Karl Nichols, MBA, CFRE
Karl Nichols is an experienced management professional with a proven record of leadership in the nonprofit sector with over 20 years of experience in the areas of educational and health care program management, administrative leadership, organizational partnerships, fund development and civic engagement. In the last nine years, Karl Nichols has distinguished himself as a seasoned fundraiser with successful achievements in major gifts, annual development planning, corporate giving, special events, and large private and public foundations support. As vice president of Investor Development, he led a successful $3.4 million donor campaign in his first two years of tenure at E3 Alliance for a regional middle school teaching and learning initiative. He also expanded corporate and philanthropic sponsorships by 100 percent and launched the organizations first ever annual fundraising event, Geeks in Boots, that raised over $150k in its first year. In the seven years he has worked at E3 Alliance, Karl has been responsible for generating over $20 million in philanthropic support for its mission.
Karl’s entire life work and community involvement have been intricately centered around the issues of race, diversity, inclusion and equity. Since moving to Austin in 2004, he has been actively engaged in several community efforts, trainings and discussions to move racial justice and equity to new heights. In 2017, he was appointed to serve on Austin Community College’s (ACC) Department of Equity and Inclusion Strategic Executive Committee that conducted a comprehensive equity audit and strategic planning process for the university. Those efforts yielded the Equity Champion Award from ACC. Karl has also participated in several equity and antiracism trainings and offerings such as Courageous Conversations – Beyond Diversity by the Pacific Educational Group, Micromessaging Academy by National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, and numerous local and national equity conferences. He currently serves as the co-chair for Racial Equity Task Force at E3 Alliance, a data-driven education collaborative in Austin, which is charged with building an internal equity framework to advance the educational system in Central Texas. In addition, Karl serves on the Cityview Bible Racial Diversity Task Force at his local church that leads the congregation in courageous conversations about race and equity.
Karl holds both a BA and MBA with a concentration in nonprofit management from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2019, he received a certificate in Effective Fundraising from Austin Community College and the nationally recognized Certified Fundraising Professional Certificate (CFRE) credential. He recently served as vice president for the board of directors for E4 Youth and currently serves as board member for Grove Place Partners Community Development Ltd, executive board member for 100 Black Men of Austin Chapter, board member for Paloma Lake MUD District, and recently completed a nine-year term on the executive board for Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME). Karl is happily married to Linda Nichols and resides in Round Rock, Texas, where he is actively involved and an elder of Cityview Bible Church. They have three adult sons who all graduated from McNeil High School in Round Rock Independent School District and graduated from Texas universities.
