Eileen Heisman is an accomplished global CEO, board member, and philanthropic leader with nearly two decades of experience at the helm of the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT), one of the largest and fastest-growing donor-advised fund providers in the world. Under her leadership, NPT raised over $63 billion in charitable assets and facilitated more than 778,000 grants totaling over $31 billion to nonprofits worldwide. Eileen is widely respected for her expertise in corporate strategy, risk management, cultural adaptation, fundraising, and investment oversight.
Beyond her executive leadership, Eileen has extensive experience serving on nonprofit boards. She currently serves on the governance committee for the Nonprofit Leadership Master’s Program at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a founding board member of Social Impact Commons, a national incubator for emerging nonprofit organizations, and served as its founding board chair. Eileen built and served on the board of NPT-UK, where she helped establish donor-advised fund solutions for international donors. She also built and chaired NPT Trans-Atlantic board, an entity designed to support dual taxpayers in cross-border charitable giving.
As CEO of NPT, Eileen successfully scaled the company from $0 to $63 billion in assets raised, expanding the organization from two to over 200 employees, while ensuring high engagement scores. As a qualified financial expert, she developed deep relationships with global financial institutions, donors, and advisors. She brings an innovative approach to philanthropy, conceiving of and launching several industry-standard programs, including national private-label programs for financial firms and concierge donor services.
Eileen pioneered the global expansion of NPT, launching the first American entity to provide donor-advised fund vehicles in the UK and solutions for dual taxpayers and international donors. She also spearheaded the development of the first annual industry report on donor-advised funds which continues to capture data from over 1000 entities and is regarded as the definitive resource on DAF trends.
Eileen teaches a 14-week graduate course on philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice. She spent her early career in politics, policy, and fundraising, working with the Philadelphia Foundation as a Public Affairs Director, with Arlen Specter for the US Senate Campaign as a Finance Director, and as Councilwoman Joan Specter’s Chief Legislative Assistant.
She is a sought-after speaker on topics such as charitable giving, global philanthropy, and anti-money laundering and is frequently featured in prominent media outlets including CNN, Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Eileen holds an MSW from the University of Michigan, a BA in Psychology, from Carnegie Mellon, where she received the Carnegie Mellon Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019.
She has completed executive education programs at Stanford University and The Wharton School of Business. She has been recognized with numerous awards including the DAF Giving Summit DAF Trailblazer Award and the Nonprofit Times Power and Influence Top 50 for ten consecutive years. A dedicated community volunteer, avid traveler, and theater enthusiast, Eileen is also passionate about mentoring the next generation of philanthropic leaders.