Robert Joseph

As Vice President of Programs, Robert oversees program strategy, partnerships and grantmaking toward the Haas, Jr. Fund’s mission to advance rights and create opportunities for all. In support of this work, Robert emphasizes cross-cutting approaches of policy advocacy, community engagement, equity and inclusion, strategic messaging, and leadership development. With extensive experience in philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, and public interest law, Robert is a passionate advocate for increased opportunity for historically marginalized people and communities.

Before joining the Fund in 2018, Robert served as a senior program director with Tipping Point Community, an innovator in the fight against poverty in San Francisco. In three years at Tipping Point, Robert led education and employment strategies to reduce poverty in the Bay Area and developed an initiative to help transition homeless, justice-involved San Francisco residents into housing and health services.

Robert joined Tipping Point after serving as a program officer with the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation in San Francisco. In addition to supporting its youth development program, he led a special statewide initiative to promote civic learning in California K-12 schools. Robert began his career in corporate law before working with the Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender. He subsequently worked with a Bay Area nonprofit literacy program aimed at preparing afterschool youth from lower-income communities for academic and career success.

Robert holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta, and a juris doctor from Duke University School of Law.