the Foundation for a Healthy High Point as its largest funder. In that setting, consultants can be most useful for fundraising strategy, communications, systems setup, and program design that supports the Green Bag routes and pantry partnerships.
A Simple Gesture’s founders, Jonathan Trivers and Karen Trivers, started the organization after retiring in Paradise, California. The model has since been adapted beyond Guilford County, including at Arlington Food Bank and in a 2018 Marshfield, Massachusetts report tied to Marshfield Food Pantry.
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