Cynthia’s bio
Cythia Khoo-Robinson serves as Vice President & Senior Consultant at CMAC.
Prior to joining CMACynthia Khoo-Robinson joins CMAC with 30+ years of advancement experience. She is an accomplished advancement professional having served mission-driven institutions and causes, with an incredible passion for philanthropy. She is highly skilled in developing and cultivating authentic relationships with alumni, volunteer leaders, donors and prospective benefactors that lead to advancing an institution’s goals and overall mission.
Most recently, she served the University at Buffalo (UB) as Associate Vice President of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving. Cynthia served as a senior leader within the advancement division, managing a team of 20+ fundraisers and advancement professionals in her two departments. She led fundraising strategy for an annual giving program that raised over $3 million annually, increasing participation from alumni and securing 100% support from the Alumni Association Board. In the nearly four years at UB, she made an extraordinary impact on the alumni program, creating a vision of how alumni engagement could be better integrated into the advancement operation. She successfully merged the Offices of Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving into a cohesive team that better supports the university, the alumni and donor constituents. She initiated several innovative programs that set the path for continued growth and unity among the 12 schools and college at UB that advances the university goals, supporting the Boldly Buffalo Campaign.
Cynthia started her career immediately after graduating from Berea College, where she learned the fundamentals of Institutional Advancement. She benefited from philanthropy at Berea, which fueled her passion for advancement. She volunteered multiple times a year as a student phonathon caller and made donor visits with a gift officer that resulted in a $10,000 gift. Her first professional job was at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, as an Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Relations. After five years, she left the University of Cincinnati (UC) to become the Director of Advancement for Hospice of the Miami Valley (HMV).
When HMV was bought out by a for profit hospice, Cynthia joined St. Ursula Academy (SUA) as the first full-time Director of Development and Alumnae Relations. Cynthia built the foundation of a strong advancement program for the all-girls, Catholic high school. She continuously grew the annual fund even during three capital campaigns for SUA, raising $500,000 annually. She raised over $25 million in her 16 years at St. Ursula, helping expand the private school from an acre to 10 acres with two new buildings, renovations of old buildings and growing the endowment from $300,000 to over $3 million.
Following SUA, Cynthia returned to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as a Director of Development. After two years as a front-line fundraiser, she was promoted to Executive Director of Donor Relations and Stewardship. She focused on promoting positive and mutually rewarding relations between the University and its donors; partnering with Development Directors across 17 colleges/units to determine the best strategies for effective stewardship of donors; maintained ongoing and active networking with internal and external constituencies; and advised on the facilitation of recognition events and coordination of various activities for donor societies across campus. Cynthia was promoted again after three years and served as the Assistant Vice President of Presidential Initiatives and Deputy Campaign Director.
Cynthia has expertise in all aspects of advancement:
- alumni engagement
- donor relations and stewardship
- annual, capital and endowment campaigns
- planned giving, prospect research, major, principal and transformational giving
- volunteer, board and staff management
- project management, including developing and managing budgets
- special events management
- database management and software implementation
Contact Cynthia directly