Elena brings to Elevate a passion for nonprofits and nonprofit leadership as a catalyst for social change. Prior to joining Elevate, Elena worked for nonprofits in Denmark and the US, in the global health, environmental, civic engagement, and democracy sectors. Her development experience includes direct marketing, building fundraising capacity, major gifts, and grants at organizations such as Indivisible, League of Conservation Voters and League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and Greenpeace.
Elena holds an MSc in Technological and Socio-Economic Planning from Roskilde University, Denmark, and a BA in History and Russian Studies from Bucknell University. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Transformative Social Change.
When not wrapped up in the world of grants, Elena loves to read, spend time with the family dogs and cats, and stream British TV and movies while enjoying a cup of Yorkshire Gold tea. She also enjoys growing wildflowers and native plants, reformer Pilates, and interrupting her husband whenever he watches YouTube videos.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
As an undergrad, Katherine’s (Kate’s) university required students to run simulated businesses “selling widgets” to reinforce best practices. She quickly learned that simply “selling widgets” was not a career path she wanted for her future. Searching for more mission driven work, she was drawn to fundraising. She has a background in fundraising for a variety of cause areas: including human services, early education, advocacy, as well as higher education institutions. Kate understands strengthening the nonprofit sector has a ripple effect across communities that can bring powerful change. She is excited to work for Elevate whose mission so strongly aligns with these values.
Prior to joining the Elevate team, Kate managed the stewardship of endowed funds at Georgetown University Law Center. She also spent five years working for United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey supporting the nonprofit sector in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. Kate earned her BS in Business Administration from Drexel University with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Sociology. Additionally, she holds a certificate in Social Responsibility in Business from Drexel University.
Outside the office, Kate enjoys teaching yoga, exploring new studios to expand her own yoga practice, and spending time with friends and family – especially at the beach!
Emily brings to Elevate a passion for research, writing, and philanthropy. Her wide-ranging experience includes working as a development professional for both small community-based nonprofits and prominent international institutions such as the International Rescue Committee and World Food Program USA. Emily specializes in grant composition, management, and prospecting, with an emphasis on researching and securing new funding sources. She is knowledgeable about issue areas concerning human rights, food security, refugee resettlement, and sexual assault victim advocacy.
In 2013, Emily graduated from Berry College with a BA in International Studies. Most recently, Emily earned a Master of Science in Human Rights and International Politics at the University of Glasgow. While in graduate school, Emily conducted original research on applied human rights theory and food insecurity in Central Appalachia.
In her spare time, Emily is an avid artist, extrovert, online shopper, television viewer, and yarn enthusiast.
Caroline brings a background in project management for pharmaceutical clients and grant writing and management in the nonprofit sector. At Elevate, she manages teams of grant writers and coordinators and mentors them so their work shines, all in the effort to secure funding for worthy causes.
Caroline graduated with a BA in Communications from George Mason University and earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
In her free time, Caroline enjoys helping others in a variety of ways and most of all, likes spending time with her family. She can be found cooking, dancing, or walking outside most of the time.
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Jaime joined Elevate in 2019 as a Grant Writer, moved up to the Associate Director & Senior Grant Writer position in 2021, and most recently advanced to Grant Specialist. She has five years of experience with grant writing, starting with interning at Washington Performing Arts and taking fundraising courses at American University, and over one year of experience directing teams at Elevate. Jaime brings strategic thinking, research, detail, examples, and creativity to the proposals and reports she develops and reviews for other grant writers, giving a compelling picture of clients’ organizations and programs, and how they align with funders’ priorities.
Jaime earned her Master’s in Arts Management from American University and brings her knowledge of managing nonprofit arts organizations to her work at Elevate. Jaime’s portfolio at Elevate has included proposal development and fundraising strategy around equity in public education, democracy and voting rights, workforce development, arts education, arts and humanities projects, stormwater management, immigration, refugee resettlement, Holocaust survivor services, and food security. Jaime likes to work in a quiet, cold, dimly lit room. She enjoys running, ice cream, reality television, brunch with mimosas, University of Kentucky basketball and football, and her brilliant Elevate teammates and friends.
Dawn Goodman’s nonprofit service in the Washington metropolitan region spans three decades. As a consultant and former trainer of the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, Dawn has helped dozens of arts, education, research, and healthcare organizations increase program efficacy, public awareness, and organizational funding in innovative and sustainable ways. Dawn has successfully strategized and written grant applications for start-up nonprofits and large institutions like National Minority AIDS Council, The Foundation Schools and Inova Health Systems. Most recently, Dawn has cultivated several strong corporate funding and program content relationships for Arts on the Block — a powerhouse social enterprise creating real workforce infrastructure in the creative economy.
Dawn received her BA in Journalism with a minor in Sociology from Washington DC’s Howard University, where she was the copy editor of the Bison newspaper. Nearly 30 years later, she earned her Master of Divinity (cum laude) from Capital Seminary.
A serial-volunteer, Dawn’s time away from Elevate is spent serving her local congregation, mentoring through partnerships with regional nonprofits and governmental agencies (like Prince George’s County Jail), and supporting the diversity and capacity-building efforts of Greenbelt Community Foundation,
Dawn also loves spending time with her adult children Jordan (the writer) and Jared (the artist), and her sorority sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Bowling, Words with Friends and Netflix docs all have rooms in her happy place.
Rashida brings to Elevate more than 19 years of experience in grant writing, program planning, research, evaluation, and nonprofit management. She has a passion for working on issues related to health disparities, reproductive justice, and gender equity.
Before joining the Elevate team, Rashida served as the Director of Fundraising and Development at AIDS United. Prior to that, she was on the grants team at the United Way of Central Maryland.
Over the past ten years, Rashida has worked domestically and internationally to develop and implement various education, social service, and public health intervention activities.
In her free time, Rashida can be found reading, seeking out good coffee, and spending time with friends and family.
Stacy brings to Elevate a desire to help nonprofit organizations achieve success through strong and stable funding. As a senior director at Elevate, Stacy supports a variety of nonprofit clients, including those working in early childhood education, higher education, human services, and veteran support. She has experience working with both direct service and advocacy clients to obtain national and regional/local funding. Stacy has a background in public policy and grant writing and worked for over 10 years at the U.S. Department of Education. She also worked as a grant writing consultant, helping public schools develop and write successful grant applications for government and foundation funding in order for them to fulfill their mission of providing all students with a high-quality education.
Stacy holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland where she won a fellowship for her work in the School of Public Policy, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and other honor societies.
Outside of her role at Elevate, Stacy enjoys watching her children’s extracurricular activities, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
Francesca brings a deep-rooted passion for social justice and direct service to Elevate. With more than five years of strategic fundraising experience, she loves supporting clients in finding the resources necessary to actualize their missions and visions.
As a Director at Elevate, Francesca leads client teams of all sizes, providing development and institutional fundraising expertise to organizations working on a range of issues, including housing rights and support for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, community development, traditional and alternative education, aging in place, and career and workforce development.
Francesca holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from American University and earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island, minoring in Spanish and Social and Criminal Justice. Outside of Elevate, Francesca loves to cook, pickle, roast, ferment, and explore every corner of the culinary and real world for new recipes.
Megan has a deep-rooted passion for environmental causes, with a particular interest in sustainable development and environmental justice. She came to Elevate after completing a PhD in Geography and Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Megan has worked and interned extensively in the environmental nonprofit world, including at the Nature Conservancy, and experienced firsthand the need for strategic and effective fundraising. After deciding to leave academia, she felt called to the nonprofit development world. She is excited to use her extensive research, writing, and strategizing experience to support this critical work.
Megan earned an MSc in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London, an MA in Environmental Management from Harvard University, and a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia. Amidst her academic pursuits, she spent time in Costa Rica as an environmental conservation educator in local primary schools.
Having lived between both the US and UK throughout her life, she is excited to be putting down roots in DC. She is actively discovering all the incredible jazz, art, and parks the city has to offer. Outside of her day job, Megan can be found running, hiking, figure drawing, listening to live music, blogging about all things sustainability, or over caffeinating at a local coffee shop. She recently joined the DC Chapter of the Citizen Climate Lobby and volunteers at Sustainable DC.
