Richard Steckel

Richard Steckel (1943-2015) had an international reputation as a consultant and speaker on nonprofit social enterprise and for-profit strategic corporate citizenship. Since 1984, he developed earned income strategies, products and services for more than 300 for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Before founding the consulting firm AddVenture Network, he was Executive Director of the Denver Children's Museum, where he introduced innovative ideas that made the Museum a national model of the earned income approach to fundraising. He and his wife, Michele, also founded The Milestones Project, which captured photographs of children’s milestones around the globe.

Dr. Steckel served as a volunteer on the boards of the National Security Archives, Corporate Philanthropy Report, and NESsT (the Nonprofit and Self-Sustainability Team). He was a director of E Source Corporation, a subsidiary of the Rocky Mountain Institute (which recently sold for $18,000,000). Also, Dr. Steckel was an associate with Sustainable Cities Trust (NZ). Prior to his tenure at the Denver Children's Museum, Dr. Steckel was also a director of international programs for a Boston-based technical assistance organization, an adult educator, a community organizer on New York's Lower East Side, and a producer of public service media on social issues.

He co-authored Cold Cash for Warm Hearts: 101 Best Social Marketing Initiatives (2004), Filthy Rich: Turning Nonprofit Fantasies Into Cold, Hard Cash (revised second edition, 2001), Making Money While Making a Difference: How to Profit with a Nonprofit Partner (1999) and In Search of America's Best Nonprofits (1997).

Dr. Steckel held a doctorate from Boston University, a Master's Degree in Social Work (Community Organization) from Adelphi University, and a Bachelor's Degree in History from the City University of New York (Brooklyn College).