Laura Glawe, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, discusses how GMF is working to create lasting change. Through conversations around meals at On the Table events, GMF has prioritized key areas: early childhood education and care, impact investing to small businesses, housing and their internal culture, and a $700 million campaign for the community. Racial equity and inclusion are GMF’s North Star.
Glawe also stresses the importance of becoming an ally in social impact work and focusing on amplifying collective voice for population-level change.
Tune in to learn more about how to be an ally, turn one’s passions into one’s life’s work and contribute to creating meaningful impact.
Episode Highlights
04:00 - A leadership theme I'd like to lift up around voice and vision is the important connection to becoming an ally in social impact work. Especially as a professional in marketing communications, the word ‘voice’ is multifaceted when it comes to change-making work.
06:17 - I believe in being connected to something greater than oneself. It's an individual choice though, and contemplating one's purpose may or may not combine personal and professional motivation. It can be an aspiration, but it's certainly not the only way to reach fulfillment in one's life.
15:37 - Combining collective voice and vision is advancing a narrative change. Throughout neighborhoods and with donors and non-profit partners and public officials, we do have opportunity, and some momentum is indicating that transformational racial equity and inclusion is possible and happening. Leadership is a more collective process now.
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Guest Bio:
Laura Glawe’s “Milwaukee pride” and her value to help all people reach their full potential inspire her volunteerism and her leadership at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. For seven and half years, she has served as the vice president of marketing and communications, responsible for elevating the Foundation’s brand.
During this time, Glawe has led engagement with hundreds of community-wide stakeholders and developed an inclusive strategic vision to reimagine philanthropy and build A Milwaukee for All. The launch of this shared community vision makes racial equity and inclusion the Foundation’s North Star and places the voice of Black and Brown people at the center of decision-making. Her investment in authentic communications and engagement with stakeholders earned her a Chief Marketing Officer of the Year recognition from the Milwaukee Business Journal in 2021.
Throughout her career in nonprofits and higher education, Glawe’s creativity and experience with leading and advocating for positive change have helped make our community stronger. For 10 years, she served as an associate vice chancellor of university marketing and communications at UWM, where she engaged students and alumni to help build the narrative of the university through personal storytelling.
During her tenure, she launched many digital strategies to expand visibility of UWM’s student experience on the Eastside – by a great lake — as well as advanced the brand of mission-focused priorities such as being a research 1 university, offering online degrees and international student enrollment. She herself is a two-time graduate of the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, with an undergraduate degree in journalism and a master’s in administrative leadership.
Glawe enjoys development and fundraising communications. For two comprehensive Campaigns she served as the communications liaison, including UWM’s critical $300 million endeavor and now the in-process $700 million Campaign of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
Glawe is the mother of a dog named Dennis and two daughters — a senior at Edgewood College and a third-year PhD student at Marquette University. She and her husband Adam are active year-long in this city of festivals, Freshwater and eclectic neighborhoods, enjoying beers, brats, Brewers and Bucks in six, and anything that helps make progress for all people.
