Alumni Who Live By The Code: Matthew Sutton
At Falling Creek, the FCC Code shapes our daily actions, as we strive to consistently live with Warrior Spirit, Servant’s Heart, Positive Attitude, and Moral Compass. The Code is a set of enduring traditional values that provides the framework for everything at camp, but its importance goes far beyond the summer months. In this continuing blog series, we’ll highlight some of the amazing Falling Creek alumni who continue to “Live by the Code,” modeling these values in their daily lives.
Today’s alumni spotlight is on Matthew “Smat” Sutton!
Matthew Sutton is the Director of Corporate Partnerships for the United Way of Greater Atlanta, a non-profit organization whose goal is to help every child unlock their full potential. Better known as “Smat” to camp friends, he worked at Falling Creek during the summers of 2015-2017 and 2019.
Since his time at camp, Smat has continued to live by the Code through his work as a non-profit professional, orchestrating and fostering partnerships that support the youth in his community. He is also a board member with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Atlanta (YNPN Atlanta), and in 2024 he was named a YNPN 30 under 30 Nonprofit Leader, recognized for his “outstanding leadership, innovation, and commitment to community work, shaping the future of the nonprofit sector.” He and his wife Nickolette live in Atlanta, Georgia.
How Did His Falling Creek Journey Start?
We’ll rewind nearly a decade to when Smat was introduced to Falling Creek back in 2015. During his Freshman year at the University of West Georgia, Smat went home for December break and started thinking about what he was going to do that summer. “I knew I didn’t want to stay at home, I wanted to do something a little different during the summer but I wasn’t sure what that looked like,” he remembers.
“I always had a passion for camp and summer. I remember going to soccer camps and overnight camps when I was a kid and just always really loved that kind of environment. I did a lot of research on camps that were across the country and I wanted to go somewhere new and different where I’d not been before.”
“I was Googling around and of course Falling Creek popped up as one of the top rated camps with a lot of really positive feedback. So I threw in an application and in February or March I got an email from Goody (Jim Goodrum, camper ‘81-’87, staff ‘89-’01, Director of Staff & Camper Development ‘08-’16) to set up an interview.”
“My conversation with Goody, it just completely switched my mindset. I just remember the whole interview being so conversational and I thought, ‘if this is what this community is like, I certainly want to be there.’ I think it was a week later Goody reached back out to me and offered me the job, and it was an easy yes from there.”
Falling Creek was Smat’s first real experience working with youth. “That was a whole new ball game for me. I’ll never forget that the day after my first full day with campers, I remember I called my parents and I just said ‘Thank you all so much. The patience you had, I get it now.’ It’s rewarding but it certainly was a new shift for me. I loved it though. With that youngest group, the energy is contagious.”
After that first summer in 2015, Smat returned for three more in ‘16, ‘17, and ‘19. He became Linehead for the youngest group of boys, and in 2017 Smat was awarded the prestigious Green & Gold Award. This award is given annually to the staff member who best exemplifies the Falling Creek Code – Positive Attitude, Warrior Spirit, Servant’s heart, Moral Compass – and who is known for carrying the Falling Creek spirit of unselfishness in their heart.
Life Since Camp
Smat has been staying busy since his last Falling Creek summer in 2019, but he didn’t always know what career path he wanted to pursue.
The United Way organization has been in his blood since Smat was young, but back in 2015 Smat still wasn’t sure what direction to go professionally. “I knew I wanted to be in the non-profit world, but I didn’t know what that would look like or with which organization,” said Smat. “Through Falling Creek I was introduced to other organizations like the American Camp Association and the Sierra Club with Director Emeritus Chuck McGrady’s involvement.”
“I’d always known about the United Way but until then I’d never been involved personally. Every winter, United Way does a big holiday of service with a bunch of different service projects across Atlanta, so the following December [after my first summer at camp], I went to one of the service projects at an organization called Chris 180 who is a partner of United Way. We were building a new facility for 8 to 12 year olds that are experiencing homelessness or have had a parent who has gone into some type of rehabilitation center or incarceration. Instead of being split up by social services, United Way provides grant funding for those families to be housed at Chris 180.”
“Falling Creek launched my passion for youth development. I saw what happens when you give kids that environment of positivity and support, and then with what United Way was doing with their mission and the partners that they had in the community, it just felt like doing this in my hometown seemed really natural to me. So after that Chris 180 service project, I stayed close to the United Way organization through the rest of my college career.”
A Typical Day With The United Way of Greater Atlanta
After graduating college, Smat began work full time with the United Way of Greater Atlanta. Today, he’s the Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. He says that similar to each day at Falling Creek, it can be hard to describe a “typical day” with United Way since each can be so different.
“I work with our corporate partners and the individuals within the corporations who are primarily looking at social responsibility or sustainability within their corporation,” Smat explained. “Some days I may be in a boardroom presenting on strategy for a company and how United Way can help them with that. Then other days I’m in an urban garden with employees and we’re building a new chicken coop.”
“The majority of my day is just speaking to people to better understand what their company’s values are and how they’re looking for that to show up in the community. Making sure I understand what their passion areas are, what they want to accomplish, and helping them connect to different areas of the community or of United Way’s work. Then that’s where the ‘hands on’ part comes in. I learned this at camp too - you can talk about the work and you can read reports and data, but you have to get out and actually do the work or have the experience to better understand how you can help.”
Challenges and Rewards of the Job
Working in a career with an ever-changing environment has its challenges. “Our main goal is to help every child and family in the city become more economically mobile, but with that comes a lot of different pieces,” said Smat. “I think the most challenging part is just staying up to date on what works in the community, so I can better speak to that when I’m talking with corporate stakeholders and individual donors.”
“We’re also in this interesting time in philanthropy right now where our generation is a little more interested in feeling an impact before they make an investment.” Smat explained how a decade or two ago, philanthropy tended to be more trust-based, where donors were more willing to give without necessarily seeing the impact themselves first.
Smat says, “We’re so used to instant gratification and instant return now. I can order something off Amazon and it can be at my house in two hours. Philanthropy is a little different. We’re making an investment in a change that may not reach it’s full result in a year or two years, it could be a five year process. Trying to better help people understand that, but also understand their viewpoint too, it’s kind of a tricky balance. One perspective isn’t better than the other, but it’s just changing the way that we have to work as an organization,” said Smat.
“When you work in an organization like United Way that has been around for 120 years, change and transformation can be tough. It’s a new muscle that we have to build as an organization as a whole. I try to give my personal experience to think about that perspective as a donor myself. I also want to know where my money’s going, who it’s supporting, how it’s supporting, and ultimately that’s going to build a better emotional connection between myself and the organization. So I can align with the perspective of our younger demographic and our younger employee base.”
In this way, Smat works between two worlds, with an outward focus to ensure he knows as much as possible about what’s going on in the community, as well as an inward focus on becoming a better company. “I’m making sure that I know as much as I can about what investments we’re making in different non-profit partners, local initiatives, and programs, but also helping internally to better understand how we can create a stronger emotional connection with the next generation of our donors,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Smat says his work has plenty of rewards. For him, seeing the impact is the best part of his job.
“When you can show a donor the change they’ve made through either a financial investment or an investment of their time, the most rewarding part is seeing how it also impacts their life.” Smat says he enjoys seeing people become energized to get more involved. He gets to see the value and power of people’s impact on the community, but also how it changes their own goals and things they want to accomplish in life.
Life Skills From Camp
Though it’s been years since Smat’s last summer at Falling Creek, he says he still uses the skills he learned at camp in his daily life and work. When Smat works with his team, he says, “I use the FCC Code in every meeting we have. It aligns almost perfectly with what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization.”
“We need to lead with a Servant’s Heart, where you can put others before yourself and watch them create an impact in the world,” said Smat. “We need a Moral Compass and the integrity to not mislead a donor on anything. In this day and age you also have to have that Warrior Spirit. There is more competition in the nonprofit world than there ever has been. It’s good competition because everybody is doing good work, but you have to be prepared for a donor to tell you no, I’m not ready to make this investment. You have to not only be ok with that, but continue to work past it to connect to the community and do good. So certainly I use those skills every single day,” said Smat.
In addition to the values from the Code, Smat said he also learned interpersonal skills and how to deal with adversity through his time at camp.
“You’re in a community of 400 or 500 people who all have different visions and have different ways of working,” said Smat. “They all have different ways of operating and different outlooks on what certain programs or activities should look like. You learn how to work together, but you’ll also get some feedback that may not align exactly to what you think is the right process. At the end of the day though, the goal is the goal and we all share that overall vision.”
Smat said that this taught him about when to put personal opinions aside to work towards a shared vision. “I know the person next to me cares about that goal as much as I do, and so though they may go about it a little differently, I’m there to support them because I know we care about the same thing. I want them to do the same for me because they may have a different perspective that might help me. I think that’s been a huge thing that I’ve taken from camp into my personal and professional life,” said Smat.
Not only was camp the first time Smat was able to work with youth, it was also the first time he was given the opportunity to lead a group of people. “There are a lot of opportunities at camp to be a leader,” he said. “You can lead an activity or an event or a Sunday special signup that you’re passionate about. Camp provides that safe space for adversity and it gives you that opportunity to fail safely and then learn from it.”
“I’d never been given an opportunity to be a leader until I got to camp. So when you come out of that environment and you take that experience with you, it helps you become a bigger leader outside of camp. There’s no price tag you can put on that.”
Do you know a member of the Falling Creek community who “Lives by the Code”? Nominate them so we can feature their stories and advice! Email with your suggestions.