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New Board Members Bring Fresh Perspective, Unique Experiences to Community Initiatives

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Meet the three new members of our board and join us as we thank two departing members for their service


Community Initiatives is proud to welcome three new board members. These individuals reflect our diverse ecosystem and are both willing and able to tap into their wide range of work and life experiences to support our broad scope of project partners.

In January, new members Abbas Moloo, Barbara Rhomberg and Dee Dee Mendoza attended their first board meeting. We would like to introduce them to you, and share a bit about their professional backgrounds and expertise, all of which we feel will greatly add to our organization. You can read all of our board members’ bios here. 

Abbas Moloo, Senior Field Vice President at Mutual of America Financial Group, brings nearly 20 years of financial services experience to the board. He spends his days providing employer-sponsored retirement plans, his passion leads him to work to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged people in East Africa through his foundation, Help Aid Africa. 

“I think that I have a lot to learn when it comes to Fiscal Sponsorship; at the same time I can also provide my expertise as it relates to nonprofit management,” said Abbas. “I am familiar with Community Initiatives and its staff, I think they are a wonderful group of dedicated employees.” 

Barbara Rhomberg is a partner in Kavanagh Rhomberg LLP, a law firm representing nonprofit organizations as well as their donors. Her extensive work spans a broad cross-section of the legal and financial aspects involved with the formation of nonprofits. This experience includes guidance on tax-exempt status, giving, lobbying and campaign limits, grant compliance, endowments and donor-restricted funds, nonprofit corporate governance, nonprofit mergers and dissolutions. We look forward to learning from her wealth of experience working in multiple legal levels of the nonprofit sector.

Dee Dee Mendoza directs West Coast Advancement for Dartmouth College, where she continues to build on her more than 20 years of development experience to underpin nonprofits and higher education.

“I’m excited to support Community Initiatives and its portfolio of organizations! I hope to cross-pollinate some of the ideas and strategies of leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors,” said Dee Dee. 

Dee Dee’s work blends entrepreneurship, philanthropy and education which she utilizes to assist universities as well as new entrepreneurs to engage in philanthropy.

“Community Initiatives is helping the next generation of nonprofit innovators and problem solvers test their models, and focus on delivering and improving their services,” she said. “I want to help build a strong Oakland for my children, and a strong community needs a robust nonprofit sector. I see Community Initiatives as an important factor in that equation.”

Saying thank you and goodbye to two excellent board members

Our board members rotate regularly. After a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms, members cycle out and new ones are appointed. We have found this process keeps our thought leadership fresh and enhances our community perspective. 

We greatly appreciate those who dedicated their time to assist us in our work. We thank Evan Boido and Zoe Hunton, two-valued board members who departed from the board this fiscal year and whose generous guidance we will certainly miss. 

Community Initiatives has greatly benefited from the support and expertise Evan Boido brought during her tenure. She helped us as we made transitions to improve our services through technology and staffing. With her input, we were able to find a better understanding of how to make sure our fiscal sponsorship model could be scaled to support projects, no matter the size. Her belief in the work we do is backed by her special distinction of being our #1 fan on Facebook.

“As a Human Resources consultant, I often consulted with small nonprofit organizations that I believe would have been better served by being fiscally sponsored,” said Evan. “My hope is that Community Initiatives and fiscal sponsorship will transform the nonprofit sector to enable nonprofit organizations to focus on what they do best and be better able to achieve their goals.”  

Our other departing member, Zoe Hunton, provided extensive knowledge from her experience running Hunton Law, which advises nonprofits, charitable foundations, and social purpose businesses on corporate legal matters and social impact strategy. Her work with Community Initiatives includes referring projects and talented consultants to us. She also provided guidance on legal questions and issues. 

Zoe’s great appreciation of fiscal sponsorship can be seen in her promotion of Community Initiatives in her own legal practice. Her participation with the board is reflected in her contributions including the work she completed serving in two different committees, chairing one and co-chairing the other. We look forward to continuing networking with her as she joins the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as their in-house counsel. 

We are grateful for the service both Evan and Zoe contributed toward Community Initiatives’ mission. While their leadership and dedication will be missed, we’re excited to participate in our new board members’ vision and guidance helps us to shape our future.

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