WASHINGTON, DC / AGILITYPR.NEWS / September 25, 2020 / Washington, D.C. (9/24/2020) — The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) Board of Directors announced yesterday the election of three new members, expanding total number of philanthropic leaders serving the organization’s steering body from 15 to 18.

Crystal Hayling, Executive Director at the Libra Foundation; Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali, Executive Director of the Solidaire Network and Dáaiyah Bilal-Threats, Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives at the National Education Association, will begin their three-year term starting October 1st.

“We are so excited to welcome Crystal, Vini and Dáaiyah as collaborative partners to our board family,” said the Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation and chair of NCRP’s board. “We look forward to leaning on their insights and their creative leadership as we all look to making this world not just better, but also more equitable.”

Current Board Members Kate Villers, Sharon Alpert, Jocelyn Sargent, Joe Scantlebury and Pamela Shifman were also elected to new three-year terms. Sargeant currently serves on the organization’s Executive Committee as an At-Large Representative. 

“We’re really blessed to continue to have a diverse board of influential philanthropic leaders that mirror the strengths of our communities and the organization’s commitment to helping foundations and nonprofits fully realize their missions and potential,” said Aaron Dorfman, NCRP president and CEO.

In addition to expanding the number of serving members from 15 to 18, NCRP also announced additional entry-level positions in Marketing, Membership and Communications. Job listings will be posted soon on NCRP’s website.

“Our communities are asking all parts of philanthropy to renew and deepen their commitments to addressing systematic issues and obstacles that hold our nation back,” added Dorfman. “We see this week’s announcement as one of many ways we are enhancing our efforts to help foundations and non-profits build the equitable practices and the resources they need to do the important work of pushing us all forward. 

MORE ABOUT THE NEW MEMBERS

Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali

Executive Director

Solidaire Network 

Rajasvini Bhansali is a passionate advocate for participatory grassroots‐led social change and movement building. In a wide‐ranging career devoted to social and economic justice, Bhansali has led a national social enterprise, managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing digital divide issues and worked as a researcher, planner, policy analyst, management and strategy consultant. She has also worked alongside community leaders as a capacity builder for youth polytechnics in rural Kenya for over two years.

Bhansali has been involved in community organizing and volunteer board roles for the last two decades. She is currently active on the Board of Directors for Voice of Witness, an organization that works to illuminate human rights injustices through oral history projects; and the Rockwood Leadership Institute.

Inspired by the potential of social justice philanthropy to support movements and community-based organizations, Bhansali also serves on the steering committee for the Bay Area Justice Funders Network (BAJFN) and on the advisory board for the Agroecology Fund. She has spoken at various fora and universities and is also a published poet, essayist, storyteller and popular educator.

Born and raised in India, Bhansali has a Master's in Public Affairs (MPA) with a focus on technology and telecommunications policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor's degrees in Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley.

Daaiyah Bilal‐Threats

Special Assistant to the Executive Director and Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives,

National Education Association & NEA Foundation

Daaiyah Bilal‐Threats began her career in conservation and health advocacy with the World Wildlife Fund, American Red Cross, and NEA Health Information Network. She joined NEA in 2000 and enjoyed a long career in nonprofit management, labor and education policy. She also serves on the board of the NEA Foundation.

Bilal‐Threats holds a master’s degree in public policy from the American University and serves NEA as a cabinet‐level advisor on policy issues, as well as organizational strategy and priority initiatives. She also oversees NEA’s donor, philanthropic

and international relations work. In her prior NEA role, Bilal‐Threats was responsible for designing and overseeing NEA’s leadership development programming as well as directing NEA’s international relations division.

In this capacity, Bilal‐Threats has directed the work of 30 professional staff providing direct support to high‐level leaders in the areas of speechwriting; scheduling and advance; good governance; leadership; as well as policy development and implementation. She lives in Washington, DC.

Crystal Hayling

Executive Director

Libra Foundation

Crystal Hayling brings to the NCRP board a wealth of domestic and international experience across a broad spectrum of equity‐focused issues. Before joining the Libra Foundation, she lived in Singapore for six years, where she built bridges between civil society and emerging donors in Southeast Asia to address income inequality and climate change. She has also lived and worked in China and Mexico.

As managing director of the Aspen Institute’s Environmental Fellowship, Hayling designed a global leadership program focused on the food system’s impact on the environment. Feeding her interest in equitable health care, Hayling was CEO of the Blue Shield of California Foundation where she spearheaded work to achieve universal health coverage. She was also part of the founding team at The California Wellness Foundation, where she led a groundbreaking initiative to shift youth violence prevention from a criminal justice issue to a public health effort.

Hayling has served on the boards of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Northern California Grantmakers, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Grantmakers in Health and Community Change. She was also Governor Jerry Brown’s appointee on the California State Board of Food and Agriculture.

Born and raised in Florida, Crystal is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She and her husband live in the Bay Area with their two teenage sons.

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Complete List of NCRP’s Board of Directors

Executive Committee

·        Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson (Chair), Deaconess Foundation

·        Daniel Lee (Vice-Chair), Levi Strauss Foundation

·        Vivek Malhotra (Treasurer), Strategy and Organizational Development Consultant

·        Cristina Jiménez (Secretary), United We Dream Network

·        Jocelyn Sargent (At-Large)

Directors

·        Sharon Alpert, Nathan Cummings Foundation

·        Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali, Solidaire Foundation

·        Bill Dempsey, MoveOn.org

·        Crystal Hayling, Libra Foundation

·        Mary Lassen, Community Change

·        Ruth W. Messinger, American Jewish World Service

·        Donald M. Ragona, Native American Rights Fund

·        Michael E. Roberts, First Nations Development Institute

·        Joseph Scantlebury, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

·        Molly Schultz Hafid, TCC Group

·        Pamela Shifman, NoVo Foundation

·        Lateefah Simon, Akonadi Foundation

·        Daaiyah Bilal‐Threats, NEA

·        Katherine S. Villers, Community Catalyst