Senior Staff
John F. Donovan, Jr., CFRE, Principal
John Donovan began his consulting career with J. Donovan Associates, Inc.,
serving as a resident capital campaign director where he facilitated all
aspects involved in campaign management for three campaigns in California,
Florida and South Carolina. He has conducted studies and provided campaign
counsel to a number of other clients.
John has worked for a planned gift asset management and administration firm
with $2 billion in assets under management assisting universities and colleges
with their planned giving programs. His responsibilities included providing
assistance on complex gift planning and investment strategies, training development
staffs on planned giving concepts, and working with donors and their advisors on
charitable giving techniques.
John has completed the required course work for the Certified Financial Planner
designation (CFP). He brings extensive experience and knowledge in charitable gift,
tax, and estate planning to all philanthropic endeavors. He has presented
nationally at the AHP Madison Institute on Major Gift Solicitation, the New England
AHP conference, AFP State conferences in Florida, Connecticut and Rhode Island,
the Chattanooga Planned Giving Council among others. He is the Vice President
for Programming and serves on the Executive Board for the Planned Giving Group of
New England (PGGNE) and is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).
John graduated from Villanova University, Villanova, PA with a degree in Economics.
David R. Slone, FAHP, Principal
David Slone, FAHP, has nearly 25 years of executive and consulting experience in
philanthropy. Before forming Donovan Slone, David was the founder of Slone &
Associates, a full service fundraising consulting firm. He has provided consulting
services ranging from strategic philanthropy plans, to campaign feasibility studies,
to campaign management for a diverse list of health care clients.
He also served as Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement for Lifespan,
a Rhode Island-based health care system. While at Lifespan, David had executive
responsibility for fundraising teams that raised over $80 million, including a
capital campaign for $24 million to build the Hasbro Children's Hospital.
David was chief development officer of The Children's Hospital Foundation in Denver,
Colorado. He has served as President and CEO of the United Hospital Foundation in St.
Paul, Minnesota, and held senior development positions at Mayo Medical Center affiliated
hospitals in Rochester, Minnesota.
David is a frequent lecturer on philanthropy to lay and professional fundraisers and
serves as Chairman of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) Primer,
designed for professionals new to health care fundraising. He holds a Master's
Degree in Communications. He is a Fellow in the Association for Healthcare
Philanthropy since 1984.
Deborah L. Guthrie, Principal
Deborah is a well-seasoned, results-oriented professional with over 19 years of
progressive experience in fund development, strategic planning, management and
communications. Prior to joining Donovan Slone, Inc., Deborah was Director of
Development for Lifespan, a non-profit health system in Providence RI, involving
Rhode Island, Hasbro Children's, Bradley, Newport and Miriam Hospitals, Hospice
Care and Visiting Nurses Association of Rhode Island, New England Medical Center,
Floating Hospital for Children, Brown and Tufts Medical Schools. Her fundraising
experience also includes several years with United Way, serving in communications,
campaign and chief executive officer capacities.
Deborah's areas of expertise include working with boards, various fundraising
committees and chief executive officers from diverse organizations. She has
also established several development platforms with a major gift/campaign focus
and created program infrastructure that functions cost-effectively while remaining
sensitive to the unique mission and heritage of an institution's philanthropy.
Deborah has managed development operations that included planned giving,
individual/corporate major gifts, grant writing, special events, annual giving,
donor publications, prospect research, donor recognition, gift processing and
acknowledgment, financial reporting, information systems and fund stewardship.
While at Lifespan, Deborah was part of a senior management team, helping to lead
efforts in collaborative fundraising campaigns among all affiliates ranging from
a $1 million child abuse prevention effort, to an $8.5 million cardiac initiative,
to a $16 million hospital capital campaign.
Deborah graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA with a degree in Journalism.
James Peters, APR, Director of Communications
Jim is a veteran communications strategist, with over 30 years of experience in the
health care field. He has led communications, public affairs and development programs
at hospitals and health systems in Maine, California and Rhode Island. Jim specializes
in the development of campaign communications plans and in writing highly effective case
statements for our clients. Jim brings special talents to integrating strategic
communications with development campaigns.
