Natalie Ross

Natalie Ross is the Council’s Vice President for External Relations. Natalie’s team designs and implements programs that engage Council members, including communities of practice and thought leadership for community foundations, corporate grantmakers, and private foundations. Natalie also manages the Council’s membership department and personally leads the Council’s international program, which works to enable cross-border grantmaking globally and establishes key partnerships with global philanthropy networks. In 2018, Natalie and her team convened more than 1100 foundation leaders at events held throughout the United States.

Natalie regularly speaks for the Council at events and in the press about trends in philanthropy, especially regarding global issues and international grantmaking. She has published articles and opinion pieces in the Guardian, Huffington Post, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Alliance Magazine, and others. Prior to joining the Council, Natalie worked at the Aga Khan Foundation USA, where she mobilized and managed a $30M portfolio of global civil society programs and launched the Global Alliance for Community Philanthropy. Natalie received her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College and has lived and worked abroad throughout her career, including as a primary school teacher in Kampala, Uganda and as a Fulbright fellow in South Africa. Natalie is a life-long dancer who loves to travel and comes from a matriarchy of Midwestern bakers.