Michelle Birkel
Executive Director
Michelle Birkel assumed the Executive Director role for the Boys & Girls Club of Lincoln, NE in July 2018. She brings over twelve years of development, marketing and consulting experience serving as the Advancement Director at Pius X High School in Lincoln, Nebraska from 2005-2017. Pius X is Nebraska’s largest parochial school with an enrollment of over 1,270 students.
In 2005, Michelle was hired to establish and lead an advancement program at Pius X. In her role as Director of Advancement, she expanded a two-person office into a team of eight and increased the Annual Fund from $75,000 to over $660,000. Each of the last five years, her office team secured over $160,000 for Pius X from the annual Give to Lincoln Day, a 24 hour “Day of Giving”, earning a #1 ranking out of over 360 non-profits in amount raised. Michelle also implemented and executed a multi-million-dollar capital campaign, “A Tradition of Faith”, which raised $13,400,000 exceeding the $13,000,000 goal. Along with the Board of Directors for the Pius X Foundation, Birkel also helped manage an endowment of over $14,200,000.
Michelle served as a partner with consulting firm, Partners in Mission from 2015 to 2018, where she worked with schools around the county guiding, mentoring and strategizing with them on best practices in school advancement, leadership and board development. Birkel has a record of success for numerous non-profit organizations across the country in all aspects of advancement including annual, capital, and major gift campaigns; planned giving and endowment programs; event management; alumni relations; communications; and advancement operations.
Michelle graduated with a Business Administration degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Michelle and her husband Paul reside in Lincoln, NE and are the parents of four grown children and two grandchildren.
Phone: (402) 261-1224
Amanda Garner-Swihart
Vice President of Operations
Amanda Garner-Swihart works to fulfill the mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lincoln/Lancaster County through ensuring proper management and allocation of resources. She began as a volunteer at the club in 2010 and served as a member of the board of directors prior to joining the staff. Garner-Swihart has spent nearly 20 years in the the nonprofit and public sector in various roles.
A native to Lincoln, Nebraska, Garner-Swihart grew up in Northeast Lincoln. She graduated with a degree in Social Work from Nebraska Wesleyan University.