We are excited to announce that Sean Kosofsky has joined the Climate Advocacy Lab as Managing Director. The Climate Advocacy Lab a project supported by the Skoll Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, in partnership with leaders from throughout the world of climate engagement. Designed for climate practitioners—advocates, social scientists, data experts and funders—the Lab promotes effective tools and tactics for engaging Americans on climate change. Polls show that a majority of Americans want to do more to address climate change, to clean-up the largest sources of pollution and support expanding clean energy like wind and solar power. The Climate Advocacy Lab is a space to help translate that public support into action on climate.

Sean has been a social justice advocate for more than 25 years, starting in the environmental community in the mid-90s working on clean water campaigns with the Public Interest Research Group in Michigan. He has spent a large part of his career working on progressive issues like LGBT equality, reproductive justice, civil and voting rights, and bullying prevention. Sean has deep experience working political campaigns and ballot measures, and a long history with polling, message development and framing across multiple movements and voter turnout efforts. Most recently, he was leading his own consulting practice helping nonprofits with fundraising, management, strategy, and governance.  Sean is a recent transplant to the Bay Area and we are excited to watch him apply his broad skillset and rich experience to the Lab.

We are thrilled that Raquel Donoso has joined Yellow Chair Foundation as Senior Program Officer for Equity in Education. Founded 18 years ago, Yellow Chair Foundation is a Palo Alto-based family foundation.  The Foundation funds more than 50 local, national and global organizations working on advancing educational equity, with an emphasis on college access and success for low-income students, and support of public school teachers and school leaders as they build their practice and improve the learning environments for students who are most in need. Other focus areas include promoting civil liberties, civil rights and racial justice, advancing climate change solutions, supporting investigative public interest journalism focused on catalyzing change; focusing on maternal health in the US and elevating global women’s organizations working to build movements at the grassroots level to effect systemic change.

Raquel’s is a visionary, community leader that is passionate about creating a world that supports and empowers children, youth, and families to achieve their dreams. Her professional career has focused on increasing opportunities for first-generation and low-income students.  Over time, she has successfully raised nearly $20M to improve education, health, and economic outcomes for low income communities. Raquel has a deep passion and commitment to educational equity, particularly on increasing college access. In her leadership roles, she has been successful in setting a vision and translating these ideas into tangible, flourishing results. Most recently, Raquel directed a $30M collective impact initiative, Mission Promise Neighborhood, a Pre-K-14 cradle-to-college-to-career pipeline for youth and their families in San Francisco’s Mission District. Prior to that, Raquel was the Chief Executive Officer of the Latino Community Foundation where she transformed a philanthropic organization into a leading national Latino identity fund. During her seven-year tenure, they granted over $3M through the Children and Youth Initiative to address parent education engagement, early childhood learning, and access to technology for California students. In her “spare time,” Raquel is finishing her Doctorate in Education at University of California, Davis.