Expanding Our Team to Meet the Moment
By The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project
2/2/2023
In our December 2022 newsletter, we confirmed that the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project still plans to wind down at the end of 2024.
To be clear, this does not mean that the trust-based philanthropy movement is going away. In fact, we have been pleasantly surprised to see that our Project – originally launched as a peer-to-peer awareness campaign – has given way to a veritable movement.
We at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project want to be responsible and intentional about how we support the next chapter of this movement. Over the next two years we are doubling down on our commitment to a more power-conscious and equitable philanthropic sector – and we are meeting this moment by growing our team.
In January 2022, we were fortunate to welcome three new wonderful staff members, all of whom collaborated with us closely in their past roles within philanthropic serving organizations:
Chantias Ford has joined as Director of Programs. Chantias was most recently with PEAK Grantmaking, where she led educational programming and peer engagement for PEAK’s diverse membership of grants managers and philanthropic professionals. In addition to her long-running programmatic experience around aligning values to practices in philanthropy, she will also leverage her research and evaluation background to help us strengthen our learning about the impact of our programming.
Eleni Refu has joined as Senior Manager of Knowledge & Resources. Eleni was most recently with the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), where she managed the dissemination and adoption of NCRP’s prolific Power Moves self-assessment toolkit among funders nationwide. In her role with the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, she will be developing tools and resources to help deepen understanding of the nuances of trust-based philanthropy while inspiring greater advocacy and adoption in support of this approach.
Danielle LaJoie has joined as Senior Manager of Partnerships & Programming. Danielle was most recently with Groundworks New Mexico, where she managed a range of diverse programming and grantmaking projects in close collaboration with New Mexico’s vibrant philanthropic and nonprofit communities. In her role with the Project, she will be responding to speaking inquiries, project managing the majority of our event productions, and maintaining and cultivating partnerships with organizations interested in bringing trust-based programming to their networks.
In addition to these updates, Rashanda Freeman, previously our Communications and Engagement Lead, has been promoted to Director of Audience Engagement. In this sharpened role, she will activate deeper engagement with the stories, knowledge, and experiences of funders who have adopted trust-based practices and the nonprofits who have been able to experience the positive impacts of this approach.
You can read more about our full team and our steering committee members here.