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) Rubin Museum of Art
Prior to becoming head of external affairs at the Rubin Museum of Art, Cynthia Guyer served as executive director of the San Francisco Schools Alliance, a 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.
ROBERT EDGAR (Treasurer) 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.
SHERECE Y. WEST (At-Large) Winthrop Rockefeller FoundationSherece Y. West is president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, a private, independent foundation whose mission is to improve the lives of all Arkansans in three interrelated areas: economic development; education; and economic, racial and social justice. Involved in philanthropy for over 15 years, Dr. West served as CEO at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation and as a program associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Her professional career includes nearly 20 years of experience in community development, public policy and advocacy, and public service. In addition to running the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. West is active in a number of nonprofits and philanthropy organizations.
Directors
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 The Linchpin Campaign
Marjorie currently directs The Linchpin Campaign (TLC) whose goal is to expand the resources available to community organizing and social change efforts in the United States and internationally through project development, capacity building, coaching and training. Marjorie has over twenty years of experience leading grantmaking institutions. She served for more than a decade (1993-2005) as Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, a national faith-based social justice grantmaker. Prior to her tenure at the Veatch Program, she was Executive Director of the North Star Fund, a public foundation serving the New York City progressive community. She has also spearheaded major donor campaigns for her synagogue and delivered winning fundraising pitches for several organizations.
TRISTA HARRIS Headwaters Foundation for Justice
Trista Harris is the Executive Director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice. Headwaters is a community foundation with a mission to act as a catalyst for social, racial, economic and environmental justice. She oversees the Foundation's grantmaking, communications, fund development and investment management activities. As spokesperson, she is responsible for developing collaborative relationships with all sectors and segments of the community, as well as with other organizations nationwide.
Trista joined the Headwaters Foundation after working for The Saint Paul Foundation, where she was a program officer and provided leadership on the Foundation's initiatives related to civic engagement and philanthropy, as well as managed both scholarship funds and a grantmaking portfolio that reflected the Foundation's interest in comprehensive solutions to community issues.
A native Minnesotan, Trista received her Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Howard University and her Master's in Public Policy degree, with a focus on philanthropy and nonprofit effectiveness, from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.
JUDY HATCHER Independent Consultant
Ms. Hatcher has worked with nonprofits for over 20 years as an organizer, trainer, program manager and consultant. She was 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 Community Partners
Priscilla Hung is Program Director at Community Partners in Los Angeles, which provides support, guidance and training to a range of nonprofit organizations, initiatives, foundations, government agencies and social entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for building communities. She is also a board member of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. Formerly, she was Executive Director of GIFT, the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, which provides fundraising resources, training, and analysis to organizations nationwide, especially those that are working for social justice and are based in communities of color.
GARA LaMARCHE Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University
Gara LaMarche is a senior fellow at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. From 2007-2011, he was 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 the Wagner School, and was an adjunct professor at New School University and The John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He also blogs at http://garala.typepad.com and many of his speeches and articles can be found there. He serves on the boards of NCRP, StoryCorps and ProPublica. A Westerly, R.I. native, LaMarche graduated from Columbia College in New York.
JOY PERSALL Bush FoundationJoy Persall was a 2010 Leadership Fellow at the Bush Foundation, which strives to be a catalyst for the courageous leadership necessary to create sustainable solutions to tough public problems and ensure community vitality. 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.
AI-JEN POO National Domestic Workers Alliance
Ai-jen has been organizing immigrant women workers in New York since 1996, where she started as the Women Workers Project organizer at CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. In 2000 she helped start Domestic Workers United, an organization of nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers in New York organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build the social justice movement. DWU led the campaign to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in NY and helped to organize the first national meeting of domestic workers organizations at the US Social Forum in 2007, which resulted in the formation of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. In April 2010, she became Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
She is a recipient of the Alston Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color, the Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Fellowship at University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women, and the Prime Movers Fellowship. In 2010, Feminist Press recognized her in their "40 Under 40" awards.
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!
GARY SNYDER 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.
* Board member organization affiliation listed for identification purposes only.
