Board & staff categories: Board

Ian Bird is a co-founder of the Chelsea Commons and proprietor of the Henry Burrows Community Tavern (est 1861), two local projects aimed at putting the community at the centre of Chelsea’s local economy and social fabric. When not engaged in local efforts, Ian volunteers as the chair of Canada’s Child and Nature Alliance, and as a director with the Community Forward Fund and the GFCF. He recently concluded a decade of collaboration with philanthropic networks and community foundations in Canada and around the world, including roles as the President and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada and Executive Director of the Rideau Hall Foundation. Previously, Ian played a catalytic role at the Sport Matters Group, an “un-organization” which fostered the development of the Canadian sport sector during the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver in 2010. In 2023 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Community Foundations Australia.

Shubha Chacko is a joyful activist who draws strength, knowledge and warmth from strong alliances and friendships forged with people from different walks of life. Her work experience over the last three and a half decades has been varied – but within the realm of development, human rights and social justice. She is the Executive Director of the Solidarity Foundation, an NGO that supports grassroots level organizations of gender/sexual minorities (LGBTIAQ+) and sex workers by building collectives, capacities and connections. She was recognized as a global diversity leader (Times Ascent Award) at the World HRD Congress, Mumbai 2017. Shubha is also a researcher and has authored reports and articles and has been an invited speaker at many national and international conferences. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Kamala Chandrakirana is an Indonesian feminist and advocate for human rights, justice, and democracy. She has extensive engagements within civil society at local, national, regional and global levels on gender equality, human rights, transitional justice, social justice, progressive Islam, and sustainable resourcing for social movements.

Nationally, Kamala is in the governance bodies of organizations working on human rights (ELSAM), grassroots women’s empowerment (Pekka), progressive Islam (Rahima & Fahmina), resourcing social movements (IKa), and research on social transformation (Rukun Bestari). She was coordinator of a national network of human rights and survivor organizations advocating for truth and justice on gross human rights violations (KKPK) for 13 years (2010-2023). In 2017, she took part initiating KUPI (Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia), a movement for gender equality and justice within Islam led by women ulama. Internationally, she is a co-founder of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, and the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights Asia & Pacific. She also represents IKa in the Foundations for Peace network. This year, she took up the position of Co-coordinator at DAWN (Development Alternatives for Women for A New Era), a collective of feminist researchers, academics and activists from the Global South addressing systemic inequality.

Over the years, Kamala has also held official mandates. During the first decade of the Indonesia’s post-authoritarian reform period (1998-2009), she was Secretary General and then Chair of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, a national mechanism for women’s human rights set up by Presidential Decree. She was appointed to two presidential ad hoc teams, namely for investigating the death of an Indonesian human rights defender Munir (2005) and for addressing cases of Indonesian migrant workers on death row abroad (2012). Between 2011-2017, she was a mandate holder in the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures mechanism on the issue of discrimination against women.

Barbara Klugman (PhD), works freelance, supporting social justice funders, NGOs and social movements in strategy development and evaluation-for-learning. In her freelance role, she is currently the Learning and Evaluation Partner for Tekano – Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity. Clients have included the African Centre for Biodiversity, the American Jewish World Service, the Arcus Foundation, the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership, the Ford Foundation, SWOP (Wits), the Open Society Foundations and WIEGO. She has both published and developed training interventions on advocacy, gender mainstreaming, sexual and reproductive rights, and social justice monitoring, evaluation and learning.

In the 1980s Barbara was an anti-apartheid and women’s rights activist lecturing in Social Anthropology at Wits University. In the 1990s she ran the Women’s Health Project at the School of Public Health, Wits University, which facilitated national consultation and mobilization contributing towards women’s health policy changes in the new democracy. From 2003-2009 she ran the Ford Foundation’s international sexual health and rights portfolio from New York after which she moved into freelance work as Barbara Klugman Concepts (PTY) Ltd. In December 2017, she completed a six year tenure on the board of the Urgent Action Fund-Africa.

Felecia Lucky’s favorite African proverb has served her well in her role as the President of the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF).

“To do something for us, instead of with us, does nothing for us at all.”

After a career in finance, Felecia returned to Livingston, Alabama and fell in love with the idea of building a foundation with the people, for the people when she joined the BBCF. BBCF was established to strengthen Alabama’s 12 poorest counties known collectively as the Black Belt.

In the last 19 years, fueled by the passion to provide opportunities to the region, BBCF has partnered with philanthropic organizations who want to invest in local community-led driven transformation. Some noteworthy partnerships include W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, US – DHR – Office of Head Start for early childhood education, Alabama State Council of the Arts, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Auburn University. Most recently, the NOVO Foundation recognized BBCF for its work with a grant to the Consortium of Southern Black Girls and Women.

With her deep roots in the community, dedication to her family and church, Felecia serves on a variety of committees and boards, including the City of Livingston City Council, Council on Foundations Community Foundation Leadership Team, HOPE Enterprise Corporation’s Board, HIVE Fund Advisory Board, Heron Foundation Board, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Leader Cohort 6, Black Belt Commission, and CF Leads Foundation Board and Governance Chair. Further, Felecia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; a graduate of Leadership Alabama and Leadership Sumter County. Felecia is also 2006 Southeastern Council on Foundations Hull Fellow, a 2013 Aspen Ideas Scholar and a 2016 graduate of the Delta Regional Authority’s Delta Leadership Institute.

Felecia earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Tuskegee University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Alabama. Felecia serves as the Minister of Music at First Baptist Church in Livingston, Alabama. She has one daughter, Amber Nicole.

Catherine Rodgers is an African Feminist, based in Nairobi, Kenya working for Greenpeace International as Head of Engagement Support and Co-lead for the Alternative Futures project, focusing on hope and solutions by building people power to bring transformational change in the world: through defending environmental boundaries, shifting mindsets and changing power dynamics.

She is also on the board of Africans Rising – a Pan-African movement of people and organizations, working for peace, justice and dignity, and on the Engagement Committee of Restless Development – supporting youth leaders to create a better world.

She also loves any type of dance class and attempting to cook for friends!

Tamás Scsaurszki has worked in the civic sector for 30 years. His career started in Hungary, where he developed an interest in building up the sector’s infrastructure and the financing of NGOs. He then worked internationally on philanthropy development with large organizations such as the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (US), Sasakawa Peace Foundation (Japan), European Venture Philanthropy Association (Belgium) and Stefan Batory Foundation (Poland).

In 2008 Tamás returned to Hungary and focused on community philanthropy and supporting local leaders and civil society organizations. In 2011, with colleagues, he founded the Ferencváros Community Foundation – the first community foundation in the country. As the foundation became more established, in 2014 they set up the Roots and Wings Foundation with the ambition to bring about profound social change by supporting bottom-up community initiatives. Tamás stepped down as the Chair of the board of the Roots and Wings Foundation in January 2024 and is looking for new adventures.

Throughout his work, Tamás has been driven by the search for novelty and untrodden paths, the love of creative collaboration and the desire to create social value.