Our Staff

Executive Director—Janis Foster Richardson

Janis Foster Richardson, Executive DirectorJanis Foster Richardson is Grassroots Grantmakers’ Executive Director. Janis came to Grassroots Grantmakers with experience as a neighborhood leader, the director of a neighborhood technical assistance center, a community foundation executive, and a consultant to funders and community building organizations.

Janis’ career began in her own neighborhood in Memphis where she worked with her neighbors to develop an effective block organization system, establish a community newspaper, and turn a blighted strip of land into a community asset through an innovative redevelopment strategy. After serving as President of her neighborhood organization and a coalition of neighborhood associations, she went on to serve as Director of Memphis’ Center for Neighborhoods, a non-profit organization charged with serving the 300 neighborhood associations in the Memphis area.

Following her tenure at the Center for Neighborhoods, Janis joined the staff at the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis to design and direct a grantmaking program for grassroots neighborhood associations in Memphis. Over her nine years with the Community Foundation, Janis served as Program Officer, Vice-President of Programs, and Executive Vice President. Of special note is her work with the Foundation’s Board of Governors to refocus the Foundation’s discretionary grant-making activity on community building and to position the Community Foundation as a catalyst for community development in the Memphis area.

Janis is an adjunct faculty member of the Asset Based Development Institute and is certified as a coach from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. She has served as a trainer for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Training Institute and a consultant to dozens of funders and change-oriented nonprofit organizations. She has a Masters degree in Urban Anthropology and resides in South Central Texas.

You can reach Janis at 361-798-1808 or janis@grassrootsgrantmakers.org.

Research Associate—Shannon MB Dixon

Shannon MB Dixon is the Research Associate for Grassroots Grantmakers. Shannon had an eclectic career in the non-profit sector prior to starting her own consulting business which focuses on building organizational capacity in a collaborative fashion.

She was first introduced to community-based work as an AmeriCorps VISTA working for a community development corporation in Memphis, TN, just south of Downtown. That experience grew through subsequent positions, most notably as the program officer for the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis’ Neighborhood Small Grants and as a project manager for the UrbanArt Commission, a non-profit that facilitates public art throughout Memphis neighborhoods. Along the way she also worked with arts organizations and voluntary disaster relief agencies. Beginning her consulting business in 2005, Shannon works with a variety of clients ranging from city departments, established non-profits, start-up organizations, foundations, universities, and businesses.

Shannon holds a Masters degree in City and Regional Planning. She lives in Memphis, TN with her husband and young son in a neighborhood where neighbors meet neighbors on our front porches and in our local eateries.

You can reach Shannon at shannon@grassrootsgrantmakers.org.

AmeriCorps VISTA—Rachel Oscar

Rachel Oscar is Grassroots Grantmakers’ first AmeriCorps VISTA Member.  She comes to Grassroots Grantmakers from Kenyon College in Gambier, OH where she received a BA in History in 2011.  Rachel is looking forward to diving into the world of community grantmaking.  Over the next year, she will be focusing on resident-led grantmaking, working with members of resident-led grantmaking committees to develop a toolkit for funding organizations that want to use the resident-led grantmaking approach.

Rachel lives in Cleveland, Ohio where she has previously interned with Ohio City Incorporated and the GreenCityBlueLake Institute, the sustainability center at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

You can reach Rachel at rachel@grassrootsgrantmakers.org.


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News

On the Ground – Syracuse

August 7-9, 2012 Thinking Big About the Power of Relationships Join us this summer in Syracuse for our next On the Ground!   We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Gifford Foundation for the next in our series of highly regarded learning gatherings for funders. This learning gathering will use The Gifford Foundation’s engaged grantmaking as a platform [...]

Building Capacity for Resident-Led Grantmaking

Resident-led grantmaking, with grantmaking committees composed of residents from the neighborhoods that are targeted for capacity building grants, is an emerging trend within the field of grassroots grantmaking.  Currently, a number of organizations within Grassroots Grantmakers’ network of funding organizations utilize this practice.  Other organizations in our network include neighborhood residents on their grantmaking committee [...]

Strengthening Leadership at the Grassroots

In the summer of 2011, Grassroots Grantmakers conducted a survey that asked the funders in Grassroots Grantmakers’ extended network to share information about how they are working to strengthen grassroots leadership.  This survey was initiated in response to questions that one funder in Grassroots Grantmakers network was asking, but also responds to questions that have [...]

On the Ground Denver in Photos

May 5-6, 2011 In partnership with The Denver Foundation/Strengthening Neighborhoods. Click the PowerPoint icon below for a visual recap of our fabulous On the Ground experience in Denver.  Thanks to Shannon Dixon, Grassroots Grantmakers’ Research Associate, for her wonderful photography that captured the spirit of the gathering. After OTG Denver report 6-3-2011.Final   Share this:Share

Rachel’s Reflections

Rachel’s Reflections: The Gray Zone

The tricky thing about grassroots grantmaking is that it operates in the nebulous gray space of the funding world.  Behind the foundation walls are dollars and cents that add up very neatly, accounts receivable records coming through humming fax machines, and proof of non-profit status reports in piles across cubicle desks.  On the streets ofClevelandCity’s [...]

Rachel’s Reflections: The Final Report Party

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of attending my first Neighborhood Connections Final Report Party.  What is a Final Report Party, you ask?  Well, at the close of a grantee’s project year they have the option to complete their final report in several different ways.  The first is to write a traditional, [...]