Aleda Gagarin

Aleda oversees Candid’s fundraising efforts. Her work includes oversight for Candid’s operating support grants and the GuideStar Partnership, as well as collaboration on programmatic grants with departments across the organization. Aleda oversees Candid’s development team located across NYC and Washington DC. She also coordinates Candid’s racial equity work through the Racial Equity in Philanthropy cohort, represents Candid externally, and thrives when building and strengthening relationships with partners.

Prior to joining Candid via Foundation Center in 2013, Aleda worked with North Star Planning and Evaluation Consultants as a researcher, helping on a program evaluation for the Ford Foundation’s Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime Initiative. In that role, she developed topic guides, conducted participant interviews, analyzed data, summarized findings, and created communication strategies to inform decision makers. Prior to this, Aleda served as a research assistant on multiple projects. She worked at Institutional Investor helping to manage memberships from 2005-2009, and got her start as a program assistant at the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, a national women’s volunteer nonprofit in D.C. in 2004.

She holds a B.A. in international studies from American University and a Master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College with a focus on community advocacy. Aleda views development as advocacy work, and is passionate about making connections, solving problems, advocating for resources, and shifting power structures. In her spare time, she is active in community and electoral organizing, and coaches a fourth-grade girls’ basketball team in Queens.