Although Jenny Wensink now calls herself a Falcon, as serves as a faculty member at Bowling Green State University, she will always be a Buckeye. Graduating from Ohio State in 2006 with a degree in agricultural communication, Jenny started her career working as a sales and marketing communications specialist for Select Sires Inc., writing press releases and working on design and content for their customer newsletter.
Three years later in 2010, Jenny came back to Ohio State and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences where she served the college in a fundraising capacity. She managed a portfolio of alumni and friends who supported Ohio State through gifts of $1,000 up to $250,000. A year later, in 2011, Jenny transitioned into a similar role at Bowling Green State University.
Starting off as assistant director of annual giving, Jenny planned reunion events and fundraising efforts while also managing a portfolio of lead annual donors. Five years later and Jenny is still at BGSU, although she is now in the position of director of annual giving. This position has Jenny managing the overall annual giving strategy for the 170,000 living BGSU alumni. This includes managing direct mail, their phon-a-thon, and online giving channels, while also coordinating the faculty and staff giving campaign, and overseeing stewardship of annual giving programs. Although her present role doesn’t require her to be involved in the agricultural industry, Jenny says that her degree certainly prepared her well for her career. In addition to being the director of annual giving at BGSU, Jenny is currently working toward a master’s degree in public administration and should finish in 2017.
As for advice to students, Jenny says, “If you are lucky enough to receive scholarships, take a moment to learn about the people who donated those funds. In my work at Ohio State and now at BGSU, I have a better understanding of how much private giving impacts the college experience and my hope is that all students learn more about philanthropy on campus and how they can become philanthropists in their own way.”
Jenny’s husband Mark is also a CFAES grad and is an equipment salesman for Wood County Implement, a John Deere dealership. The Wensinks have two children – Emery is 5 and Beau is 1. Outside of family time, Jenny loves CrossFit, running, reading, and of course watching college football-Go Bucks!
Jenny Wensink today.