Hanni Hanson

Hanni Hanson is dedicated to making communities more resilient and equitable in the face of social and climatic disruption. She serves as Director of Programs at the Compton Foundation, where she directs a grantmaking portfolio spanning climate change, democracy, reproductive justice, and progressive foreign policy, with a focus on movement-building and culture change. In this role, she is stewarding the Foundation’s “spend-up” strategy as it redistributes its assets ahead of its sunset at the end of 2024.

After getting her start as a student climate organizer, Hanni worked in youth leadership development, providing training and support for young people to be leaders for social justice and sustainability in their communities. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and is currently a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley’s Center for Right-Wing Studies, where she conducts research on the intersection of ethnic nationalism, rising authoritarianism, and climate change.

Hanni grew up among the trees of the Pacific Northwest and now lives in Oakland, California with her partner. In her free time, you will often find her knitting, watching silly TV shows, and working on her sourdough recipe.