The Business Side

of Charity
Businessman Bob Madonna
was itching for a chance to take
what he had learned about
sales and marketing and try it
in the nonprofit sector.

Fundraisers as Salespeople?
Three voices on the similarities and
differences between fundraising and sales.

Grandma’s Yellow Pie Plate

Got plans for National Estate
Planning Awareness Week?

Answers on Grant Proposals

(If nonprofits were brutally honest!)

SEPTEMBER 2018
COVER STORY
The Business Side of Charity
BY KAREN MARTIN
B
ob Madonna and his first wife wanted
children. When they learned they
couldn’t conceive naturally, they
decided to adopt. But where to begin? It was
1980, pre-Internet.
Eventually they found a support group that
helped couples adopt, but the process was
difficult. Too difficult, it seemed to Bob. With
such a great need, for birth mothers and
hopeful adoptive parents, it seemed to him
there should be more and better resources.
Bob met up with a man who was trying to
start a nonprofit to facilitate adoptions. They
recruited a few friends and pooled their
money. They put up billboards near train
trestles in the Philadelphia area advertising
free housing and medical care for birth
mothers who wanted to place their children
for adoption.
“We were business people,” says Bob. “We
did what we knew how to do—advertise.”
And it worked. Within three years Golden
Cradle Adoption had grown to be one of the
most successful adoption agencies in the
United States. It was featured on Good
Morning America and 60 Minutes.
Bob took a few things away from the
experience that would stick with him for life:
First, and most importantly, two chil-
dren—Ryan and Mandy, now in their 30s.
Second, says Bob, “The experience taught
me ‘wow—you really can make a difference in
the world.’ ”
Third, Bob realized that business princi-
ples he was using every day in his job could
also have great results for charity.
From Businessman
to Board Member
Bob’s career began on a bottom rung at Bell
Atlantic, which eventually became Verizon.
“I was the Italian kid with minimal
education,” he says.
But he studied the company’s organiza-
tional charts and soon knew just about
everyone’s name in the Pennsylvania division
of the company. He started a football pool
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that became popular with the executives in
his building.
“I started making friends with the people
who were being promoted so I could
understand what they were doing right.”
One day, his boss pulled him aside. “He
told me I had a lot of potential and encour-
aged me to drop the pool and go back to
college and get my Bachelors degree. I took
his advice.”
After school, Bob’s career took off. He was
promoted several times, advancing on a fast
track from a vocational position to manager.
After 10 years of moving up within the
engineering department, Bob took a job in
marketing and continued his upward motion
in the company.
In addition to a successful career, Bell
Atlantic gave Bob something else: a passion
Bob and Deborah celebrated 18 years of marriage last month.
“I always had this yen to apply what I
learned in sales and marketing to the
nonprofit world.”
for volunteering in his community. Bell
expected their employees to volunteer on one
of the company’s community relations teams.
Bob loved it.
By 2001 Bob had left the corporate world,
remarried, and started a company from
scratch. His business took off, and he was
approaching a stage in life when he could
start thinking about a comfortable retirement.
And yet, he says, “I always had this yen to
apply what I learned in sales and marketing to
the nonprofit world.”
Bob Madonna and Surrey members in Media, PA.
Clockwise from left: Edna, Teresa and Kay.
He missed the nonprofit world and being
connected to the community, so he began
volunteering on local nonprofit boards. Over
the next 15 years or so, he would serve on
nine different boards. He also began inter-
viewing for nonprofit CEO positions.
“I was always the number two person,” he
says. “I was the business guy, the outsider. I
always lost out to ‘mission people’—folks who
had been in the nonprofit world all their lives.”
Then in January 2016, after six months of
interviewing and role-playing, a nonprofit
gave the business guy a chance. Bob was
appointed to be the new President and CEO
of Surrey Services for Seniors, a nonprofit in
the Philadelphia area that helps older adults
continue to live as as engaged members of the
community.
Screaming for the Elderly
All Bob’s nonprofit experience up to that
point had been working with children. Now,
as the head guy for a senior services organiza-
The Way We Think About Charity
is Dead Wrong
Highlights from Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk: Uncharitable
We have two rulebooks. We have one for the nonprofit sector, and one for the
rest of the economic world. It discriminates against the nonprofit sector in
five areas:
1. Compensation
In the for-profit sector, the more value you produce, the more money you
can make. But we don't like nonprofits to use money to incentivize people
to produce more in social service.
2. Advertising and marketing
We tell the for-profit sector, "Spend, spend, spend on advertising, until the
last dollar no longer produces a penny of value." But we don't like to see
our donations spent on advertising in charity.
3. Risk taking
Nonprofits are reluctant to attempt any brave, daring, giant-scale new
fundraising endeavors, for fear that if the thing fails, their reputations will
be dragged through the mud. Well, you and I know when you prohibit
failure, you kill innovation.
4. Time
Amazon went for six years without returning any profit to investors, and
people had patience. They knew there was a long-term objective down the
line. If a nonprofit organization ever had a dream of building magnificent
scale that required that for six years, no money was going to go to the
needy, we would expect a crucifixion.
5. Profit
The for-profit sector can pay people profits in order to attract their capital
for their new ideas, but you can’t pay profits in a nonprofit sector, so the
for-profit sector has a lock on the multi-trillion-dollar capital markets, and
the nonprofit sector is starved for growth and risk and idea capital. •
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Clockwise from left: Bob and his son Ryan with the Phillie Phanatic, mascot for the Philadelphia Clockwise from left: Bob at a public speaking engagement; Ken, a volunteer in the Surrey café;
Phillies; Surrey staff (L to R) Steve Trubey, Caryn Fallon, Bob Madonna, Kathleen Sanger, Lady and her Surrey Home Care Services companion Margaret using the computer
Christina Wagoner, Christi Seidel, Vicki Weiss, Mary LePera; Bill, a driver for Surrey Services. at Surrey in Devon, PA.

tion, he found himself facing a learning curve.
“The only thing I knew about aging is that I
was getting old!”
What he learned in those early days on the
job quickly turned him into an advocate for
older people—in particular, older people who
are at risk of leading isolated lives. A third of
Americans over 65 live alone; half of people
over 85 live alone.
“When people can't drive they’re isolated.
A lot of times people don't have family in the
area. They’re totally by themselves.”
He cites some sobering statistics:
• The highest rate of successful suicides
is men over 75.
• Isolation significantly increases the risk
of heart disease and stroke.
• Loneliness can accelerate cognitive
decline in older adults.
• Isolated individuals are twice as likely
to die prematurely as those with more
robust social interactions.
“Every other group of people are so strong
in their advocacy, screaming for their rights,”
says Bob. “Nobody screams for the elderly.”-
Bob considers it his #1 job as CEO to be a
voice for the elderly and for Surrey Services.
He does at least one public talk every week.
“In successful nonprofits, the leader is
visible. People know who he or she is,” says
Bob. “I hire people to do the work, then my
job is to get out there and make it easier for
them. I’ll talk to anybody. It’s not about me...
it’s for Surrey.”
Nonprofit Innovation
One of the first things Bob did as the new
CEO was ask all the board members of Surrey
Services to watch Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk,
“Uncharitable.”
In the talk, which has been viewed by 4.5
million people, Pallotta calls for more freedom
for nonprofits to take bigger risks—on par
with what is expected from businesses.
“I hire people to do the work, then my job is
to get out there and make it easier for
them. I’ll talk to anybody. It’s not about
me... it’s for Surrey.”
If charities are to solve the world’s greatest
social problems, he says, they must have
the space to dream big, spend money and
take risks.
Bob loves the Pallotta approach. And at
last he has his chance to test out business and
sales strategies in the nonprofit world. Bob
talks about—and embraces—the “six dirty
words” in the nonprofit world—competition,
marketing, collaboration, sales, risk and
advertising.
Competition
Bob remembers passing out blank cards to
his board members and asking them,
“How many 501c3s do you think there are
in our area?”
People wrote down their guesses: 1,000?
2,500? Maybe 4,000?
Then Bob revealed the correct answer:
43,700.
“If we have that many competitors all
begging for money, we have to get above
the fray!”
Marketing
“Having a really good marketing person is just
as important as a good development person.
You have to have awareness first.”
The easiest marketing tactic, says Bob, is to
go into a public setting and give a talk. “I’m
asking all 23 board members to give one talk
next year.”
Collaboration
At the same time he views other nonprofits in
the area as competition for funding, Bob is
also pursuing collaboration with them. Later
this year he’s inviting various nonprofits to
come together at Surrey and talk about how
to work together.
“Let’s promote each other’s programs,
create complementary services, make sure
our galas don’t fall on the same date,” he says.
“In the business world that’s why you have
trade associations. That’s not customary in
the nonprofit world.”
Risk
One of the things that attracted Bob to Surrey
Services was how the board embraced the
same “fail quickly” axiom that was encour-
aged when Bob worked in the business sector.
He was given freedom to try just about
anything—and he has.
Bob decided to try a simple fundraising
method that had been successful at another
organization where he had served on the
board. They put little coin banks at conve-
nience stores and got a third of the change. It
was a large metropolitan area, and it worked
out great.
Bob thought he’d give it a try at Surrey. “I
got a bunch of banks, distributed them all
over. It failed.”
Bob put a lot of time and energy into
another non-starter that really surprised him
when it didn’t take off.
“I tried to make relationships with religious
institutions in the area. I thought that would
be natural. We could help drive their people
around, get them to church on Sundays, etc.
But it seemed like they were afraid if we did
good will to their members, they’d stop giving
there.”
The flops don’t bother Bob. “You can’t be
afraid to try new things,” he says. •

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