National Trust’s Dolores McDonagh realized early on that no matter how great an organization’s mission, it can’t happen without the cash.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Who: Dolores McDonagh, vice president of membership for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Grew up in: North Attleboro, MA.

Education: Graduated from Brown University in 1980 with a degree in American history.

Role model/hero: Benjamin Franklin, who she calls a founding father of direct mail fundraising. “In addition to making his fortune in direct response (Poor Richard’s Almanac), he invented the matching grant concept and the sweepstakes appeal for charities in Philadelphia.”