Cabrini Profiles – John Damonti

John Damonti

John L. Damonti is the President of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and serves as Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy for the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. The Foundation, based in New York City with offices in Princeton, New Jersey; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Bamako, Mali is a major funder of biomedical research, women’s health education, science education reform and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Mr. Damonti led the first major private philanthropic commitment to address the issue of HIV/AIDS focused on women and children in nine African countries.

When did you first become involved with the Board of Trustees of Cabrini Mission Foundation? Cabrini Mission Foundation had responded to an RFP from our program in Africa called “Secure the Future.” This was a $100 million effort, and Cabrini Mission Foundation partnered with us in Swaziland. The program is administered through 3000 Rural Health Motivators who were trained on a culturally specific curriculum dealing with the care of people infected with HIV/AIDS. It covered topics such as health, nutrition, and medical care delivered directly to the homesteads.

What motivated you to join the Board? As a result of our successful collaboration, Sr. Lucille, who was the Foundation president at the time, invited me to join the Board after our grant ended. I was impressed with the commitment of the staff of the ministries. They seemed to have a real passion for their work – it wasn’t “just their job, it was a calling.” I was also impressed by the balance of talent between the Sisters, the lay volunteer leadership, and the staff. It is a very smooth and complimentary working relationship.

What are some of the challenges you see facing the Foundation? We need to continue to execute the CMF Strategic Plan, and to do so the Foundation needs to continue to professionalize with a strong board recruitment effort in the areas of fundraising, finance, legal, governmental, and grants. I would like to see more committee participation. For example, the Grants Committee, which I chair, should be expanded to include additional board members as well as qualified outsiders.

Where do you see Cabrini Mission Foundation in five years? If we continue to execute the Strategic Plan, and effectively communicate the good work of the Foundation to potential funders, I feel very positive about the future. I see our ability to strengthen our member institutions through greater financial support and fundraising skills. This will enable us to broaden the number of people we can assist through the broad range of critical services the Cabrini ministries and institutions provide.