Roberta "Bobbi" Allan

Roberta Allan

Linking Mayo Clinic needs with benefactor objectives

Roberta "Bobbi" Allan joined Mayo Clinic in Minnesota as a development officer in 2003, bringing 25 years of experience in fundraising. She was named associate chair of philanthropic support in 2006. She is a native Minnesotan. "Our roots go very deep," she says. "My great-grandparents settled in St. Paul when Wabasha Street was two buggy tracks."

Like many who began their careers in the 1970s and 1980s, Allan was building potential benefactor relationships and strengthening community ties for Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare before such work was called development.

"There were no formal educational programs for development when I began," says Allan. "After Gillette Children's sent me to a three-day fundraising conference, it dawned on me that development was part of what I was doing even though I didn't have the label. I was completely hooked. I wrote a development plan and drafted a budget on the plane coming home."

"From the minute I started fundraising, I loved the profession and the opportunity to work with people at such a meaningful level," she says. "I am the link between Mayo Clinic and our benefactors. I know the needs of the institution, and I understand the philanthropic goals and dreams of individual benefactors. When there is a match between Mayo and the individual, when that happens, it's magic."