Saida is a longtime cultural organizer, activist, and seasoned nonprofit leader. She has guided statewide advocacy efforts promoting the rights of LGBTQ youth in foster care, education, and juvenile justice, winning critical new protections, and directed national art actions uplifting the visibility of Black girls, women, and LGBTQ communities. Founder of the Rooted Collective, a gathering of Black LGBTQ healing justice activists in Baltimore, Saida is dedicated to building radical healing spaces that move us towards freedom.

She comes to Funders from YWCA USA, where she served as Vice President of Member Services, directing a department responsible for stewarding a national network of over two hundred local associations serving 2.3 million women and girls annually. Prior to YWCA USA, Saida was Chief Operating Officer for FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, an artist collective dedicated to ending rape culture. During Saida’s tenure, she guided critical coalition building efforts to ensure the success of key organizational projects, most notably, the display of the Monument Quilt on the National Mall, a collection of over three thousand quilt squares crowdsourced from survivors over several years.

In November 2017, Saida was named a Movement Maker by the Move to End Violence, a program of the NoVo Foundation. A graduate Cave Canem Fellow, she has received honors for her art and activism from the Baltimore Sun, R.W. Deutsch Foundation, Leeway Foundation, and the Blue Mountain Center. She holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.

Erika’s background is in sex work issues and HIV activism. In the early 90s, Erika was a volunteer in an HIV hospice in Southern Mexico; at a time with limited treatment, her role as a caretaker involved providing comfort and dignified death for the clients. Diagnosed in 1995, she became more active in the HIV response and joined the demand for treatment and eradication of stigma and discrimination which was rampant in healthcare settings. In 2010, she founded the first network of people living with HIV in Belize and co-founded the Belize national trans organization. Since then, Erika has contributed to and been active on regional networks: REDCA+, REDLA+, CRN+, and REDLACTRANS and became the vice chair of GNP+ in 2015. In 2015 she also joined the UNAIDS PCB as the LAC delegate and, in 2017, became the first openly trans person to be elected as a member of the Board of the Global Fund as a board member for the Communities Delegation.

At GATE she works on trans, gender-diverse, and intersex (TGDI) issues with a dynamic team on the 3 programmatic pillars of GATE: Health, Human Rights, and Movement Building. GATE works closely with regional and national TGDI organizations on issues of social justice, inequalities, decriminalization, depathologization, and access to health care among other pressing issues that the TGDI communities face globally. As the Executive Director, Erika oversees all areas of GATE’s work and works closely with the Director of Finance and Operations on fundraising and increasing resources for GATE and for TGDI communities globally.

Erika is fluent in English and Spanish and currently learning Dutch. She lives in the Netherlands with her husband, their two children, and their two dogs.

Shelby Chestnut (they/he) is the executive director of Transgender Law Center, the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world where all people can define themselves and their futures. They have over 20 years of community organizing, policy advocacy, and leadership experience in the LGBTQ and anti-violence movements. Having previously served for five years as TLC’s Director of Policy and Programs, they spearheaded leadership development and social change within and for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities throughout their career. Chestnut has served on steering committees and coalitions working on the passage and implementation of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and landmark New York City police reform legislation, the Right to Know Act (RTKA). Chestnut is the first Native trans executive director of TLC and one of the first Native trans leaders to head a national LGBT organization.

Masen Davis (He/Him) is a seasoned social justice leader and nonprofit executive who has spent more than twenty years advancing human rights and healthcare for vulnerable populations. Before joining FCAA, Masen most recently served as interim executive director of Transgender Europe, a membership-based network and a voice for the trans community, representing 183 organizations across 47 countries in Europe and Central Asia. His previous work includes serving as CEO of Freedom for All Americans, a bipartisan campaign to secure full nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in the United States; Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center, which grew to become the largest trans NGO under his leadership; and interim Executive Director of Global Action for Trans Equality, where he helped launch the International Trans Fund. He has also worked within philanthropy, including serving as Senior Director of Special Projects at the Gill Foundation and Community Investment Officer at United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

Masen serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Council of Global Equality. His writings have been published in various books and journals, including Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression in Social Work Practice, New Directors in Student Services, and the Seattle Journal for Social Justice. Masen received his Masters of Social Welfare from UCLA, and Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University. On a day off, he can often be found exploring Berlin with his scrappy terrier, Rex.

Narinder has been recognized as Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader. Her work spans across sectors and silos, bringing depth and rigour to drive social impact in North America and the Global South. She is the President of the Sonor Foundation and Founder of New Power Lab. Narinder has built, designed and scaled social ventures across the globe. In partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) she designed and led a venture philanthropy fund, LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact, and alongside Sandra and Joseph Rotman at the University of Toronto, she was the founding Executive Director and architect of Rise, a microfund for entrepreneurs with mental health and addiction challenges, where she was awarded UofT’s Excellence Through Innovation Award. Further, she built a boutique gender-lens and social equity lens impact investing fund, Marigold Capital. In the Global South, she worked in microfinance across Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali with La Première Agence de Microfinance (PAMF) and in impact investing in Ghana & Nigeria with Acumen. She is a lecturer at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. Narinder serves on multiple boards including the Community Foundations of Canada and Venture for Canada and is an investor and advisor in a number of social ventures and impact initiatives.

Matthew (Matty) 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 philanthropic and development coordination of global LGBTI work. Founder and Principal 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, a US-based social enterprise.

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 Mediterranean Women’s Fund, 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 helped found the Susan Treadwell Memorial Fund and Fellowships at Ariadne. Hart received degrees in Urban Studies and Cultural Anthropology from Temple University.