Data for Impact: Fueling Accountability in Philanthropy

Steve has a long history with NCG including stints on various committees as well as the NCG and Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers boards. Over the last several years he’s been a consultant on special projects, corporate philanthropy and social responsibility and briefings. As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, he’s focused on programs, initiatives and projects that address the issues affecting our region from displacement and gentrification to income inequality to the arts, climate change and disaster resiliency. 

In addition to his consulting practice, Steve has been the Director for Foundation and Corporate Giving at Gap Inc., a program officer at the Marin Community Foundation, and served in Mayoral administrations in both San Francisco and Oakland. When he’s not working you can often find him at Amoeba Music, traveling abroad, binge watching an amazing series, exploring the Bay Area or at some wine bar.

Kelly Brown is Founder and CEO at Viewpoint Consulting, a philanthropic consulting firm that supports inclusive leadership and strategic practice at philanthropic institutions.  She was formerly Director of the D5 Coalition, an initiative to advance philanthropy through a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.  Ms. Brown has served as Director of Programs and Evaluation at Marguerite Casey Foundation and as Grants Director at the Vanguard Public Foundation.  She was Director of Marketing and Industry Relations at OpNet, a social venture that created digital workforce opportunities for low-income young adults and Administrative Director for TransAfrica/TransAfrica Forum, national foreign policy and research organizations at the forefront of efforts to secure a peaceful transition to a multi-racial democracy in South Africa.  In addition to managing the budgets, boards and operations for two integrated nonprofits, she helped organize Nelson Mandela’s inaugural visit to the United States.

Ms. Brown has lived and studied in Nairobi, Kenya where she conducted outreach, due diligence and fundraising to build and expand Kenya Women Finance Trust, the continent’s first revolving loan fund for women.  She has an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, a BA in Sociology and African/African American Studies from UC Santa Barbara and was a Sloan Foundation Fellow at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.

Cesar brings nearly two decades of entrepreneurial, startup and development experience to Candid, where he is entrusted with building, maintaining, and establishing medium and long-term strategic relationships with philanthropic organizations, governmental agencies, multilateral agencies, and the broader social sector. Cesar is currently focused on the standardization and collection of demographic data for the U.S. social sector and is driven by the opportunity to bring more transparency, measurability, and accountability to the sector, in order to support more equitable grantmaking practices and ensure more impact dollars go to proximate leaders and BIPOC-led organizations.

He holds a B.S. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley and received an M.B.A. from ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. 

Tanisha Davis (she, her, hers) is Vice President of Grant Operations and Planning at Archstone Foundation. She has extensive programmatic, grants management, systems administration, and payout planning experience. In her role, Tanisha provides strategic leadership and operational oversight to the Foundation’s grantmaking operations and is responsible for the development and implementation of systems and procedures that facilitate an efficient, effective, and equitable grantmaking process. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Foundation’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee.

Tanisha has been involved with several professional associations within the philanthropic sector. She is a long-time member and champion of PEAK Grantmaking – currently serving on the Board of the Directors and as the southern California region’s membership chair; was a 2022-2023 fellow of the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations’ (GEO) Change Leaders in Philanthropy cohort; participated as a mentor in the inaugural 2022 American Society on Aging (ASA) RISE program; was a member of the 2021 Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) Emerging Leaders cohort. Tanisha holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in information systems from California State University, Fullerton, and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s (USC) Davis School of Gerontology.