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HRFN Executive Director Transition

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Today, HRFN announced the leadership transition for Ana María Enríquez. Read her message below. As a team, we want to recognize the joy and beauty Ana María has brought out our network. Her relentless activism, support of racial justice, feminist social change, and Global South leadership informs HRFN’s new vision. We are proud of the work we have done together, fully supportive of this important decision, and dedicated to continuing to advance resourcing that moves our field toward just and open philanthropy.


 

Dear HRFN community,

It is with great excitement that I am reaching out today to invite you to join me in welcoming Kellea Miller as HRFN’s Interim Executive Director as I begin my transition journey. Coming from a place of love and possibility, I’m stepping down from this role to pursue self-care, to spend time with my family as my son grows into an adult, and to continue to focus on local activism in my country and region. I have been working over several months to plan this transition with our staff and Steering Committee and leave with deep gratitude.

I started with HRFN on March 6, 2020, as the COVID pandemic was starting to rage across the globe.  Over the past two years, we have found creative ways to gather, brought together voices from righteous uprisings around the world, and built a new vision of just and open philanthropy.

This work has not always been easy. I remain concerned about the disconnect between rhetoric and reality when it comes to funding racial justice, particularly organizations led by Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, and by migrants across the world. We all have a very long way to go in our anti-racist work, including in our own philanthropic institutions. I watch the dance between civil society mobilization, intersecting forms of oppression, and authoritarian crack down replay around the world. And yet I continue to believe that we, this beautiful community, can shift power and drive resources to the movements and partners actively crafting a more just world.

This decision feels possible because of HRFN’s inspiring team and because you – our members – are showing up powerfully to transform our field. Together, our work continues.

It is an honor to pass leadership on to Dr. Kellea Miller, who HRFN’s Steering Committee has appointed as Interim Executive Director for the next year. Many of you know Kellea from her two decades in feminist and social justice funding. Kellea’s contributions to the field include leading groundbreaking programs for global LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, advocating for power shifting within the feminist funding ecosystem, and relentlessly working to make funding data relevant, accessible, and actionable for movements and funders. Kellea has been a co-conspirator and co-leader with me at HRFN, and our new vision is truly a collaboration. After this year, HRFN’s staff and Steering Committee will determine the leadership structure that we need to meet the new moment in philanthropy and human rights.

Finally, I want to recognize each of the members of HRFN’s staff and Steering Committee – the soul of HRFN’s vision. You can see our amazing team here.

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Check out this great interview between Ana Maria and Kellea with the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TAI) team on advocating and leading conversations to strengthen the human rights funding field.

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