Grantmaking 101

Chad started with the Tipton County Foundation in 2014 as the education program officer, coordinating scholarships and education grantmaking. In his current role as program director, he manages the Foundation's grantmaking, works with local government and non-profits on project management and fundraising, and coordinates community leadership efforts. Chad spends the majority of his free time as a board, crew, and cast member with the local community theatre.

Phil is the senior legal council for IPA's Foundation Legal Help Desk. In his role as director at the Central Territory of the Salvation Army, Phil is the directional leader of 39 planned giving officers in 11 states who close approximately $70 million in planned gifts each year. Formerly, he served as Senior Counsel for Philanthropy on behalf of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students where he assisted approximately twenty major gift officers engaged in a $250 million multi-year campaign with a $100 million goal for planned giving. 

Phil has consulted on behalf of over 300 charitable organizations of all types. His consulting focuses on state and federal legal issues (e.g., bylaws, tax exemption applications), philanthropy (e.g., fundraising, gift agreements, policies/procedures, endowments, planned giving) and nonprofit governance (e.g., strategic planning, duties of boards of directors). He has served as an expert witness in court cases and trials on topics related to the law of philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, endowments, scholarships and related issues. 

Pamela currently serves as the Vice President of Community Leadership & Equitable Initiatives for The Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF).  She is responsible for the strategic alignment and leading the Indianapolis Foundation’s five community leadership initiatives – Economic Mobility, Family Stabilization, Neighborhood Empowerment & Placemaking, Criminal Justice Reform, and Dismantling Systemic Racism as well as the foundations reactive grantmaking, major donor philanthropic advising, and external racial equity work both locally and nationally.

Pamela joined CICF in September 2016 as a Community Leadership Officer and was promoted April 2018 to the foundation’s first Vice President of Opportunity, Equity and Inclusion to support CICF’s mission change. She led the organization’s internal process of ensuring equitable policies and practices are operationalized and exemplified in every aspect of foundation’s work with the goal of becoming an antiracist multicultural organization.

Pamela’s work at The Indianapolis Foundation is informed by 30 years of working in community-based organizations, almost exclusively proximate to communities facing unfair systems and structures.  Her belief that residents and neighborhoods closest to issues of survival and well-being have worth, solutions, and agency led the development of Neighborhood Empowerment Pathways, an internal framework specifically focused on elevating community organizing, resident leadership, infrastructure development in grassroots organizations, and community investment.  

Through her thought leadership and direct experience, Pamela has changed the conversation nationally in philanthropy around power and influence.  As a sought-after speaker, she reiterates the importance of uplifting power and leadership that currently exists within BIPOC communities and inspires traditionally White institutions to share power and engage people of color within our institutions to influence equitable change.  

Pamela achieved her masters in social work from the University of Georgia with a concentration on community development and program evaluation. Pamela serves on multiple boards and committees nationally and locally, including Trust-Based Philanthropy Project Steering Committee, Community Foundation Opportunity Network Advisory Council (CFON), Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (IPA), Kennedy King Memorial Initiative, and A Seat At The Table. She is a frequent speaker, panelist and workshop leader on issues surrounding racial equity; dismantling systemic and structural racism; corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion; and reclaiming and prioritizing Black joy.

Pamela is a native of Indianapolis and her passions have taken her across the country and to Africa. Above many things, she values her family, including seven amazing grandchildren, and living a purposeful life.