Brooks Hosfeld is a Butler University 2019 graduate in History & Anthropology and Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies (now Race, Gender, & Sexuality Studies). He currently works as the Development Director of Sprout City Farms in Denver CO.
Q: How has your experience in the HAC Department helped you after graduation?
A: My experience in what was previously just the History & Anthropology department has been foundational to the ways I see the world and approach my career. I got into fundraising through museum work, in which various museum and archive collections internships during college introduced me to grant writing. My academic writing within the department made me a very strong grant-writer, and this department equipped me to build the professional insight necessary to intersect my passions for justice and community into professional spheres.
Q: How have your Majors helped in your current position?
A: The COVID-19 pandemic moved me away from museums and into more fundraising roles through small community organizations, and I have since ended up flourishing in nonprofit development. Skill-building aside, my degrees and the support I received from Butler faculty have been essential to the ways I perceive current events, communicate with people who want to build a better future (in part by avoiding mistakes of the past), and build relationships in both personal and professional spheres. I love when I’m asked how I got into fundraising for an urban farming nonprofit, because I get to offer a surprise of saying that I was professionally trained in history and anthropology, and that every step to get me where I have been a happy, semi-intentional accident.
Q: Any plans moving forward?
A: After doubling the organization’s operating budget in three years, I am currently seeking other professional opportunities to grow. In and out of work, I root myself in community and the belief that collective liberation is possible.