Heather B. Hamilton Email & Phone Number

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal

Elevate is the only global network of funders focused on the wellbeing and rights of children and youth.• Led the development of resources that shifted the philanthropic practice of funders giving <$1.15 bn per year and influenced philanthropic and bilateral donor policies• Led research on child and youth participation, adultism, and trauma-informed philanthropy• Co-designed with members learning journeys on trauma-informed philanthropy and MEL for systems change that shifted funder practice• Drove 42% growth in network membership• Significantly diversified organization membership and governance• Crafted and facilitated impactful gatherings, including two global AGMs

London, United Kingdom

Expertise:• Developing, building, and leading partnerships, networks, and coalitions• Field scoping and mapping • Strategic planning• Advocacy and communications strategy and planning• Facilitation and meeting designClients included:• Oak Foundation• Unbound Philanthropy. Designed and facilitated a workshop on democratizing and depolarising the UK public square.• Center for Countering Digital Hate. Scoped the nonprofit landscape working to counter online hate in the UK; designed and delivered convening to develop a common strategy; developed a strategic plan for collaboration. • The Kays Foundation. Developed strategic plan, advocacy plan, and MEL framework for a family foundation working on early childhood in Kenya.• Prospera International Network of Women’s Funds. Designed and delivered a strategic communications workshop for convening establishing a European-Latin American alliance of women’s funds to defend human rights and the values of democracy, freedom, and diversity from the attack of the rising religious conservatism and the right wing.

London, United Kingdom

With Executive Director, jointly leading a global partnership of more than 1,000 civil society organizations from over 95 countries committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfil their potential. Led organization through significant growth and change, establishing for the first time a management and team structure, suite of policies, strategy and planning processes, project and portfolio management systems, and monitoring and evaluation systems. On maternity covers, managed relationships with current funders and successfully cultivated new ones, wrote grant proposals and reports, and oversaw finances, operations and governance. Hired, managed, coached, disciplined and fired staff; managed multiple teams and senior management positions, with up to 8 direct and 18 indirect reports. Led external relations and advocacy; represented organization externally with multiple stakeholders, including international organizations, donor governments, high-prevalence government officials, media and members ranging from INGOs to small grassroots organizations. Spearheaded successful effort to include child marriage in the SDGs. Led design and delivery of 2 global meetings of partnership. Led establishment of regional teams in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Designed and facilitated multi-day skills-development convenings to agree national coalition governance and advocacy strategy in Bangladesh, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Nepal.

London

London, Uk

London, United Kingdom

Bangkok, Thailand

Provided strategic planning, communications and fundraising support to UNICEF country and regional offices for the Public Finance for Children Initiative, which mobilises budgets and public finance systems to meet the needs of children. ● Raised $450,000 for four Country Offices. Wrote country-specific and regional proposals; pitched to donors.● Provided technical support for planning, communications and fundraising through missions to 7 countries (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam).● Designed and conducted advocacy and communications workshops in 6 countries and at 2 regional training workshops.● Wrote and pitched articles, blogs and other promotional materials; wrote case-book analysing approaches in 4 countries.

Designed and facilitated a 3-day convening to develop the strategy for a joint campaign on migrant rights with unions, businesses, civil society, the UN, and the government in Malaysia.

Caribbean

Achieved lifelong dream: rehabilitated 35-year-old classic sailboat and circumnavigated Eastern Caribbean, sailing 6,000 miles in 12 countries. ● Created revenue-generating blog with over 46,000 unique visitors (avg. 1,700 per month) and 100,000 pageviews.● Published 9 paid articles in leading sailing publications including Blue Water Sailing and Cruising World.

Washington, Dc

Managed operational and grantmaking activities of foundation-NGO initiative supporting more responsible U.S. global engagement through more effective and collaborative advocacy. Coordinated member foundations, including the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Atlantic Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, Open Society Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Hewlett Foundation. Interacted with the media; wrote and published op-eds; gave public presentations.● Recruited 2 new foundation members and raised new funds for donors’ collaborative.● Supervised annual award of $1.4 million in grants and the advocacy and grant-making activities of three staff.● Successfully developed new organizational strategy after 2008 election focusing on administration access for network members; organized and led meetings with Deputy White House Chief of Staff, key members of the National Security Council and senior officials at State Department and Department of Defense.

Washington, Dc

Developed and implemented operational activities strategy for Fund, which had previously restricted activities to grantmaking. Organized and led bi-annual conferences and trainings on messaging, new communications technologies and facilitating multi-stakeholder social change initiatives. Launched issue-specific working groups. Evaluated grants and managed grantee relations.● Utilized network theory to build thriving network of foreign policy advocates, funders and experts; increased size of community more than six-fold in 18 months; designed and launched interactive community web portal that doubled monthly unique visitors within 2 years.● Led consultative process with community members to write unprecedented cross-issue letter to President-elect calling for specific policy changes in human rights, climate change, development and nuclear weapons. Unusual diversity of signatories across issue areas and among types of organizations included former President Jimmy Carter, former State and USAID officials, leaders of nonprofits and foundations, and future members of Obama administration.

Managed all external relations, including programs, foundation relations, communications, campaigns and advocacy. Coordinated work of 27 staff and all departments; led implementation of strategic plan. Served as a primary external spokesperson for the organization with the media, nonprofits, coalitions, foundations and other stakeholders. Reported directly to President and CEO.● Developed new programs and led a foundation outreach initiative that increased foundation support from less than $70,000 in small family foundation grants in FY2002 to over half a million dollars yearly by FY2006 from foundations such as Ford, JEHT, Rockefeller Brothers, and the UN Foundation, including major grants over $250,000.● Ensured strategic direction, effectiveness and work flow of organization growing from 11 to 27 staff in less than two years while maintaining an entrepreneurial, creative and inclusive work atmosphere.

Washington, Dc

Managed programs department, advocacy initiatives, external communications and government relations. Hired, supervised, coached, disciplined, and fired personnel. Developed and monitored budgets. Analyzed issues, developed policies and positions, and wrote reports, fact sheets, press releases and activist materials.● Led coalition effort that achieved the U.S. signature of the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty; reinvigorated and co-chaired Washington Working Group on the ICC. ● Developed and launched NGO coalitions on the Law of the Sea treaty, the Bolton nomination and effective peace operations.● Created and led strategic communications initiatives involving multiple nonprofit stakeholders. Researched and wrote guide to speaking with Americans about the ICC and developed multimedia CD-ROM and website.● Co-led 3-person management team that achieved strategic reorganization, rebranding and renaming of 55-year old nonprofit organization that subsequently doubled budget and staff size. Developed research-based strategic communications plan with new name, mission and focus-group tested messages. Spearheaded process for inclusion of key stakeholders, including long-term members, funders, and opinion-leaders in the foreign policy field and coalition partners. Role in the successful reorganization was profiled in a feature article, “New World Order,” in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.● Quoted in national and international newspapers, including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Financial Times. Appeared on TV and radio, including CNN International, BBC World News and numerous National Public Radio shows.

Coordinated national research project on strengthening nonprofit advocacy and the development of online nonprofit policy and technology resource center. Supervised 2 staff.

Trained 100 grassroots and activist women on NGO strategies to influence the commission meeting. Drafted UN resolution on women and human settlements that was subsequently adopted by government delegates at the commission. Published article on women as the key to post-conflict reconstruction in Rwanda in an online book edited by the Journal of Humanitarian Assistance.

Tracked, researched and analyzed legislation threatening nonprofit advocacy rights; coordinated legislative coalitions. Coordinated national coalition of 300 nonprofits opposing the balanced budget amendment. Created fax and email distribution networks; wrote electronic alerts, web pages and information bulletins. Designed, created and maintained databases for various networks.

Coordinator, United Nations Preventive Diplomacy Campaign; Author, Briefing Book on UN Preventive Diplomacy. January-March: Interim Director of the International Criminal Court project.

Ma, International Peace And Conflict Resolution

Teaching Assistant; Concentrations: Gender, Africa. Thesis: UNHCR and Refugee Women in the Great Lakes Crisis.

Ba, Political Science

Minors: French, International Economics. Honors: Departmental Honors, Rhodes Scholarship semi-finalist, Pi Delta Phi National French Honor.