Spotlight

Jack Forsyth

Jack Forsyth is a Communication alum who graduated from our department in 2023 with his BA degree, and has since gone on to build a career in nonprofit development and community engagement. Forsyth has worked for nonprofits in the Tampa Bay area, including Metropolitan Ministries, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Equality Florida. He’s taking the next step and joining New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City, as a Major Gifts officer, and spoke with us about his career in the nonprofit sector as someone with a background in Communication.

Q: Tell us about yourself, including what led you to study at USF.

I am originally from Michigan but moved as a kid to Tampa when I was 12. I transferred to USF after coming home from FSU during the pandemic and it was the best decision I made! Being able to stay local and plug into the Tampa community through my time at USF was very beneficial for me. Especially through the Communication Capstone, I was able to blend my studies at USF with important work in the Tampa area.

Q: What motivated you to pursue a career in nonprofit development? What did you do in your positions at Metropolitan Ministries, Feeding Tampa Bay, and Equality Florida? What will you be doing in your new role as a Major Gifts Officer with New York Cares?

I've always had a heart for service and it didn't really click for me that one could make a career out of working for a nonprofit until I landed at USF. I continued to volunteer in the local area and just continued to learn more about the field. I also minored in leadership studies and took a nonprofit leadership course alongside my comms courses and learned so much which ultimately helped lead me to this field. I started as a volunteer services intern at Met Min working alongside the volunteer team which led me to my role in community engagement and volunteer management at Feeding Tampa Bay. It was there where I really understood what development and fundraising was and I was fascinated. A development coordinator position opened up at Feeding Tampa Bay and I was hired and then I found my current role with Equality Florida as the Tampa Bay Development Leader. Now, I'll be stepping it up even more by being a Major Gifts Officer for the largest volunteer organization in New York City, New York Cares, where I will be working with high net worth individuals to help fund the organization.

Q: What was your experience like as a Communication major at USF? How have the skills and concepts you learned been helpful in working in the nonprofit sector?

I loved it! The professors were so helpful and hands on and I learned so much from them. The classes were unique, like Interview Communication, Ethnography, and Team Dynamics, which made my time there super interesting and engaging. It's been helpful working in the nonprofit sector because I work alongside all sorts of people -- from donors, clients, board members, volunteers, etc. -- and being able to adapt to everyone's own unique way of communicating and showing up in the world has been crucial. My job is a relationship manager so it's important I understand humans on a deeper level and communication at USF allowed me to understand how to make folks feel seen, listened to, and of course, how to communicate to these different groups.

Q: What advice would you give to students studying Communication today?

Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Find what you like and just get really good at that. And if you don't know what you like, live your questions. Try it out. Fail. Do it again. See what you enjoy and what you don't. Life is all one big experiment and everything you do will ultimately lead you to your next thing. This world and job market is ever changing so it's important to not be too hard on yourself and just know with hard work and solid communication skills, it will work out. Take what you learn as a comms major and apply it to everything. Employers want socially adept people and communication is the best major to hone in on those soft skills.