Forty Under 40: Molly Collier Rawn

Molly Collier Rawn is tasked with the fundraising efforts of Bentonville’s newest attraction, working with some of the most prominent donors in Northwest Arkansas’ philanthropic community to help fund the museum’s educational efforts.

Even though the museum was planned before Rawn was hired in November 2013, her fingerprints are on its largest gifts and the balanced, sustainable funding plan that includes strategies for capital improvements, and growth in the endowment, membership and annual fund.

She also leads the team that supervises the museum’s membership program, marketing and public relations efforts.

“I feel like it is a privilege to get to be a part of this,” she said.

Rawn previously spent three years in a development role with the University of Arkansas-licensed NPR affiliate in Fayetteville, KUAF, where she developed a forward-thinking fundraising plan intended to secure more than $12 million. It remains KUAF’s active fundraising plan and is endorsed by the UA, where Rawn earned a bachelor’s in communications.

She began her nonprofit career as director of the local Sierra Club chapter in 2008. In 2009, she was the first director of development at the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter in Rogers.

An avid reader, Rawn says following politics is also a hobby. She is an active volunteer with a number of community organizations, and is a board member for the League of Women Voters of Washington County.

Rawn, a Paragould native, lives with her husband and three children in Fayetteville.