Kripalu will forever be grateful to the passionate commitment that underscores Barbara’s wealth of knowledge and skillful expertise. She seamlessly stepped in to the challenging role of Interim VP of Institutional Advancement, and supported the success of our organization during a period of transition. She is a most trusted advisor and a savvy change agent.
Dr. Barbara Vacarr, Director, CEO of Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Barbara brings to bear the fullness of her extensive background with museum leadership and deep experience with external affairs. She has a unique ability to quickly narrow focus to core issues, and to sharply discern the most pressing matters at hand. With thoughtfulness and consideration she is able to provide perspective and context, and present clear strategies for moving forward. Barbara’s efforts have proved essential in refining our shared sense of the museum’s strengths and challenges, and in crafting ambitious yet precise goals for the institution’s future.
Lisa Fischman, Director, The Davis Museum at Wellesley College
I have had the pleasure of working with Barbara on a very successful capital campaign for North Bennet Street School, our first in over 30 years. One special benefit has been her perceptiveness and sensitivity in helping us sort through our internal shortcomings as we approached the campaign. Her leadership in planning was invaluable and once the campaign was underway, her input has been concise, focused and right on the mark. I should add that a significant bonus for all of us was that Barbara was also a great pleasure to work with!
Miguel Gomez-Ibanez, President, North Bennet Street School
As a senior professional Barbara brings a clear-eyed and balanced understanding of how money and intent can be linked in a genuine act of generosity – to an institution and to the individuals who support it.
Barbara is one of the few people I know who have preserved the character of being a searcher for good and a spreader of goodness. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience about the use of money, but she has constantly probed the sources of giving, of contributing, of perceiving how people act continually from a place of generosity that reflects the best of who they are.
Edward Skloot, Director
Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society
The Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy
Duke University
Moving from a project basis to a sustainable organization is best done with an incredible mentor, ideally someone like Barbara Bonner. She helped us take those first crucial steps out of “the trenches” and into a path of effective growth and her words of support and optimism have echoed in our ears every day since that first meeting.
Leslie Thomas, Founder and Executive Director
ART WORKS Projects
Chicago
With a mandate to bring our center to a new level of development, we were ecstatic to find such an engaging, smart, and strategic-minded consultant to help us create a growth and development plan. Barbara Bonner “gets it”, quickly grasping the dynamics and culture of organizations. Her consultation not only resulted in the roadmap, but provided the push and blessing that was essential for transformation to occur. We still live and breathe her encouraging mantra: “Think Big! Be Bold!” and have implemented every single wise suggestion she made.
Mary Lynn Everson, Senior Director
Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center
Chicago
Barbara’s experience with non-profit and cultural institutions, her broad perspective and impressive array of contacts were very helpful to us in, among other things, our search for a new Associate Director in the fall of 2009. I enjoyed working with her; she is a very committed professional who approaches challenging situations with creativity and enthusiasm. She also has the very rare quality to quickly comprehend the culture of very complex institutions.
Mirko Zardini, Director and Chief Curator
Canadian Centre for Architecture
In addition to her years of experience in fundraising, Barbara has an intuitive grasp of what it means to raise money and what it feels like from the other side of the table. She also has a rare order of ease that can be especially powerful in the world of development and communications.
Elizabeth Coleman, President
Bennington College
Barbara’s presence has virtually changed the color of the water at Kripalu. She brought with her a knowledge and experience unusual to find in one person. She is equally at ease in the world of cultural and educational institutions as in the worlds of science and finance. Barbara’s wide range of experience and hugely impressive network of friends and colleagues (from politicians to cultural icons) has built a strong foundation for all our work. She knows how to create and sustain relationships, bringing potential donors into projects and helping them to take appropriate ownership. Barbara is excellent at inspiring others to come together in support of a project. She never backs away from a challenge. And boy, does she ever know how to get things done!
Stephen Cope, Senior Scholar in Residence
Director, Institute for Extraordinary Living
Kripalu
Barbara is held in high esteem by her many colleagues both in the museum world in New York and now in a leadership role for numerous nonprofits in the Berkshire region. A consummate professional, Barbara invariably surpasses the extraordinarily high goals she enjoys setting with grace, creativity and thoroughness.
Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director/CEO
Norman Rockwell Museum
Barbara meets, and exceeds, the very definition of a professional. She has succeeded in every aspect of her life… and has earned the respect of so many who have come in contact with her.
Smitty Pignatelli
The House of Representatives
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Montessori School of the Berkshires has benefited immensely from working with Barbara Bonner. Her process of working with us to help our organization understand the vibrant world of development and fundraising has been profoundly effective. Her collaborative process of listening to our needs, assessing our situation and providing direction has been very organizationally strengthening. As a result of our work together we understand our role in fundraising and have been well positioned to move forward with our strategic needs.
Todd Covert, Head of School
The Montessori School of the Berkshires
For her deep understanding of the workings of a successful fundraising operation, her talent for working with donors of every stripe, her professional management skills and her dedication to the many facets of the world of philanthropy I recommend Barbara wholeheartedly.
Garrett Sarley, CEO
Kripalu
As Chair of the Kripalu Board of Trustees Development Committee, it was my distinct privilege to work closely with Barbara for two years. As a development professional myself with experience on several nonprofit boards, I would rank Barbara at the top of my list of consummate institutional advancement professionals. Her calm demeanor, thoughtful and strategic leadership style, and instinctive deep sense of integrity with donor relations stand out in the professional world. These qualities serve Barbara well in all of her relationships as a leader, advancement professional and the sort of friend we all should have in our lives.
Debra Campagna
Retired Chair, Development Committee
Kripalu Board of Trustees
Senior Consultant, Donovan, Slone & Guthrie
Barbara worked closely with me and members of the Development staff and Executive Trustees on a major gifts fundraising project in 2009. Barbara is dynamic and smart, energetic and creative. She always respected the budget and timeline and instinctively understood the needs of the whole organization as it related to this particular project. Best of all, she brings not only her considerable experience to bear but also what I call the “Bonner Trademark” which is a spirit that combines warmth, generosity, confidence, great focus and good humor—all factors that led us directly to success. It was a pleasure and honor to work with her!
Kate Maguire, Artistic Director and CEO
Berkshire Theatre Festival
Stockbridge, MA