CONTACT(S): Russell Roybal rroybal@ncrp.org
Elbert Garcia, egarcia@ncrp.org
Three Climate, Voting Rights, and Economic Social Justice Leaders
Join the Board of Directors of National Committee for
Responsive Philanthropy
Mayra Aguirre, Christine Cordero, and OJ Semans, Sr., bring their personal and professional experience
on movements and power building at a crucial time for the organization and philanthropy.
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) begins another fiscal year of challenging grantmakers to be more responsive to the communities they serve by welcoming three nonprofit and foundation leaders as members of its Board of Directors.
The 48-year-old DC-based philanthropic advocacy group announced this week that Mayra Aguirre (President of the Hall Family Foundation), Christine Cordero (Asian Pacific Environmental Network – APEN) and OJ Semans, Sr., (Four Directions Native Vote) had joined the board effective October 1.
“We are honored and excited to welcome these leaders into the work that we are doing at NCRP,” said Board Chair and Missouri Foundation for Health President and CEO Dr. Dwayne Proctor. “Their energy, expertise, and ideas are key to helping the Board sustainably continue the work of not just holding philanthropy accountable to communities they are built to serve, but also providing movement groups the economic resources and social capital that they need to address the urgent issues of our time, including climate change, reproductive access and racial justice.”
Dr. Proctor continues to serve as the head of an Executive Committee that includes Daayiah Bilal-Threats (National Education Association) as Vice Chair, Don Ragona (Native American Rights Fund) as Secretary, Molly Schultz Hafid (Butler Family Fund) as Treasurer, and Farhad Ibrahimi (Solidaire Network) as the At-Large member. Rounding out the rest of the Board are Jeanine Abrams McLean (Fair Count), Sharon Alpert (Bold Strategy Collective), Sarita Gupta (The Ford Foundation), Nana Gyamfi (Black Alliance for Just Immigration), Lorella Praeli (Community Change), Michael Roberts (First Nations Development Institute), (Jocelyn Sargent (American Medical Association for Health Equity), Joe Scantlebury (Living Cities), Pamela Shifman (Democracy Alliance) and Eric Ward (Race Forward)
A Critical Upcoming Year for the Organization and the Sector
As the Board welcomed Aguirre, Cordero and Semans, it also said goodbye to two longtime members who saw their time conclude because of term limits. Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, a former Board Chair and current President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund, leaves a legacy of steady action that saw him guide the Board through several internal and external moments, including implementing 2016’s strategic framework and responding to both COVID and the death of George Floyd.
“The Reverend Dr. Wilson led NCRP as board chair for 6 years with his principled leadership and commitment to making the philanthropic sector a more democratic place. Starsky’s impact on NCRP will continue well into its future, “ said Proctor.
Also stepping down after years of service is longtime economic and racial justice leader Bill Dempsey. Dempsey, who has worked as Chief Financial Officer at nonprofits like SEIU and funders like the Nathan Cummings Foundation, has spent a career helping to manage innovative social change organizations that empower low-income families and working-class communities.
“Bill Dempsey is a role model for how to work in partnership,” said NCRP Board Vice-Chair and Senior Director for Education Policy at the National Education Association Daaiyah Bilal-Threats. “His generosity of spirt, resources, and knowledge is one I will miss on the NCRP board, but I know he will still be a supportive force for our work and workers no matter where he is…because that’s who Bill is. ”
This upcoming fiscal year is an important one for philanthropy’s longtime watchdog and critical friend. Externally, progressive nonprofits continue to navigate an even more crowded and competitive fundraising environment that is seeing donor interests shrink from key issues and shift towards new ones. While the outsized influence of the ultra-wealthy has increased calls for greater federal reform and regulation of some of the sector’s longstanding financial behavior and structure, extreme right-wing led regressive philanthropic investments are curtailing fundamental civil and human rights protections that are key to realizing an inclusive democracy.
Internally, the organization is embarking on a visioning process that looks to produce NCRP’s next strategic framework. The most recent one, adopted in 2017, is set to expire just before the organization’s 50th anniversary in 2026.
“A future where we all benefit from an equitable and just multiracial democracy depends on having a constantly learning and improving philanthropic sector that builds, wields and shares power with local communities,” said NCRP President and CEO Aaron Dorfman. “That requires grantmakers who are transparent and accountable to their grantees and organizations like NCRP who are well-resourced to persuade and — when necessary – pressure friends to do the right thing.”
For a full list of the current NCRP Board of Directors,
visit the NCRP website at http://ncrp.org//our-team/#board.
ABOUT NCRP
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) has served as philanthropy’s critical friend and independent watchdog since 1976. We work with foundations, non-profits, social justice movements and other leaders to ensure that the sector is transparent with, and accountable to, those with the least wealth, power and opportunity in American society.
Our storytelling, advocacy, and research efforts, in partnership with grantees, help funders fulfill their moral and practical duty to build, share, and wield economic resources and power to serve public purposes in pursuit of justice.
MORE ABOUT NEW DIRECTORS
Mayra Aguirre
President
Hall Family Foundation
Mayra Aguirre is an empathetic leader, community advocate, and dedicated visionary in the community development and philanthropic sectors. The daughter of immigrants raised in Emporia, KS, the first-generation Latinx college graduate has dedicated her career to collaborating with the communities around her, and leading change in a way that recognizes, appreciates, and listens to the voices of those individuals most connected to the community’s challenges.
Since 2020, Mayra has served as President of the Hall Family Foundation, a private philanthropic organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of human life in the Greater Kansas City area. Before serving her community as a steward of the Hall Family Foundation, Mayra shared her time and talents as a senior program officer at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, Executive Director of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF), and a coordinator at Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)’s Metropolitan Council on Early Learning. She currently sits on the boards of the Greater KC Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Development Fund, and KC2026 World Cup.
Christine Cordero
Co-Director
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Raised by a Filipino immigrant family in the working-class town of Pittsburg, CA, Christine acts from the deep belief that we are stronger together and can go farther together than we ever could alone. She is Co-Director of Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), organizing with immigrants and refugees for a healthy environment and thriving economy for all communities.
For over 20 years, Christine strategized, organized, and built coalitions across environmental health and justice, workers rights, and economic and racial justice issues. Previously, she was Executive Director at the Center for Story-based Strategy, training 2,000+ people and working with 200+ groups to reinvigorate narrative strategies for social justice. She is an alumnus of Rockwood Institute’s Leading from the Inside Out Yearlong Fellowship, one of the nation’s leading executive leadership programs for experienced social change trailblazers. She is one of three recipients of Stanford University Centers for Equity, Community, and Leadership’s 2023 Changemaker Award. Christine is an ordained priest of the Chozen-ji line of Rinzai Zen, and trains in Oakland, CA and Kalihi Valley, HI.
OJ Semans, Sr.,
Co-Executive Director
Four Directions Native Vote
OJ Semans, Sr., is the Co-Executive Director, Four Directions Native Vote along with his wife Barbara Semans (Dillon). Four Directions Native vote is a non-partisan voting rights advocacy organization that has successfully litigated Federal Voting Rights Lawsuits on Montana, Nevada and South Dakota working with Tribes and Tribal members.
Both OJ and Barb received their Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Clairmont Graduate University, are members of the Sicangu Oyate and have 7 children.
As Chairman of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation an entity of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, OJ’s work involves meeting with Congress, Federal Agencies, Profit & Non-Profit Corporations and Tribes throughout the United States. OJ is also the Executive Director of the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT), a group whose mission is to protect the Treaties and Sovereignty of Large Land Based Tribes and to work with the United States government on funding, legislation, economic development.