Tips for Grant Seekers (Not-for-Profit Conference)

Ana Lisa Yoder is an independent consultant who supports leaders seeking to implement effective practices at the board, executive, and staff levels.  Drawing on 23 years of experience as a nonprofit and foundation leader, her work includes developing innovative collaborative initiatives in foundation and nonprofit settings, speaking locally and nationally about effective grantmaking practices, and facilitating group planning processes.  She currently leads a statewide effort to expand grantmakers’ understanding of the needs and contributions of immigrant communities across Pennsylvania.  Ana Lisa sits on the 2016 National Conference Planning Committee for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and is the in-coming board chair of the Homeless Assistance Fund, Inc. 

Through 2015 Ana Lisa was director of grantmaking and special projects for The Philadelphia Foundation, where she oversaw the annual distribution of the foundation’s $5 million in discretionary funds. In this role she supported capacity building efforts for more than 250 nonprofits, staying current with best thinking in the field about nonprofit management and assisting board chairs and executive directors to put these into practice. Ana Lisa also led the foundation’s special initiatives, most recently spearheading an effort to create the Nonprofit Repositioning Fund, a multi-funder initiative to encourage and support formal, long-term collaborations in Greater Philadelphia’s nonprofit sector.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2009, Ana Lisa directed the first program in the state of Pennsylvania to work with Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic abuse and spent many years in the fields of child welfare, sexual assault, and mental health.  Ana Lisa holds a master of social service from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.  She is fluent in Spanish and lives in West Philadelphia with her husband and 7-year old son. 

Ana Lisa Yoder, MSS, LSW is an independent consultant who supports leaders seeking to implement effective practices at the board, executive, and staff levels.  Drawing on 23 years of experience as a nonprofit and foundation leader, her work includes developing innovative collaborative initiatives in foundation and nonprofit settings, speaking locally and nationally about effective grantmaking practices, and facilitating group planning processes.   She currently leads a statewide effort to expand grantmakers’ understanding of the needs and contributions of immigrant communities across Pennsylvania.  

Through 2015 Ana Lisa was director of grantmaking and special projects for The Philadelphia Foundation, where she oversaw the annual distribution of $5 million in discretionary funds.  While there she spearheaded a regional initiative to create the Nonprofit Repositioning Fund, a multi-funder initiative to encourage and support formal, long-term collaborations in Greater Philadelphia’s nonprofit sector.  Ana Lisa currently sits on the 2016 National Conference Planning Committee for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and is the in-coming board chair of the Homeless Assistance Fund, Inc.