WINSTON-SALEM - In the world according to F. Whitney Jones, making a difference means being a good listener.

Sometimes that means listening to others and sometimes it means listening to the rumblings within yourself.

Jones, 52, has done both and says that's one reason his professional fundraising company, Whitney Jones, Inc., has succeeded.

The company was named in September to the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, an invitation only organization of 22 fundraising firms nationwide. Whitney Jones, Inc. is the only member from North Carolina.

Founded in 1981 by Jones, a Waterford, N.Y., native, the company serves public and private nonprofit organizations.

Unlike most fundraising companies, Whitney Jones does not have a national focus; it concentrates on North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi. Its clients, however, vary and include museums and cultural associations, religious organizations, educational institutions and health and human services. The company does not work for universities or large health-care organizations, Jones said.

"We do virtually everything. We create a database of prospects that becomes the donorfiles, all the correspondence, all the grant proposals," he said.

Former Life: tenured prof

Being a professional fund-raiser is Jones' second career. His first was teaching.

Jones began his teaching career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he taught from 1966 to 1971. Then he moved to St. Andrews College in Laurinburg and taught from 1971 to 1977.

It was while he was listening to a group of his St. Andrews Students map out and plan their future that he heard a voice inside himself to take a look at his own future, Jones said.

He was using the book What Color Is Your Parachute? to guide the students as they considered where they wanted to live and what kind of people they wanted to be around. With that information, those following the book's outline are encouraged to seek out like-minded people and form a network.

Jones, the tenured chairman of the English department, said he had planned on teaching only about 10 years so he started considering what his second career might be.

He identified three cities where he'd like to live- Chapel Hill, Durham, and Winston-Salem.

"I was drawn to service of some sort" Jones said, noting that Winston-Salem had a larger number of nonprofit organizations "St. Andrews emphasized service so I had service on my mind."

As a teacher, Jones said, he provided a service by having an "impact on my students and their families and to some extent their communities."

His career as a professional fundraiser has the same basis because nonprofit organizations "make a difference in the quality of life in our lives," he said.

Nonprofit take up slack

The concept of nonprofit itself fascinates Jones. America is one of the few countries, if not the only one, that does not expect the government to provide the things that nonprofit do, he said.

Jones, who declined to comment on his companies revenues, said that over the past 12 years his company has counseled 17 nonprofit organizations in the Triad, raising more than $20.3 million. More than six campaigns are under way now to raise more than $13 million for area agencies, including capital campaigns for YMCA's in Yadkin and Stokes counties, Canterbury School in Greensboro and Hospice of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

Nationally, Whitney Jones has worked with more than 150 Clients in fund raising, long-range planning and board development activities and assisted clients in raising more than $100 million in capital campaigns.

For all campaigns between 1995 and 1996, the average amount of money raised exceeded campaign goals by 9 percent.

He credits much of his company's success to Phillip Hanes, who helped him find his first job in Winston-Salem as development director at Old Salem. Before moving to Winston-Salem, Jones knew Hanes through a project he'd worked on at St. Andrews honoring Black Mountain College.

Jones worked at Old Salem from 1977 to 1980, and his company has overseen two fundraising projects since.

"It was a wonderful experience, and I continue on a regular basis to learn from Old Salem." Jones said.

In 1981 Jones joined Ampersand, Inc., a company of Hanes' that is no longer in business, providing development and public relations services for nonprofit arts and educational institutions in the Southeast. A year later, he struck out on his own."The secret of our success has been in not knowing our limitations," he said.

Work requires optimism

Whitney Jones, Inc. was started with Jones' handful of contacts and a minimal investment. His fundraising career was subsidized in those days by freelance writing for publications such as The Saturday Review and Piedmont Airlines' Pace Magazine.

For the most part, he hit the streets. He knocked on doors, passed out business cards, sent out letters. Jones said he'd done some research and strategic planning and knew he could make this company work.

He landed his first account for a capital campaign in 1983 with his former employer - Old Salem.

Richard C. Barron, vice president of development and enterprises for Old Salem at the time, said "It was a joy working with him. He was one of the most professional people that I had ever worked with. He was an excellent planner and and outstanding strategist."

Through it all, Jones maintained a quality that he had sought in hiring all 14 members of his staff: optimism.

"Optimism is very important, because we can get involved in a project that's very complex and very daunting," he said. "It's easy for someone to say, 'I don't see this working, everyone agrees,'" and non one tries to make it work.

An optimist will see this as a challenge and test how their efforts are going along the way, Jones said.

He also looks for analytical skills and the ability to listen and empathize.

Each time Jones has added a staff member he advertised and received 50 to 75 resumes from people all over the country who want to move to North Carolina, he said.

"In most instances the people I've hired have been from this area," he said.

That staff includes bankers, college administrators, and directors of development from local nonprofits and universities.

"You have a great feeling"

The staff works in teams of three, each having a senior consultant, a project coordinator and a campaign assistant, he said. Every two weeks, all of the teams get together for staff meetings and to get fresh insight into each project from co-workers who are not directly involved.

In the beginning, each team listens to the nonprofit's administration identify the goals for its project. Then the Jones team goes into the community contacting the 25 to 30 people who have been identified as possible major contributors, Jones said.

Those people or companies are told about the project and asked what they would think of it and how they would go about raising the money.

The theory is that if the potential benefactors are genuinely interested and have input, they're more likely to support the project financially.

"Most projects take from 12 to 24 months of work, and by the end a bonding experience has taken place so you have a great feeling," Jones said.

"The kind of work we do is incredibly fulfilling for us, the organizations for which we work, the volunteers and the donors."

The locations the he chose years ago also helps.

"This has been a great city to be located in. It's a great region and North Carolina honors philanthropy and volunteerism," he said. "If you have a clearly articulated project that's motivating, you can accomplish significant projects."