Leadership

Staff & Consultants

Matthew Hart

Director

Marina Gonzalez Flores

Senior Officer for Program, Events, and Member Engagement

Mauro Cabral Grinspan

Senior Officer for Gender Justice & Equity

Matthew Hart

Matthew “Matty” Hart joined as Director of the Global Philanthropy Project in 2015, leading the efforts of an organization internationally recognized as the primary thought leader and go-to partner for donor coordination around global LGBTI work.

Founder and Principle of the Paris-based Lafayette Practice, Hart has previously served as Senior Strategist for Europe for Funders Concerned about AIDS, and National Director for Public Engagement at Solutions for Progress.

Hart also serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Calamus Foundation (DE), and has previously served as a member of The Civil Marriage Collaborative, a board member of Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Philadelphia’s Sustainable Business Network, and The Leeway Foundation; and the community funding board of Bread & Roses Fund. A Jonathan Lax Academic Fellow, Hart received degrees in Urban Studies and Cultural Anthropology from Temple University.

Marina Gonzalez Flores

Marina Gonzalez Flores serves as Program Officer for Member Engagement and Operations at the Global Philanthropy Project. Previously, Marina worked at Citizens Committee for New York City supporting organizers and grassroots neighborhood improvement projects through resources and micro grants. Marina graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies and from Columbia University with a master’s degree in Human Rights Studies. Marina is not only committed to supporting funders in reaching marginalized LGBTI communities but is also committed to localizing rights at home in the U.S. and Mexico. Marina continues to organize locally as a doula, in her community garden, and a feminist collective.

Mauro Cabral Grinspan

Mauro Cabral Grinspan is the Program Officer for Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force and the Responding to Anti-Gender Ideology Task Force.

Cabral Grinspan has more than 20 years of experience in the field of trans and intersex advocacy; he co-founded GATE in 2009 and served as its Executive Director for five years. He is also a member of different Boards, including the International Advisory Board of the LGTBI Program at Human Rights Watch, the Editorial Board of Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, and the Advisory Board of the project “Intersex – New Disciplinary Approaches (INIA)”.

Cabral Grinspan participated in the elaboration of the Yogyakarta Principles and the Yogyakarta Principles+10, being a signatory of both documents. He holds a Degree in History by the Universidad Nacional of Cordoba (Argentina), and had continued postgraduate studies in the fields of philosophy and public policy.

Ezra Berkley Nepon

Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning

Ezra Berkley Nepon

Ezra Berkley Nepon is the Senior Program Officer for Knowledge and Learning at Global Philanthropy Project. Based in Philadelphia, Nepon joined GPP in 2015.

Nepon’s experience in philanthropy goes back to co-founding a small public fund in 1998, The Self-Education Foundation, which made small grants to groups using self-education as a liberatory tool. Previous development work includes serving as Director of Grassroots Fundraising for Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and Development Coordinator for the William Way LGBT Community Center. More recently, Nepon worked as partner in The Lafayette Practice, co-authoring reports including “Who Decides: How Participatory Grantmaking Benefits Donors, Communities and Movements.”

Nepon received an M.A. Degree from Goddard College with a concentration in Transformative Language Arts, and was a 2014 recipient of the Leeway Foundation Transformation Award. They are the author of two books – most recently, Dazzle Camouflage: Spectacular Theatrical Strategies for Resistance and Resilience. In 2019, Nepon joined the board of the Leeway Foundation.

Jay Postic

Research Consultant,
Global Resources Report

Jay Postic

Jay Postic is the Global Resources Report Research Consultant based in Zagreb, Croatia. For the past twenty years Jay has been involved in queer feminist organizing, education, research and advocacy related to sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, and rights of LBGTIQ persons in Croatia and internationally. He held coordination and strategic leadership roles in non-government organizations and coordinated activities and projects including organizing international conference on transgressing gender, Pride March in Zagreb, and research on discrimination and violence against LGBTIQ persons in Croatia. As a financial manager and fundraising officer in Zagreb Pride, he successfully navigated the philanthropic world in order to ensure the organization’s sustainability and he remains devoted to bringing more resources to the global movement. Jay holds a BA in Psychology and Women’s Studies from the University of Reno, Nevada, and a MA in Sociology from the San Diego State University.

Dave Scamell

Senior Consulting Advisor,
Government Relations and Field Engagement

Dave Scamell

Dave Scamell has more than 15 years’ experience in human rights and public health advocacy, policy, programming and grantmaking, having worked with civil society organizations to advance the rights of marginalized communities in 27 countries across the world. He has held management and strategic leadership roles in leading non-government organizations, private foundations and global networks in New York and Sydney, with strong experience and a passion for working with multiple stakeholders – advocates, service providers, funders, policymakers, thought-leaders – to achieve impactful social change.

Most recently, Dave was the Director of International Advocacy at American Jewish World Service (AJWS), where he established the organization’s International Advocacy department and oversaw advocacy to influence international policy institutions, including the U.N., and international funding organizations. Prior to joining AJWS, he worked at the Open Society Foundations, leading the foundations’ work on the legal and health rights of trans people and sex workers. At both AJWS and OSF, Dave spearheaded funder advocacy that has catalyzed resources for the global trans and intersex movements.

Celeste Smith

Operations Manager

Celeste Smith

Celeste Smith serves as Operations Manager at the Global Philanthropy Project. Previously, Celeste worked at Minority Corporate Counsel Association supporting executives through project management and administrative duties. Celeste also comes with four years of experience working at a Medicaid Managed Care Organization driving innovative health solutions through data analysis. Celeste graduated from Butler University with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry with coursework concentrations in Political Science and Environmental Science. Celeste is dedicated to racial, social, and gender equity and uses her passion to organize locally within the Washington, D.C. mutual aid space.

Executive Committee Members

Co-Chairs

Mukami Marete

GPP Executive Committee Co-Chair
UHAI EASHRI, Co-Executive Director

MUKAMI MARETE

Mukami is an African queer feminist woman with a commitment to human rights and social justice for all people. She is currently the Co-Executive Director at UHAI – The East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative (UHAI EASHRI). UHAI EASHRI is Africa’s first indigenous activist fund for sex workers and sexual and gender minorities. We support civil society organising for and by sex workers and sexual and gender minorities with flexible and accessible grants; capacity support; support for Pan-African organising and advocacy, including support for activist-determined convening and knowledge building and documentation.

Before joining UHAI, she had worked with Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) in the finance and administration department and was actively involved in the sexual and reproductive health rights program and in particular right to safe abortions and rights of LGBTI people.

Mukami is a mother of two and believes that love makes a family. She wants to be able to bring up her African children to be resilient in a patriarchal, racist, imperialist and sexist world that she finds herself in.

David Sampson

GPP Executive Committee Co-Chair
The Baring Foundation, Deputy Director

DAVID SAMPSON

David joined the Baring Foundation as Deputy Director in 2014. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice, training and working at the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. Since then, he has worked on public interest litigation and human rights at the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco and as Global Pro Bono Advisor at the law firm Linklaters LLP. David is a trustee of GALOP, London’s LGBT anti-violence & abuse charity.

Francisco O. Buchting

Horizons Foundation, Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications

FRANCISCO O. BUCHTING

As the Vice President of Grants, Programs, and Communications at Horizons Foundation, Francisco oversees all of the foundation’s grantmaking, programmatic strategies, and communication activities. His 25 plus years of experience in government, philanthropy, academia, nonprofit organizations, and community activism have blended scientific expertise, commonsense public health experience, research, organizational re-engineering, and grantmaking.

Francisco’s career includes bilingual clinical practice in behavioral medicine with a special focus on chronic diseases. He has co-authored a bimonthly newspaper column on health, written numerous research articles, and produced research reports. He has also served on numerous community-based organization boards and museum advisories.

Francisco holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in clinical psychology from Boston University, along with B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in philosophy from the University of California, Davis.

Rebecca Fox

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Vice President of Programs

REBECCA FOX

Rebecca Fox is Astraea’s VP, Programs and has been a long-time supporter of Astraea and grassroots, feminist LBTQI movements. In her previous role, Rebecca was the Senior Program Officer on the SOGIE team at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. In that position, she coordinated grantmaking on a variety of issues related to increasing the rights of and improving the lived experiences of LGBTI people. Formerly, she was Executive Director of the National Coalition for LGBT Health and an adjunct professor of human sexuality at George Washington University. Rebecca currently serves on the Steering Committee on the International Trans Fund and was previously board chair at Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Rebecca’s other board membership experiences include those of Choice USA, Generations Ahead, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner, Meghan, and her not quite feral cat, Birdie Noodle. She is a women’s record holder for powerlifting in New York State.

Alli Jernow

Arcus Foundation, Social Justice Program Vice President

ALLI JERNOW

Alli Jernow is the Social Justice Program Vice President for Arcus Foundation. Previously she was the Program Director of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Program at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a US-based private foundation. The SOGIE Program supports LGBTQI activism and strong LGBTQI movements within the US and around the world. Prior to joining philanthropy, Alli ran the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Program at the International Commission of Jurists. There she authored the first-ever casebook on sexual orientation and gender identity comparative law. She also participated as amicus curiae or expert witness in national and international cases concerning LGBTQ rights, including the landmark case of Atala v. Chile before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. She has also worked as a civil rights prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice and has worked for NGOs and international organizations in Europe and Africa. She is a graduate of Harvard College, New York University School of Law, and Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

GPP Working Group and Task Force Chairs

Government & Multilaterals
Task Force Co-Chairs

Responding to “Anti-Gender”
Task Force Co-Chairs

Caroline Kouassiaman
Co-Chair, Government/Multilaterals Task Force

Caroline Kouassiaman

Caroline Kouassiaman is the Executive Director for Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest. Caroline has 15+ years of diverse professional experiences in philanthropy, human rights activism, social justice and education to ISDAO. Previously Caroline was Senior Program Officer at the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), managing the sexual health and rights grants portfolio in West and East Africa. While at AJWS, Caroline was involved with ISDAO throughout the first four years of its journey, where she contributed to resource mobilization, communications and outreach to other funders and activists, and developing ISDAO’s programs, initially as a member of the Brain Trust and later of the Interim Governing Body. Prior to joining AJWS, Caroline was the Program Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Global Fund for Women, where she coordinated grantmaking to over 100 women’s rights organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa annually, from 2011-2014. She serves as an advisor to the Queer African Youth Network.

Caroline is a queer Pan-African feminist of Ivorian and African-American heritage, and has lived in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Uganda. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Diplomacy & World Affairs from Occidental College, a Master of Public Administration degree and a master’s in international relations from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University (US). Caroline works for a world where LGBTQI persons – in their full and beautiful diversity – have the opportunity, autonomy and resources to live full, healthy and violence-free lives on their own terms.

Justus Eisfeld
Co-Chair, Government/Multilaterals Task Force

Justus Eisfeld

Justus Eisfeld is the strategy and impact lead for Hivos’ flagship program on LGBTIQ+ economic development. Before joining Hivos in 2019, he worked as a consultant at the corner of philanthropy, LGBTI rights and international development, including on the UN Development Programme’s LGBTI Inclusion Index, a scoping study on impact investing in LGBTI communities and co-authoring ‘Transformative Philanthropy’ with Ise Bosch and Claudia Bollwinkel. A trans man himself, he co-founded GATE, Transgender Europe and the Dutch Transgender Network. He holds an M.A. in political science/gender studies from the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Berlin and is currently pursuing an MBA from Central European University.

Medina Haeri
Co-Chair, RAGI Task Force

Medina Haeri

Medina Haeri is a programme officer with the Oak Foundation’s Issues Affecting Women Programme. In that role, Medina connects feminist and women’s organisations and movements around the world with resources to strengthen their work and help advance their agendas. Medina leads the anti-trafficking and exploitation portfolio and supports global movement building work. Prior to working for Oak Foundation, Medina worked in the Women and War unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), ensuring that the organisation’s interventions better reflected the needs, vulnerabilities and capacities of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings. She has also worked with the International Rescue Committee supporting refugee resettlement in Thailand and with indigenous women’s collectives building economic development projects in Guatemala. Medina was born in Iran and immigrated to the US at a young age – following the path of many migrants in search of a brighter future. She immigrated again as a young adult to Switzerland to build a family and purse her professional ambitions. Medina holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Prachi Patankar
Co-Chair, RAGI Task Force

Prachi Patankar

Prachi Patankar is the Program Officer, South and Southeast Asia, at Foundation for a Just Society. Born and raised in rural India, Prachi was raised by a freedom-fighter grandmother and parents deeply involved in anti-caste, feminist, and peasant movements. Over two decades in New York City, she has been an activist, educator, grantmaker, and writer involved in social movements which link the local and the global, police brutality and war, migration and militarization, race and caste, women of color feminism and global gender justice. Prachi most recently served as the Program Director for social justice at the J.M. Kaplan Fund, leading grantmaking for criminal justice reform, immigrant rights, and locally led work in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Prior to that, Prachi was the Senior Program Officer at Brooklyn Community Foundation, where she helped create and implement grant programs through a racial justice lens. Prachi currently serves on the Board of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities and on the Advisory Board for Grantmakers for Girls of Color. Throughout the last two decades, she has been involved in organizing to link social justice movements between the United States and Asia. Prachi believes in the vital power of intersectional and international visions and strategies, which resonate across Dalit rights and Black lives, migrant justice and gender justice, to build bottom-up change from the local to the global.

Individual Donors Working Group
Co-Chairs

Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force Co-Chairs

Adrian Coman

Co-Chair, Individual Donors Working Group

ADRIAN COMAN

Adrian Coman has worked for over 20 years in human rights advocacy, philanthropy, education, and politics. Since 2013, he coordinates the International Human Rights Program at the Arcus Foundation in New York. Adrian was the first executive director of ACCEPT, the national LGBT organization in Romania, which contributed to the repeal of the anti-gay criminal law and the adoption of antidiscrimination provisions in Romania, served as program director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (now OutRight International), and worked for a Member of the European Parliament on human rights protection and anti-corruption. Adrian holds degrees in chemistry and human rights, and is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Romanian.

Ise Bosch

Co-Chair, Individual Donor Working Group

ISE BOSCH

Ise Bosch, founder and CEO, has 15 years of funding experience in human rights, women and sexual minorities. Her book Transformative Philanthropy – Giving with Trust was published in 2018, including topics such as “Social Investments”.

Viviane Simakawa

Co-Chair, Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force

VIVIANE SIMAKAWA

Viviane works as Program Officer at the International Trans Fund. She is a transfeminist activist, researcher and economist based in Brazil, and is currently studying issues related to gender identities and expressions as a Ph.D. candidate in Women, Gender and Feminist Studies at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).

Félix Endara

Co-Chair, Trans and Intersex Funding Task Force

FELIX ENDARA

Felix is the Senior Program Associate for the Mesoamerica Program at Foundation for A Just Society. Born in Ecuador, Felix has worked in arts administration and philanthropic organizations that support multidisciplinary artists, including the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, North Star Fund, and Open Society Foundations. He is a queer trans filmmaker who documents the preservation of LGBT historical spaces, champions activists who catalyze social change, and disrupts the insidious narratives that deny the humanity of marginalized communities. Felix recently joined the Board of Working Films to support work to bring together documentary filmmakers and grassroots activists to advance social justice. He previously worked with Detroit Narrative Agency, Tribeca Institute, and the New Orleans Film Festival.

Leadership

Staff & Consultants

Matthew Hart

Marina Gonzalez Flores

Mauro Cabral Grinspan

Ezra Berkley Nepon

Jay Postic

Dave Scamell

Celeste Smith

Executive Committee Members

Co-Chairs

MUKAMI MARETE

DAVID SAMPSON

FRANCISCO O. BUCHTING

REBECCA FOX

ALLI JERNOW

GPP Working Group and Task Force Chairs

Government & Multilaterals Task Force Co-Chairs

Responding to “Anti-Gender” Task Force Co-Chairs

Caroline Kouassiaman

Justus Eisfeld

Medina Haeri

Prachi Patankar

Individual Donors Working Group Co-Chairs

Trans & Intersex Funding Task Force Co-Chairs

ADRIAN COMAN

ISE BOSCH

VIVIANE SIMAKAWA

FELIX ENDARA

Government & Multilaterals
Task Force Co-Chairs

Responding to “Anti-Gender”
Task Force Co-Chairs

Individual Donors Working Group
Co-Chairs