When Jayme Dingler was younger, she aspired to be a rock star.  One thing she knew for sure was that when she was rich and famous, she would use her fortune and platform to help people.  While international fame and wealth eluded her, fortune was still on her side when she landed here on the Mid-Shore.  Now, she is still singing (you can find her performing at venues around Shore under her stage name Jayme D), but more importantly, she is living her dream of helping people through her company, What’s Good, LLC, which recently celebrated its first year in business.

It was quite a journey to get to this moment.  Before moving into the nonprofit sector, Dingler was working in financial services as a sales assistant at a local brokerage firm.  She and her colleagues would occasionally provide dinner for Talbot Interfaith Shelter (TIS), which, at the time, was a rotating cold weather homeless shelter housing 5 people at once.  Her boss was on TIS’ Board of Directors.  When the organization was looking for new Board Members, he encouraged her to apply, and she was invited to join.

As someone who has always had a knack for creativity, Dingler signed up to be on the shelter’s Communications Committee.  Not long after she joined the Board, the organization was presented with the opportunity to purchase a former bed and breakfast in downtown Easton and establish a permanent shelter facility.  Around that same time, the head of the Communications Committee stepped down, and Dingler got a crash course in public relations during a very challenging time.  The shelter was ultimately awarded its permit to operate and opened its doors at the end of 2014.

As the shelter grew to include transitional apartments and a program that offered a path from homelessness to self-sufficiency, Dingler’s passion for the mission – and for marketing and fundraising – also grew.  When TIS decided it was time to hire someone to help with marketing and fundraising, she jumped at the opportunity.  She started out as the Marketing and Communications Director in 2017, but by the beginning of the next fiscal year, she had graduated into the role of Marketing and Development Director.

Over the next three years, the shelter expanded rapidly, including purchasing a second shelter facility.  In that time, Dingler helped TIS grow from a $300,000 organization to a $1 million+ organization.

When COVID hit, while still working for TIS, Dingler began receiving calls from other organizations in need of advice and guidance.  She realized that she could make a larger impact on the community if she were able to assist multiple organizations at once.  On June 30, 2021, Jayme spent her last day as the Marketing and Development Director for Talbot Interfaith Shelter, and on July 1^st, What’s Good, LLC was born.

Dingler currently works with seven local nonprofits (including TIS, which will always be of great importance to her), providing a range of assistance including full-service marketing support, development strategy, event planning assistance, fundraising training, and more.  She is thrilled with the success that What’s Good and its clients have enjoyed over the past year.

“It has been a truly fulfilling year,” she shares.  “Being able to work with so many worthy organizations, and to watch their progress makes my heart so full.  It’s pretty amazing that this is what I get to do for a living.”

Dingler’s clients are feeling the love for What’s Good, too.  Cristy Morrell, Executive Director of Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers, had this to say:

“Jayme is professional, knowledgeable, and extremely creative which makes working with her an absolute pleasure.  I have found Jayme responsive to our organization’s myriad of needs and her ideas and execution are always spot on.  I can’t recommend Jayme and What’s Good enough.”

There is one more thing that Dingler is very proud of accomplishing this year.  She wrote and published a book called The Itty Bitty Book of Nonprofit Fundraising: Tips for Board Members from a Development Director who hates asking people for money.

One of her favorite parts of being a Marketing and Development Director was building relationships with the Board of Directors.  As is typical with most nonprofit organizations, fundraising is a very scary and off-putting topic.  Dingler was seeking a book to present as a gift for TIS’ Board that would reinforce the fundamentals of fundraising and break it down to something that was easy, accessible, and maybe even a little fun.  When she couldn’t find it, she decided to write it.

The Itty Bitty Book is indeed itty bitty.  It’s a quick read that breaks fundraising down to the basics in an engaging way.

“It’s a long-winded title for a very short and sweet book,” says Dingler.  “I’ve been very encouraged by the response.  I see people purchasing the book for their nonprofit Boards and have even heard stories of Board Members volunteering to lead a discussion about the concepts in the book at special Board sessions.  I’m so glad that people are finding value in something I’ve created, and I hope it helps many organizations to raise the money they need to make our world a better place.”

When asked how she feels about celebrating the first anniversary of her business, Dingler harkens back to those early days as a dreamer.

“I didn’t quite become a famous rock star,” she says, “but I got to see a much more important dream come true.  Every day, I get to help people be ‘What’s Good’ in the world.  And that totally rocks.”

To learn more about What’s Good, LLC or purchase The Itty Bitty Book of Nonprofit Fundraising, visit bewhatsgood.com.  The Itty Bitty Book can also be found on Amazon and Kindle.

“Your experience in Talbot County and your opinions matter.” That is what Talbot Family Network (TFN), the Local Management Board for Talbot County, is saying to community members as it launches its 2022 community needs survey. Citizen input will assist TFN with assessing community assets and needs, and supporting services that provide a healthy, safe, caring and equitable community for all Talbot County children and families. In order to address the current needs of the community, TFN is seeking to engage as many people living and working in the county as possible to complete this survey.

“We strongly encourage everyone in their professional and even personal networks to reply to the survey which will help us examine our priorities,” says Nancy Andrew, Talbot Family Network Executive Director. “Please share it with your employees, clients, co-workers, friends, neighbors, and family – everyone in Talbot.”

To access the survey, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TalbotCommunityAssess2022

The survey is also available in Spanish at: https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/EncuestaTalbot2022

Local Management Boards (LMB), like TFN, are community-based organizations serving all 23 counties in Maryland, and Baltimore City, focused on improving outcomes for Maryland’s children and their families. They were created to promote enhanced, coordinated local decision-making that focuses on results and accountability. The premise was, and continues to be, that health, education, economic, and social outcomes are more likely to be improved if decisions about programs and strategies are made by local jurisdictions with the funding, support, guidelines, and accountability managed by the State.

TFN administers the county’s allocation of State funding from the Children’s Cabinet Interagency Fund. The programs and strategies that LMBs fund must align with Maryland Children’s Cabinet Three Year Plan. LMBs are required to complete community assessments every three years as a means to bringing community voice into local planning activities. For more information about TFN, visit https://healthytalbot.org/about/talbot-family-network/.