November 21, 2022 Elly Grogan

Elly first joined Community Foundation Sonoma County in May 2014. Her passion and dedication to supporting our community led her to hold multiple positions across two departments, including past roles as Senior Program Officer and Director of Philanthropic Planning, and now as our Interim Vice President for Community Impact.

When Elly came to the Foundation, she knew she had the opportunity to help create something new and fill specific needs in the community, but she likely never imagined the scope.

After the 2017 wildfires devastated the county, Elly played a key role in launching our Sonoma County Resilience Fund. In collaboration with our Vice President for Community Impact, Karin Demarest, the two led a comprehensive listening tour to understand the biggest community needs, and created grantmaking strategies to ensure that the dollars we raised were going where they were needed the most.

In 2015, Elly joyfully participated in the Foundation’s launch of the Latino Leadership fund. The fund serves as a tool in the community supporting emerging community leaders from diverse backgrounds. The fund led to the creation of “On the Verge”, a 3-year cohort program where 12 emerging leaders received coaching and mentoring to help work on a shared project.

One significant effort that emerged from the program was the creation of the nonprofit organization, La Plaza. First ideated by On the Verge cohort, La Plaza now has a prominent role in Sonoma County providing consistent support to the Latinx community and leading efforts in COVID-19 response.

In 2018 Elly moved into a role in our Philanthropic Planning team, where she enjoyed working with donors to help support their philanthropy and more deeply incorporate their values into their giving. Elly left the foundation in 2020, returning in late 2022 to take on a new role as Interim Vice President for Community Impact.