Chris Cardona

Chris Cardona, RHI Board President, Program Officer, Philanthropy, The Ford Foundation, has dedicated his career to making philanthropy more accessible to communities. Currently, he works at the Ford Foundation, programming the Philanthropy portfolio, which seeks to increase uptake of open and inclusive practices among U.S. foundations and to engage more individual and institutional donors with social justice. Before joining Ford in 2015, Chris led philanthropic services for TCC Group, specializing in strategy, capacity building, and evaluation for the social sector. Previously, Chris worked at Hispanics in Philanthropy, where he last served as program director for the Northeast, managing seven grant making sites, and developing and implementing fundraising strategies. Earlier, while pursuing doctoral studies, he co-managed the execution in Santiago, Chile of a multi-country survey project, investigating the impact of changes in the world of work on citizen participation.

Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Williams College, and a masters and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. An active speaker and writer on philanthropy, he blogs at www.cardonac.net and can be found on Twitter @chriscardona. Chris is married to his college sweetheart, Catherine Sumner, an arts fundraiser, and they live on the Upper West Side, where they try to keep Chris stringed-instrument collection to less than home-engulfing proportions.