The PLACES Fellowship is one of The Funders Network’s most significant efforts to foster leadership in the philanthropic sector. PLACES, which stands for Professionals Learning About Community, Equity, and Sustainability, has welcomed more than 180 fellows to participate in a yearlong learning opportunity to help grantmakers embed the values of racial, social, and economic equity into their work. Our alums hail from all corners of the United States and Canada, representing national, regional, and community foundations.
Following their year-long fellowship experience, PLACES alums are invited to participate in various networking and leadership development opportunities including:
- NEW! Accessing digital networking tools such as TFN’s Member Portal, which includes a searchable funder and PLACES Alum directory. The deep connections and passion for learning forged during PLACES Fellowships extend far beyond the cohort year. So we’re making it easier for PLACES Alums to stay engaged — even if you don’t work for a TFN member organization or have moved away from philanthropy altogether. We’re excited to share that TFN’s Member Portal is now open to all PLACES Alums, regardless of your employment status. Click on TFN’s Member Portal page for details. We also have launched a PLACES Alum-only Slack channel and a PLACES Alum LinkedIn Group.
- Participating and leading learning calls, webinars, facilitation and training, and site visits for continued learning
- Engage in TFN working groups and steering committees
- Annual conference session creators and speakers
- Annual alums gathering
- PLACES Advisory Board
- TFN Board of Directors (Leadership Pipeline)
We invite you below to meet our PLACES Alums. Fellows are listed with the foundation or organization that supported their fellowship at the time of their participation.

Araceli Campos
The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation

Arturo Garcia
Kresge Foundation

Emma-Louise Anderson
Seed Fund

Helen Wong
Meyer Memorial Trust

Joy Webb
Southern Black Girl and Womens Consortium

Lesly Fajardo- Feaux
The Colorado Health Foundation

Maria Aquino
The James Irvine Foundation

Monae Dale
California Community Foundation

Rachel Isacoff
The Rockefeller Foundation

Ronda Chapman
The Trust for Public Land

Sandeep Bikram Shah
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

Shilpa Shankar
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Tara Tuomaala
Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation

Tiffany Lloyd
The Allyn Family Foundation

Todd Trebour
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA)

Xan Avendaño
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

Jena Bradley
United Way of Greater Cincinnati

Francisco Covarrubias
California Community Foundation

Michele Christiansen
Voqal

Katrina Deberry
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Sidra Fatima
The Kresge Foundation

Felisa Gonzales
The Colorado Trust

Jessica Mákàńjú González Martínez
New Growth Innovation Network

Tia Hicks
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Bay Area

Melanie Moore
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Jennifer Pereira
Rhode Island Foundation

Lakshmi (Sasha) Ponappa
CSD Unites Community Foundation

Sally Ray
Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Nell Tessman
Gray Family Foundation

Mark Tran
The California Endowment

Peter Whitt
St. Luke’s Foundation

Le Anne Alexander
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Everett Au
The San Diego Foundation

Daniel Barrett
The Buhl Foundation / One Northside

Alexis Bivens
Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation

Elizabeth Coco
The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota

Mary Coleman
Voqal

Anna Cruz
The Kresge Foundation

Nancy Fasching
Southwest Initiative Foundation

Rayana Grace
Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts

Betsy Hands
High Meadows Fund

Talib Horne
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Mindy Kao
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Roger Perez
Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation

Stephanie Ruiz
Hispanics in Philanthropy

Bilal Tajildeen
Connecticut Community Foundation

Omar Carrillo Tinajero
Center for Community Investment at Lincoln Institute

Mateus Baptista
Panasonic Corporation
of North America

Dominic Braham
LISC Phoenix

Grace Chung
LISC New York City

Mia Cooper
Metro United Way

Jonathan Cunningham
Seattle Foundation

Denise Herrera
St. David's Foundation

Jonathan Hui
The Kresge Foundation

Mohamed Huque
Inspirit Foundation

Christina Kamkosi
Empire Health Foundation

Tonja Khabir
Griffith Family Foundation

Sara Levine
Rogers Family Foundation

Michelle Morris
Duluth Superior Area
Community Foundation

Ogonnaya Newman
The JPB Foundation

Darlene Russell
Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Gabrielle Sims
The Boston Foundation

Craig Stumpf-Allen
Edmonton Community Foundation

Jamie Arteaga
United Way of Metro Chicago

Ajeev Bhatia
Laidlaw Foundation

Marvin Carr
Institute for Museum
and Library Sciences

Rebecca Chan
LISC National

Ciara Coleman
W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Cara Ferrentino
William Penn Foundation

Maha Freij
Center for Arab American
Philanthropy

Thomasina Hier
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Nina Holzer
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

Andrea Hulighan
The Winston-Salem Foundation

Maarten Jacobs
Allyn Family Foundation

Randy Lopez
Wynadotte Health Foundation

Kumar Raj
The Skillman Foundation

Simon Suganthi
The Arthur M. Blank Foundation

Natalia Swanson
Mary Black Foundation

Joanna Troter
The Chicago Community Trust

Marisa Aurora Quiroz
The International Foundation

Alex Camardelle-Floyd
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Mordecai Cargill
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

Camille Cyprian
Greater Twin Cities United Way

Mekaelia Davis
Prudential Foundation

Michelle Huttenhoff
Knight Foundation

Lisa Jacobson
Barr Foundation

Patrick Johnston
Toledo Community Foundation

Melanie Mitros
Vitalyst Health Foundation

Tyler Nickerson
The Solutions Project

Anne Phillips
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

Chantel Rush
The Kresge Foundation

Heather Smith
The Field Foundation of Illinois

Kelly Thompson
Community Foundation
of Great River Bend

Jalonne White-Newsome
The Kresge Foundation

Cheri Wright-Jones
Allegany Franciscan Ministries

Gilbert Achey
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota

Kris Archie
Vancouver Foundation

William Cordery
Surdna Foundation

Punita Dani Thurman
The Skillman Foundation

Jill Fuglister
Meyer Memorial Trust

Davian Gagne
Mile High Connects

Janel Hines
Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Bryan Hogle
The Kresge Foundation

Mac Howison
The Sprout Fund

Sana Jafri
Chicago Community Trust

Michelle Jaramillo
The San Diego Foundation

Jaime Love
Interact For Health

Aaron Robertson
Seattle Foundation

Chan Brown
Kansas Health Foundation

Michael Coffey
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Alfredo Cruz
Foundation for Louisiana

Fabiola Greenwalt
The Russell Family Foundation

Anneliese Grytafey
Toledo Community Foundation

Kimberly Jones
Urban Partnership Bank

Tom Linfield
Madison Community Foundation

Evelin Montes
Liberty Hill Foundation

Surabhi Pandit
Community Foundation
for Southeast Michigan

Heather Pontonio
Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation

Tobi Printz-Platnick
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

Mia Ramirez
Kaiser Permanente

Daniel Soliman
AARP Foundation

Christopher Stallworth
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Lauren Taylor
Hyde Family Foundation

Maranda Witherspoon Richardson
Missouri Foundation for Health

Sandy Chapelle
Saint Luke's Foundation

Alison Corwin
Surdna Foundation

Jonalyn Denlinger
Baltimore Community Foundation

C.J. Eisenbarth Hager
St. Luke's Health Initiative

Jose Garcia
Surdna Foundation

Christopher Goett
Council on Foundations

Jasmin Hall Ratliff
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

George Jacobson
The Kresge Foundation

Lauren Johnson
Social Venture Partners Portland

Amoretta Morris
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Mary Rose Navarro
Metro Portland

Erik Takeshita
LISC Twin Cities

Eula Tatman
Community Foundation
of Northeast Alabama

Sharmila Rao Thakkar
The Siragusa Foundation

Danielle Torain
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Geri Yang-Johnson
Wells Fargo Foundation

Juan Sebastian Arias
Living Cities

Julie Brown
Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation

Caitlin Brune
May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Eric Dregne
Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque

Tamu Jones
The California Endowment

Margot Kane
Calvert Foundation

Helen Leung
Living Cities

Bryna Lipper
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of International and Philanthropic Innovation

Craig Martinez
The California Endowment

Jean McKeown
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo

Curt McPhail
Mary Black Foundation

Tyronda Minter
Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta

Alece Montez
Orton Family Foundation

LaToya Moore
Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Susie Seidelman
Johnson Foundation at Wingspread

Kurt Sommer
Association for Baltimore Area Grantmakers

Monica Abrahams
The Colorado Health Foundation

Lynn Coriano
Social Venture Partners Seattle

Susan Dobkins
The Russell Family Foundation

Jennifer Downing
Garfield Foundation

Edward Egnatios
The Skillman Foundation

Bridget Flood
Incarnate Word Foundation

Sarah Gillespie
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of International and Philanthropic Innovation

Beth Herz
Surdna Foundation

Meisha McDaniel
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Bina Patel
Grand Victoria Foundation

Kirsten Scobie
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

Sheena Solomon
The Gifford Foundation

Eric Stoller
The Heinz Endowments

Terri Thao
Nexus Community Partners

Willie Barney
Empowerment Network Omaha

Len Bartel
Maine Health Access Foundation

Timothy Block
The Home Depot Foundation

Evelyn Burnett
Living Cities

Dion Cartwright
Baltimore Community Foundation

Mark Hallett
McCormick Foundation

Katy Locker
Hudson-Webber Foundation

Michael Maroney
Omaha Minority Community Development Fund

Vi Nguyen
Vancouver Foundation

Carolina Quezada
The Iowa West Foundation

Mary Skelton Roberts
Barr Foundation

Jasmine Thomas
Surdna Foundation

Kristin Williams
The Sherwood Foundation

Elisa Wong
Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit

Sylvia Zaldivar-Sykes
The Lake County Community Foundation

Zainab Hassan
Minneapolis Foundation

Sarah Hernandez
McKnight Foundation

Brian Moore
The Gifford Foundation

Toya Randall
Grand Victoria Foundation

Michael Shaw
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Todd Vogel
Social Venture Partners

Susanna Weckerle
Community Foundation of South East Michigan
Have you changed organizations? Did you get a promotion? Swap out a last name?
Update your alum information with Talissa Lahaliyed at talissa@fundersnetwork.org to stay up to date with your PLACES network.