Community Fellows Program

Apply for the Program

Recruiting for the Class of 2010 is now open.

Click here to download the application and instructions to apply.

Launched in 2004, the Community Fellows Program is a two-year scholarship enabling select leaders from the nonprofit and public sectors to participate as regular members of Full Circle Fund.

Community Fellows share their expertise with other Full Circle Fund members, contributing a unique perspective on the challenges faced by nonprofits and thereby enabling Full Circle Fund to more effectively partner with our grantees.

For the Fellows, the program provides opportunities for networking, leadership training, and honing their business skills. The program also enables Fellows to broaden their relationships with community and business leaders and thus foster new and innovative approaches to partnership between these sectors. The creativity and experience gained from the program benefits both the Fellows own professional development as well as their ability to contribute to their own nonprofits' work.

The first year of the Community Fellows program focuses on professional development, networking, and engaging in our issue areas via grant cycles, impact framework development or grant project work. The second year of the program encourages fellows step into leadership positions within Full Circle Fund and leverage the wealth of the Full Circle Fund network to develop their own social enterprises and organizations.

The Community Fellows Program is made possible by the generous support of Thomas and JaMel Perkins. We welcome other supporters. Learn more…

Our Community Fellows*

Class of 2009

• Alli Chagi-Starr, Green for All
• Wade Crowfoot, City and County of San Francisco
• Penny Dyer, Curriculum Design Institute
• Anne Emig, One Economy Corporation
• Kjerstin Erickson, FORGE
• Emily Harpster, United Way of the Bay Area
• Amanda Levinson, Hope Street Group
• Salvador Menjivar, OneCalifornia Foundation
• Jason Trimiew, REDF
• Ryan Turner, Independent Technology Consultant
• Dion Ward, Northern California Grantmakers
• Amy Zucchero, Women's Funding Network

Class of 2008

• Chandra Alexandre, Bay Area Council
• Anne Boyd Rabkin, Resource Media
• Nicole Carta, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
• Michael Green, Center for Environmental Health
• Daniel Homsey, Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services
• Dwayne Jones, Office of the Mayor of San Francisco
• Sonali Joshi, United Way of the Bay Area
• Trina Martynowicz, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Michael McCarthy, Community Technology Consultant
• Eleanor Rouse, Girls for A Change
• Sudeep Rao, Deep-Solutions
• Michelle Shutzer, Street Tech
• Marc Spencer, Juma Ventures
• Lisa Spinali, San Francisco School Volunteers
• Jasmine Stirling, GreatSchools Inc.
• Beth Stokes, Hamilton Family Center
• Beth Trask, Environmental Defense
• David Traub, Starsports.org
• Merrill Vargo, Springboard Schools
• Josh Wilson, Independent Arts & Media

Class of 2007

• Julia Chih, Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES)
• Sam Cobbs, The First Place Fund for Youth
• Paul Collins, College Summit
• Kami Griffiths, CompuMentor/ TechSoup
• Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Craiglslist Foundation
• Catherine Hutton, BizWorld Foundation
• Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Omidyar Network
• Erin Lewellen, Sports4Kids
• Dee Dee Mendoza, UC Berkeley College of Engineering
• Lisa Plenys Milton, Peninsula Habitat for Humanity
• Melanie Nutter, US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi's Office
• John Power, The Volunteer Center
• Dana Saxon, New Leaders for New Schools
• Dave Shefferman, One Brick

Class of 2006

• Jess Andre, Oakland Unified School District
• Jon Cirome, VolunteerMatch
• Karin Cooke, NetImpact
• Eric Harrison, United Way Silicon Valley
• Temp Keller, Resources for Indispensable Schools (RISE)
• Erika Padilla-Morales, GirlSource - Class Vice President
• Jim Pitofsky, Hands on Bay Area - Class President
• Sabrina Qutb, EARN
• Marc Smolowitz, Access-SF/Cable Channel 29
• Steve Wright, Salesforce.com/foundation
• Chanda Zirkelbach, United Way Bay Area

Class of 2005

• Jessa Chin, San Francisco Food Bank
• Sarah Feldman, New Leaders for New Schools - Co-Chair advising Class of 2006
• Mara Gross, Nonprofit Consultant
• Kate Hamilton, C.E.O. Women
• Karen Hanson, Community Technology Foundation of California
• Chantal Laurie, BUILD - Co-Chair advising Class of 2006
• Dara Westling, CompuMentor

Class of 2004

• Ronalee Bayani, Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Shirin Dewani Belur, BUILD
• Valerie Braimah, Leadership Public Schools
• Farhana Huq, C.E.O. Women
• Jane Kim, Chinatown Community Development Center
• Michele Levine, Oakland Unified School District
• Francisco Mora, CompuMentor
• JB Tengco, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

* Organizations listed are Fellows' nonprofit/public sector affiliations as of their acceptance into the program.

"The Community Fellows Program is a unique opportunity to expand one's professional network across sectors - public, private, and nonprofit - while serving the community and working with an amazing group of passionate and experienced visionaries. Together, we learn how to make our dreams of a better world a reality, and have fun doing it!"

Darian Rodriguez Heyman

Executive Director, Craigslist Foundation
Member, Full Circle Fund