Feedback Champions

Supporting Feedback Champions in the United States

What is a Feedback Champion?

The goal is to identify a diverse set of emerging leaders in the feedback field in the U.S. and provide support as they become feedback champions in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

The Feedback Champions Fellowship supports US-based professionals who have experience in the nonprofit or philanthropic sector and have demonstrated commitment to listening and acting on feedback but are not yet established as known leaders in their field.

Meet our 2024 Feedback Champions

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Beth Campbell (she/her)
YMCA of Metro Atlanta

Beth Campbell (she/her)

YMCA of Metro Atlanta

As the Manager of Strategic Impact at the Atlanta Metro YMCA, Beth helps advance the Y’s Strategic Plan by creating, implementing, and reviewing the outcomes of feedback loops throughout the organization. In addition to loving living and working in Atlanta, Beth enjoys reading, eating good food, and spending time with my family.

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Dana James (she/her)
Community Centric Fundraising

Dana James (she/her)

Community Centric Fundraising

Dana James is the executive administrator for the Community-Centric Fundraising Global Council. Dana’s work as a speaker and information design specialist focuses on dismantling the traditions of white supremacy culture through meaningful gatherings and data-driven strategies.

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Deborah Tien (she/Anything said with love)
Common Agency

Deborah Tien (she/anything said with love)

Common Agency

Deborah Tien is the Founding Steward of Common Agency, setting up neighborhood networks leveraging digital tools to encourage more off-line connections across differences and local decision-making. Her work centers around how to ensure ‘feedback’ is not only consultative but allows people to jump into the driver’s seat and build collective efficacy.

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Garrett Blaize (he/him) or (they/them)
Appalachian Community Fund

Garrett Blaize (he/him/they/them)

Appalachian Community Fund

Garrett Blaize is a 24-year-old community organizer and administrator from the Appalachian Mountains. They serve as the Executive Director of the Appalachian Community Fund (ACF), a regional funding intermediary and movement support fund. As a representative of ACF, Garrett sits on the Steering Committee of the Appalachian Funders Network, where they also serve as Co-Chair. Ex officio, through his work with the Appalachian Community Fund, Garrett supports the leadership of the Waymakers Collective, an Assembly of radical arts grantmakers serving artists and culture-bearers across Appalachia. Intersecting and exceeding with his philanthropic work Garrett is a community organizer serving on the Coordinating Committee of the Alliance for Appalachia and as a leader of their local Alliance affiliate Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a community led organization dedicated to building deep democracy and accelerating just transition in the Appalachian Coalfields.

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John Ferguson (he/him)
Indiana Philanthropy Alliance

John Ferguson (he/him)

Indiana Philanthropy Alliance

In his role as Director of Member Programs, John develops, directs, and implements a comprehensive offering of IPA’s philanthropy education, networking, and collaboration programming, including a biennial conference, regional forums, peer communities, skill-building workshops and webinars, and cross-sector issue collaboratives. Prior to joining IPA, John was a Fellow at The Patterson Foundation (TPF) based in Sarasota, FL. His dynamic fellowship consisted of collaborating within and/or managing multiple special projects across several different initiatives to provide strategic value and further innovation. His primary roles included serving as manager of the Digital Access for All initiative, and intimate involvement with the creation of multiple offerings within TPF’s Nonprofit Thrivability initiative. Previously, he spent three years with Indiana United Ways in a variety of roles dedicated to supporting all local United Ways throughout Indiana. Prior to that, John was in hospitality for more than 18 years in a myriad of roles, including trainer and manager. He is passionate about helping people and organizations thrive. John received his degree in Philanthropic Studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the world’s first school dedicated solely to the study and teaching of philanthropy. He was named Chancellor’s Scholar for his graduating class and proudly served as chair of the Alumni Association board of directors for the school.

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José Larios (he/him)
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

José Larios (he/him/el)

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

José Larios is the Program Fellow for the Effective Philanthropy Group (EPG) at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In his work with the Effective Philanthropy Group, he supports efforts to strengthen the capacity of the foundation’s programs, initiatives, and grantee partners — and philanthropy, in general — to achieve their goals and benefit the common good. Through his fellowship, José supports the Group’s strategy refreshes, grantmaking, as well as its measurement, evaluation, and learning efforts.Prior to joining the foundation, José tracked state and federal-led economic and racial equity investments in the higher education space as a Public Policy Intern at the Lumina Foundation. Earlier in his career, he conducted research at Harvard on the interconnections of non-profit-led anti-poverty measures on community college campuses as a means to boost college success for working-class and low-income students.A Queens native, José holds a bachelor’s degree in social studies with a secondary in economics from Harvard University and a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Outside of work, José can be found in a history museum, a hiking trail, or a boxing gym.

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Juan Clavijo (he/him/el)
ORS Impact

Juan Clavijo (he/him/el)

ORS Impact

Juan is a Director at ORS Impact, an evaluation and strategy consulting firm based in Seattle, and has a decade of experience in research and evaluation in the social sector in the United States and various South American countries. Since joining ORS in 2018, Juan has partnered with foundations, funder collaboratives, government entities, and nonprofits to support learning and strategic decision making that informs and advances their work. Juan’s ability to match a partner’s learning needs with right sized and adaptive evaluation methods has allowed him to successfully serve as learning and evaluation partner to clients like the Fund for Shared Insight, Habitat for Humanity International, the Census Funder’s Collaborative, and the Leadership Conference. Keeping equity at the center of his work, Juan strives to ensure that research and evaluation efforts interrogate power structures and remain in service of creating a more just and equitable society.

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Michael Campbell (he/him)
Charity Navigator

Michael Campbell (he/him)

Charity Navigator

Michael cares deeply about uplifting voices for marginalized communities and contextualizing different experiences in the work that he does. At Charity Navigator, one of his goals is to help push nonprofits toward perceiving feedback as a method to developing trust with their constituencies. He has a background in STEM and Sociology and likes taking a critical lens on topics that span across multiple sectors, as he enjoys the nuances of intersectional projects.

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Sarah Moody (she/her)
Missouri Foundation for Health

Sarah Moody (she/her)

Missouri Foundation for Health

Sarah Moody joined Missouri Foundation for Health in 2012 as a Policy Officer working with health advocates in Missouri. In 2017 she began a pilot position as Program Officer – Community Liaison and moved back to a rural community in Missouri. Now Director of Community Relationships, she leads a team in deepening the Foundation’s knowledge of and relationship with rural communities in the 84 counties of the MFH service region. She has worked in non-profit her entire career, particularly in human services and healthcare, and is a native of southwest Missouri.

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Victoria Méndez (she/her)
GlobalGiving

Victoria Méndez (she/her)

GlobalGiving

Victoria Méndez is a Senior Associate at GlobalGiving, where she focuses on disaster response, community support, and grantmaking. She holds a master’s degree in disaster management and a bachelor’s in international relations from Florida International University, which informs her work. At GlobalGiving, Victoria actively monitors global disasters, provides resources, and builds connections with disaster-affected communities, advocating for community-led recovery. She is passionate about transcending the survival mindset and guiding communities towards embracing abundance, even amidst challenges. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and salsa dancing.

What does the Fellowship look like?

The Feedback Champions fellowship is a one-year fellowship to support individuals to:

  • Gain confidence and support in talking about feedback, its benefits to the sector, and how it supports their work
  • Receive training and mentorship in writing and public speaking
  • Become a part of a broader feedback community
  • Directly connect with speaking and writing opportunities.

 

Through a cohort model over the course of a year, Fellows will have access to the following benefits:

  • In-depth feedback training through Feedback Crash Course;
  • Six virtual cohort learning talks to dive into topics ranging from good feedback practice to public speaking;
  • Training intensives on professional skills, such as writing and public speaking;
  • Writing support, publication, and promotion of at least one blog piece focusing on the benefits of listening and feedback to their work;
  • Conference ticket and travel support to attend Feedback+Denver;
  • Professional one-on-one coaching from an experienced professional; 
  • Connections to the broader feedback community through a personal mentor and other Feedback Champions;
  • Guaranteed speaking opportunities at Feedback+Denver;
  • Guaranteed feature slot at a 2024 Feedback Labs LabStorm 
  • Access to Feedback Labs and its membership, including feedback tools, trainings/presentations/webinars, and writing opportunities

*Champions in the nonprofit sector will also receive a grant of $10,000 to their organization to cover their time to participate in Fellowship and to attend and speak about feedback at related sector events.

What are the expectations during the Fellowship?

The Feedback Champions Fellowship is a one-year partnership among the Feedback Champion, their organization, and Feedback Labs. The graphic below is intended to communicate the expectations to which each partner will commit during the Fellowship.

Feedback Champion Host Organization Feedback Labs
Attend and speak at the Feedback Summit in Denver, Colorado from May 15 – 17, 2024 Provide institutional support for participating Feedback Champion, including time to engage in all expected Feedback Champion activities Provide financial support for ticket and travel to Feedback Summit
Actively participate in one-on-one coaching from an experienced professional Time off “regular” work to participate in Fellowship activities (Feedback Summit, Crash Course, cohort meetings, etc) Provide training and coaching in writing and public speaking
Attend six virtual meetings with your cohort group and actively participate Permission to discuss the organization’s work, successes, and challenges in the Feedback Summit sessions, blog, and LabStorm Match Feedback Champions with a professional coach and provide support to the coaching relationship
Serve as a featured presenter in a 2024 Feedback Labs LabStorm *For nonprofits: complete MOU to receive a grant of $10,000 to cover Feedback Champion’s time to participate in Fellowship and to attend and speak about feedback at related sector events Provide a Feedback Crash Course training
Create a blog post about the work you’re doing to share with the feedback community Lead six virtual meetings to dive into topics on good feedback practices (i.e. cohort meetings)
Promote the work of the Feedback Champion and their Host Organization in our external communications, including our website, blog, and social media
Facilitate community and shared learning experiences among the cohort Fellows
With partners, provide writing support for the completion of the Feedback Champion blog
Host the LabStorms in which Feedback Champions and their Host Organization receive real-time support and solutions for solving a feedback challenge
Identify additional opportunities for Feedback Champions to publish their writings, conduct public speaking engagements, or otherwise promote their work and the work of the Host Organization

2023 Feedback Champions

The 2023 cohort of Feedback Champions was a stellar group of emerging leaders. Through the fellowship, Feedback Labs was able to help amplify their voices, help guide their future and learn from ourselves. Read the blog post here.

Ada Gomero, MacArthur Foundation

Anne Meysenburg, Omaha Community Foundation

Jaime Vazquez, Omidyar Network (ON)

Jeremy Page, The Bail Project

Jordan Reeves, VideoOut

Michelle Hughes, National Young Farmers Association

Natalie Garcia, Sustainable Seattle

Ronnie King, MyVillage Project

Rylan Truman, Catholic Charities of Louisville-
Kentucky Office for Refugees

Yon Jimenez-Macuso, REDF