Board & staff categories: Staff

Jenny Hodgson has been the Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) since it was established in 2006. She has overseen its emergence as the leading global voice on community philanthropy as a core strategy for people-led development and shifting power closer to the ground. Based variously in Uganda, Kenya, Russia, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa, Jenny has been involved in philanthropy development in emerging markets and developing contexts for the past two decades. She has a BA (Hons) in English from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

She is a trustee of Comic Relief and the Mazi Project.

Since 2017, Ese has served as the project director for the Kiisi Trust Fund, a donor-advised-fund managed by TrustAfrica in Ogoniland in Rivers State, Nigeria. She has spent the past 20 years working in the international development field, supporting human rights defenders and organizations, developing non-profit boards, working with marginalized communities and groups, as well as youth-led organizations across the globe advocating for greater youth inclusion in development projects, leadership, and youth empowerment. As the project lead for the Kiisi Trust Fund, she directed a multi-million USD fund for the benefit of the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, instilling a new model of participatory community-based grant making for sustainable development.

In 2018, in her role as project director for TrustAfrica, she partnered with the GFCF, Africa Philanthropy Network, and the Kenya Development Community Foundation to host the Twitter chat “You Say Intermediary, I Say….?” that sought to better understand and define the controversial word “intermediary” as it is used in the development field. She has also written about her work in the philanthropic sector, and her recent article “What’s the Matter With Small Grants” can be found here.

Born in Uganda, Eshban has built experience applying deep systems thinking to an evolving development context. His early career was in the private sector during which he built on private sector assets to advance social justice work and to extend opportunities. His philosophy on development is premised on the idea that the forces of development are too complex, subtle, and insufficiently known to yield any simple and broad formulas.

He has published on agriculture, macro-financial policy, feminism, energy, and governance. Eshban has experience advising development organizations and governments on creative solutions to complex challenges.

Wendy joined the GFCF in January 2014. Prior to this she worked for the European Foundation Centre in Brussels, for several years as the Chief Executive’s Personal Assistant and from 2011 onwards coordinating the Centre’s professional development work. Born in Canada, Wendy has a BA in English and history from the University of Western Ontario.

Kerry Soderlund joins the GFCF team as Finance Director. As an experienced Finance and Operations Director of a community foundation, Kerry offers insights and expertise in the financial, operational and governance management of public benefit organizations.

Kerry is qualified with a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree qualification as well as previous experience in auditing and management accounting.

Kerry aims to contribute her expertise to ensure that the GFCF has well managed, effective financial systems, manages and monitors risk, ensures there is statutory compliance and sound governance in place. Strong financial and governance systems in place evokes a confidence in the organizations’ abilities to be accountable to donors, grant partners and stakeholders.

Kerry’s first introduction to the GFCF and #ShiftThePower was attending the Global Summit on Community Philanthropy in Johannesburg in 2016. The event was a pivotal moment in changing the narrative of community philanthropy. Since then, as a practitioner in the community philanthropy sphere, especially working in the rural context of community philanthropy,  Kerry has followed the #ShiftThePower movement and participated in and advocated for the #ShiftThePower global movement.