Vanessa Elkan (she, her, hers) joined PEAK Grantmaking as the senior knowledge and learning manager in June 2023. In this role, she oversees the development of PEAK’s educational content, knowledge-sharing, and community engagement strategies that support the leadership and skill development of our members and emergent learning network in philanthropy.
Vanessa brings over 17 years of experience managing grantmaking, leadership development, and research initiatives in philanthropy and government. She began her career as a funder at United Way for Greater Atlanta advocating for high-quality aftershool programming and increased access in Georgia. She worked for eight years after at the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), advocating for social justice and a high-quality education for all people in the South. As SEF’s director of strategic initiatives for the office of the president, she managed the leadership development initiative and developed research, policy analysis, and regional learning networks advancing early childhood education and ending the school-to-prison pipeline across the southern United States. After SEF, Vanessa served as the program officer of resource deployment for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, where she led grantmaking programs for education initiatives and the scholarships program to ensure greater equity and opportunity for all communities.
She holds a master’s in public policy degree from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. She earned bachelor’s degrees in history and sociology from the University of Oregon’s Robert D. Clark Honors College. Vanessa lives in Portland, Oregon, with her significant other, Justino, dog, Rudy, and cat, Bernie. When she isn’t refereeing the animals, she enjoys traveling, home improvement projects, baking, and spending time with her family.
