Biography of

Linda Smith

For more than 25 years, Linda Smith has revolutionized the principles of non-profit fundraising, community relations and event management in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a fundraising specialist for Opportunity Village, now Nevada’s largest organization for people with intellectual disabilities, she has gained an international reputation as an innovative leader, public speaker, and most of all, a humanitarian.

Linda has been a major force at Opportunity Village in planning and developing fundraising strategies, most notably the privately-funded, multi-million dollar capital campaigns to build the Opportunity Village campuses and training centers that have served thousands of disabled people.  During her career, she has originated and organized hundreds of innovative events to inform and educate the public, and to raise money for Opportunity Village.  Linda is a willing mentor to non profits in need of advice.

The Opportunity Village Resource Development Department, overseen by Linda, generates millions of dollars annually for programs for people with profound disabilities through special events and annual giving programs she has largely pioneered.  Career highlights as a fundraiser and administrator are numerous and impressive, and include:

• A five-year effort by Linda to involve superstar vocalist Celine Dion in the Opportunity Village mission, culminating in Ms. Dion’s selection of Opportunity Village as her charity of choice in Las Vegas, and in her performance at a benefit concert on the Las Vegas Strip in honor of Opportunity Village’s 50^th birthday.  

• Creation of the Christopher Smith Endowment for Social Recreation and the Arts, through which people with profound intellectual disabilities have access to programs to enhance their physical and artistic abilities and their self-esteem. Through aggressive fundraising, the Endowment was valued at more than $1 million in its first year.

• Capital campaigns totaling more than $67 million including the Lied Opportunity Campus on West Oakey Blvd the Walters Family Campus in Henderson, the  Culinary Training Center on the Opportunity Village main campus and the Southwest campus at Buffalo and Patrick.

• Other achievements and innovations include the annual star-studded Concert of Love on the Las Vegas Strip, which has generated millions of dollars; the Great Santa Run a record breaking event featuring thousands of runners in Santa garb and the Magical Forest outdoor holiday spectacular, which grosses more than $1,000,000.00 annually; and the initiation and development of the Opportunity Village Foundation, which governs a multi-million dollar endowment. 

Active in various professional associations, Linda was named “Fundraising Executive of the Year” by the National Society of Fundraising Executives, of which she is a charter member.  She received the Woman of Achievement Award from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and is a graduate of Leadership Las Vegas.  An honorary member of Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, Linda was named “Nevada Woman of the Year” in 1994, and was named “Las Vegas Citizen of the Month” by the Las Vegas City Council.

In its “Best of Las Vegas” 2000 poll, the staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal named Linda their “Favorite Female Las Vegan,” and for more than a decade, in that same poll, the newspaper’s readers have consistently named Opportunity Village “Las Vegas’ Favorite Charity,” thanks to Linda’s efforts to keep the organization in the public eye.

Linda has spent much of her career mentoring others in the charitable fundraising field, and is an in-demand speaker and presenter around the world. She tought Fundraising and Public Relations classes at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Community College of Southern Nevada, and has addressed organizations around the US, Canada, Australia and Great Britain about practices and innovations in fundraising.

Before moving to Las Vegas, Linda enjoyed successful careers as a model, dancer and actress in England and Canada, where she first became involved in her mission as an advocate for people with disabilities.

“Smith’s high profile in Southern Nevada has helped raise

^{awareness of the issues of the mentally disabled for decades.}”

Las Vegas Review Journal’s Best of Las Vegas

John L. Smith, March 2002

Linda Smith

Chief Development Officer &

Associate Executive Director

Opportunity Village Foundation

Smithl@opportunityvillage.org

www.opportunityvillage.org