Check out the 2023 PLACES cohort below!


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At TFN, we believe that grantmaking institutions hold tremendous potential to make positive change in the communities they serve.

We also recognize the obstacles many funders face — both externally and internally — in turning ideals into impact, especially when their work in vulnerable and distressed communities often falls short of intended goals or fails to make a lasting impact.

TFN’s PLACES Fellowship is a transformational leadership development program for professionals in philanthropy to better understand issues of race, equity and inclusiveness — and to then translate those skills and knowledge in to their grantmaking practices.

By the end of their year-long fellowship, participants are equipped with the tools and resources to understand, challenge and change systemic inequities. Our hope is that by cultivating and connecting a diverse cadre of leaders passionate about racial equity and social justice, PLACES not only benefits those individual grantmakers, but enriches their institutions and the field of philanthropy as a whole.

About PLACES

PLACES — which stands for Professionals Learning About Community, Equity and Sustainability — uses learning, coaching and reflections to explore structural racism, community empowerment and equitable grantmaking practices.

We envision that all graduates will have a deep understanding of the following concepts:

  • Personal leadership development
  • Equity, inclusiveness and smart growth principles
  • Understanding the constructs of race and racialization
  • Collaborative grantmaking and community engagement to increase equity in philanthropy
  • Influencing the field and encouraging change in culture and equitable practices through leadership and action

In addition to the PLACES curriculum, Fellows learn from the people and places we visit. Our Fellowship Cohort, selected annually from a highly competitive pool of applicants, embarks on year-long journey that includes four site visits to communities across the U.S. and Canada. (The site visit locations vary each year. To read more about our Fellows’ experiences on the road, check out our Going PLACES blog series below.)

The PLACES Fellowship concludes with a capstone presentation and graduation — but that rarely marks the end of the PLACES experience. As any PLACES alum will tell you, the deep bonds and professional connections forged by the Fellows extend well beyond the end of their cohort year.

Meet our 2023 PLACES Fellows!

TFN’s vision is to create generations of courageous philanthropic leaders who are engaged, emboldened and equipped to bring about a just society.

That’s why we are so proud to announce the 2023 PLACES Fellows — 16 exemplary grantmakers who will embark on a year-long curriculum focusing on racial equity and justice.

They will work together to not only deepen their understanding of structural racism and its malign impacts, but to acquire the tools and resources needed to challenge and change systemic inequities through their grantmaking.

Learn about our 2023 PLACES Cohort here.

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)

Our Alumni

For more than 10 years, PLACES has welcomed more than 140 fellows to participate in this unique opportunity intended to help grantmakers embed the values of racial, social and economic equity into their work.

Our alumni hail from all corners of the United States and Canada, representing national, regional and community foundations. Their grantmaking portfolios encompass a wide range of passions: building healthy communities, spurring inclusive economic prosperity, fighting climate change, combatting social injustice, supporting local artists, and rebuilding civic trust — to name just a few of the areas where PLACES fellows are making an impact.

At the end of their cohort year, PLACES Fellows are welcomed into the robust and highly engaged PLACES Alumni Network. The PLACES Alumni Network offers peer learning opportunities, timely webinars, and our annual Alumni Gathering. PLACES Alumni also have the opportunities to further hone their leadership skills by volunteering on the PLACES Advisory Board and other TFN boards and committees. For a list of our alumni, please visit our PLACES Alumni page.

PLACES X: Stories of Impact

For the 10th anniversary of TFN’s PLACES Fellowship, we worked with two award-winning journalists to help capture the stories shared and the lessons learned through the PLACES Fellowship. The result is our PLACES Impact Stories project, which includes profiles written by WLRN social justice reporter Nadege Green and videos created by documentary filmmaker Oscar Corral. View the full project here.

Meet Our Fellows: 2020 PLACES Fellows

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

“The PLACES Fellowship gave me the tools to be better at my job. It not only shaped how I think about the work, but how I view the world.” 

— Kumar Raj, Senior Program Officer, The Skillman Foundation, PLACES 2018 Fellow

Going PLACES: Blog Posts by our Fellows

History
of PLACES


PLACES
FAQ


PLACES
Strategic Plan


PLACES Advisory Board


Want to Know More?

Contact Dion Cartwright ,senior director, equity initiatives and leadership development, at dion@fundersnetwork.org or (305) 667-6350.