Lori Villarosa

Lori Villarosa has worked within the field of philanthropy for more than 16 years. Prior to launching Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity (PRE) "Lori was a program officer with the C. S. Mott Foundation, where she worked closely with numerous organizations operating at local, regional, national and international levels from a diverse range of approaches. She began working at Mott in 1991 and was instrumental in developing the Foundation's U.S. Race Relations grantmaking portfolio, focusing on addressing institutional racism and building appreciation of racial and ethnic diversity.  Until her departure in 2002, she was responsible for ongoing strategic planning, program development and evaluation of more than $24 million in new grants. Her portfolio covered a broad spectrum of community-based, academic, advocacy and research efforts at a time when a number of new approaches were emerging due to the changing demographics and post-Civil Rights Movement redefining of racial equity work.

"Lori frequently serves as an advisor or presenter on a range of issues related to racial justice, intergroup relations, and philanthropy. She has worked closely with a broad range of grantmaking institutions including national, international, community, corporate, family, and progressive membership foundations. She currently sits on a number of boards, including the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, which focuses on economic development; education, and economic, social and racial justice throughout Arkansas; and the Paul J. Aicher Foundation.  She is a recent former board member of the Social Justice Fund-NW. She currently serves on the Program Committee of the Association of Black Foundation Executives and the Racial Equity Committee of the National Network of Grantmakers, and is a member of Hispanics in Philanthropy.  From 1997 through 2002, she served on the national board of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, as Chair in 2000-2002." 


 * Board of Counselors, Institute for Democratic Renewal