2022 New Grantmakers Institute: Grantmaking for the 21st Century

Jamie Allison is devoted to building a healthy, just, and vibrant society, one in which we work creatively and collaboratively to bring the benefits of inclusive community to all. Before joining the Walter & Elise Haas Fund as its Executive Director in 2018, Jamie helped lead the S. H. Cowell Foundation. She started there as Program Officer in charge of Youth Development in 2006. Her portfolio at Cowell steadily grew to encompass affordable housing and program-related investment management as she took the role of Senior Program Officer in 2012, then as Vice President Programs in 2016.

When not at work, Jamie keeps active as a hiker, runner, and frequent attendee of film festivals and Major League Soccer games. She was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but feels at home around the globe, experiencing and volunteering in places from Benin to Peru. Jamie earned undergraduate degrees in Political Science, Economics, Spanish, and Humanities from the University of Tennessee and went on to receive her Masters from the University of California at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Her breadth of civic involvement includes serving on the board of The Whitman Institute, a philanthropy focused on promoting trust and equity, and serving as faculty for Northern California Grantmakers’ New Grantmakers Institute.

Fatima joined the Levi Strauss Foundation as Executive Director in August 2021. Prior to Levi, she was at the California Wellness Foundation, where spent more than 20 years leading strategy and a team of grantmakersin supporting organizations working to increase access to health care, quality education, good jobs, and clean and safe neighborhoods across the state. Most recently, she served as vice president of programs, providing executive leadership and strategic vision for the foundation’s programs in grantmaking and program-related investments. In recent years, she has also developed grantmaking programs focused on providing COVID-19 relief and reducing gun violence. Fatimaholds a B.A. in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Public Health from the Columbia University School of Public Health. She currently serves as a board member for John Muir Hospital System, Sisters of St.Joseph Health Care Foundation, Carestar Foundation and Confluence Philanthropy

Meaghan’s primary work at the Moore Foundation focuses on bringing together diverse interests in Canada to resolve conflict and ensure a healthy ocean and sustainable communities. Previously, she was at Conservation International, where she evaluated community-based conservation and economic development projects in the Philippines and Indonesia. Meaghan also taught middle school environmental education in Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina, the latter through a fellowship with the National Science Foundation. She facilitated an ocean conservation funder working group in the Biodiversity Funders Group. Meaghan also served on the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy’s San Francisco Bay Area steering committee and as board secretary for the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network. She currently serves on the board of directors at the Environmental Grantmakers Association. She was selected as a member of Council on Foundation’s Career Pathways in 2019. Meaghan is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame,Duke University, and Cape Breton University.

Angie brings deep experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to her work at The Libra Foundation, with particular strengths in nurturing community and building coalitions. In her role as Senior Program Officer, she leads Environmental and Climate Justice grantmaking and Libra’s community programs.

As founding Executive Director of the Blue Sky Funders Forum, Angie created and oversaw all aspects of a national funder collaborative focused on expanding equitable access to opportunities to learn,  play, and grow outdoors. Prior to Blue Sky, Angie served as an advisor to the Pisces Foundation during its formation and as Program Officer at the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, where she supported  capacity building efforts during its spend down. Angie has also designed and managed strategic initiatives at the Pacific Forest & Watershed Lands Stewardship Council and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. And she previously consulted and worked at nonprofit and government organizations that provide safety net services.

Angie has served on the board of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and was an American Express NGen Fellow. She is a graduate of Harvard University and UC Berkeley.

As a native of Richmond, CA, Crispin’s childhood experiences shaped the path for a career focused on helping disinvested communities like his own. With over two decades of experience, Crispin brings to NCG rich lived and professional experience and a vision for advancing equity and social justice through an exciting policy agenda for our organization, our members, and the community we serve. 

A seasoned philanthropic professional, Crispin served as program officer for Blue Shield of California Foundation where he worked to advance value-based care policy efforts in California and led signature programs, including the Clinic Leadership Institute. He arrived to philanthropy following several years as a leader within San Mateo County’s safety net healthcare system. He most recently ran a thriving consulting practice where he developed philanthropic strategies to improve access to and quality of care for low-income communities.

When Crispin is not hiking around his neighborhood, you can find him in his kitchen replicating delicious Mexican dishes from his childhood or scrolling through endless French bulldogs videos. He is the proud uncle of seven beautiful nieces and nephews, all of whom pursued higher education to proudly serve as the changemakers of their generation. Crispin holds masters degree in public policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley.

Charles Sidney Fields joined the Irvine Foundation’s San Francisco office in late August 2016. He has more than a decade of leadership experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, funding and supporting social change organizations to achieve greater impact.

He previously served as a Senior Program Manager for The California Endowment. There he was responsible for strategy development, grantmaking, and leadership activities in Southern California. He also co-developed and managed Sons & Brothers, the Endowment’s $50 million grantmaking and leadership program focused on improving the health, wellness, and opportunity of boys and young men of color. During his tenure there, he co-developed a $260 million public-private loan fund, the FreshWorks Fund, to increase access to healthy foods and spur economic development in underserved communities in California.

Prior to the Endowment, Charles was a grantmaker at the Marguerite Casey Foundation, managing a $8 million portfolio of grants focused on community economic development, civic engagement, educational equity, violence prevention, and family support.

Charles was also an Initiative Coordinator and Neighborhood and Community Development Fellow at the San Francisco Foundation, where he provided day-to-day management of the West Oakland Initiative. Other positions of note include: Social Action and Policy Coordinator for The National Community Building Network in Oakland; Empowerment Zone Coordinator for the Transportation Resource Information Project in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Organizer and Economic Development Specialist for Welcome House (Northern Kentucky Welfare Reform Task Force) in Covington, Kentucky.

Charles currently serves as the chair of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation and was recently awarded a German Marshall Memorial Fellowship to Europe.

Fields has his master’s in education and bachelor’s in organizational communications from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Seyron Foo brings together changemakers to advance public policy goals that help create and sustain thriving communities. He is the Senior Advocacy Officer at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a grantmaking partner to nonprofits working to improve the lives of individuals living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage throughout the world.  He manages the advocacy strategies that advance the foundation’s programmatic goals of ending chronic homelessness in Los Angeles, supporting transition-age foster youth, and cultivating successful career pathways to transform the lives of opportunity youth. Previously, Seyron was the Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations at Southern California Grantmakers and Philanthropy California, where he led advocacy efforts that strengthened philanthropy’s voice with federal, state and local governments. He has experience in various government sectors, including the California State Senate, United States Treasury’s Office of International Affairs, and the City of Long Beach.

In June, Governor Gavin Newsom re-appointed Seyron to the California Board of Psychology, where he currently serves as Board President. He belongs to the 2018 American Express NGEN Fellows Program of Independent Sector, a group of ten individuals selected from across the country for their ability to strengthen civil society’s capacity for future impact.

He earned his master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and his bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

A lover of food and an avid traveler, Seyron loves to translate his adventures into (hopefully tasty) dishes to feed family and friends in his cozy Long Beach kitchen (in non-pandemic times!).

David Greco is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader, speaker, and author on creating a more sustainable and effective social sector. Today David serves as Executive Director of All Stars Helping Kids providing early stage investments in emerging nonprofits working to help break the cycle of poverty for youth in the Bay Area.

David began his career working on political campaigns before moving into the nonprofit sector where he has worked to provide access to education for economically disadvantaged youth, built community coalitions around improving the social determinants of health for young people, and supported environmental education and wildlife habitat conservation. In all of his work, David has focused on helping organizations scale programs, expand services and increase impact.

Prior to leading All Stars, David founded Social Sector Partners to help nonprofits and funders better understand what it really costs for nonprofits to be sustainable and achieve impact.  He worked with nonprofits on how to develop revenue and fundraising strategies that cover their full cost; and he partnered with funders to adapt grantmaking practices to better support nonprofit sustainability and impact.

He created and led the Full Cost Project in California to increase the number of grantmakers providing full cost funding, served as Interim President and CEO for Northern California Grantmakers, was the Vice President of the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) for more than 5 years and Vice President of the Youth Leadership Institute.  He regularly speaks at national conferences, has trained thousands of social sector leaders on financial sustainability, and he has partners with the staff, trustees and grantees for dozens of foundations.

David is a professor in the Masters in Nonprofit Administration program at University of San Francisco. He is the author of “Nonprofit Financial Management” featured in “Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals” edited by Darian Rodriguez Heyman and Laila Brenner and "Think Money First! Ending the Culture of Scarcity and Achieving Real Impact.”  David served for ten years in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves and earned his M.A. in Political Science from Villanova University and B.S. in History & Politics from Drexel University.

Pia believes we have the collective imagination and power to redesign philanthropy to center the people we serve. Philippine-born, California-grown, and queer, oldest daughter in an immigrant family, Pia navigates difference to broker connection. Pia brings her chops as a former high school teacher, organizational development consultant, and nonprofit manager to her work. Pia is a nationally recognized advocate for trust-based philanthropy and radically embodied leadership. She chairs the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project steering committee and serves on the board of MediaJustice.org. Pia is visiting faculty at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment, and speaks and teaches in many settings. She holds a M.A. in Education from the New School for Social Research, and a B.A. in Rhetoric from The University of California at Berkeley. Pia is a proud long time resident of Oakland, CA. 

Dwayne S. Marsh assumed the position of President and CEO of Northern California Grantmakers on September 9, 2020. He brings 27 years of experience in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors with a career commitment to advancing racial and economic equity.

Dwayne recently completed a four-year turn as co-Director of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) and Vice President of Institutional and Sectoral Change at Race Forward. During his tenure, the membership network of local, regional, and state entities committed to advancing racial equity through the policies, practices, and public investments grew from just over 20 to nearly 200 participating jurisdictions.

Prior to GARE, Marsh spent six years as a senior advisor in the Office of Economic Resilience (OER) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. There, he helped advance sustainable planning and development through interagency partnerships, departmental transformation, and funding initiatives managed through OER. He was OER’s principal coordinator for a $250 million grant program and led the development of capacity building resources that reinforced the work of pioneering grantees in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Under his leadership, OER prioritized equity as a foundational principal for its planning and investment initiatives.

Marsh brings to the movement his expertise and considerable experience in coalition building for regional equity and leadership development for policy change. He provides technical assistance and capacity building knowledge to equitable development initiatives that address continuing disparities in affordable housing, transportation investment, and environmental justice. Before HUD, Marsh spent a decade at PolicyLink, the national organization committed to economic and social equity. Before PolicyLink, he directed the FAITHS Initiative for eight years at The San Francisco Foundation, building a nationally renowned community development and capacity building program that continues to this day. His career has been defined by supporting communities traditionally marginalized from full participation in our economy and society to build power and leverage lasting systems transformation.

Karla Mercado supports SCG's public policy efforts and manages Philanthropy California initiatives. Prior to SCG, Karla was the director of special events for a public relations firm where she developed and coordinated strategic networking events for local nonprofits, institutions, and corporate clients, with the goal of expanding their community involvement and exposure. She began her work in the nonprofit sector as a case manager for the Los Angeles Chapter of Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters, where she supported and maintained records for youth and their mentors to ensure positive youth and match development. Karla has a B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Los Angeles and an M.P.A. and certificate in Non-Profit Management from the California State University, Northridge.

Phuong believes in the power of community and networks, which has also shaped her career path.  She was the Membership Director at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and a co-founder of AAPIP’s Hella Heart Oakland Giving Circle.  At NCG, she oversees membership, programmatic and collaborative work, and helps to shape and strengthen NCG's strategic focus on addressing inequities, supporting the vibrancy and sustainability of our region, and tending to the dynamic and diverse people in our philanthropic community.

She is a first-generation college graduate that benefited from Head Start and Affirmative Action programs and policies.  She received a double major in Urban Studies and Anthropology from Macalester College and a Master in Public Administration from CUNY as a National Urban Fellow. 

As an extrovert, she is always curious to meet and connect with people. Interesting random facts:  She was born in Vietnam and raised in Minnesota. She has run 5 full marathons. Despite her lack of talent, she sings karaoke regularly.

Shaady Salehi is a strategist, facilitator, and network builder who has dedicated nearly 20 years to advancing social impact across various sectors. She currently serves as the director of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, a 5-year learning and advocacy initiative to make trust-based practices the norm in the philanthropic sector. She also is Principal and Founder of Skyview Strategies, a social impact consultancy for nonprofits, foundations, and changemakers. Previously, Shaady was Managing Director of Distribution and Impact at ITVS, where she led a team to advance the reach and impact of documentaries on public television. Prior to ITVS, she was Executive Director of Active Voice, a pioneering organization that uses storytelling to catalyze social change. Shaady is a 2014 Aspen Institute Fellow and sits on the board of Let It Ripple, a nonprofit that experiments with collaborative filmmaking for the common good. She holds an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Columbia University and an M.A. in Anthropology from UC Davis. 

Kate is the Senior Director of Leadership, Culture and Community. In this role, she directs NCG’s professional and leadership development work, and guides our focus on organizational culture as a leverage point for impact. Before working in philanthropy, Kate co-founded the nonprofit Puente a la Salud Comunitaria in Oaxaca, Mexico, a community development organization focused on public health, economic development, and sustainable agriculture. She spent a transformative year completing a Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, where she deepened her own understanding of the type of leadership and organizational culture that is needed to achieve both environmental and social sustainability. In her life beyond work, she loves farms, farmers, cooking, eating, canning, community, nature, hiking and backpacking, and her four year old niece, who consistently reminds her to be present in the current moment, to live with curiosity, and to appreciate the abundant beauty that exists in the world.