Abigail Caress
Self-Director,
Abigail Caress Communications, LLC
A Bit About Me
After twelve years in nonprofit administration and communications spanning Indiana to Illinois and back to Indiana again, I looked back over my shoulder at my own breadth of experience and decided to do something with what I'd learned: to offer myself as a fractional worker to churches, nonprofits, and small businesses who otherwise could not maintain a ‘full-time’ communications or advancement staff role. There's a real need out there, and I love working with my clients today in the ways that fit them best!
Role-balancing for a handful of organizations is something I find exciting, perhaps because it emphasizes a talent every employer has delighted to discover in me—my ability to capably wear many creative hats and learn and perform multiple roles. (And yes, I love wearing actual hats, too!)
Below is a brief career timeline. Woven around that timeline are my other shaping interests and forces: vocal music, ballroom and salsa dance, painting, sewing and vintage clothing, animal care (we keep getting adopted by strays!), too many odd theology books to count. Add in there two kids who like to head to the woods and think they can find Bigfoot, and the resulting sanity rituals I have built around my morning coffee. A house that's still upset that it's been obliged to stand for 120 years. An active role in my small town's development committee, and all the bonfires, meals, and fun with the neighbors. The joy of meeting new faces and hearing new stories.
I’d love to meet you, too, and take time for a conversation and learn how we can collaborate together.
Give me a holler!
Work Experience
April 2024 - Present
Development Director (Part-time), East Central Indiana CASA
Fundraising and friend-raising for Madison County's CASA office (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children), with current goals to double the previous recruitment of volunteer advocates and double their fundraising through outreach marketing campaigns and engaging events. This role is contracted through a two-year Eli Lilly grant.​
February 2020 - Current
Published Author with Quills & Quartos Publishing
Completing my own manuscripts and co-creating promotional blog tour material for my first novel, Fearful Symmetry: A Pride & Prejudice Variation (published March 2021), followed by a novella in the anthology An Inducement into Matrimony (published November 2022). Stay tuned for another novella piece in their upcoming holiday 2025 anthology!
April 2022 - April 2025
Promotions Manager, Quills & Quartos Publishing
Creating visual and copy content for sales e-newsletters plus social media posts (FB/Instagram) for a nearly 3,000-reader audience across the globe, keeping up with book launch media schedules and sales calendars for a small, traditional publishing house that specializes in historical romance with a Regency/Jane Austen flavor.
January 2022 - October 2023
Ministry Office Coordinator, Park Place Church of God (IN)
Reconnecting congregants after COVID-19 by empowering them through a new pictorial directory, engaging publications, and creating a weekly e-newsletter system. Creating copy and infographic design for the 2023 capital campaign that raised over $100k in 6 weeks. Scheduling/managing volunteers and database records in Planning Center.
January 2017 - January 2020
Match Support Specialist, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Richland County, now Mentor Richland County (SE IL)
Creating live presentation materials, newsletter content, and social media posts on Facebook to recruit, educate and guide adult mentors and at-risk clients (children ages 6-13), eventually doubling the size of the community-based program. Managing client intake and management (CRM) database records to facilitate the export and migration from Matchforce (Salesforce platform) to a Microsoft client database system.
Fall 2015 - Fall 2021
Website/Social Media Management, Grace Church (Olney, IL)
Building the first-ever website (Wix)/social media (Facebook) presence for the rural church where I was more officially known as the pastor's wife. During COVID-19, creating and managing the YouTube channel.
August 2010 - October 2015
Advancement & Marketing Coordinator, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School (Indianapolis, IN)
Covering various administrative roles: Stewardship & Special Events Coordinator, Stewardship & Scholarship Officer, Interim Alumni Director, and Interim Executive Assistant to the President. Preparing written copy, photography, and data for admissions marketing materials. Composing internal and external communication messages and news features for the school’s website, social media (Facebook and Instagram), press releases, public advertisements, e-newseltters (Emma), and the alumni magazine. Grant writing (awarded $65,000 in technology funds for school makerspace project). Fundraising event planning, gift stewardship and creative campaign planning, and project management during campaign/event seasons.