Sydney Kmetz

Fundraising and partnership development professional with experience across nonprofit event fundraising, humanitarian coordination, and donor and stakeholder relationship management, skilled at building trust across diverse partners and translating research into clear, audience facing outputs.

Account Executive at Locality (2025-01 – Present)

• Manage a full portfolio of client accounts from prospecting through execution, building negotiation and relationship management skills applicable to donor stewardship.

Fundraising & Project Supervisor at Denizens Society (2024-01 – Present)

• Oversee a team of five in the planning, budgeting, and execution of a 150-person fundraising event supporting displaced Palestinian children.
• Manage full event lifecycle including logistics, vendor coordination, and stakeholder communications from concept to delivery.
• Provide structured mentorship to student team members, maintaining accountability across deliverables and timelines.

Practicum Researcher at IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (2025-01 – 2025-07)

• Worked within the Partnerships and Protection Units, synthesizing information from UN-led coordination meetings related to Syria and Sudan into structured briefing notes summarizing operational updates, funding gaps, and coordination challenges for senior leadership.
• Researched alternative and emerging partnership models in the humanitarian sector, comparatively analyzing INGO partnership structures against the five principles of equitable partnership established by the Global Humanitarian Platform, with a focus on transparency and accountability in financial flows to local partners.

Program & Volunteer Coordinator at Bethel Center (2022-12 – 2024-08)

• Coordinated volunteers and services for unhoused community members, responding to fluctuating needs and limited resources while maintaining standards of care.
• Served as emergency contact for the soup kitchen, sourcing volunteers and food supplies at short notice and maintaining a rotating volunteer list to keep meal service running without interruption.

Operations & Safety Coordinator at Roots (2023-12 – 2024-04)

• Designed and piloted a multilingual safety induction for an international volunteer workforce. Documented daily service conditions and created standardized WASH operation checklists that shortened handover time and ensured consistent safety compliance.
• Assisted in filming and subtitling instructional videos on clean water station setup and coordinated across multilingual volunteer teams and other NGOs within a fast-paced, high-pressure field environment.

Research Assistant at Southern Connecticut State University (2021-09 – 2022-05)

• Designed survey instruments and managed confidential data collection and recordkeeping using Excel and SPSS. Prepared audience-tailored research summaries for faculty and external stakeholders.

Community Engagement Intern at Intercultural Language Centre (2019-09 – 2019-12)

• Led a documentary portrait photography project with migrant communities; outputs were adopted into educational programming, demonstrating storytelling and community relationship skills.
• Facilitated outreach and engagement with culturally diverse participants, staff, and volunteers.

MSc in International Development – University of Bath (2025-01 – 2026-01)

BA in Psychology, Studio Art (Film Photography) – Southern Connecticut State University (2022-05)