Be Brave

Be it a zoo, a college or even the U.S. State Department, Bob Carter has a perspective few others have when it comes to a core task for any executive: getting people to part with money.

Carter's insight comes from a 40-year career in fundraising consulting. He's been at the helm of one of the industry's biggest firms, and he's also worked on his own. And since 2010 he's been behind another entity, Sarasota-Based Bob Carter Cos., that has brought a new model to an established industry. The concept is to build a network of consultants who form an alliance of fundraising experts in markets nationwide and in Mexico.

“We aren't a solicitation company,” Carter says. “We aren't the ones who ask for the money.”