Roberta (Bobbie) L. Donahue, MBA, CFRM, CFRE
With more than twenty-five years in fundraising for cultural, educational and social service agencies, Ms. Donahue has accumulated a wide variety of administrative and instructional experience in most areas of institutional advancement and charitable organization fundraising. Her assignments have included capital campaigns, foundation research and proposal writing, annual giving, special gift clubs, board relations, overall program management and donor/volunteer motivation. These experiences have been gained in service as executive director and chief development officer for non-profits of all sizes.
In addition to serving on the faculty of The Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Ms. Donahue is currently a fundraising and management consultant. Previously, Ms. Donahue served as Senior Development Officer for Indiana State University Foundation working with major gift donors and leading the planned giving program. Other experiences include Director of Development and Communications for The Julian Center; Director of Individual Giving and State Foundation Relations for the National FFA Foundation. Sr. Director of Development for Lutheran Child and Family Services of IN/KY, where she devised and implemented a $9 million capital/endowment campaign; Executive Director of the Foundation of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis and Executive Director of the Indiana State Museum Foundation.
Ms. Donahue currently serves as member of the Lay Board of Advisor of the Sisters of St. Benedict. She served as president of the Indiana Chapter of National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE- now known as AFP) and was a delegate to the National Assembly for six years. During that period, she served on the committee that initiated the Charles A. Stephens Diversity Award, the National Philanthropy Awards Committee and the National Every Chapter Campaign. She continues to take an active part in the professional fundraising and philanthropic community in Indiana. She authored the chapter “Planning Events with Purpose” in the textbook Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, 5th Ed.(Wiley, 2022)
Ms. Donahue received her BA from Marian University in Indianapolis and her MBA from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She and her husband Jim have two children, Erinn and Alexia. In addition to her professional interests, her leisure interests turn to art, music, culture, reading and Indiana history. She enjoys hiking, canoeing, camping and other outdoor activities with her family.