Emerging Fundraising Leader Award — Vanessa Serratos
Vanessa Serratos (she/her) is the Development Senior Coordinator at Pacific Center for Human Growth, one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQIA+ community centers. With a background in clinical counseling, Vanessa brings a trauma-informed and relational approach to her work in development. Centering care, trust, and community healing in every aspect of donor engagement.
At Pacific Center, she leads efforts to strengthen donor relations, steward community partnerships, and coordinate the organization’s fundraising campaigns and events. Vanessa also supports grant and sponsorship management, donor communications, and major giving initiatives that sustain Pacific Center’s mission to serve and uplift LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC communities.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, pets (poodle, and two cats), traveling, and concerts!
At Pacific Center, she leads efforts to strengthen donor relations, steward community partnerships, and coordinate the organization’s fundraising campaigns and events. Vanessa also supports grant and sponsorship management, donor communications, and major giving initiatives that sustain Pacific Center’s mission to serve and uplift LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC communities.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, pets (poodle, and two cats), traveling, and concerts!
Hank Rosso Outstanding Fundraising Professional Award – Esther Landau, CFRE
Esther Landau, CFRE, is passionate about social change, inclusion, creativity, and community.
Esther attended the Oberlin Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory where she majored in flute performance. She spent years performing and teaching flute and coaching chamber ensembles, and spent one summer learning penny whistle tunes from gnarled old men in pubs in Ireland. She performed with City Winds, a wind quintet, for 15 years, and early on, began fundraising for the ensemble’s commissions and performances.
Esther moved into professional fundraising in 2004 at The Walden School, where she delighted in helping fund that program’s unique approach to teaching musicianship. She then moved on to lead development efforts at Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center where she fell head over heels for the remarkable disability community there.
Now the Senior Director of Advancement at The Arc San Francisco, she works to keep the voices of people with disabilities front and center. She dreams of a world where all of us are celebrated for who we are, where we all have access to what we need, and where equality is so widespread that fundraising and philanthropy will become unnecessary.
Esther attended the Oberlin Conservatory and the San Francisco Conservatory where she majored in flute performance. She spent years performing and teaching flute and coaching chamber ensembles, and spent one summer learning penny whistle tunes from gnarled old men in pubs in Ireland. She performed with City Winds, a wind quintet, for 15 years, and early on, began fundraising for the ensemble’s commissions and performances.
Esther moved into professional fundraising in 2004 at The Walden School, where she delighted in helping fund that program’s unique approach to teaching musicianship. She then moved on to lead development efforts at Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center where she fell head over heels for the remarkable disability community there.
Now the Senior Director of Advancement at The Arc San Francisco, she works to keep the voices of people with disabilities front and center. She dreams of a world where all of us are celebrated for who we are, where we all have access to what we need, and where equality is so widespread that fundraising and philanthropy will become unnecessary.
Outstanding Grantmaker Award — The Golden State Community Foundation
The Golden State Community Foundation, formerly known as the Warriors Community Foundation, supports education and youth development to promote thriving students, schools and communities. Since its inception in 2012, the Golden State Community Foundation has surpassed $48 million in impact to support education and youth development in the Bay Area. Generation Thrive, created in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, supports the effectiveness of nonprofits and schools through programming for educators and teachers.
Groundswell Award — Ahmed Muhammad
Ahmed Muhammad is a first-year master’s student studying Robotics and Kinematics at Stanford University. Raised in Oakland, California—and the first in his family to attend college—he believes engineering should expand equity and sustainability. He is the founder of Kits Cubed, a youth-led nonprofit whose mission is to introduce “youth to the wonders of science through fun, affordable, and accessible means.” Kits Cubed was founded in 2020, and has distributed over 50,000 science kits to date.
At Stanford, Ahmed conducts human-centered robotics research in the Assistive Robotics and Manipulation (ARM) Lab, where he works on systems that help robots perceive, plan, and safely interact with people in everyday settings to improve quality of life.
His long-term goal is to build technologies and learning experiences that reduce barriers to opportunity, particularly in underserved communities, and to help break cycles of inequality by widening access to education and technology.
When he’s not in the lab, you’ll likely find Ahmed on the basketball court, tinkering with electronic gadgets, or exploring the outdoors. He aims to spend his career building tools and organizations that create opportunity at scale.
At Stanford, Ahmed conducts human-centered robotics research in the Assistive Robotics and Manipulation (ARM) Lab, where he works on systems that help robots perceive, plan, and safely interact with people in everyday settings to improve quality of life.
His long-term goal is to build technologies and learning experiences that reduce barriers to opportunity, particularly in underserved communities, and to help break cycles of inequality by widening access to education and technology.
When he’s not in the lab, you’ll likely find Ahmed on the basketball court, tinkering with electronic gadgets, or exploring the outdoors. He aims to spend his career building tools and organizations that create opportunity at scale.
Outstanding Philanthropist Award — Quinn Delaney
Quinn Delaney is the co-founder and board chair of Akonadi Foundation, which provides support to Oakland organizations working toward racial equity. She began her philanthropic journey with a donor advised fund at the Tides Foundation, where she also served on the board. From what she learned at Tides and through her involvement with the Women Donors Network, Quinn developed a vision and strategy for her philanthropy that centers justice and equity. Through Akonadi Foundation she focuses on racial justice, funding community organizing in Oakland. Apart from Akonadi Foundation, Quinn focuses on gender equity and strengthening democracy.
Over the years Quinn has served on numerous boards as a way to support organizations and leaders, including the ACLU of Northern California, Community Change, East Bay Community Foundation, Family Violence Law Center, Pitzer College, Democracy Alliance and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. She is currently on the boards of Planned Parenthood Action, Women Donors Network Action, California Donor Table, Smart Justice CA and the Oakland Museum of California. She was appointed by President Biden to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Since 2019, she has served as a Commissioner on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
Through all these efforts, Quinn is committed to funding and supporting all aspects of movement building, which often means working across different types of organizations from charitable to advocacy to political, and at different levels of influence from local to state to national. Her goal is to help build a movement with power centered in community leaders that can build toward an equitable and prosperous world for all.
Over the years Quinn has served on numerous boards as a way to support organizations and leaders, including the ACLU of Northern California, Community Change, East Bay Community Foundation, Family Violence Law Center, Pitzer College, Democracy Alliance and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center. She is currently on the boards of Planned Parenthood Action, Women Donors Network Action, California Donor Table, Smart Justice CA and the Oakland Museum of California. She was appointed by President Biden to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Since 2019, she has served as a Commissioner on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
Through all these efforts, Quinn is committed to funding and supporting all aspects of movement building, which often means working across different types of organizations from charitable to advocacy to political, and at different levels of influence from local to state to national. Her goal is to help build a movement with power centered in community leaders that can build toward an equitable and prosperous world for all.
Outstanding Philanthropist Award — Wayne Jordan
Wayne Jordan is the founder, President, and CEO of Jordan Real Estate Investments, an Oakland-based real estate investment and development firm founded in 1998. The firm takes a long-term approach to investing, and its portfolio includes commercial, residential, mixed-use, and industrial investments and development projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Wayne is the co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of Akonadi Foundation, whose mission is to support the development of powerful social change movements to eliminate structural racism and create a racially just society. Since 2000, the family foundation has funded organizations primarily in Oakland focusing on ending the criminalization of people of color.
In addition to his work in real estate and philanthropy, Wayne is very active in local, state, and national politics. He is a board member of the California Donor Table, which works to build electoral power to sustain a progressive governing agenda in California.
An active volunteer in the community, Wayne also serves on the Board of Directors for Color of Change, Rock the Vote, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. He is active in the Donors of Color network, the Democracy Alliance and the Black Economic Alliance.
When not busy with work or volunteering in the community, Wayne is likely to be enjoying a round of golf.
Wayne is the co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of Akonadi Foundation, whose mission is to support the development of powerful social change movements to eliminate structural racism and create a racially just society. Since 2000, the family foundation has funded organizations primarily in Oakland focusing on ending the criminalization of people of color.
In addition to his work in real estate and philanthropy, Wayne is very active in local, state, and national politics. He is a board member of the California Donor Table, which works to build electoral power to sustain a progressive governing agenda in California.
An active volunteer in the community, Wayne also serves on the Board of Directors for Color of Change, Rock the Vote, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. He is active in the Donors of Color network, the Democracy Alliance and the Black Economic Alliance.
When not busy with work or volunteering in the community, Wayne is likely to be enjoying a round of golf.
Lifetime Achievement Award — Bill Somerville
Bill Somerville’s career as a maverick grantmaker spans 50 years in nonprofit work. Somerville founded Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, which specializes in creative giving programs customized to donor’s interests. Under his stewardship, PVF has distinguished itself as a leader in “venture philanthropy,” a term coined by Somerville to describe PVF’s quick-response, high-impact grant model – including immediate response grants and paperless giving.
Somerville authored Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker with Fred Setterberg. The Financial Times wrote, “In Grassroots Philanthropy, Somerville describes in engaging prose how to be an effective philanthropist. With no agenda other than his need to set things right in the world, he lays out a series of principles that can be adopted by both endowed national foundations and those with lesser means, providing they have an urge to use their wealth to improve the world. In Somerville, I found a risk-taking, venture philanthropist fused with a roll-up-his-sleeves social worker. The mixture is a philanthropic force of nature.”
As the West Coast’s senior foundation executive, Somerville has consulted with over 400 community foundations; he has taught philanthropy at Stanford University, and taught the country’s first community college level philanthropy course at Laney Community College.
Somerville authored Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker with Fred Setterberg. The Financial Times wrote, “In Grassroots Philanthropy, Somerville describes in engaging prose how to be an effective philanthropist. With no agenda other than his need to set things right in the world, he lays out a series of principles that can be adopted by both endowed national foundations and those with lesser means, providing they have an urge to use their wealth to improve the world. In Somerville, I found a risk-taking, venture philanthropist fused with a roll-up-his-sleeves social worker. The mixture is a philanthropic force of nature.”
As the West Coast’s senior foundation executive, Somerville has consulted with over 400 community foundations; he has taught philanthropy at Stanford University, and taught the country’s first community college level philanthropy course at Laney Community College.
Outstanding Fundraising Volunteer Award — Sarah Chavez-Yoell
Sarah Chavez-Yoell is the Local Government Affairs Manager for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the Board President of Youth ALIVE!, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing violence and creating opportunities for young people. Her passion for service is deeply personal. Raised by a single mother who had her at 15, Sarah grew up in poverty and often relied on the generosity of community organizations — food banks, churches, and nonprofits — that provided her family with food, clothing, and hope.
As a teenager, Sarah participated in Youth ALIVE!’s Teens on Target program, where mentors told her she was smart, capable, and destined for college — words that changed her life. She went on to become the first in her family to graduate from college and has built a career focused on connecting communities, corporations, and local governments to drive meaningful change.
In addition to her leadership at Youth ALIVE!, Sarah serves on the boards of Community Education Partnerships, The Unity Council, and Meals on Wheels Diablo Region. She lives in the East Bay with her husband, Michael, and their six-year-old daughter, Isabella. Sarah channels her professional expertise and personal story into championing the very organizations that once lifted her up, ensuring the next generation has access to the same life-changing support.
As a teenager, Sarah participated in Youth ALIVE!’s Teens on Target program, where mentors told her she was smart, capable, and destined for college — words that changed her life. She went on to become the first in her family to graduate from college and has built a career focused on connecting communities, corporations, and local governments to drive meaningful change.
In addition to her leadership at Youth ALIVE!, Sarah serves on the boards of Community Education Partnerships, The Unity Council, and Meals on Wheels Diablo Region. She lives in the East Bay with her husband, Michael, and their six-year-old daughter, Isabella. Sarah channels her professional expertise and personal story into championing the very organizations that once lifted her up, ensuring the next generation has access to the same life-changing support.
Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy — Rabia Badar
Rabia Badar is a senior at Averroes High School in Fremont, California, passionate about leadership, service, and creating meaningful change. She founded the Junior Civitans Club at her school, leading initiatives that raised over $25,000 to fight digital disparity—providing laptops to more than 120 refugee and low-income families to support online learning and access to essential resources. Her club also organized fundraisers for refugees, wildfire relief efforts, and a citywide food drive benefiting the Alameda County Food Bank. As vice president of Averroes High School, Rabia has strengthened student engagement and expanded service opportunities. Through Model United Nations and internships at immigration law offices, she developed a passion for justice and advocacy, inspiring her goal of becoming an international human rights lawyer. For her outstanding service, Rabia has received the Unsung Community Hero Award from Assemblymember Alex Lee, the Violet Richardson Award for youth leadership, and commendations from Congressman Mark DeSaulnier and Supervisor David Haubert. Beyond her advocacy work, Rabia enjoys fashion, baking, and reading, finding creative ways to blend empathy and action to make a lasting difference in her community and beyond.