Fundraising experience, passion, set Dinsmore apart

WEALTH OF  EXPERIENCE: Louise R. Dinsmore is a principal of Partners in Philanthropy LLC, which raises funds for nonprofits and provides consulting services. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE: Louise R. Dinsmore is a principal of Partners in Philanthropy LLC, which raises funds for nonprofits and provides consulting services. / PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

Louise R. Dinsmore knows how to raise money.

From working on former U.S. Rep. Ronald K. Machtley’s congressional campaign in the early ’90s, to fundraising for educational facilities at The University of Rhode Island and now running a consulting firm that’s helped numerous nonprofits achieve capital goals, Dinsmore has broad experience.

“What differentiates us from other consulting firms is that we know the Rhode Island philanthropic community better than anybody,” she said.

Dinsmore is a principal of Partners in Philanthropy LLC, a consulting business she runs with partner Cheryl Comai. Dinsmore started the business at the height of the Great Recession after her 3-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, died of a congenital heart disease. She says her husband, Jeffrey, was somewhat skeptical about the timing of her new business, given the economy, but she was able to leverage her professional connections to grow the business into a successful company.

- Advertisement -

“Nine years later, we haven’t looked back,” she said.

Today, Partners in Philanthropy has eight nonprofit clients, mostly in Rhode Island.

The company is a full-service consulting business, offering individual and corporate fundraising, major-gift training, capital-campaign planning and more. Its client list includes WaterFire, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School, Gamm Theatre and the Pace Organization of Rhode Island, to name a few.

Services are tailored to the needs of each client, but one aspect of fundraising that Dinsmore stresses with each client is the need to have a real connection with its top donors.

“It’s all about relationships and relationship building,” she said, adding that face-to-face interactions are still important in a time with an increasing amount of virtual connections through social media.

“With new fundraisers, especially folks maybe in their 20s or 30s who haven’t had a lot of experience and are the social-media generation, they will post something to Facebook and Twitter, but it’s not enough,” she said. “With the exception of ALS with its ‘Ice Bucket Challenge,’ that was a social-media sensation and really took off, social media fundraising is not an effective way of fundraising. It’s a tool in the bucket of fundraising, but not the be-all-end-all.”

Dinsmore’s passion for fundraising has a robust history. She started while studying political science at Providence College with the dream of one day running for office, but after working on a political campaign realized she had a real knack for fundraising. After helping Machtley on an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 1994, Dinsmore landed a job working at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she helped raise the institution’s annual fund from about $370,000 per year to just below $800,000.

She later joined The University of Rhode Island, where she worked with former CVS Health Corp. CEO Thomas M. Ryan and former Gov. Lincoln C. Almond to raise $15 million to help build the Ryan Center, a 7,657-seat arena in South Kingstown.

“That campaign was a career highlight for me,” she said.

Dinsmore continued to fundraise for the university’s 22 athletics teams, before leaving to work for Women & Infants Hospital, where she worked on a capital campaign for major gifts and planned giving. She was helping the hospital raise $23 million for a new neonatal intensive care unit, of all things, when Gabrielle fell ill with a heart disease and died.

The death ended up being the start of Dinsmore’s current venture, but it also sparked her and her husband to co-found the Gabrielle Dinsmore Heart & Hope Fund, which has raised more than $1 million. Its signature program is Gabrielle’s Heart Camp – the only camp exclusively for children with heart disease and heart defects.

“We have fundraised and networked with a number of doctors all around New England to tell people what our mission is and what we do,” she said.

The couple worked in collaboration with Dr. Lloyd Feit, a pediatric cardiologist at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, whose dream it was to start this type of camp. The programming includes three- to five-day sessions of fun and educational activities, “designed to build friendships, foster teamwork and safely challenge what each child thinks are their physical and mental limitations.”

Moving forward, Dinsmore is looking to stay consistent with eight to 10 clients. And while she mostly works with Rhode Island nonprofits, she would consider outside inquiries on a case-by-case basis. When asked whether she has any interest in branching out from the nonprofit sector, Dinsmore said she doubts it’ll happen in the near future.

“My passion is nonprofit fundraising. I feel that’s my skill set. It’s really meaningful work for me,” she said. •

No posts to display