Bob Boylan, United Way of Central Alabama’s (UWCA’s) Vice President of Annual Campaign, was recently selected for the Birmingham Business Journal’s (BBJ’s) 40 Under 40 Class of 2024. Each year, the BBJ honors up-and-coming professionals who are younger than 40 and making waves in their fields.
Bob’s interest in, and ingenuity for, service began at a young age. In the seventh grade, he rallied friends together to collect discarded Christmas trees to create an estuary in their local waterway. When attending the University of Alabama, Bob served as Vice President of the Mortar Board, an honor society recognizing seniors for superior achievement in scholarship, leadership and service. While there, he partnered with the nonprofit Better World Books to donate more than 1,000 books to colleges in Africa that were in need of reading materials. Bob was instrumental in setting up the local book drive and selecting the donation recipients.
After graduating cum laude from college, Bob continued to dive into a life of service. He served in AmeriCorps VISTA for three years before joining Hands On Birmingham, now known as United Way Hands On, as its Agency and Community Outreach Relationship Manager. Hands On is the volunteer branch of United Way, which partners with local companies and individuals interested in getting involved with service project opportunities, such as building playgrounds, cleaning up schools, helping with disaster relief and more.
Since joining UWCA’s Resource Development team, Bob has been steadily promoted as a result of his innovative approach to fundraising, strategic planning and positive management of professional relationships. He leads a team of 10 employees and works with companies from an array of industries across six counties in Central Alabama. Just one example of his dedication is that when he was promoted from Relationship Manager to Director, he requested to continue serving as Drummond Company’s Relationship Manager for several years, taking on the extra work to ensure that a company that had become comfortable working him continued to receive personalized support throughout the transition.
Krystal Drummond, Director of Employee and Community Engagement at Drummond Company, said that Bob’s insight and strategy recommendations positively impacted the company: “We saw an increase in our employee participation exceeding 50%, our number of leadership donors ($1,000+) grew to one of the Top 5 in Central Alabama and we were able to contribute $1 million to the UWCA in a single year with Bob’s leadership,” she said.
Since transitioning to his current role as Vice President of Annual Campaign, Bob has led his team to successfully hit annual fundraising goals ranging from $36 to $39 million, and he manages a 140-member campaign cabinet.
Outside of work, Bob enjoys volunteering as an elf for YWCA’s Santa Workshop, being an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham and serving on the Church Vestry at St. Lukes’s Episcopal Church.
Congratulations, Bob!