Diana S. Newman, CFRE
Executive Vice President
Diana Newman is the Executive Vice President of Benefactor Group. Her expertise includes strategic planning, evaluation and assessment, board development, public speaking, group facilitation, and fundraising services for nonprofit organizations, specializing in gift planning and endowment building.
She has more than 25 years of nonprofit and philanthropic experience, most recently as the founder and principal of Philanthropic Resource Group for 14 years. Previously, she served as Vice President for Development for the Columbus Foundation and as the first Executive Director of the Ohio Historical Foundation.
Diana is the author of Nonprofit Essentials: Endowment Building, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2005, and Opening Doors: Pathways to Diverse Donors, published by Jossey-Bass in 2002 and the winner of the 2003 AFP/Skystone Ryan Prize for Research. She also wrote the curriculum and is a faculty member for the Community Foundations Fundamentals course, sponsored by the Council on Foundations.
Diana is the co-founder of the original Leave A Legacy program in Columbus, a community-wide collaboration to encourage people from all walks of life to leave gifts to the charities of their choice. Leave A Legacy is now a national program sponsored by the National Committee on Planned Giving in more than 100 communities in the U.S and Canada.
The Central Ohio Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals chose Diana as its 2004 Outstanding Fundraising Professional. Her volunteer activities include the Board of Trustees of the National Committee on Planned Giving (now the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning), president of the Central Ohio Planned Giving Council, and member of the International Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Research Council.