On March 28th, DASH will be celebrating its five years and the people without whom our work would not be possible. We wanted our community to get to know them better before the event itself, so we are doing a series of interviews with the awardees ahead of time. Buy tickets to the luncheon here and share with friends.

Our first feature is on Julie Hamre.

Ms. Hamre provides accounting and financial services for several nonprofit organizations, including the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), the association of law school and legal employer professionals concerned with legal career development, and its associated foundation.  For twelve years she was the Deputy Director of NALP and became financial manager when she chose to reduce her hours to part-time status in order to pursue her volunteer activities.  She also works with the Music Center at Strathmore, the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, Shaw Community Ministries, and the District Alliance for Safe Housing.  Prior to joining NALP in 1989, she served as the legal assistant manger and recruitment administrator at two major Washington law firms.  She is a co-author of The Legal Assistant’s Handbook, published by the Bureau of National Affairs.

“About two years ago, a dear friend (the ED of a program for homeless/low income women) told me that DASH was looking for a new bookkeeper,” explains Ms. Hamre.  “She and Peg had met through the Leadership Washington program.  I provide accounting services to a number of nonprofits in the city, most of them small and none that can afford a CPA on staff.  I offered to fill in for a short time on a pro bono basis while Peg and the board decided what kind of staffing they needed and could afford.  I was quickly impressed with Peg and the program and could see that they are fulfilling a great need.  Before we knew it, two years had gone by and the decision has now been made to change my status to a regular contractor.

I bring to DASH 35 years of experience as both staff and as a board member in a broad range of nonprofit settings and significant experience in governance, financial, and accounting practices in small nonprofits.  Many small organizations, particularly start-ups, are weak in administrative practices because they are (understandably!) too busy providing the services they were set up to offer to focus on governance, and few people are interested in administration.  But those vital services don’t get provided if payroll is not processed, if donations are not handled properly, or if audits are mishandled.  So it’s been my goal to provide those unexciting but nonetheless vital behind-the-scenes functions in a way that enhances the mission of the organization.”

Thank you Julie, for your incredible work in service of DC’s most vulnerable residents, on behalf of DASH!