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Sara is passionate about building healthy communities for people and our planet. Before joining Elevate, Sara worked on the 2020 election with Work for Progress as a Campaign Associate. She canvassed voters in Colorado and provided information about candidates for state and federal elections. She also recruited new staff to join the Work for Progress campaign. Prior to her work during the 2020 campaign cycle, Sara was an Administrative Assistant for Can-SOLVE CKD, a pan-Canadian patient-oriented kidney research network. She provided administrative support for the operations team, coordinated logistics for meetings and events, and assisted in developing an online learning module about patient-oriented research and kidney research in Canada.
Sara is a volunteer for Climate Crisis Policy, where she uses her cartography skills to map membership of the coalition. Sara earned her BA in Geography with a focus on Environment and Sustainability from the University of British Columbia.
In her free time, Sara loves to cook vegetarian meals, explore the outdoors, and read books about food and plants.
Sarah came to Elevate with a drive to continue her career in public service and a passion for supporting programs and organizations that improve the quality of life for people around the country. Sarah has worked in local government in North Carolina with the Town of Boone and the Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, a regional Council of Governments. During her time in local government, Sarah worked closely with municipalities to encourage economic development, cultural resource management, and regional advocacy. Sarah has written grant applications for a variety of state and federal agencies including the Appalachian Regional Commission, FEMA, and HUD to name a few.
Sarah has her Master of Public Administration and BSBA in Marketing from Appalachian State University. A true “Boonie” at heart, Sarah can usually be found enjoying the outdoors via a kayak or hiking trail. Go, Mountaineers!
Sarah also enjoys spoiling her dachshund, Stella, and baking in her spare time. Her favorite baked good to share with friends and family is her nana’s famous pound cake.
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Taryn has a passion for learning and making the world a better place for everyone. During her time at Elevate, she has worked with a variety of educational, environmental, health, and housing clients—and now specializes in working with advocacy organizations. She is actively involved with our Learning & Development team, which aims to build a culture of learning at Elevate, and is a member of the Grant Professionals Association.
In addition to her prior grants consulting and university grants office experience, Taryn has also worked in museum administration, educational technology, and independent journalism. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher University and a BA in Humanities from Roberts Wesleyan College.
Taryn is also an exhibiting collagist, sings with a choir, and collaborates on writing projects with her husband, Tim. Together, they run Grimrose Manor—a weekly publication exploring the macabre, spooky, dark, and mysterious aspects of life—and they are also working on an updated version of their book, Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Emily came to Elevate with six years of national and international nonprofit experience in fundraising, development, and communications. Her grant writing expertise includes working with organizations with budgets over $1 million focused on Early Education, College Access, Policy, Nutrition, Voter Registration, Immigration Reform, and a host of other initiatives. Through all of her work, Emily ensures to provide technical input on grant deliverables and innovative fundraising strategies.
A native to Southeast Michigan, Emily holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Loyola University of Chicago and a BA from Capital University in Political Science with a minor in English Language. When not writing grant proposals, Emily can be found planning her next big trip or enjoying time with her adorable yellow Labrador Loki.
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Ruthie came to Elevate with a passion for creating meaningful social change, and she is excited to work with Elevate’s amazing clients to get there. Ruthie has a specific interest in creative and sustainable community development practices. While a student, Ruthie spent time in Makhanda, South Africa where she worked with various arts organizations, including The Black Power Station, researching the effects of creative economic activities on socioeconomic development. Her interest in nonprofits began when she interned at Project HOPE, an international nonprofit that works across the health spectrum, and was strengthened through her work with the arts organizations in Makhanda.
Ruthie graduated from the University of Virginia, earning her BA in Economics and Global Development Studies. She loves languages, and has studied Spanish, Arabic, and a little bit of Hebrew.
As a new DC resident, Ruthie loves exploring the city and all it has to offer. In her spare time, Ruthie enjoys spending time outdoors, attending concerts (in a COVID-free world), trying new foods, and partaking in any sort of art activity.
Ren leads Elevate’s capacity planning and staffing function within the Client Services department to ensure each client receives high-quality services. Ren also specializes in writing grants for clients on a range of issues, primarily focusing on health services, policy and advocacy, youth development, and services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Ren’s clients report that they have a knack for learning deeply about their programs and funding landscape to develop strategic grants that are highly competitive for funding. Ren draws from their own experiences as a Grant Writer to support the career development of Elevate staff.
Ren has followed a passion for promoting access to health services in the United States and abroad throughout their career. While pursuing their Master of Social Work, Ren saw how access to high-quality physical and mental health care plays a vital role in enabling individuals to achieve their fullest potential.
Before joining Elevate, they worked as a Graduate Assistant for the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program, where Ren assisted with writing grants for their programs in Liberia and Haiti. Ren was also an intern with Georgia State Representative Shelly Hutchinson, where they conducted research and wrote policy briefs related to improving access to health services, immigrant rights, and criminal justice reform.
Ren graduated from the University of Georgia with a Master of Social Work and a certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership. They also have a BS in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University.
In their free time, Ren loves doing anything outdoors! In particular, they enjoy hiking and playing ultimate frisbee.
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.
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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!
Dani has a lifelong passion for serving nonprofits. Before joining the team at Elevate, she worked in public libraries and volunteered her free time serving meals to her community’s homeless population and manning a crisis line for survivors of domestic violence. She also worked with a team of interns in Kathmandu, Nepal to raise funds for primary students at risk of losing access to schooling. Prior to her internship, she independently launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to support refugees in Greece.
Dani earned her Master of Public Administration from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, where she volunteered with the university’s Open Learning Initiative for refugees pursuing higher education. She has a Bachelor of Library and Information Science from the University of Nebraska.
When she’s not working and volunteering, Dani loves to read, crochet, and travel the world. New to the DC area, she can be found exploring the city, scoping out the best coffee shops, and sidling up to complete strangers to ask if she can please pet their dogs. Her Australian Shepherd, Bandit, is the love of her life.
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Erin is Elevate’s Associate Director of Technology & Data, managing our data and technology teams. She brings several years of experience in building out Elevate’s internal infrastructure to this role, as she has held several positions in the operations department since first joining the company in 2019. Prior to joining Elevate, Erin worked for a trade association in Washington, DC where she focused on providing excellent administrative support.
Erin graduated from The University of Vermont, where she received a double BA in Political Science and Economics. During her time at UVM, she spent three semesters performing research on the relationship between politics and the entertainment media. She also spent her last semester working as a Student Researcher for the Vermont Legislative Research Service, examining complex policy issues and providing research reports for State Legislators.
Outside of Elevate, you can find Erin volunteering as an election judge, taking her rescue dog, Carmela Soprano, for walks, and watching a lot of reality tv.
