Growing up on her family’s crop and livestock farm in North Dakota, Tammy Meyer witnessed her parents’ generosity. Whether through financial support or lending a hand, they were always willing to help because they believed it was the right thing to do. Their philosophy of giving has stayed with Meyer throughout her life.
Similarly, her experience on the family farm, along with her involvement in FFA and 4-H, inspired her career path. As a member of the A.S. Gibbens FFA in Maddock, North Dakota, with a cattle and swine operation, Meyer discovered a lifelong passion for agriculture.
Tammy Meyer
“As a student, agricultural education gave me knowledge that I needed, especially related to my livestock operation and in helping with our family farm,” Meyer says. “FFA provided me with life skills that I would use every day (although I didn’t know it at the time). It gave me the skills to make decisions, run meetings, and develop budgets and then use that to ask for a loan to increase my operation. It gave me communication skills ranging from public speaking to sharing an idea to persuading someone to be involved in a project.”
Meyer became chapter secretary, then progressed to North Dakota FFA secretary and earned the American Farmer Degree. At North Dakota State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree, she studied agriculture. She received a master’s degree from Virginia’s Marymount University and interned at the former National FFA Center in Alexandria. Her early career was working in cooperatives in North Dakota and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.
All the while, the philanthropic nature that Meyer learned from her parents never waned.
As her career progressed, she combined her giving spirit with her love of agriculture to translate into a fundraising profession. Working for the National FFA Foundation, she was dedicated to cultivating corporate support and growing engagement and giving with former FFA members. For the Nebraska FFA Foundation, she created and planned a fundraising strategy for the organization.
“I have had the opportunity to be on the other side, raising money for FFA at all levels, and the one thing I know from my experience is that a lot of individuals, companies, and organizations really believe in the future of agriculture,” she says. “Because of that, they give.”
Meyer met with former Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland during her time as a state FFA officer.
For that same reason, Meyer is one of those individuals. She has donated to the National FFA Foundation for 25 years. Meyer emphasizes that philanthropy is about the impact that gifts can make for FFA, “whether it’s through a program that is provided, an FFA jacket funded for someone who needs one, or to help develop new programs and ideas needed for the future.”
To Meyer, giving back to the organization is essential. “There is no question that I am the person I am today because of how I was raised, plus the experiences I had with FFA and 4-H,” Meyer said. “Because I had that example to follow and to realize that was also important to me — it was only natural to provide support and help to those organizations that were significant to me, especially those that had a direct impact on me.”
