Susan Kleinman, Founder and CEO
Susan has over two decades of experience in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. As a consultant, Susan helps nonprofit clients to strengthen their foundation, corporate, and government fundraising efforts. Before launching her consulting practice in 2011, Susan spent five years at Team-Up for Youth (now CoachingCorps), where she served as Senior Program Officer and as Program Director for Evaluation and Policy. Prior to that, Susan spent six years as Coordinator of The San Francisco Foundation's Koshland Civic Unity Program, where she was responsible for grant making as well as providing technical assistance to grantees in fundraising, program development, and strategic planning. Susan received a Master's Degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Women's Studies from Wesleyan University.
Patricia Bentson, Senior Vice President
Pat has worked in fundraising, communications, and community relations in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years. Previously, Pat served as Director of Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, an international nonprofit at the heart of the art/science community of artists, scientists, educators, and theorists. Her roles at Leonardo encompassed nonprofit management, strategic planning, and financial oversight; fundraising and communications; program development; and serving as Managing Editor of peer-reviewed art/science journals and books published by the MIT Press. Pat earned a B.S. in Journalism with a Photojournalism concentration at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she also studied Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design.
Julia Epstein, Senior Associate
Julia has more than 15 years of experience in media relations and fundraising for national public interest legal services organizations and community-based social justice nonprofits. She served as Director of Development & Communications at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, and at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund in Berkeley, CA. Prior to her development career, Julia taught at Haverford College, where she was Barbara Riley Levin Professor of Comparative Literature and chaired the joint Haverford–Bryn Mawr Comparative Literature Program. She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University and a B.A. from Washington University.
Kate Levin, Associate
Kate has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than a dozen years, serving primarily in development roles with social service organizations where she managed corporate, individual, and foundation giving, special events, communications, and marketing. Kate got her start in fundraising with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Burlington, Camden, & Gloucester Counties in Southern New Jersey, and later served as Development Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia. In 2014, she moved to the West Coast to work with the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health and later served as Director of Development for the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. Kate earned her B.A. in History from the University of Puget Sound and her M.S. in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE).
Anna Couey, Associate
Anna has over 20 years of experience in organizational development and fundraising for social justice and cultural nonprofits. She previously served as Development Director for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy organization led by formerly incarcerated people. At DataCenter, a research justice organization, she helped build a racially diverse shared leadership structure and served in a core leadership role that included fundraising, finance, management, and program development responsibilities. Anna’s prior work focused on developing online communications projects for artists, the arts community, youth, and social justice activists. She holds a B.A. from Scripps College in Art and Comparative Literature.