Meet Your Year Three Future Fund Leadership!

For the 2011-2012 Future Fund Grant, the deadline is December 9, 2011.  Please note that the grant will be in the area of Healthcare in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Area. Learn how to apply here. 

We are excited to announce the 2011-2012 Future Fund Leadership. This group of individuals is enthusiastic and dedicated to the Future Fund and its growth. Get to know your leaders by reading their narratives below.

At-Large Steering Committee Members
 

Anna Scholl
Click here to view Anna's member profile.

Anna joined the Future Fund and the Grants Committee for Year Two and is excited at the prospect for growth and development in Year Three. She loved getting involved in the Future Fund because of the opportunities it provided to meet new people in our community and to leverage her charitable giving to have a major impact on a local organization. Anna would like to focus this year on expanding the membership’s opportunities for interaction with area nonprofits as well as raising the Future Fund’s profile in the community. Anna is the Executive Director of ProgressVA, a small nonprofit advocacy organization, and a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence’s Board Development Academy. She volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge. She spends her spare time making a huge mess in her kitchen and spoiling her dog rotten.

Katie Overdevest

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Katie Overdevest has been a member of the Charlottesville community since 2000. This is her first year on the Future Fund, and she is excited to get even more involved with and give back to the place she calls home. Katie admittedly is learning more about the fund and the group with each event. She hopes to be an active and innovative voice in the continuation of the FF's initial success and ultimately contribute to its permanence in the Charlottesville community. This year, Kaite will have the time to be an active member of the Steering Committee. She welcomes the opportunity to learn from fellow committee members and to be exposed to a group of active community members outside of those groups with which she has already been a part of over the years. Katie enjoys problem solving, strategic thinking and the continual pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness. Katie graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in 2005 with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. She also completed a major in Media Studies from the College of Arts & Sciences. She currently is a Director at Bluestem Asset Management, a fund of hedge funds. Prior to Bluestem, Katie worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Merrill Lynch in New York. Katie has been a member of the McIntire Young Alumni Council for the last 6 years and serves a co-chair of the Mentoring Committee.

Ryan Jacoby

Ryan Jacoby is Deputy Director with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and has more than 14 years of experience with non-profit and retail management, fundraising, marketing and program development. He has served on several boards for local and state non-profits and is most interested in helping non-profits become more positively impactful through sound management practices and effective program development. His professional interests include affordable housing, green building, creative reuse, and deconstruction. Ryan and his wife Sarah have two amazing children (Chloe-11 and Simon-7). In his spare time, Ryan enjoys family time, reading, hiking, and live music. Having joined the Future Fund in Year Two, Ryan was a member of the Resource & Development Committee and was elected as one of the at-large members of the Steering Committee. Ryan enjoys working with a diverse group of folks to provide strategic leadership and hopes to contribute to positioning the Future Fund for a successful Year Three and longer-term sustainability.

Stephanie Cangin

Stephanie Cangin is a third year Future Fund member.  In the previous two years, she has served as a member of the Grants Committee and will be participating again this year.  She believes that learning about the applicant’s programs first hand and being actively involved in the grantmaking process was a rewarding experience. Additionally, last year she served as an at-large member of the Steering Committee.  She states that the challenges of helping to direct an evolving group like the Future Fund are many, but she has enjoyed the work and looks forward to continuing the progress. Originally from outside of Annapolis, Maryland, she moved to Charlottesville in 2004. She took a transfer while working for the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.  Her work experience includes working for non-profits that provide free civil legal representation to low-income individuals and being an AmeriCorps participant in its inaugural year.  Currently she works as an attorney in town with a solo practice focused on representing children.  Additionally, she is the chair of the Charlottesville Department of Social Services Advisory Board.  Her volunteer participation has included domestic violence prevention/services groups, Habitat for Humanity, local politics and community radio.

Events Committee Co-Chairs 
 

Lauren Connor
Click here to view Lauren's member profile

Lauren Connor is presently employed as a Retail Sales Representative for the Kellogg Company.  She manages a wide sales territory stretching throughout central Virginia and parts of northern Virginia. Her experience in sales has been enjoyable. Lauren has a flexible schedule, enabling her to fit in errands or meetings for the Events Committee at certain points during the day. She is an energetic individual and enjoys living an active lifestyle. This is her second year being active in the Future Fund. Last year she was on the events committee, and enjoyed every minute of it. Lauren looks forward to being a co-chair for the committee in Year Three.

Shawna Poole
 Click here to view Shawna's member profile.

As a young professional, Shawna came back home realizing the benefits of both being in a small city and the challenge of finding a group of like-minded professionals who are engaged in giving back to the community.  As a member of the Future Fund, Shawna believes that part of the engagement includes creating community awareness about the program and its purpose. As an active member of the events committee, her goal is recruiting new members through an increase in PR and social events. Once recruits attend an event, she believes they will realize the numerous personal and professional benefits of joining the program. These benefits include community involvement, networking, and finding others whose passion drives them to use their talent to make a difference in the community.
 

Grants Committee Co-chairs
 

Katie Reid

Katie Reid is a Charlottesville native and graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut.  She works on the development team at a local nonprofit and plays a pivotal role in grant writing, strategy, and managing 'the numbers'.  Katie has volunteered with a number of nonprofits in Charlottesville and helped found the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.  Over the last year, she has served on the Future Fund Steering Committee, as Grants Committee Co-Chair, and recently completed CNE's Board Development Academy. Katie is extremely excited about her leadership role for Year Three and can’t wait to get the ball rolling.

Matt Martin

Matt Martin, a social studies teacher and resident of Charlottesville, was blown away by the thoughtfulness and engagement that he witnessed last year as a Grants Committee member.  His experience on Grants showed him just how much talent the Future Fund contains, and how energizing the work of the committee can be. For Year Three, Matt envisions the role of the Grants Committee chairs as facilitators who will help to elicit the full knowledge and experience of the members in creating the best possible slates, and who will keep the committee an engaged and empowering experience for all those who serve. Matt believes that the key challenge is striking a balance—keeping the meetings as open and democratic as possible without using up too much time and energy on process. Matt is excited about working with Katie to proactively plan structures for meetings, gain consensus about our decision-making processes early on, and maximizing the time for members to learn about and debate the proposals themselves.

Resource and Development Committee Co-Chairs

Lori Cwalina

Lori Cwalina grew up in Charlottesville and has lived in the area on and off for the last three decades. She describes Charlottesville to people as a little slice of heaven. After spending 14 years in educational fundraising, Lori attended pastry school in Paris and discovered life's true calling. In 2010, she started Go Girl Goodies, a small boutique baking venture that specializes in creating classic treats with a modern twist. Lori is a firm believer in investing time, talent and treasure in those activities that can make our community stronger. She serves on the ASG (AIDS/HIV Services Group) Board and teaches for the PB&J Fund-sponsored Cooking Club program at the Boys and Girls Club. In Year Two of the Future Fund, Lori served on the Steering Committee and co-chaired the Resource and Development Committee.  With her leadership, the Resource and Development Committee was able to meet the CACF Governing Board matching grant, allowing the Future Fund to increase their Year Two grant and establish an operating fund.  

Marcela Foshay 

Marcela is a born coordinator, organizer and manager. She is a third year Future Fund member and has served on the Grants Committee and on the Resource and Development Committee since their respective establishments. She believes that Year Three is a great year to start developing a strong future of the Future Fund and thus she would like to share her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm with the membership as a co-chair. Marcela has 3 years of marketing experience in the private sector and 10 years of working for the United Nations. While at the U.N., Marcela worked in program management as well as administrative management.  Marcela’s U.N. postings included the national level (Slovakia), regional level (Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union Countries) and HQ level in New York. Marcela’s U.N. project focus included working on the Human Development Agenda, Gender Development Agenda and serving as liaison officer for Economic and Social Development projects in Cyprus. While in her native Slovakia, Marcela was involved with local nonprofits helping victims of domestic violence. Marcela moved to Charlottesville from New York City three years ago to follow her husband and take care of her growing young family. Marcela has Masters of Social Work from Comenius University in Slovakia. She fluently speaks 4 languages and easily understands several others. Currently, she is enrolled in the Board Development Academy at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence in Charlottesville.

Committee meetings will be announced in the coming weeks. Check your inbox for dates and details.