Sonya Salanti

Executive leadership of one of the largest rural philanthropies in the United States.

• Led the development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Funds 2022-2027 Strategy.
• Led design and implementation of new programming including an $8.4 million, five-year workforce housing initiative, a $3 million, five-year community building and leadership development initiative; and a $1 million collective action Positive Youth Development initiative.
• Implemented significant improvements to operations, project management, budgeting and performance measurement approaches to ensure the Fund’s activities are administered with greater adaptability, efficiency, accountability, and transparency.
• Facilitates a highly engaged Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) committee. Transitioned the six person legacy committee to a 15 person committee representative of the community the Tillotson Fund serves.
• Oversight and management of proactive and responsive grants and scholarship programs representing approximately $6 million of resources directed to community needs on an annual basis. Performed significant revamp of grantmaking practices to be in close alignment with the principles of trust-based philanthropy.
• Oversight and management of a $6 million annual program budget and financial stewardship of $120 million in invested assets.
• Hiring, onboarding, coaching, and performance management of Tillotson Fund staff and consultants.
• Active leadership seat on a cross functional team that directs the initiatives of the Community Engagement and Impact department.
• Develops and maintains effective relationships with key stakeholders including community and nonprofit leaders, state and federal agencies, and private funders to ensure coordinated efforts and leverage of the Tillotson Funds’ programs and resources.

Senior Leadership of the Resilient Markets portfolio, aimed at supporting and upholding the rights of vulnerable communities worldwide through market-based approaches to humanitarian response and international development.

• Led all aspects of strategic planning, program design and implementation for initiatives focused on quality and accountability in humanitarian programming. Initiatives included advocacy programming for the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards, the Markets in Crises Community of Practice, and Disaster Risk Reduction for Financial Service Providers.
• Designed and directed capacity-building activities for clients administering economic inclusion programs. Services included organizational assessments, strategic planning, institutional sustainability planning, and new business development.
• Built partnerships and networks among a broad array of stakeholders including donors, international NGOs, United Nations agencies, government agencies, and local community-based organizations.
• Recruited and facilitated of several steering committees and technical advisory groups focused on advocating for improved practices in economic recovery practices and market-based programming.
• Engaged donors and fundraised over $3.25 million to support Resilient Markets programs and activities.
• Promoted Resilient Market activities at events, conferences, and forums. Planned and implemented of global learning events with attendance from 25 to 400+ participants.
• Managed departmental budget and four program budgets, including financial reporting to donors.

Design and oversight of digital transformation and capacity development initiatives aimed at improving collaboration, project management, and knowledge sharing with over 4,000 international staff operating in low-resource environments.

• Member of the senior strategy team responsible for transitioning disparate technology platforms in over 150 field and headquarters offices to a single integrated IT platform.
• Led advocacy, communications, and training campaigns to support field and headquarters staff to adopt new operational practices.

Served as a short-term evaluation specialist for the Food Security for Farmers (FSF) project a five-year, CDN $12.5 million project aimed at improving food security, diversifying economic activities, strengthening value chains, and raising household income for food-insecure households in Ethiopia.

• Worked with monitoring and evaluation team and program staff to implement new processes for data collection, analysis, and synthesis and develop improved monitoring and evaluation reporting functions for donors and partners.
• Designed and produced full communications portfolio consisting of program success stories, technical briefs, presentations, photo exhibitions, learning tours, and multi-stakeholder events.

Managed cross-functional teams of technical, program, and C-suite staff to operationalize corporate strategy through staff development initiatives.

• Managed staff, budgets ranging from $50,000 to $2 million, work plans and timelines for research projects, energy efficiency pilot programs, and staff development initiatives.
• Designed, implemented, and managed a training and knowledge management platform for 500 staff.
• Produced client-facing reports, white papers, technical briefs, and learning products on a variety of topics ranging from emerging technologies to effective knowledge dissemination approaches for the energy efficiency industry.
• Managed vendor and consultant relations including drafting terms of reference and statements of work, negotiating and finalizing contracts, and ensuring contract compliance.