A national network of funders supporting strategic, innovative, and effective solutions to homelessness

Thanking an Inspiring Leader and Welcoming Another

Posted by 320sc on July 23, 2018

Funders Together has seen its fair share of changes in 2018, and we have one more to add to our list.

This July marked a new term for the Funders Together Board and last board meeting as Board Chair for Bill Pitkin, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Since being appointed as Board Chair in 2015, the organization has experienced transformations under Bill’s thoughtful leadership. From bringing a new CEO on board, changes in staff, and developing a new strategic plan for Funders Together, his guidance was a vital component of ensuring each process was a success and beneficial to both members and the broader movement to end homelessness.

"Bill has been a great thought-partner and mentor to so many leaders committed to ending homelessness. During my first two years as CEO of Funders Together, I have learned so much from his experience, patience, and commitment to ensure diverse voices are represented in our movement to prevent and end homelessness," says Amanda Andere, Funders Together CEO. "He is passionate about the well-being of people, intuitive to the unique gifts we all have to offer, and fundamentally committed to housing as a human right."

Funders Together is a stronger and more effective organizations because of Bill’s vision and dedication to connecting funders across the country around preventing and ending homelessness. We are forever grateful for the time, energy, and commitment Bill showed staff, fellow board members, and members of Funders Together.

“The board is so grateful for Bill’s unwavering dedication of skill, energy, wisdom and time as board chair, said Janice Elliot, incoming Board Chair. "Under his tenure, Funders Together has grown in so many ways including hiring a wonderful CEO, Amanda Andere, launching of communities of practice focused on youth homelessness and employment, honing of our strategic goals to incorporate an intentional focus on racial equity, an expansion of our membership and networks, and more.”

Replacing Bill as board chair is Janice Elliott, Melville Charitable Trust. We are excited to be in the hands of yet another inspirational and accomplished leader and look forward to what will transpire in the years to come!

Welcome Kelli King-Jackson!

Funders Together would also like to welcome Kelli King-Jackson to our FTEH board!

Kelli is a Senior Program Officer with The Simmons Foundation. Having spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, Kelli serves as a thought leader and public speaker with a passion for the intersection of social justice and philanthropy.

At the Foundation Kelli has leadership responsibilities for implementation of grantmaking strategies in homelessness, youth, and LGBTQ issues.  Kelli currently serves on national steering committees for Funders for LGBTQ Issues Out in the South Initiative and the Funders Together to End Homelessness Youth Network Leadership Committee. 

Most recently, Kelli has been lending her philanthropic expertise to the grants committees of the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy Hurricane Harvey Fund.  In every service opportunity, Kelli remains deeply committed to centering the voices and experiences of the most marginalized communities.

Kelli is a graduate of New York University with a B.A. in Sociology. Kelli is an alumna of Leadership Houston Class 27 and the ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program. Kelli is a social media aficionado who enjoys family time, laughing with friends and writing.

We are beyond thrilled to have Kelli join us on the FTEH board and are incredible grateful to have her expertise help guide us in the coming years. Please join us in welcoming Kelli!

New FTEH Board Officers

A new term means transition of officers for the FTEH Board. In addition to our new board chair, Janice Elliott, the board officers now include:

Under the guidance of fresh faces to our board, new officers, and the addition of yet another inspiring board chair, we are filled with excitement and gratitude for what the future holds for Funders Together, our members, and the movement as a whole.

  

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We joined Funders Together because we believe in the power of philanthropy to play a major role in ending homelessness, and we know we have much to learn from funders across the country.

-Christine Marge, Director of Housing and Financial Stability at United Way of Greater Los Angeles

I am thankful for the local partnerships here in the Pacific Northwest that we’ve been able to create and nurture thanks to the work of Funders Together. Having so many of the right players at the table makes our conversations – and all of our efforts – all the richer and more effective.

-David Wertheimer, Deputy Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Very often a lack of jobs and money is not the cause of poverty, but the symptom. The cause may lie deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities, in a lack of education and training, in a lack of medical care and housing, in a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children.

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964 State of the Union Address

Funders Together has given me a platform to engage the other funders in my community. Our local funding community has improved greatly to support housing first models and align of resources towards ending homelessness.

-Leslie Strnisha, Vice President at Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

Our family foundation convenes local funders and key community stakeholders around strategies to end homelessness in Houston. Funders Together members have been invaluable mentors to us in this effort, traveling to our community to share their expertise and examples of best practices from around the nation.

-Nancy Frees Fountain, Managing Director at The Frees Foundation


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