Our Staff

Our staff works tirelessly to connect the generosity of donors with the vital work of local charities, ensuring that every gift creates a meaningful and lasting impact.

Amanda Amesse, HBA

Donor Experience Officer


Amanda joined the CFKA team in December 2025. She came to us from True North Aid, where she served as Outreach Manager since 2019, supporting northern and remote Indigenous communities across Canada. In this role, she built partnerships with over 700 Indigenous communities and organizations, served as the primary liaison for remote regions, and managed program oversight including grants, budgets, and stakeholder accountability. She led monitoring and evaluation initiatives and coordinated complex logistics to deliver resources via road, ice road, barge, and air transport.

Since 2023, Amanda has also worked as an Inclusion Coach at Kingston Employment and Youth Services (KEYS), developing workplace inclusivity solutions through policies, procedures, and communications materials. Amanda's earlier experience includes student placement roles at Kingston Interval House, Addictions and Mental Health Services KFLA, John Howard Society, and Métis Nation of Ontario. 

Her community engagement extends beyond her professional work. She currently serves on the City of Kingston's Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee and previously held board positions with Kingston Access Services and as Project Lead for the Indigenous Medical Alliance. She recently joined the board of Hydrocephalus Canada.

Amanda earned her Honours Bachelor of Arts (Behavioural Psychology) from St. Lawrence College and is currently pursuing a Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton University.

 


Key Duties:

Donor Relations & Engagement

Fund Advisor Relations

Bridget Glassco, MSc

Project Manager, Adverse Childhood Experiences & Resilience Coalition (ARC)


Bridget joined the CFKA team in November 2022. Previously at KEYS Employment & Newcomer Services, she was Rise Business Advisor, supporting entrepreneurs in the Kingston area who identify as having a history of mental health or addiction challenges.

Bridget was also Mentorship Partnership Coordinator at KEYS, where she co-created and launched a new program matching skilled newcomers with local professionals for mentoring and networking purposes. She facilitated workshops, marketed the program, and recruited volunteers and community supporters. Her first role at KEYS was Program Coordinator, Professional Internship for Newcomers, where she co-created and launched an innovative program combining paid internships for skilled newcomers and workplace mentoring and intercultural intelligence training.

As Program Manager: Eastern Canada for Best Buddies in Toronto, Bridget supported volunteers within Best Buddies chapters in Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic provinces to facilitate friendships with students and people with intellectual disabilities.

As the Dissemination Project Coordinator with L’Abri en Ville in Montreal, she coordinated the committee responsible for disseminating the L’Abri en Ville model of community-supported housing for people with mental illness, creating new grassroots organizations in Ontario and Quebec and supported these groups once they were established.

Bridget earned a BA Honours in English and a Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development from Concordia University, and a Master of Science in Evidence Based Social Intervention from University of Oxford.


Key Duties:

Adverse Childhood Experiences Coalition (ARC) of KFL&A

Resilience Across the Lifespan Initiative

Stacy Kelly, BAH

Executive Director


Stacy joined the CFKA team in August 2022. A non-profit executive with over 25 years of experience in fundraising, development, and managemen, he was born in Ottawa, and raised in the Outaouais region of Quebec. He moved to Kingston in 1989 to attend Queen’s University, from which he earned a BA (Hons) in Philosophy.

He began his career adventures in retail management at Trailhead Kingston (1996–2000), and then entered the charitable sector, rising through progressive roles at Queen’s University (2000–2010), OCAD University (2011-2017), The 519, a City of Toronto agency (2017–2022), before enthusiastically returning to Kingston to become the new executive director of the Community Foundation.  

Stacy has also served as a director of Aylmer Youth Theatre, Kingston Student Housing Cooperative, ASUS Camps, Progressive Independent Community Press Inc., Drop-in Centre Kingston, Inc., and as a member of the organizing commmitee of Queen’s University Association for Queer Employees.

He currently serves on the board of the Queen’s University Alumni Association, is a co-founder and president of Queen’s Queer Alumni Chapter, is a global mentor with Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre, and is on the executive of the Kingston Estate Planning Council.

Stacy has been recognized with an Ontario Volunteer Service Award from the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (2017), the Herbert J. Hamilton Volunteer Service Award from the Queen’s University Alumni Association (2019), and the Outstanding Fundraising Professional Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) South Eastern Ontario Chapter (2024).

Stacy lives in Kingston with his husband, Mark Julien, who is a writer and illustrator.


Key Duties:

Community Partnerships

Fund Development

Strategic Leadership

Elizabeth Nelson, PhD

Project Manager, Older Adults Connecting & Belonging (OACB)


Elizabeth Nelson joined the CFKA team in March 2024.   Her interests focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in urban contexts, public memory, municipal heritage practices, and participatory mapping and walking methodologies.

She was the Primary Investigator for Nurturing Inclusive Urban Futures: Valuing the Contributions of Community Organizations in Ontario Cities (2019 – 2023). This project required close collaboration with community stakeholders and municipal leaders, aligning project goals with community benefit. Her key outputs included a plain language report, Supporting Community Organizations for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion tailored for municipal audiences; it shares research-based recommendations regarding community organizations for those striving to build more inclusive cities. She also worked with community artists to create a digital ZineI’ll Be Herefor accessible research translation. She was interviewed about her project on CFRC’s podcast.

In addition to being a Term Adjunct in Geography at Queen’s University Elizabeth was also the Primary Investigator for “Decolonizing Public Memory and Public Places: Kingston Ontario” (2017-2019), Research Assistant on “Belle Park Project: Queen’s University, Kingston ON” (2021), and Research assistant on “Assessing and Addressing Students Awareness of Indigenous Peoples” (2018).

Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. (Geography) and M.A. (Geography), from Queen’s University, and a B.A. (Combined Honors, Anthropology and Geography, Minor in Canadian Studies) from Carleton University.


Key Duties:

Older Adults Connecting & Belonging Forum

Resilience Across the Lifespan Initiative

Adam Walker, BAH

Marketing & Communications Officer


Adam joined the CFKA team in January 2025. A Toronto native, Adam began his professional journey in 1998 by founding Yorkminster Custom Creative. As a communications consultant and principal, he served various industries for over a decade, honing his communication skills and serving audiences in aquaculture, manufacturing, distribution, mining, and retail.

In 2009, Adam’s career took a significant turn when he joined Queen’s University as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. During his 11-year tenure, he spearheaded numerous successful initiatives, including the creation of “The Complete Engineer” magazine and the record-breaking “Inspiring Greatness” fundraising campaign.

Adam’s expertise led him to Elentra, a cloud-based SaaS company in Kingston, where he served as the Associate Director of Marketing from 2021 to 2022. At Elentra, he led a team of marketing professionals and implemented innovative strategies that opened new markets and categories.

Throughout his career, Adam has demonstrated a passion for fostering creativity, driving engagement, and achieving strategic goals

In recent years, Adam began volunteering for various not-for-profits in Kingston and Toronto. These experiences led Adam to refocus his career on the not-for-profit world, with a particular emphasis on building community in Kingston.

Beyond his professional life, Adam is a husband and the devoted father of two amazing daughters. When not immersed in his work or community activities, he can often be found in his garden, where his passion for nurturing growth extends beyond the boardroom and into nature.


Key Duties:

Digital & Print Publications

Media Relations

Social Media Management

Land Acknowledgment

The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area is situated on Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat territory. We acknowledge the significance of this land and all that is within it for the Indigenous Peoples who lived and continue to live here and who are sustained by this land.

It is our understanding that this territory is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee to share and protect this land. In the spirit of peace, friendship and respect, all subsequent Indigenous Nations and newcomers were invited into this living treaty to care for this land and its resources.

We affirm our commitment to continuously listen, learn, and honour Indigenous histories and perspectives as we work towards building a more resilient and welcoming community. We affirm our commitment to be a space for reconciliation in action.