2024 New Grantmakers Institute: Grantmaking for the 21st Century

Jamie Allison leads the Walter & Elise Haas Fund in partnership with trustees, ensuring our work expresses our values, resonates with community, and catalyzes the field. She focuses on organizational leadership, strategy, and governance. Her top priorities are to ensure that the Fund’s staff thrive in their roles and that our practices and grantmaking advance liberation and community transformation. Jamie’s 20 plus years in philanthropy combined with experience in the public sector and local government enables her to understand how these systems can be leveraged to make real change. Every day, she is inspired by the community leaders who endeavor to dream and make real a more just society by widening the circle of care to include all of us.

Jamie was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN but has called San Francisco home for more than 20 years. She is always ready for adventure. When she is not working, you can find her at music and film festivals, soccer matches, or awaiting a flight at the airport. It’s not a surprise then, that her favorite word in the English language is peripatetic, which means traveling from place to place, because she likes to travel, and also because p is her favorite letter.

At Third Plateau, Pedro (he/him/él) leads engagements with philanthropists and community-based programs. He also directs the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative, an innovative program of the Hellman Foundation, a Third Plateau client. Pedro conducts issue-based research, creates effective program strategies, including public-private partnerships, and manages relationships between exceptional philanthropists, nonprofit, and public sector leaders with the goal of expanding equity and opportunity.

Prior to joining Third Plateau, Pedro led the healthy eating and active living grantmaking portfolio for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, where he directed more than $3.2 million to outstanding community-based organizations across the U.S. In this role, Pedro advanced President Obama’s White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by providing capacity building to nonprofits across the U.S & the Pacific Islands. He began his career in public health advocating for Latino LGBTQ health through more inclusive behavioral research and clinical trials. These experiences fueled his passion and commitment to advance racial and health equity.

Pedro holds a Master of Public Health from San Francisco State University, where he previously served as faculty teaching courses on health policy and program design. Pedro serves on the boards of ETR and the GLBT Historical Society.

Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of Solidaire Network and Solidaire Action, a community of donor organizers mobilizing critical resources to the frontlines of intersectional movements for racial, gender and climate justice.  She is a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots-led power building and a lifelong student of social movements. In a wide-ranging career devoted to racial, economic and climate justice, she has previously led an international public foundation that funds grassroots organizing in Asia, Africa and Latin America; grown a national youth development social enterprise; managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing the digital divide in the Southern United States; and worked as a community organizer, researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant.  Born and raised in India, Rajasvini earned a Master’s in Public Affairs with a focus on addressing the Rural Digital Divide from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor′s in both Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences from UC Berkeley. Vini also spent several years working in rural Kenya with community leaders, an experience she credits as having inspired her to work to transform philanthropy and international development.  Vini co-authored Leading with Joy: Practices for Uncertain Times, recently published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers.  She is also a published poet, essayist, popular educator, yoga instructor and leadership coach. When not engaged with community organizations, Rajasvini can be found nesting with her family, taking long naps in the garden or plotting the next dance party with friends.
 

Meaghan Calcari Campbell, Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Meaghan works to promote the protection and resilience of Canadian ocean ecosystems and coastal communities. Previously, she worked on community-based conservation and economic development projects in the Philippines and Indonesia at Conservation International. She currently chairs the Environment Funders Canada Oceans Collaborative and was past chair of the Biodiversity Funders Group funder collaborative. She served as board secretary for both Environment Funders Canada and the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Meaghan received her B.S. in environmental science and psychology from the University of Notre Dame, Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, and M.B.A. in community economic development from Cape Breton University.

As Executive Director, Angie collaborates with the board, supports the team, and aligns Skyline’s practices with the foundation’s vision and values.

Angie has a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University. Most recently, she was Director of Programs at the Libra Foundation, where she managed grantmaking, communications, and funder organizing to shift resources and build power in communities that experience the greatest impacts of systemic oppression. Prior, Angie held grantmaking roles at multiple foundations and co-founded and led a national funder collaborative. She has volunteered with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations locally and nationally, and she currently serves on the board of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN). Before working in philanthropy, Angie was a fundraiser for a community-based organization.

A Bay Area local, Angie loves the outdoors, and she is happiest on a foggy beach or surrounded by tall trees. She lives in San Francisco with her family.

Cecilia Chen is the Chief Strategy Officer and Vice President of Programs at Akonadi Foundation, where she oversees strategy development across Akonadi’s program areas and implementation of Akonadi’s five-year initiative, All in For Oakland. 

Before joining Akonadi, Cecilia was the Public Policy Director at Northern California Grantmakers. She built the association’s policy advocacy infrastructure and led advocacy to protect immigrant rights, ensure an accurate census, and fight for equitable tax reform. Cecilia also served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Attorney General’s Office, advancing the Attorney General’s policy priorities around criminal justice reform and childhood trauma. Cecilia was previously the Associate Director of Policy at the Center for Youth Wellness, where she led statewide efforts to prevent and address childhood adversity and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on children’s health. She was also the 2011-2013 Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Cecilia graduated from Tufts University and received her J.D. from Boston College Law School. 

A Bay Area native, Cecilia lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter and fur baby Sherlock. In addition to being an unabashed dessert lover (especially ice cream), Cecilia enjoys exploring the Bay Area and trekking internationally. 

Cecilia can be reached at Cecilia [at] akonadi.org

Raymond Colmenar is the new president of Akonadi Foundation. He comes to Akonadi Foundation from The California Endowment, where he spent 16 years playing various leadership roles that gave him hands-on experience in strategic planning, program design and implementation, and organizational redesign and development. Most recently, he served as The Endowment’s Managing Director of the Northern California regional team and the statewide Inclusive Community Development team, managing nearly $20 million in grantmaking annually.

Prior to joining The Endowment, Ray was one of the founding staff members who helped launch PolicyLink, and prior to that was at The Rockefeller Foundation. He received a bachelor’s degree in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Ray was born in Manila, Philippines, grew up in San Diego, and now lives in Albany with his wife, Fatima Angeles. Their daughter, Isabela, and son, Alessandro, are currently studying at UC Berkeley and San Diego State. When time permits, Ray loves playing golf with his good friends.

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.

 Jamillah Finley, the Founder and Executive Director of Breakbox Thought Collective, is originally from the East Coast, but has lived in Fresno for over 30 years. As a graduate of Edison high school and daughter of an esteemed Fresno State arts professor, Jamillah has deep roots in Fresno, California and believes in the power of art, creativity, African culture and storytelling as a catalyst for transformation, information, and unifying all communities across the globe. With more than twenty years of experience as an English teacher, she has received recognition for her innovative approach to education and community service with youth, including:

Fresno Unified School District Teacher of the Year
Artist in Residence for Fresno County Office of Education
African American Heritage Award for Excellence in Education from State of California Assemblyman, Henry T. Perea.

She has compiled her experience as an educator, creative, and missionary to produce an environment centralized around storytelling, community engagement, and outreach and she leads with a heart that believes everyone deserves redemption and liberation. In 2020, her great efforts and innovative approach within BBTC earned the organization a proclamation declaring the thirteenth day of February as “BreakBox Thought Collective Day.”

David Greco is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader, speaker, and author on creating a more sustainable and effective social sector. Today David serves as President & CEO of Social Sector Partners helping nonprofits and funders better understand what it really costs for nonprofits to be sustainable and achieve long-term impact.

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, he has focused on helping organizations scale programs, expand services and increase impact.

Most recently, David served 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. Prior to leading All Stars, 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 and is a Certified Board Governance Trainer with BoardSource. 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.

Rebecca M. Hamburg is the Chief Network Officer at California Donor Table. She's responsible for strengthening donor networks and foundation alignment. Rebecca also advises the State Leadership Project and previously ran her own consulting firm, helping organizations with grantmaking, advocacy, and legal matters. Before that, she held leadership roles at Alliance for Justice and the National Employment Lawyers Association, and worked as a litigator for civil and human rights cases. Rebecca, a Californian of Mexican and Jewish descent and a mother of two, is also a Governing Board Member for the Wiseburn Unified School District. She holds a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. in political science from the University of California, San Diego.

JM Jaffe (they/them) serves as the Executive Director for Lyon-Martin Community Health Services, a community clinic in San Francisco focused on providing gender-affirming medical, specialty, and wrap-around mental health services to TGI people and LBQA+ women across California. A trans health content expert, JM has over 15 years of experience in community health operations and a strong background in consulting to help integrate TGI care into various healthcare organizations.

JM leads TransLine, a national collaboration offering clinician-to-clinician consultations online and has helped over 1,000 patients access gender-affirming surgeries, successfully appealing insurance denials and securing Medi-Cal coverage for these procedures, many for the first time. JM's efforts have laid the groundwork for streamlined processes now replicated nationwide.

With over a decade in policy advocacy, JM recently led the Save Lyon-Martin campaign, co-directed the National LGBTQIA+ Primary Care Alliance, and played a key role in the creation of SF’s first trans-focused housing and guaranteed income programs through the Trans Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Office of Trans Initiatives. Since 2020, JM guided Lyon-Martin to independence, raising over $2 million in operational funding, securing over $4 million annually in multi-year grant contracts, and obtaining Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike status. Most recently, JM surpassed a $2 million capital campaign goal to establish a new state-of-the-art clinic on Valencia Street.