Every Voice Shines New Light

The value of an idea increases exponentially when it’s shared. From our staff, partners and grantees to the people impacted by their efforts, each perspective offers new insight into the critical issues at the heart of our work.

Our Contributors

Sepi Aghdaee

Sepi supports the Fund’s grantmaking across programs and issues, including longtime community partnerships in the Bay Area.
Rachel Baker

Rachel works to strengthen the field of leadership development for social change.
Cathy Cha

Cathy leads the Fund’s work to advance rights and create opportunities for all people.
Denis Chicola

Denis works to ensure that communications are at the core of the Fund’s efforts to advance rights and create opportunities.
Holly Delany Cole

Holly directs the Fund’s flagship leadership investment program, which helps grantees to build the leadership they need to reach their goals.
Matt Foreman

Matt oversees the Fund’s extensive support for the drive for equal rights and opportunities for LGBT people.
Victor Garcia
Walter J. Haas

In his leadership of the Haas, Jr. Fund, Walter J. Haas is guided by a commitment to serving the community and to creating opportunities for all people to succeed.
Ira Hirschfield

Ira oversees the Fund’s investments and leads its work on selected community partnerships.
Jennifer Kirschenbaum
Tomás D. Morales
Paula Morris

Paula has worked with the Fund’s Flexible Leadership Awards program since its inception in 2005, and was its program director until January 2015.
Beth Rayfield

Beth Rayfield is the director of institutional advancement at the Center for Community Change (CCC) and former development director at CHIRLA.
Robert Ross
Jennie Lehua Watson

Jennie leads the Fund’s work to advance rights and create opportunities for all people.
Evan Wolfson

Evan is the founder and President of Freedom to Marry, a longtime Fund partner and key player in the campaign to win marriage equality nationwide.
Linda Wood

Linda leads the Fund’s work to strengthen leaders, organizations and movements that are advancing social change.
Sylvia Yee

Sylvia served as the Fund’s Vice President of Programs

Time to Celebrate the Season

December 2, 2011 | by

Winter 2011 Letter from the President

Fund president Ira Hirschfield reflects on the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund’s role as a Bay Area institution, now in its 25th year.

Every year, 5,000 individuals and families in the San Francisco Bay Area get help from the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund so they can weather unexpected crises. Over the last quarter century, the fundraising campa…

Ju Hong

Cal Dreamer finds his voice, and helps others do the same

Ju came to the United States with his family on a tourist visa when he was 11. He learned of his undocumented status when he was applying for college.

Update:May 2016 "I will never allow my immigration status to hinder me from achieving my dreams." Ju is now 26 years old, and recently graduated from San Francisco State University with a master's degree in pub…

Six Questions About the Flexible Leadership Awards Program

November 4, 2011 | by

Paula Morris describes how the FLA works, and the impact it can have

Read about what the FLA is, and how it helped NCLR manage the twin challenges of organizational growth and movement leadership.

Paula Morris is the former program director of the Haas, Jr. Fund's Flexible Leadership Awards program. She worked as a Plan Consultant with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and a number of the Fund's o…

Daring to DREAM

October 9, 2011 | by

Fall 2011 Letter from the President

Tens of thousands of undocumented students across California know the U.S. as home. Learn about the huge gains Dreamers have made, and the daily struggles many still face.

When Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 131 on October 8, 2011 he cleared the way for undocumented students who graduate from California high schools (and who demonstrate both merit and financial need) to app…

Angel

Coming out, twice

After overcoming the challenges of coming out as gay and coming out as undocumented, Angel is looking to create a career out of helping others.

Angel was 12 when his mother hired a coyote to bring the family across the Mexico-U.S. border in 1999. They settled in Florida and planned to stay only briefly—to work, save, and then go back to Mexico for a better…

Gabriela

Finding her inner drive, UC Berkeley Dreamer rises to the top

An undocumented immigrant from El Salvador excels at school, and becomes a voice for advancing the cause of Dreamers.

Gabriela is a third-year student at UC Berkeley who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador at age 15. After arriving in the United States, she lived with her father and his girlfriend near Los Angeles whil…

Voices from the Field

Hear insights, challenges and breakthroughs from our grantees’ inspiring work.

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Cynthia Buiza

Executive Director, California Immigrant Policy Center

Recognizing trailblazing Asian American women who are leading and influencing social justice movements in California.

Read this Story

First Person Stories

See the issues at the heart of our work through the eyes of those most closely affected.

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Jirayut “New” Latthivongskorn

Future (undocumented) doctor

New once kept his undocumented status a secret from everyone outside his family. Today, he is proudly the first undocumented medical student at UCSF.

Read this Story

Cynthia Buiza

Executive Director, California Immigrant Policy Center

Cristina Jiménez

Advancing the Dream of Dignity for All Immigrants

Supporting Nonprofit Fundraising Professionals

Lifting Up the Leadership and Vision of “Resource Leaders”

A Park For All

An Immigrant’s Perspective on Crissy Field

Lessons from California

Successes of California's Grass-Roots Activists Offer Lessons for All Grant Makers

Every Voice Shines New Light