Derric Bakker

Derric Bakker is one of those rare individuals who has been in fundraising for almost his entire career. In 1990 – just a couple years out of college – Derric was offered opportunity to serve as Development Director for a consortium of local Christian schools. It soon became apparent that fundraising was a strong fit for his unique set of gifts and what started as a whim grew into a lifelong career.

Over the next ten years Derric would hone his craft working at three different nonprofit organizations. He then segued into consulting in 2001. Over most of the next decade Derric worked as Vice President for two different firms providing capital campaign and major gift consulting services to dozens of different organizations. In 2010 Derric started his own consulting firm, which became DickersonBakker after a merger with Clark Dickerson’s Denver-based firm in 2012. Since then he has served as President of DickersonBakker, which has grown to become a nationally recognized firm comprised of over 30 full-time professionals serving well over a hundred different nonprofit organizations each year.

Derric’s particular speciality is in the area of major gift development. He has successfully solicited countless major gifts, including many million-dollar gifts and some in the tens of millions of dollars. He has coached dozens of fundraisers in the art of major giving, and teaches and writes regularly on the subject.

Derric resides in Raleigh NC with his wife Mary Nel, who is a physician at Duke University Hospital. They have three grown children – one an attorney in DC, one a fledgling architect in Ann Arbor Michigan, and one a student at the University of North Carolina.