The Giving Practice offers seasoned creative philanthropic professionals who are integrated into an organization serving hundreds of foundations and corporations. Together, the experts listed below have more than a half century of experience supporting the philanthropic needs of individuals, foundations and corporations throughout the Northwest.

Claire Bishop helped to establish The Giving Practice in 2001 following her stint as the “start-up” program officer for The Ford Family Foundation in Oregon, where she designed and implemented the Foundation’s statewide grantmaking program. Prior to her time in Oregon, she directed Health and Human Services Giving and Community Initiatives at Safeco Insurance for eleven years. A WSU grad in Anthropology and Political Science, Claire served as executive director of The Spokane Food Bank and the Spokane City/County Historic Preservation Program. Claire volunteers with the Children’s Alliance, serving as president–elect.  Contact: 206.799.8563; cbishop@PhilanthropyNW.org

Barbara Dingfield, a partner since 2001, was Director of Community Affairs at Microsoft from 1994 to 1999, developing Microsoft’s national and international philanthropic programs. Prior to this, Barbara spent 7 years with the City of Seattle and 14 years as executive vice president of Wright Runstad & Co., a real estate development company. She serves on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Seattle; NPower; and on the Sound Families Steering Committee, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Barbara has a B.A. from Swarthmore College and a Masters in Economics from Columbia University.   Contact: 206.282.0669; barbarajd@msn.com

Anne Green joined The Giving Practice in January 2008 as the newest partner.  Anne has extensive experience with developing national grantmaking programs and building partnerships, alliances and communications strategies. Past clients include the AOL Time Warner Foundation, Grantmakers in the Arts, the Packard Foundation, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Safeco Insurance. Most recently, Ms. Green served as acting senior policy and advocacy officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She currently serves on the board of ONE/Northwest.  Anne received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BA with honors in American Studies from Wellesley College. Contact 206.285.3417; agreen@PhilanthropyNW.org

Jennifer Bright has spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, working with local, regional, national and international nonprofits. She has served as a CEO, deputy CEO, fundraiser and program manager, as well as a board member and volunteer. Her work experience includes the Northwest Regional Primary Care Association, a four-state association of community clinics, where she was a program manager and then deputy director; and NPower, a community-based organization providing technology services to the nonprofit sector, where she served as deputy director and managed a $10 million initiative to expand from a local organization to a national federation. Jennifer currently works as a Principal at Social Market Strategies and serves as a nonprofit management consultant, trainer and professional interim CEO. She has developed a reputation as a versatile, practical, and highly productive leader and manager, with the ability to get things done, navigate organizations through times of transition, and support boards of directors in their strategic planning and executive search processes. Contact: 206.443.8430; jbright@PhilanthropyNW.org

Joan Fanning has over 15 years experience working in a variety of leadership capacities in the nonprofit sector. She has served as a CEO, CIO, program manager, analyst, direct service provider and fundraiser as well as a board member and volunteer. She was the founding CEO of the NPower Network, a national nonprofit organization providing technology capacity building services to the nonprofit sector. During her tenure with NPower, Joan led all aspects of the organization from vision setting, strategy development and implementation, recruiting and retaining talented staff and board, fiscal management and fund development to successfully managing organizational change in periods of rapid growth and national replication. Prior to NPower, Joan worked with a variety of social service organizations, leading and helping with IT and direct service related change management processes. Joan currently works as a Principal at Social Market Strategies, primarily helping nonprofits and foundations with strategic and business planning, managing change and understanding their impact. She has developed a reputation as visionary yet practical leader, with very strong managerial, financial management and analytical skills. Joan excels in helping organizations identify possibilities and clarify their vision, prioritize these possibilities and create compelling, sound and practical business plans to realize their vision. Contact: 206.443.8430; jfanning@PhilanthropyNW.org

John Smith has 20 years of for-profit and nonprofit business experience ranging from IT management to nonprofit leadership positions. He has served as Board Chair, Program Director, Program Analyst and fundraiser for health, human services, and community services organizations. John’s leadership and group facilitation skills, combined with his strong analytical and project management skills, enable him to help his teams, and his clients, to ask the right questions and implement solutions quickly and effectively. As the Director of Consulting for NPower Seattle for five years (1999-2004), John helped design, implement and manage an earned-income social enterprise designed to provide high-quality technology consulting to nonprofits in the Puget Sound. This opportunity enabled John and his team to help over 500 large and small nonprofits working in a variety of sectors. John currently works as a Principal at Social Market Strategies, helping nonprofits and foundations with strategic and business planning, and market planning and research. John has developed a reputation as an effective project leader and group facilitator with strong analytical skills and a market orientation. John is effective at helping organizations rationalize their strategy in light of a deeper understanding of the customer and the market. In his consulting work, John enjoys synthesizing complex organizational information into coherent strategies that are simple and concrete. Contact: 206.443.8430; jsmith@PhilanthropyNW.org

Katie Briggs joined The Giving Practice in January 2007 as a Junior Partner.  Prior to joining The Giving Practice, Katie worked with Philanthropy Northwest, publishing Trends in Northwest Giving, a biennial report on philanthropic giving in the Northwest. Katie completed her Masters at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington in 2006. She has a B.A. in International Political Economy from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.  Contact: 206.443.8430; kbriggs@PhilanthropyNW.org 

Ruth W. Massinga joined The Giving Practice as a Senior Advisor in 2006, following her retirement as President and CEO of Casey Family Programs. While there, she was the founding Chair of the Board for Marguerite Casey Foundation. Ruth also served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Resources, and as Executive Director of the Social Services Administration of that department. She was the Deputy Director of the Child Development Associate Consortium in Washington, D.C., and was Director of Berkeley Children's Services. a resource development and referral organization. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Services from Boston University.  Contact: 206.726.8870; ruth.ma@comcast.net 

Carol Lewis is the CEO of Philanthropy Northwest and serves as the Managing Partner of The Giving Practice. Carol most recently served as Corporate Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer for Coinstar, Inc. Carol also served as executive director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and as the City of Seattle’s Deputy Mayor under former Mayor Charles Royer. She currently serves on the boards of the Seattle Parks Foundation, Washington Women's Foundation, the Nesholm Family Foundation, and as a trustee for Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. Carol earned a BA in Economics and Political Science at Stanford University, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. Contact: 206.443.8431; clewis@PhilanthropyNW.org