Q. You've done a lot of work in the nonprofit area. Was that what you set out to do?

A. Originally, I set out to work in the medical field. From the time I was able to leave the house, about 12 years old, my mom said, "You need to find somewhere to go volunteer." So I started as a candy striper when I was 12 years old. From there, I wanted to be a nurse and then I decided if I'm going to be a nurse, I'll be a doctor. So just from my mom teaching me you need to volunteer and give back to the community, it just started there.

Q. Did you go into medicine?

A. No. I found that once I got out into the field, I didn't want to be a nurse after all. I explored many other options and found that case management was actually more my calling.

Q. Was the nonprofit route your choice from the start?

A. Nonprofits sort of morphed. I didn't set out to work in the nonprofit sector, but I fell in love with it once I was in it. I like the camaraderie with the staff and I like knowing that when someone comes to your agency, they really need your help and they want your help. I grew up in a family where I had a very sick mom when I was a young age, and she was a young age and we didn't have all of these services available to us. So I can appreciate the work that we do because we certainly could have used outside help.

Q. Is fundraising your specialty?

A. I'm a fund-development specialist. I primarily focus on grant writing here at Big Brothers.

Q. How did you wind up in Hawai'i?

A. I just wanted a better lifestyle. I loved Los Angeles and I think that in my early 20s and into my 30s, it was a great place to discover who I was. But it was time to move on. I didn't want to grow old there, so to speak. When I realized that I had outlived my stay there, I knew I wanted to go somewhere with a real outdoor, healthy lifestyle and it was Hawai'i.

Q. Some of the positions you've held have been in health-related fields. Is that because of your early interest in medicine?

A. I don't feel like I ever really left the medical field because I stayed on the program side of the nonprofit sector, which was actually the front line, helping the people. I was on the program side of things where I actually had my own participants in the program who I was responsible for. I got into the fund development side when I was at one agency and we needed new computers, and one of our board members said, "Who wants to write a grant?" and I thought, "OK, I'll try." And then I was the expert on the staff. I had never done one. I actually liked it so I sort of ran with it. I thought this could lead me to my next position or lead me up in an agency, and it proved to really help me.

Q. Are there secrets to writing grants?

A. Follow the instructions and make sure that you match the criteria that they're looking for.

Q. What brought you to Big Brothers Big Sisters?

A. I was a Big Sister some years ago here in Honolulu. It was a great experience. Then just by chance, the position here opened up a couple of years later and I think that was to my favor that I was a Big Sister. So I landed the position and I was really excited because I was already dedicated to the mission coming in. I was always taught growing up by my grandma, who was my mentor, you take care of your family first and you give back to others as you can. For as long as I can remember, we always had people at our dinner table who were homeless or we had some homeless people living in the basement of our house on the East Coast, taking care of them through the winter so they wouldn't have to sleep outside. So it was always ingrained in me to always give back to the community. I felt like I was at a place in my career where I was able to give back. I was doing OK, but there was something missing. I had made it up to the administrative level, but I wasn't doing any of the hands-on part. I wasn't on the front line and I missed that part.

Q. Do you do other volunteer work?

A. I'm the president of Hawai'i Fi-Do Service and Therapy Dogs. We are nationally accredited through a service dog association. We train service dogs for everyone except the blind. That's a completely separate entity.

Q. What challenges do you and Big Brothers Big Sisters face?

A. One of the challenges of the agency is we're growing so rapidly, and that's part of our plan, but be careful what you wish for. One of our challenges is to keep up with the funding because the funding sources are changing so much right now. The grants and the private foundations as well, they go along with the stock market and they don't necessarily have as much money to give out these days. So it's a challenge everyday to find new funding sources.

Q. Have you set any goals at Big Brothers Big Sisters?

A. I have one major goal right now and it is to develop our database — our database for our donors and our fundraising software. We've outgrown what we're using, and so my major goal is to really develop that and to develop a plan for long-term financial sustainability. Our strategic plan is coming to an end and we'll be going into a planning session for a new strategic plan.

Q. Are there problems finding Big Brothers and Big Sisters?

A. We have 940 "littles," that would be our mentees, and because we provide one-to-one mentoring services, we have 940 mentors. There is a need right now for male volunteers and for Little Sisters. We have a lot of women who would like to be mentors, but not enough Little Sisters, and a lot of little boys who need Big Brothers. Our national marketing plan is to not just say we need volunteers, but we need these specific volunteers.

Q. Any issues that face agencies like yours?

A. There is legislation that is taking place right now making nonprofits accountable for their money. The legislators are trying to make the nonprofits more accountable and I think that is only to our advantage. We need to be accountable to our funders and say, "Look, this is where your money goes. We're spending it on programs." It can only further our mission if they know that. We go through a very strict audit every year.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.