A Good Communicator and Fund-Raiser : Carol Mancino: An Active Life of Volunteerism

“We thought we’d never leave Cleveland--that we’d live and die there,” Carol Mancino of Cheviot Hills says. But in 1980, her husband, Douglas, a tax lawyer now with McDermott, Will & Emery, was recruited to Southern California. The Mancinos embraced Los Angeles with open arms and are the sort of volunteers who make a difference.

Carol Mancino is chairwoman of “25 Alive! The Ford Music Center Festival” of dance, cuisine, folk tales, crafts and music Saturday and Sunday on the Plaza from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. It celebrates the Music Center’s 25th anniversary.

“I find Los Angeles exciting and open-minded,” she said, sitting in a French Regency chair with her 14-year-old West Highland terrier. “In this city, you see everything, and that causes you to be more tolerant. I love the exposure to different cultures and fashions.”

‘Volunteers Are Givers’

She believes that people make the difference. “And, people who are volunteers are givers--giving time and talents.”

The oldest of three girls, she studied ballet for 17 years. Both Mancinos graduated from Kent State University in Ohio. She majored in communications and eventually joined May Co. in Cleveland. She was divisional vice president for May Co. in Southern California for five years, responsible for recruitment, placement and development. But, in 1985, she turned volunteer.

At the Music Center, her focus is Club 100. Next year she will be executive vice president. For two years she has headed the club’s training program on communications and personal growth: “If you are a good communicator, then you will be a good fund-raiser.” She also worked on the first Winterfest concert. And for three years she has used her merchandising talents to chair the advisory committee of the Music Center Shop on the Plaza.

Grossed $400,000

The shop grossed $400,000 this year--partly from sales of several thousand “Phantom” T-shirts. “But we had humble beginnings,” she says. “We started out with a kiosk. We’d pull out a big cart every day, and the wheels would fall off. One time the cart blew over in the wind.”

At the Music Center, Carol Mancino is also a member of the Blue Ribbon. Doug Mancino is a member of the Opera League and the Fraternity of Friends. They’re also $30,000 Founders donors.

Additionally, she will co-chair the Friends of Robinson Gardens benefit next year. And she will be seen about town in chic Valentino and Ungaro clothes at meetings of the Costume Council, the Fashion Group (women retailing professionals) and the Nancy Reagan Center executive committee.

For pleasure--it’s simple--the arts. “The arts lift my spirits and make me feel good.” The couple has season tickets for the Ahmanson and the Mark Taper theaters and attend the opera, ballet and philharmonic events frequently.

“I wish I had a passion for sports, but I don’t. I’m more of a spectator play-off person.” Still, she’s taking tennis lessons at Bel-Air Country Club and attempting weekend golf. She also will boat and swim at Glenbrook at Lake Tahoe for two weeks in August.

Of volunteerism and fund-raising, she says, “A lot of companies seem to have lost their stability. Most major corporations still feel obligations to give, but in a changing society in Los Angeles, it is sometimes hard to develop relationships of giving due to turnover in personnel.”

Further, “The challenge today for any organization is that more women are working full time. Obviously, they don’t have as much time to give. We have to adjust with more projects at different hours. The rewards are diversity and new friendships.”