Zimmerman Lehman – Who We Are
At Zimmerman Lehman we have established a team of knowledgeable, friendly and experienced professionals who can provide the right support and information to ensure a healthy future for your nonprofit. Our firm was founded in 1988 by Robert M. Zimmerman, national know fundraising specialist and author. Today the Zimmerman Lehman team includes experts in all areas of nonprofit development and management, including fundraising, planning, training, facilitation, marketing and public relations. While each Zimmerman Lehman team member has a unique area of expertise, we work as a group to make sure that all client needs are met. Zimmerman Lehman provides fresh insight, efficient and reliable service, sensitivity to the nonprofit culture, and an objective voice backed by decades of experience.
Ann W. Lehman, Board Governance Specialist and Partner at Zimmerman Lehman, worked in the public interest arena for more than 30 years. She is the author of Board Members Rule: How to Be a Strategic Advocate for your Nonprofit. Ann received her B.A. from Rutgers University and JD from Northwestern School of Law in Portland, OR. Immediately after law school, Ann supervised a storefront public interest law center in Portland geared to senior citizens. She was the Executive Director of a progressive legal organization in New York City and the California Law Center on Long Term Care in San Francisco. Ann is the editor of ZimNotes, a nonprofit e-newsletter now in its 13th year of publication. Ann has taught workshops in such areas as board responsibilities and recruitment, board member advocacy, strategic planning, leadership, human rights, and gender analysis and budgeting. She also worked as a policy director and gender specialist for the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, where she was responsible for implementing a human rights treaty, gender budgeting and analysis. She authored a report on recruitment of women in nontraditional fields, work-life options, benchmarks on girls in San Francisco and created the sexual harassment FAQ. Ann also helped launch the gender equality principles initiative (GEP), a workplace assessment for organizations.
Robert M. Zimmerman was a fundraising specialist and president of Zimmerman Lehman with over 40 years of experience in fundraising, board development, and executive search. He was the director of development for organizations on both coasts, including the Youth Law Center and the Westside Center for Independent Living, and was director of corporate philanthropy at Mills College in Oakland. Mr. Zimmerman was a partner at Zimmerman Lehman from 1988-2010. He was a well-known conference speaker on fundraising strategies, capital, and major donor campaigns. He taught numerous workshops for a wide variety of nonprofit staffs, volunteers and boards of directors in the United States and internationally. He specialized in motivating boards and staff with his practical, down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice and sense of humor. A 1969 graduate of Antioch College, Mr. Zimmerman had an M.A. from the University of Michigan. He consulted with numerous nonprofit organizations both large and small including social service, health, art and culture agencies. Mr. Zimmerman’s clients included The Salvation Army, California Wilderness Coalition, Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Disability Services, Inc., Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra, Children’s Hospital of Oakland, American Lung Association, Marine Science Institute, World Congress on Philanthropy and many others. He has served on the Board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in San Francisco. He is the co-author of Jossey-Bass’s Boards That Love Fundraising: A How- To Guide For Your Board and ZimNotes, an e-newsletter for nonprofits.