Caregiver Feature 
Amber Allen had already lived many different lives before she arrived at Monument Health Foundation. “I have a wide variety of interests and experience,” she said.
This is a bit of an understatement.
She has been, at various times, a property manager, a salon owner and a nontraditional student in accounting and human resources. She is a single mom, an artist, a motorcycle enthusiast and a self-taught home renovator. She even previously worked in the finance department at Rapid City Hospital.
So when she was hired as data specialist for the Foundation, Amber had amassed a lifetime’s worth of skills that immediately made her a valuable asset.
Inside the Foundation office, away from the donor events and the various department meetings and the facetime that is so crucial to the efforts of raising money on behalf of Monument Health, there are other unseen efforts underway, day to day. One of these tasks is tracking the money that flows into the Foundation and from whom the donations come. It’s unheralded work, but it’s extremely important. And the person tasked with that job is Amber.
“All of the gifts that come in, I enter them into our financial system and then send that information over to finance so that when it comes into our account, they can put it into the appropriate fund and send it where it needs to go,” she said. “I maintain a database with correct information on all of the constituents, their addresses, invoices, pledges and the gifts and make sure that they get appropriately allocated.”
Amber’s behind-the-scenes role is probably not one you think of when considering the grand scheme of the Foundation’s many contributions to Monument Health, but that doesn’t make her work any less crucial. “I have had a public facing job as well, and I think this is a good mix of the two for me personally, because I still go to the events, meet people, experience the fundraising side of it and am a part of all of it.”
When she’s not busy crunching data for the Foundation, you may find Amber out riding through the Badlands astride her enhanced 2021 Harley- Davidson Heritage Softail, on which she puts about 5,000 miles a year. Or, she may be working on an addition to her house, a project she reluctantly undertook after a series of contractors left her frustrated, and more or less to her own devices.
“I put in a water heater a couple weeks ago; did all the draining, plumbing and the water going to the kitchen faucets and stuff,” said Amber. “I didn’t have running water in my kitchen for like, a year. I didn’t have electricity out there for like a year because it takes a while to build it all up and doing it only on the weekends, it takes a little bit longer.”
The mission of the Foundation squares neatly with Amber’s personal history of philanthropy. For several years, she operated a salon one day a week in an apartment building for low income, elderly and people with disabilities. “Some of them would forget to bring their money, and it was never a big deal. I loved being able to be a part of their lives because they are so kind and generous with the little they had. There were a few that I was the only person that they talked to every week,” she explained. “And so it was more than just a relationship where I’m giving them a haircut. It was very meaningful.”
Now Amber is relishing the opportunity to channel that same charitable spirit into her vocation. “It’s always been important to me to be able to give back to the community, and the Foundation is a really good place to fill that need,” she said. “There is a purpose, and it’s bigger than just one person. It really takes the whole team at the Foundation to accomplish some of the things we do. Everybody in our department is very caring. I think you have to be in order to do our job. Being a part of the Foundation team has been humbling and fulfilling — and an incredible opportunity.”
“Amber is our unsung hero. Her role is crucial for our success in acknowledging and celebrating all of the donations we receive. Not only is she great at her job … she is pretty fun to have around.” – Hans Nelson, Foundation Director