Making Reporting Work: Aligning Grantmaking with Learning & Change: Session 1

Desiree Flores brings 25 years of social justice grant making and program development experience funding social justice movement building at the local, state, and national levels. She was previously the Program Director of U.S. Social Justice at the Arcus Foundation, a global LGBTQ philanthropy, supporting policy and culture change determined by LGBTQ people pushed to the margins. Earlier in her career, she served as a longtime program officer at the Ms. Foundation for Women supporting more powerful gender and racial justice movements. Desiree earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and a master’s in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Rachel M. Kimber, MPA, is a speaker, technology futurist, and nonprofit executive. She is committed to human-centered, data-informed, and technology-supported grantmaking and is passionate about advancing emergent nonprofit practices that support equity, access, inclusion, and technological innovation. Rachel has served on local nonprofit boards and within international nonprofits, both small family foundations and global grantmaking NGOs, and has volunteered in various capacities with PEAK Grantmaking, Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG), Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, and Philanthropy New York. Rachel’s work has tackled conservation, global health, social justice, performing arts, and humanities grantmaking. No matter where she’s working or what cause she supports, she looks for creative ways to involve more stakeholders in the grantmaking process and ensure that good ideas stick.

Sengsouvanh (Sukey) Leshnick (she/her), is a Senior Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation (SLE) at the San Francisco Foundation. Sukey is an evaluation expert with over 25 years of experience as a learning partner for philanthropic organizations, non-profits, and public agencies to assess impacts and hone strategies through culturally relevant approaches. She believes in the power of evaluation and learning practice to uncover the root cause of inequity. She has dedicated her career to working tirelessly to address the complex systemic and structural factors of racial equity. 

At the San Francisco Foundation, Sukey leads a team of internal learning staff dedicated to embedding evaluative thinking throughout the foundation’s work.  As Senior Director of SLE, Sukey builds staff capacity for strategic learning, co-develops tools and resources to assess the impacts of our grantmaking and community engagement; develops systems to enable data-driven decision-making; and leads sense-making and learning sessions with SFF staff and leaders.  Since joining SFF, she has led the design and implementation of large-scale change efforts to SFF’s grant application, grantee reporting system, performance measurement system, and internal learning structure. Sukey also oversees SFF’s capacity-building portfolio ($1.2M) and manages the Bay Area Equity Atlas, a data equity tool. 

Sukey has published over 60 articles on structural inequities in school systems, youth development, criminal justice reforms, and workforce development strategies. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her two children and cooking her favorite dishes from her homeland, Laos

Blanch Vance is an experienced strategist, systems thinker, and change manager.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Blanch witnessed the joy and power of community care and collaboration. She has worked in philanthropy for over ten years, supporting social justice leaders, organizations, and movements.

Since 2021, Blanch has co-led a funder working group focused on implementing and retooling grantmaking practices that are relational and responsive. She has designed and facilitated sessions for Grantmakers for Effective Philanthropy, PEAK Grantmaking, Philanthropy New York, the C4 Funder Peer Learning Group, and Fluxx. Today, Blanch works at the Grove Foundation, a private family foundation, and its 501c4 social welfare sister organization, the Grove Action Fund.  Blanch has held grantmaking positions at intermediaries, community, and family foundations. She has volunteered with local and national nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.  Before philanthropy, Blanch worked in fundraising for a Los Angeles social justice-focused nonprofit.

Blanch holds a master’s degree in Public Administration, a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Sector Management, Human-Centered Strategy, and a BA in History and Communications.
She is an alum of the Justice Funders Network’s Harmony Initiative, Southern California Grantmaker’s Emerging Leaders Peer-to-Peer Network, and the African American Board Leadership Institute. Blanch lives in the Bay Area with her husband and rescue puppy, Summer.