Age 36  |  Director of donor relations, Children’s Cancer Connection

As director of donor relations at the Children’s Cancer Connection, Tiffany Spinner raises money to help children and families affected by the disease while serving on a number of boards and committees with other area nonprofit organizations.

The YMCA of Greater Des Moines, the Iowa Senior Olympics and the Downtown School PTA are just a few examples of her civic involvement, which also includes helping the blind and visually impaired as a volunteer with the Iowa Radio Reading Information Service for the Blind and Print Handicapped Inc. (IRIS).

“Right now, that’s kind of my passion,” said Spinner, who once or twice a month reads Iowa newspapers, magazines and other publications aloud on the IRIS network, which is available to anyone who cannot read due to blindness, impaired vision or other physical handicap.

From 2000 to 2006, Spinner was employed at the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau (GDMCVB), where she built enthusiasm among local, regional and national sports organizations. She also worked with corporate sponsors and potential venues to bring events such as the U.S. Youth Soccer Regionals to the area.

Spinner continues to promote the metropolitan area, she said, noting that she likes to remind GDMCVB President Greg Edwards that she’s still the organization’s biggest cheerleader. “I’m his unpaid staff, chief volunteer,” she joked. “I’ve had two of the greatest jobs that anyone could have ever asked for.”

Spinner is a graduate of the 2008-2009 class of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute. Married with two children, she also volunteers at Hope Ministries and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

In his nomination of Spinner for Forty Under 40, Mark Slocum, executive director of the Children’s Cancer Connection, said her leadership abilities have set her apart in the community.

“As part of her role with our organization, and quite frankly because she is a leader, she has become involved with many organizations both on committees and as a member of their boards of directors,” Slocum wrote.

“I feel very blessed to do what I do,” Spinner said.