Lauren Cowles serves as Executive Director of the Arkansas donor alliance. During her tenure, she has increased fundraising by over 300%, grown the organization from a staff of three to a staff of ten, and executed the creation of two additional organizations under the donor table umbrella.

In a volunteer capacity, Lauren served on the Ballot Question Committee, Arkansans for Limited Government, which sought to restore abortion access in Arkansas in 2024. In this role, Lauren managed many aspects of the campaign including serving as the primary fundraiser, drafting the language, building coalitions of trusted messengers, and establishing a volunteer civic engagement infrastructure across the state. While the effort to restore abortion access in Arkansas fell short of getting on the ballot, the groundwork has now been laid for future grassroots movement building efforts.

Prior to working at the donor table, Lauren spent 14 years in Washington, DC, working as Director at Van Scoyoc Associates for four years and in the United States Senate for ten years. While working at Van Scoyoc Associates, Lauren developed strategies for achieving goals through the appropriations process and conducted outreach to Members of Congress to gain support for funding and policy initiatives. While working in the US Senate, Lauren served as Appropriations Director for Senator Mark Pryor and as a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lauren managed the statewide appropriations portfolio, budget issues and special projects for Senator Pryor, a member of the Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Agriculture, Rural Development and Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee. In this role, Lauren identified innovative solutions to funding challenges and advanced the Senator's priorities through legislative and administrative means. Before working on appropriations matters, Lauren served as a Professional Staff Member for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee where she was responsible for issues including law enforcement, judiciary matters, emergency management, flood insurance, disaster preparedness and response, immigration reform and national security.

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