When she steps outside her office and onto the grounds of the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, Shannon Bell instinctively sees beyond the beauty surrounding her.
She sees possibility.
Of course, she notices the garden’s abundant flora. She revels when a school bus pulls up to deliver students for a field trip, or when first-time visitors marvel at the property when attending an event. But in her new role as CFBG’s director of philanthropy, and as someone who’s spent the last decade in development and fundraising, Shannon can’t help but point out what may not be evident to the casual observer.
“Only 27 of the 80 acres here are developed,” she said. “The opportunities are truly endless.”
CFBG, founded in 1989, sits within a wooded, triangular-shaped parcel of land two miles from downtown Fayetteville. It’s a breathtaking space, bordered in part by the Cape Fear River and Cross Creek, and is a home for environmental education opportunities, classroom programs, and field trips. The garden also hosts special projects that include standalone events, a variety of camps, and therapeutic horticulture workshops.
The nonprofit’s mission, according to its website, “is to transform people’s relationship with plants” and nature — easy to envision, given the inspiring and peaceful environs. Shannon’s role focuses on possibilities of all kinds: initiatives related to transformational gifts, naming opportunities at the CFBG, and other vehicles philanthropists and large donors might use to support the work there.
“Our education and horticulture teams create meaningful connections between science, technology, engineering, art, math, and overall wellness,” she said. “We’re excited to share more of that so our donors understand how meaningful their investment is to our members and visitors and, ultimately, our community in Fayetteville.”
When Shannon, 43, began her new position in August, she wasn’t a stranger to CFBG. She was born in Fayetteville and, after a family move to Bladen County during high school, came back to get a transfer degree at Fayetteville Technical Community College.
But her professional road mostly centered around Chapel Hill and the campus of the University of North Carolina, where she’d graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Before coming to CFBG, more than seven of Shannon’s 10 years in fundraising work (she previously worked in the legal field) were with UNC-Chapel Hill. She came, then left, the university’s development team three times altogether, taking increasingly higher positions in university development or financial support.
In professional fundraising, Shannon explains that career advancement often means “moving up and out”; for her, that cycle put her on a circuitous route. UNC-CH was its fulcrum. Her second stint returning her to the large development team at UNC-CH coincided with the start of the university’s ambitious “Campaign for Carolina,” a $4.25-billion project that kicked off in October 2017. Five years later, the campaign surpassed $5 billion, its 215,000 donors helping to make UNC-CH one of just six public universities to hit that milestone. Shannon was there for most of that success before leaving to work as a consultant and at a fundraising consulting firm, and then at the University of Virginia.
Finding a ‘sweet spot’
In the spring of 2023, she was recruited back to Chapel Hill, this time in a director of development position, leading strategic fundraising efforts for four Academic and Community Engagement Centers at UNC-CH. The lure of UNC-CH, she admits, was the power of the school’s community and tradition — and her unyielding belief in quality education.
As a frontline fundraiser, education is a big part of the arc that brought Shannon back home and to CFBG this past summer. And while the recipient of funds she raises and the location may have changed, one aspect hasn’t: The fruit of her work builds educational and artistic programming.
“In terms of trajectory and the nonprofit work, it really all comes back to that every time,” she said. “When I really think about it, what I value most as a professional, and the impact I want to make, is through grassroots efforts in small communities — and bringing people together for a meaningful cause. That’s my sweet spot. It’s where I prefer to be.”
Shannon is particularly honored to be a part of the CFBG in this post-Covid-19 world “where there’s extra emphasis,” she said, “on spending time outdoors, and overall wellness.”
Her move was perfectly timed. Shannon and her family were splitting time anyway between Fayetteville and their primary home in Chapel Hill; a year and a half ago, Shannon’s husband, Omar, accepted a position as vice chancellor for advancement at Fayetteville State University. (The couple has three children — a 21-year-old daughter, 14-year-old son, and 10-year-old daughter.)
Theirs is a fundraising family, she points out. Omar’s father, Ulysses Bell, has worked in development at a number of colleges and now is a part of Elizabeth State University’s planned giving staff.
“My heart truly wants to make a difference in the community and that comes from my family values and roots in Fayetteville,” she said. “We believe in taking care of family and community, and my husband’s family does too.”
UNC-CH gave Shannon a rigorous education and a place to learn and practice philanthropic work. In her hometown’s botanical garden, she’s poised to bloom.
ALL IN FOR FAYETTEVILLE:
Both of Shannon Bell’s parents, along with a grandfather (Edward E. Hood) and a great-grandmother (Edna Parker), have been business owners in Fayetteville. Among those were the Parker’s Cleaners locations in Hope Mills and Fayetteville. Shannon’s father, Ed E. Hood Jr., is retired, and her mother, Wendy Carroll, is a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker.
Read CityView magazine’s “Home for the Holidays” December 2024 e-edition here.
