It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of our esteemed long-time friend, colleague and board member Donald A. Campbell, Jr., CFRE.
A renowned fundraising expert, Campbell was the founder of Campbell & Company, a leading national fundraising, marketing and executive search firm that he guided to national prominence. During his 45 years of campaign and development experience, Campbell was personally associated with campaigns and programs that generated more than $3 billion in philanthropy.
“Don Campbell is respected as one of the pre-eminent leaders of the fundraising profession. His expertise and his commitment to advancing research, education and professional practice were widely known. The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and its predecessor, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, have been privileged to benefit extensively from his leadership, knowledge and dedication to our work and the field of fundraising,” said Amir Pasic, the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the school.
“We are grateful for Don’s long-time support and for his generous gift of the Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership, which will help equip students and practitioners to lead fundraising programs to success for decades to come,” Pasic continued.
The endowed chair provides for the creation of research and the incorporation of new knowledge into professional fundraising practice, teaching and training, all of which enable nonprofit leaders to become effective fundraisers while elevating the leadership readiness of fundraisers everywhere.
“Don Campbell was a giant of our field and a role model for how one person can make a difference. His impact ripples through the many nonprofits he aided, the causes they serve, and scores of professionals who walk in his footsteps. I'm humbled to help carry forward his legacy of ethical and innovative fundraising, commitment to philanthropy, service to the fundraising profession, and intellectual exploration and discovery," said Genevieve Shaker, Ph.D., the Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership.
Campbell served as the organizing chair of the Board of Governors for the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He was a member of the board for much of the organization’s history and was a valued, long-standing advisor. The center presented him with its highest honor, the Henry A. Rosso Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fund Raising and he was recognized with IU Indianapolis’s Spirit of Philanthropy award.
“Don’s dedicated leadership and service to the field of fundraising serve as an example for our students and for philanthropy leaders and fundraisers at all stages of their careers,” said Gene Tempel, Founding Dean Emeritus of the school and President Emeritus of Indiana University Foundation. “From the beginning of our enterprise, he shared our vision of a school that teaches and builds knowledge about professional, ethical and effective fundraising and philanthropy. We are thankful for his good counsel and for his philanthropy, which will build upon and help perpetuate that shared vision.”
A former two-term chairman of the national Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Campbell was honored with its Founder’s Medallion for his many contributions to the association and the profession. AFP previously recognized him as its Outstanding Fund Raising Executive of the Year. He is a past president of AFP’s Chicago chapter and recipient of its first President’s Award for distinguished service to the fundraising profession.
Campbell began his career as executive director of the Fenn College Alumni Association (now Cleveland State University) and served as development director of the American Heart Association in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a regional director of the University of Michigan’s $77 million campaign in 1964 and of Dartmouth College’s $55 million campaign in 1966. He served as capital fundraising manager for Case-Western Reserve University and as vice president of Charles R. Feldstein & Company in Chicago before starting Campbell & Company in 1976.
Since retiring from active management of the firm in 2006, Campbell had continued his personal philanthropic engagement nationally and in the Chicago area. He served as a member of the TKE Foundation’s executive committee and volunteered as an advisor to the University of Houston’s Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Chicago Hope Academy, Chicago Maritime Society and a Rock Steady program in Wilmette, Ill. He was a past chairman of numerous nonprofit boards and of the United Way of Chicago’s development committee. He received his B.B.A. in marketing from Fenn College.
Campbell sailed competitively for more than five decades, having raced the Chicago to Mackinac Race 30 times—winning his section three times—and earned Boat of the Year titles in Chicago several times.
About the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy is dedicated to improving philanthropy to improve the world by training and empowering students and professionals to be innovators and leaders who create positive and lasting change. The school offers a comprehensive approach to philanthropy through its undergraduate, graduate, certificate and professional development programs, its research and international programs, and through The Fund Raising School, Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy, Women’s Philanthropy Institute, and the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative.