Connecticut native heads up charitable foundation

By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
April 5, 2007

The Catholic Community Foundation recently welcomed its new president and CEO to its Valley offices.

Donna Marino began leading the foundation in its support of the religious, education and charitable objectives of the Diocese of Phoenix March 1.

“Things are going extremely well,” Marino said three weeks into her new position. “As I said to the board of trustees, this is a great organization and a great diocese.”

The New England native comes to Phoenix after serving for four years as executive director of the development office in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn.

But the Valley already seems like home.

“We love the area, the climate, the people,” Marino said.

She has family in Arizona and has been visiting for the past 20 years. She and her husband — who remains back east with their son as he finishes his senior year of high school — dreamed of one day retiring in Phoenix.

Though she’s far from retiring at this point, the opportunity to move out west and serve the diocese “just fell into place.”

In searching for a new president and CEO, Andy Grosetta, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, said they wanted a “dynamic leader who has considerable non-profit fundraising experience.”

“She has those skills,” he said.

Marino started her charitable work by volunteering for Jerry Lewis and his fight against muscular dystrophy as a senior at Boston University.

Though she majored in speech pathology and audiology, the experience showed Marino that there was a “whole business side to the helping profession.”

Upon graduating, she began working full-time in various charitable foundations.

The Catholic Community Foundation has awarded more than $4 million in grants since its inception in 1983.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said this support has helped “promote the mission of Christ and His Church by helping people to be good stewards of the financial resources that the Lord has placed in their hands.”

Marino hopes to foster that sense of stewardship in all local Catholics.

“I think many people have a misconception about Catholic foundations, that you have to be a very, very wealthy person to be involved, and that’s a great misunderstanding,” she said.

She hopes to increase awareness of the foundation so that Catholics can “understand the impact of their contributions, large and small, on the many ministries of the Church.”

This greater awareness will lead to an increase in the donor base and the foundation’s greater public presence in the community at large, Marino said.

“We really want to be leaders in the entire growth of the community,” she said, noting that she often marvels at how quickly the Valley has grown over the past 20 years.

Grosetta said that with Marino at the helm, the foundation should be able to move “to the next level.”

“That would entail really growing our corpus to a substantial amount so that we can better serve the needs of people in the diocese,” he said.

That spirit of service excites Marino, who in her free time enjoys volunteering on other organizations’ boards. She has also joined St. Maria Goretti Parish in Scottsdale and plans to serve in some capacity at the church.

Though she has had little leisure time since moving to Phoenix, Marino is already looking forward to exploring the state, especially when the heat becomes a little less hospitable in the summer.

But for now, Marino said she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than in Phoenix, working for the Church and promoting stewardship.

“It’s just such a privilege to serve the foundation and to serve our bishop,” she said.