Board Communications

February 2012 | August 2011

FEBRUARY 2012
New President Announced

Hello DANA Members, Partners, Supporters, and Friends:

The recently reconstituted Board of the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies (DANA) has named Christopher T. Grundner to the newly created position of President and Chief Executive Officer.

Grundner previously served as the Director of Community Relations for the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) in Delaware after merging the brain tumor organization he founded, The Kelly Heinz-Grundner Brain Tumor Foundation (KHG), with NBTS in March of 2010.

Grundner, 41, of Landenberg, PA, will focus on leading the 27-year-old DANA to new levels of service for its 300 member organizations and on expanded community engagement and policy impact. John D. Baker, who had been serving as DANA's Executive Director, becomes Executive Vice President of Policy and Programs.

Grundner received his MBA from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in 1997 and held positions of increasing responsibility with several organizations in Texas, including Towers Perrin Consulting and The Sabre Group, then a subsidiary of American Airlines. Grundner moved to Wilmington in 1999 where he worked as the Director of Business Development for the cobrand credit card division of First USA/Bank One (now JPMorgan Chase), eventually becoming one of its youngest Senior Vice Presidents. Some of Chris' major accomplishments in this role were forging partnerships with industry leaders such as Starbuck's, Volkswagen, and the Walt Disney Corporation.

Grundner left JPMorgan Chase in 2004 after his wife, Kelly, passed away from a malignant brain tumor. Shortly thereafter, Grundner founded KHG with the goal of bringing national attention to the disease. Under Chris' leadership, KHG created and hosted the first-ever brain tumor awareness walk in the state of Delaware, and created and launched two brain tumor awareness initiatives - GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME® and Tulips Against Tumors™ - both of which became national programs as a result of KHG's merger with NBTS.

"DANA is extremely fortunate to have Chris at its helm," stated Thère du Pont, President of the Longwood Foundation and DANA's recently elected Board Chair. "His experience and skills are outstanding, as is his level of drive and determination. All of this, coupled with his strong background in developing winning partnerships, makes him the perfect leader to propel DANA into its next phase of organizational growth and success."

The selection of Grundner and the reconstitution of the Board end a two-year effort by a small working group to evaluate DANA's strengths and shortcomings and recommend a path for the organization's future.

The need for this evaluation grew out of a major conference in March 2010 at the University of Delaware on 'The Future of the Nonprofit Sector in Delaware.' The conference, attended by more than 500 people, was part of an ongoing series known as 'Knowledge-based Partnership' conferences, sponsored by the University and the Delaware Public Policy Institute. It was the sense of the conference attendees that DANA was faltering and needed additional investment.

"Chris is a guy who knows how to get things done," stated John H. Taylor, Jr., Executive Director of the Delaware Public Policy Institute, working group member, and new member of DANA's Board. "He established KHG and brought it to national level in an incredibly short amount of time and has demonstrated that he understands the challenges inherent in being sustainable as a small nonprofit, especially in this time of diminished resources. Because he has successfully walked this path, he will not only be a tremendous resource for other nonprofits in Delaware, but an inspiration as well."

With a grant from the Jesse Ball du Pont Fund, the working group studied nonprofit intermediary organizations in several states, including Florida, Maine, Illinois, and Montana and held meetings with the National Association of Nonprofit Agencies. The objective was to identify best practices for such organizations that might guide DANA's development. The group's basic findings were that DANA could not be effective in serving the needs of the nonprofit sector in Delaware if its resources depended on member dues alone. DANA required regular sustained operational support from grantmakers. It also found that DANA's governance was not aligned with other community organizations and not engaged in broad-based alliances that might best represent the interests of its members. It recommended that DANA diversify its Board to include leaders from philanthropic, business, and community development institutions.

The working group kept in regular communication with the DANA Board's Executive Committee as it conducted its research and also brought Board Members onto the working group along with representatives of the grantmaking community. As a product of the research and recommendations, several grantmakers have agreed to provide substantial support to DANA as it attempts to reconfigure its governance and services and expand its reach and impact.

The core members of the working group were Robert E. Ewers, a retired corporate attorney, Wil Sherk, a fundraising professional and Executive Director of the Delaware Grantmakers Association, Dr. Daniel Rich, University Professor of Public Policy at the University of Delaware, Ginny Marino, Executive Director of the YWCA of Delaware and the former Chair of DANA's Board, and John H. Taylor Jr., Executive Director of the Delaware Public Policy Institute.

Retained on the newly reconstituted DANA Board are Marino, Pamela Baker, CPA, Partner, Barbacane Thornton & Co. LLP and Michael Sigman, Partner, Journey Leader. The new DANA Board Members, in addition to du Pont, are Ewers and Taylor from the working group, William R. Allan, the recently retired CEO of Verizon Delaware, Paulette Austin, Executive Director of Generations Home Care, Inc., D. Wayne Holden, former Delaware Community Foundation Chair, Sherry P. Magill, Ph.D., President, Jessie Ball du Pont Fund, Peter Morrow, President, Welfare Foundation, Joseph M. Schell, of Schell Brothers, Fred Sears, II, President, Delaware Community Foundation, Helen M. Stewart, Vice President at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mark A. Turner, President & CEO WSFS Bank, and Richelle Vible, Executive Director of Catholic Charities.

"This is an exciting time for DANA. The addition of Chris and the increased engagement of community leaders with vested interest in the success of the nonprofit sector will enable us to continue to grow and serve this great state," said Mr. du Pont.

Thank you to our Members, Partners, Supporters, and Friends!

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AUGUST 2011
Board and Staff Changes

Thère du Pont, president of the Longwood Foundation, has been elected chairman of the Delaware Association of Nonprofit Agencies (DANA) board of directors.

Mr. du Pont said he is "honored to lead the DANA board during such an exciting period. Ginny Marino (CEO of the YWCA Delaware and DANA's immediate past board chair) and the Working Group formed to review options to expand and strengthen DANA's leadership capacity and reach did an excellent job of benchmarking with similar organizations in other states and I am ready to help implement the best practices they identified."

Mr. du Pont will serve a two-year term as Chairman of the newly reconstituted DANA board.

The board also designated Robert Ewers, a DANA director, as DANA's transition leader who will work with the board, DANA members and staff and others over the coming months as plans to expand and strengthen the organization are refined and implemented.

Mr. Ewers, who has had a career in merger and acquisition transactions and integrations, corporate governance and general management, was a volunteer community member of the Working Group that researched and proposed the revitalization framework presented to the DANA membership at its annual meeting in June when the board was reconstituted. Mr. du Pont said that "Bob was a very effective leader in the Working Group and remains committed to helping DANA implement its recommendations. He brings a wealth of professional experience to the task."

The board recognized the contributions of John Baker, who has worked to maintain and grow DANA's presence in the community since August 2009. Mr. Baker will continue to lead DANA's existing programming and policy initiatives as the revitalization plan is refined and rolled-out in his new role as Executive Vice President of Policy and Programs. Mr. du Pont stated that "the board is very grateful that John will now focus on consolidating DANA's past successes as we build toward the revitalized DANA with expanded resources and staffing."

DANA's revitalization plan calls for several key actions over the coming year including:

• Board development and governance that will include senior representatives from the nonprofit, corporate, foundation and other communities.
• Broadening representation from Kent and Sussex Counties.
• Adding management talent and resources (including the hiring of a CEO).
• A focused plan designed to enable DANA to emerge as a best-in-class leadership and service entity for the Delaware nonprofit sector.

Mr. du Pont said the board wanted to hear from the community. He urged DANA members and others to send suggestions to bod@delawarenonprofit.org.

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