Executive Committee
DIANE FEENEY (Chair) French American Charitable Trust
As FACT’s first staff member, Diane was instrumental in designing the Trust’s grantmaking program and hiring the other U.S. and French staff. Before becoming active full-time in her family’s foundation, Ms. Feeney worked as a campaign assistant at Greenpeace in Washington, D.C. She served on the Board of the National Network of Grantmakers (NNG), where she chaired the “One Percent More for Democracy” campaign to encourage foundations to increase the grant dollars they give each year.
Ms. Feeney's specific interests include philanthropic reform (making foundations more accountable, transparent and accessible to grantseekers) encouraging greater collaboration across sectors and between multiple stakeholders, and increasing funding to community-based organizations and intermediaries. She has a BA in history from Cornell University and an MA in philosophy and social policy from George Washington University.
DAVE BECKWITH (Vice Chair) Needmor Fund
Dave Beckwith is the executive director of The Needmor Fund, a national foundation based in Toledo, Ohio. He was formerly a field consultant for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Community Change. He was the founding director of the New England Training Center for Community Organizers in Providence, RI.
Mr. Beckwith served as the field coordinator for the Governance Task Force of President Carter's National Commission on Neighborhoods in 1978 and was a training specialist with the national Legal Services Corporation in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he moved to Toledo as the Director of the East Toledo Community Organization. From January of 1988 until September of 1994, he worked part time as a Research Associate at the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center.
CYNTHIA GUYER (Secretary) DEMOS
Cynthia Guyer recently served as executive director of the San Francisco Schools Alliance, an independent, non-profit organization that builds partnerships, raises money, and advocates for policies to ensure that every student, in every classroom, in every public school in San Francisco receives a world-class education. She previously served as executive director of the Portland Schools Foundation, a community-based organization that promotes high quality education in Portland schools. Created in 1994, The Portland Schools Foundation is an independent, community-based organization that mobilizes ideas, leadership, political support, and money necessary to ensure a first-rate education for every child, in every public school, in every Portland neighborhood.
Ms. Guyer is the chair of NCRP's Research Advisory Committee.
GARY SNYDER (Treasurer) Nonprofit Imperative
Gary Snyder is the managing partner of Nonprofit Imperative, a consulting firm that assists charitable organizations in improving the operations of their organization. Its focus is on the functioning of the board and senior executive positions. He is the author of a book Nonprofits On the Brink, a definitive guide in helping the charitable sector improve performance. He also publishes the bi-weekly newsletter Nonprofit Imperative, an update on the strengths and weaknesses of the philanthropic community. He authored the Governance Chapter in the 4th edition of the Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual. He is a contributor to the National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy blog Keeping a Close Eye ... and author of numerous articles. He is a frequent speaker at nonprofit convenings.
Prior to joining Nonprofit Imperative, Mr. Snyder was a Chief Executive Officer of a hospital system and owned a firm that recruited physicians. He is the recipient of numerous awards. He received his master's degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan and bachelors from California State University in Northridge California.
SHERECE Y. WEST (At-Large) Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
Sherece West, president of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, is nationally known for her leadership in the areas of community development, public policy, and, most recently, disaster recovery. Ms. West's career path began at the Social Security Administration and wound its way through the Maryland Municipal League, the DC Department of Public Health, the Community Service Society in New York City, the Ford Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It was her work at Casey that led the Carrier Foundation to invite Sherece to be its first president & CEO. Shortly after arriving there, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, and after just two months on the job, Ms. West was asked to help lead the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, first as a loaned executive and subsequently as its Chief Executive Officer.
In addition to heading WRF, she currently serves on the boards of the Council on Foundations, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and the National Urban Fellows. She also recently served on the Neighborhood Funders Group board. Sherece was a 2007 Telly Award Bronze Winner for her work as Executive Producer of Power in the People.
Sherece holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan Institute of Public Policy; and a Bachelor of Science from Bowie State University. She was a Fellow with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Policy Institutes and a 2003-04 Emerging Leaders Fellow - a joint program of Duke University and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Directors
ROBERT EDGAR Common Cause
Robert Edgar serves as CEO of Common Cause, a national nonpartisan, non-profit "citizens" lobby working to make government at all levels more honest, open and accountable, and to connect citizens with their democracy. He arrived at Common Cause with a long history of leadership and public service that included 12 years in Congress. He was the general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA for seven years immediately before arriving at Common Cause. In 1974, Dr. Edgar was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. During six terms in the US House, he led efforts to improve public transportation, fought wasteful water projects and authored the community Right to Know provision of Super Fund legislation. He also served on the House Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and President John F. Kennedy.
An active volunteer, Dr. Edgar sits on the boards of several organizations, including Independent Sector, which was also founded by Common Cause's founder, John Gardner, Families USA and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.
PABLO EISENBERG Georgetown University Public Policy Institute
Pablo Eisenberg is a leading scholar and advocate for greater accountability and commitment by philanthropy in the United States to the poor, people of color and social justice issues. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. Prior to his coming to Georgetown in January 1999, he served for 23 years as Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, a national technical assistance and advocacy organization working with low income and minority organizations and constituencies throughout the country. He is a founder and former Board Chair of NCRP.
Mr. Eisenberg serves on the boards of Youth Today, Eureka Communities, the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, ICChange and the University College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. He has received several awards in recognition of his public service and leadership and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton University.
ANA GARCIA-ASHLEY Gamaliel Foundation
Ana Garcia-Ashley is the associate director of the Gamaliel Foundation, one of the nation's largest community organizing networks. She previously served as the lead organizer at the Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope where her leadership led to a $500 million dollar reinvestment victory and the development of the regional organization of WISDOM in Wisconsin. Ms. Garcia-Ashley also is a co-director of the Civil Rights for Immigrant Department and the director of the Southern Territory at Gamaliel Foundation.
MARJORIE FINE Center for Community Change
Marjorie Fine, a leader in progressive philanthropy for over 20 years, leads the Linchpin Campaign at the Center for Community Chnage. Prior to joining the Center, Margie was the Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, and also directed the North Star Fund. She has served on the committees and boards of many philanthropic institutions, including: New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, Interfaith Funders, National Network of Grantmakers, and Social Justice Infrastructure Funders.
JUDY HATCHER Environmental Support Center
Ms. Hatcher has worked with nonprofits for over 20 years as an organizer, trainer, program manager and consultant. She is executive director of the Environmental Support Center. Her previous positions include associate director for development for the National Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., director of grantmaking for the Funding Exchange, and southern regional director for Amnesty International USA. Ms. Hatcher has served on several boards of directors, including Changemakers, and Stop It Now!, Twenty-First Century Foundation.
She currently serves on the boards of Home Care Partners, Changemakers, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, the Institute for Public Accuracy, and the Black Philanthropic Alliance.
PRISCILLA HUNG Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training
Ms. Hung is the Co-Director of GIFT, the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training. GIFT provides fundraising resources, training, and analysis to organizations nationwide, especially those that are working for social justice and are based in communities of color. GIFT also publishes the magazine founded by Kim Klein, Grassroots Fundraising Journal, and organizes Raising Change: A Social Justice Fundraising Conference. She got started in fundraising almost ten years ago as a GIFT intern at the Center for Third World Organizing, and has been a fundraiser, trainer, and teacher. She recently joined the board of National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
GARA LaMARCHE Atlantic Philanthropies
Gara LaMarche is the president and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies. Before joining Atlantic, Mr. LaMarche served as vice president and director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute (OSI). He has also held several positions at the Human Rights Watch, the PENAmericanCenter and the ACLU.
Mr. LaMarche is the author of numerous articles on human rights and social justice issues. He teaches a course in philanthropy and public policy at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, and was an adjunct professor at New SchoolUniversity and The John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He serves on the boards of PEN AmericanCenter and The White House Project, as a member of the selection committee for the Sundance Documentary Fund, and on the Leadership Council of Hispanics in Philanthropy. A Westerly, R.I. native, LaMarche graduated from Columbia College in New York.
PETE MANZO United Ways of California
Peter Manzo brings over 13 years of experience in public interest law and management. In addition to his work at the Advancement Project, he is a senior research fellow at the UCLA Center for Civil Society, and is the author of numerous articles and reports on legal, management and policy issues affecting nonprofits and philanthropy. Previously, Mr. Manzo was the executive director and General Counsel of the Center for Nonprofit Management. Prior to leading the Center, he was directing attorney of community development programs for Public Counsel. Before moving into the nonprofit sector, Mr. Manzo practiced real estate and corporate law in the private sector, first at the law firm of Riordan & McKinzie, then at Tuttle & Taylor in Los Angeles.
Mr. Manzo is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley; he also attended the London School of Economics, where he received a Master's degree in Political Sociology, and the University of Notre Dame, where he received a Bachelor's degree in Government. He is a member of the boards of directors of National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; PacAdvantage, and United Friends of the Children, which provides transitional living assistance and job training to emancipated foster youth in Los Angeles County.
JOY PERSALL Native Americans in Philanthropy
Joy Persall is the executive director of Native Americans in Philanthropy, which promotes philanthropic practices based on Native values and traditions. Formerly, she directed the Headwaters Fund for Justice's capacity building program for grassroots organizations. Ms. Persall worked on the expansion of Fund of the Sacred Circle and chaired a $2 million endowment campaign for the fund that supports Native American social justice projects in Minnesota and Wisconsin. She currently serves on Indiana University's Board of Visitors and is Board Chair of Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center.
CYNTHIA RENFRO Marguerite E. Casey Foundation
Cynthia Renfro is director of programs at the Marguerite Casey Foundation, a Seattle-based grantmaker that seeks to build a more just and equitable society. Prior to joining the foundation, she worked for the Beldon Fund and aided in managing $25 million in payouts to more than 400 environmental organizations each year for the Turner Foundation in Atlanta, Ga. Ms. Renfro previously was a member of the National Network of Grantmakers (NNG) board and co-chaired the NNG conference committee in 2001.
RUSSELL ROYBAL National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Russell Roybal is deputy executive director of external relations for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where he oversees the organizations fundraising and communications work. Mr. Roybal is a noted fund-raiser, trainer and LGBT movement leader. He was on staff of the Gill Foundation for over six years, and served as the director of training and capacity building for the Denver-based foundation. He is also chair of the board and a senior consultant with the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training.
Mr. Roybal is an experienced development professional, having served as development officer and director for local and national non-profit organizations. He and noted fundraising trainer Kim Klein have a popular new video series on fund-raising, Ready, Set, Raise! Mr. Roybal has also served in various leadership capacities on the boards of directors of several nonprofit organizations, large and small, local and national. His areas of expertise include fund-raising, organizational development, and board development. He has worked with hundreds of groups and thousands of individuals, motivating them to get excited about fund-raising. He puts the "fun" in fund-raising!
WILLIAM SCHULZ Center for American Progress
Dr. William F. Schulz is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., where he works in the area of religion and public policy and oversees a project designed to provide a blueprint for human rights policy for the next U.S. administration. During 2006 to 2007 he served as a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also served as executive director of Amnesty International USA from 1994 to 2006. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Schulz came to Amnesty after serving for 15 years with the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the last eight (1985 to 1993) as President of the Association.
A frequent guest on television programs such as Good Morning, America; Hardball and Nightline, Dr. Schulz is the author of two books on human rights, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All (2001, Beacon Press) and Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights (2003, Nation Books); the contributing editor of The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary (2007, University of Pennsylvania Press) and is regularly quoted in the New York Times and other national publications. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago as well as seven honorary degrees.
GERALD L. TAYLOR Industrial Areas Foundation
Gerard L. Taylor is an organizer for the national staff of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) where he has worked for 28 years. He currently directs their work in the southeastern region of the United States. Mr. Taylor previously served on the National Board of Directors for the National Urban League. As a widely-known community organizer, he has overseen many campaigns and efforts including school reform in Baltimore, housing, living wage legislation and economic development in Memphis, Charlotte, Durham and other areas.
* Board member organization affiliation listed for identification purposes only.
