Marin Community Foundation Announces Hire of Chief Philanthropy Officer
Nov 30, 2022
Following a comprehensive nationwide search, the Marin Community Foundation can announce the hire of a new Chief Philanthropy Officer to lead the Philanthropic Partnerships team.
Janelle Cavanagh brings a career of strategic leadership and extensive nonprofit experience to the foundation. For the last nine years she has held a number of positions at Global Fund for Women, most recently as Vice President, Strategic Partnerships. In that role she has served as an inspirational leader for a 12-person fundraising team and managed 4 directors. She led a 3-year, $20M capital campaign and a $17M annual fundraising goal while managing a portfolio of 100 donors. Her objective was to create programs that advance women’s rights, inspire investors and prioritize a racial justice strategy within the organization.
Prior to Global Fund for Women, Janelle was the Director of National Expansion for Coaching Corps where she supported a group of high-level individuals from the public and private sectors to raise $25M over 5 years to ensure youth in under-resourced communities benefited from the positive impact that sports and coaches can provide.
Before this she spent two years as the Executive Director of University of California Press Foundation, and six years as the Chief Development Officer of Girls Incorporated of Alameda County. She began her career at the United Way of the Bay Area, holding multiple positions that concluded with Vice President, Campaigns.
Janelle received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of San Francisco and Master’s Degree in Social Welfare, Management and Planning from UC Berkeley. She is a tireless community volunteer and committed board member. She also grew up in Marin and has a deep understanding of the challenges the county faces, and the nonprofit landscape.
“Janelle brings an impressive track record of successes in donor development and education, strategic planning, mentoring and championing staff growth, and serving as an empowering and resourceful manager,” said Rhea Suh, MCF’s President & CEO. “I was particularly impressed with her passionate work to bring a broader framework of equity into her work with donors, developing and executing a new way to ensure that the donors working with the Global Fund for Women, were in fact serving women in the ways that they need and desire. Putting communities first, in an organization of this kind, is critical, but can be challenging. I believe it sets an impressive example for the field of philanthropy broadly, but also a very specific one for community philanthropy—one that we are eager to learn more about and adopt ourselves.”
Janelle will commence her position on December 5th.
About the Marin Community Foundation
The Marin Community Foundation was founded with one simple aspiration: to make a difference in the lives of others through thoughtful, effective philanthropy. It does so by partnering with over 500 individuals and families in their philanthropic endeavors - locally, across the U.S. and around the world. It is one of the largest community foundations in the country, overseeing $3 billion in philanthropic assets and distributing an average of $150 million annually in grants