He served on the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) for ten years between 1997 and 2006, and continues to serve on the organization's Audit & Budget Committee. Today, in addition to serving as chairman of the Committee for Free Trade Unionism, he is a board member of the Albert Shanker Institute, and a board member of the Dunlop Agricultural Labor Commission. Donahue is a past member of the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Brookings Institution.