Susan B. Madon, CFRE, MBA
Susan Madon is an experienced nonprofit executive with expertise in education, poverty alleviation, social justice, faith-based institutions, and the arts. She founded Minerva Nonprofit Management in 2008 to serve small and mid-sized organizations with operating budgets of up to $20mm. Key clients include Cezanne 2025 in Aix-en-Provence, The Heritage Management Program (Athens, Greece), The HOPE Program, YWCA of the City of New York, The Sheen Center, Champions for Quality Education (Archdiocese of New York), Cathedral Girls High School, The Association of Pacific Rim Universities, Believe and Inspire, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, and Helpers for Domestic Helpers. While living in Hong Kong she served as Executive Director of the Hong Kong and South China Office of Global Strategic and Global Initiatives of the University of Southern California during the university’s record-setting $6bn capital campaign.
Prior to founding Minerva, she was Vice President of External Relations at the French Institute-Alliance Française in New York, where she grew the organization’s membership and established its annual fund. Earlier, she served as Director of Educational Development for the Archdiocese of New York, where she was the lead advancement consultant to over 100 primary and secondary schools spanning 10 regions. There, she guided the formation of over 125 school advisory boards, raised operating, capital improvement, and scholarship funds, and led strategic planning, board training, corporate relations, advancement, and marketing/communications. She was also Director of Marketing, Public Relations, and Membership at the Berkshire Museum and a Regional Director for the American Heart Association.
Susan holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, a B.A. in Theatre from Jacksonville University, and maintains the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) designation. She is currently pursuing an ALM in Museum Studies through the Harvard Extension School at Harvard University. She serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, New York City Chapter, where she is the co-chair of the Committee on Directorship, and on the board of Champions for Quality Education. In Hong Kong, she was President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Hong Kong Chapter). She also served as Vice-Chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Education Committees for the American Chamber of Commerce, as a senior advisor and speaker coach at TEDx Wanchai, and as a mentor to early-career professionals and students.
A noted speaker and trainer, she has presented on strategic planning, grants and institutional relations, major gift fundraising, AI and technology, and board recruitment, among other topics. She is the author of a suspense novel about fundraising, titled The Disappearing Donor. She is also a trained actor and singer. Susan makes her home in New York City.