Emerging Topics in Philanthropy Webinar Series: Collective Giving
Join us on March 26th from 12:00-1:00 PM ET to learn how giving together can be a way to create more impact.
Collective giving, where donors pool their money to make grants together, has grown significantly in recent years. Join the Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) for a panel discussion on how the tools of collective giving and giving circles can increase your impact while growing community connections and grantmaking knowledge.
Founding executive director Katherina ‘Kat’ Rosqueta will moderate a discussion with Sara Lomelin, CEO of Philanthropy Together, and three funders who participate in collective giving in different ways: Carmen Davis, Sankofa Fund; Anu Gupta, Power Building Group and Raphael Family Foundation; and Teo Valdés, private funder and giving circle participant.
About the speakers
Carmen Davis is the Senior Director of the Office of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy for the City of Chattanooga, where she leads initiatives that support the creative sector and foster cultural equity. With nearly 30 years in arts, culture, and entertainment, she has produced festivals, concert series, and exhibitions that celebrate diverse voices and build community.
Carmen’s commitment to philanthropy spans corporate, nonprofit, and grassroots giving. Before joining the City, she spent seven years in corporate philanthropy at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, overseeing funding for community initiatives. She is a founding member of the Sankofa Fund for Civic Engagement, a collective giving circle supporting Black-led and Black-serving organizations.
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She has served as a commissioner with the Chattanooga Human Rights Commission and Humanities Tennessee, and has held board positions with ArtsBuild, the Tivoli Foundation, RISE Chattanooga, and Sculpture Fields. A dedicated advocate for equitable funding, she has reviewed grants for the National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, Humanities Tennessee, United Way, and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga. She also co-founded We Over Me Chattanooga, reinforcing her lifelong dedication to community-driven impact.
Anu Gupta is the Executive Director of the Raphael Family Foundation. She’s also the President of Power for Good Foundation where she designs initiatives that place philanthropy in the hands of employees of Power Home Remodeling. Through giving circles, voting, and nominations, every employee has “voice and choice” to shape 100% of the company’s contributions to local communities. Since launching in 2023, 76% of employees have participated in at least one program to shape $5M in giving.
Previously, Anu was the Executive Director of McKinsey.org, a philanthropic initiative that helps nonprofits be their best at doing good by strengthening the talent within their organization to amplify their impact. Anu has also held roles with The Rippel Foundation, where she is currently a Board Trustee, and within the social responsibility group at Johnson & Johnson. A physician by training, Anu lives with her family in New Jersey, where you will find her raising teenagers, attempting mindfulness, and playing with her puppy.
Sara Lomelin is a connector of people and ideas, a relationship builder and a firm believer that everyone can be a philanthropist. A self-proclaimed philanthropy disruptor, Sara has traveled the world speaking about the power of collective giving and the correlation between civic engagement and Latino philanthropy. She is an expert in diversifying philanthropy. As founding CEO of Philanthropy Together, Sara is growing a movement of people-powered philanthropy to resource grassroots nonprofits, shift power dynamics, and promote widespread philanthropy. Sara was named to the 2024 NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 and the 2023 Forbes’ 50 Over 50: Impact List.
Sara is frequently featured at high profile conferences and events for innovative leaders and big ideas, including TED 2022, Netroots Nation, and Unity Summit. An expert on the future of philanthropy, Sara is often quoted in news outlets including Forbes, The Associated Press, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy and her writing appears in Fortune, Ms. Magazine and Philanthropy Women.
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Prior to Philanthropy Together, Sara served as Senior Director of Leadership Philanthropy at Opportunity Fund, now Accion Opportunity Fund. Previously at the Latino Community Foundation, Sara served as VP of Philanthropy for eight years and created the Latino Giving Circle Network®—the largest network of Latinx philanthropists in the United States.
She currently serves on the National Council of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Board of Directors of Giving Tuesday and Battery Powered.
Katherina ‘Kat’ M. Rosqueta is the founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, faculty co-director of High Impact Philanthropy Academy, adjunct faculty in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), and a senior fellow at the Wharton Center on Leadership & Change Management. Founded as a collaboration between SP2 and alumni of the Wharton School, the Center for High Impact Philanthropy is the premier source of knowledge and education on how philanthropy can do more good.
Before accepting her appointment to launch the Center, Kat was a consultant with McKinsey & Company; a consultant to the founding team of New Schools Venture Fund; founding director of Board Match Plus, a San Francisco program dedicated to strengthening nonprofit boards; and program manager of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Community Development Group.
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Kat serves on the national board of Greenlight Fund, a venture philanthropy fund dedicated to addressing urgent social needs in cities around the United States, and co-chairs Greenlight Fund Philadelphia. She is a member of the Capitalization Committee of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation. She is the former chair of the board of Candid (merger of Foundation Center and Guidestar), the world’s largest source of information on nonprofits and foundations. Her past civic leadership positions include board president of La Casa de las Madres (San Francisco’s oldest and largest shelter for battered women and their children), chair of the United Way’s Bay Area Week of Caring, and co-founder and executive committee member of the Women’s MBA Network.
Her work and comments have been cited in numerous publications including the New York Times, Slate, Money Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She speaks frequently on social impact management and philanthropy and has lectured at the Wharton Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of California Haas School of Business, and the University of San Francisco’s Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management.
Kat received her a BA from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was the 2012 recipient of the Wharton Women in Business Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumna Award, a 2011 recipient of the Brava! Women Business Achievement Award, the 2020 recipient of the Margaret Bailey Speer Award, and named one of Unboxed Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 100, a list of people, organizations and companies making a positive difference in our world.
Teo Valdés, Ed.D., is a philanthropy professional and educator, co-managing the Lemon Street Fund with his wife, Emily. He is committed to aligning his giving practices with his core values and actively collaborates with peers across the philanthropy sector to drive strategic change with an emphasis on impact.
Teo is a member of leading philanthropic organizations, including Hispanics in Philanthropy, the National Center for Family Philanthropy, and the Donors of Color Network. His involvement in these networks reflects his dedication to advancing diversity, equity, and social justice within the sector.
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He actively engages in reflection, dialogue, and the continuous improvement of his philanthropic practice. His doctoral research at American University, completed in 2023, focused on the connection between reflection, dialogue, and practice. In 2024, he completed the High Impact Philanthropy Academy at the University of Pennsylvania and frequently participates in philanthropy-related conferences and workshops.
Teo has lived in Philadelphia since 2023 with Emily and their two young children. He enjoys spending time outdoors, playing Go, and cooking for his family. For him, home is wherever his family is, and they are the heart of his work and life.
2025 High Impact Giving Toolkit Launch Webinar
The 2025 High Impact Philanthropy Toolkit is a primer on the practice of intentionally using private, philanthropic resources to serve the public good. This launch webinar from the Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP) explores how to practice high impact philanthropy — philanthropy for social impact.
CHIP founding executive director, Katherina Rosqueta, discusses high impact practices donors can use to achieve more impact. In conversation with Tony Bowen, Executive Director of the Catalyst Fund at Fidelity Charitable, Kat presents four philanthropic plays and emerging tools that can be used for any issue area, and introduces nonprofits that are putting effective strategies into practice for education, public health, housing, and more.
About the speakers
Tony Bowen is Executive Director of the Catalyst Fund at Fidelity Charitable®, an independent 501(c)(3) public charity that has helped donors support more than 406,000 nonprofit organizations with $84.5 billion in grants. The mission of Fidelity Charitable is to grow the American tradition of philanthropy by providing programs that make charitable giving accessible, simple, and effective.
In his role at the Catalyst Fund, he partners with the Fidelity Charitable Board of Trustees to manage a grantmaking program dedicated to building bridges between donors and promising nonprofits. The Catalyst Fund makes grants to intermediaries that engage donors, elevate nonprofits, and conduct research on donors and philanthropy. The Center for High Impact Philanthropy has been a grantee of the Catalyst Fund since 2018.
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He is currently co-chair of the Infrastructure Funders Group, on the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Board of Visitors and Giving Tuesday’s Data Commons Advisory Committee, and a Partner with Social Venture Partners Boston.
Tony has worked at community and family foundations, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Democracy Fund, and sector infrastructure organizations such as Candid, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, and FMA. He graduated with an M.A. in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University. He lives in Boston.
Katherina ‘Kat’ M. Rosqueta is the founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, faculty co-director of High Impact Philanthropy Academy, adjunct faculty in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), and a senior fellow at the Wharton Center on Leadership & Change Management. Founded as a collaboration between SP2 and alumni of the Wharton School, the Center for High Impact Philanthropy is the premier source of knowledge and education on how philanthropy can do more good.
Before accepting her appointment to launch the Center, Kat was a consultant with McKinsey & Company; a consultant to the founding team of New Schools Venture Fund; founding director of Board Match Plus, a San Francisco program dedicated to strengthening nonprofit boards; and program manager of Wells Fargo’s Corporate Community Development Group.
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Kat serves on the national board of Greenlight Fund, a venture philanthropy fund dedicated to addressing urgent social needs in cities around the United States, and co-chairs Greenlight Fund Philadelphia. She is a member of the Capitalization Committee of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), Philadelphia’s public-private economic development corporation. She is the former chair of the board of Candid (merger of Foundation Center and Guidestar), the world’s largest source of information on nonprofits and foundations. Her past civic leadership positions include board president of La Casa de las Madres (San Francisco’s oldest and largest shelter for battered women and their children), chair of the United Way’s Bay Area Week of Caring, and co-founder and executive committee member of the Women’s MBA Network.
Her work and comments have been cited in numerous publications including the New York Times, Slate, Money Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She speaks frequently on social impact management and philanthropy and has lectured at the Wharton Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of California Haas School of Business, and the University of San Francisco’s Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management.
Kat received her a BA from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was the 2012 recipient of the Wharton Women in Business Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumna Award, a 2011 recipient of the Brava! Women Business Achievement Award, the 2020 recipient of the Margaret Bailey Speer Award, and named one of Unboxed Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 100, a list of people, organizations and companies making a positive difference in our world.
Platinum Sponsor
The Fidelity Charitable® Catalyst Fund is a grantmaking program of Fidelity Charitable, led by its Board of Trustees and separate from its donor-advised fund program. The Catalyst Fund envisions a world where nonprofits that strengthen our communities have access to the resources they need to flourish. By investing in intermediaries such as the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, the Catalyst Fund helps build bridges between individual donors and promising nonprofits. When donors and nonprofits partner together, we can empower communities to thrive.