Karen Sendelback: a business approach to philanthropy.

• Author: Stewart, Amy K.
• Position: Around Utah

Karen Sendelback's heart is with humanitarianism.

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Sendelback, the new CEO of the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City, has worked for various for-profit and nonprofit organizations but her passion always brings her back to helping those in need with herfundraising and business skills.

Her approach is that a nonprofit is a business. "A not-for-profit simply means that our mission is not to turn our profits around to stockholders--but to stakeholders. It's the clients we serve who are our stakeholders, as well as our donors. So we have to approach individual, corporate and foundation donors with an investment opportunity," she says. "And in this case, the investment is in doing good."

Sendelback, who took the helm of the Utah Food Bank in September, brings vast nonprofit experience to the job. She attended Fundraising School and earned her certification as a fundraising executive. Over the years, she has worked for almost a dozen nonprofit agencies, including the Red Cross, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the American Kidney Fund, the American Lung Association, Friends of the World Food Program, and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Foundation.

Sendelback says she learned from every job, but especially from the World...