Jen Bokoff is the director of knowledge services at Foundation Center. She develops partnerships and projects that build knowledge and strategy in the social sector, with an eye specifically on grantmakers. In other words, she goes to sleep thinking about how brilliant curation of qualitative and quantitative data can drive smarter decisions in philanthropy. She also runs GrantCraft, a free service that taps the practical wisdom of funders to improve the collective knowledge of the philanthropy field. In her role, Jen regularly speaks at conferences and facilitates workshops with funders, and connects people to resources, ideas, and one another. A graduate of Tufts University, Jen studied community health and sociology and spent two years involved in the Learning by Giving philanthropy program. She serves on the Alumni Council as the chair of the development committee and also serves on an advisory committee for The Moth’s education programs. In her spare time, she is an amateur comedic improviser, avid Brooklyn nerd, and second base woman on Foundation Center’s winning-in-spirit softball team. Jen is a firm believer that social innovation and change happen only when passionate people across different industries collaborate; being a strong connector enables this growth in local communities and throughout the world.

Contributions

We Can’t Force Philanthropy to Talk About Power Dynamics, Can We?

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Jen Bokoff

As a sector, we embrace and use power every day, but we don’t talk about it. Why? Well, for one thing, the dynamics are challenging to discuss; power itself can never be eliminated. With increased awareness of power, however, conversations, relationships, and strategies can shift in surprising ways. Since power can be a touchy subject, I wanted to try to… Read More

Philanthropy Lessons: The Power Dynamic

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Jen Bokoff

This video from Exponent Philanthropy's 9-part Philanthropy Lessons series explores the dynamics of grantor/grantee relationship, and provides practical actions that family foundation staff can take to lessen the power differential between your foundation and your grantees… Read More