HEFN is delighted to welcome two new Steering Committee members whose service begins this month — Leslie Hatfield, GRACE Communications Foundation, and Anuja Mendiratta, Philanthropic + Nonprofit Consulting.

Leslie is the senior partnership and outreach advisor at GRACE Communications Foundation, where she advises internally and collaborates with like-minded funders and non-governmental organizations on strategies, movement building, grantmaking and meeting planning. In addition to serving on the HEFN Steering Committee, she is a board member of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (SAFSF) and the Plastic Solutions Fund, and previously served as a steering committee member of the Food and Farm Communications Fund.

”I attended my first HEFN meeting in 2017 and immediately felt at home among the membership and staff, and was energized by the level of trust and learning,” Leslie says. “HEFN has created such a welcoming and trusting space for funders, nonprofit leaders and government officials to dig in on tough issues together for a healthier and more just future.” Read more about Leslie.

The Founder of Philanthropic + Nonprofit Consulting, Anuja works with foundations, donors, affinity groups and nonprofits on a range of critical environmental, gender, racial, social justice, and cross-movement intersectional issues.

For the past 13 years, Anuja has served as Senior Philanthropic Advisor to the Race, Gender and Human Rights Fund, which supports efforts that challenge the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. She also consults on an array of projects in California and nationally.  She is a member of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and the Green Leadership Trust, and has been on the program committees of Northern California Grantmakers and the Environmental Grantmakers Association.

Anuja says she sees the HEFN community making a difference “by centering the disproportionate impacts of toxins and environmental harm on frontline communities, and strategically partnering with, lifting up and backing the vision, work and leadership of Black, Indigenous and communities of color, who at the forefront of our key movements for change.” Read more about Anuja.

HEFN is grateful to have you on board and deeply appreciates the leadership of all its Steering Committee members!