The future of the philanthropy field is contingent on new practitioners learning and excelling in the field. The Forum is committed to being a source of knowledge and guidance for new philanthropy-serving organization (PSO) professionals through our newest network – Emerging Practitioners Peer Community. If you have resources to share, please share them online or by emailing Brandon Iracks-Edelin.
Emerging Practitioners Peer Community
The Emerging Practitioners Peer Community is designed for those with less than five years of experience in the philanthropy field.
- Emerging Practitioners Listserv (emergingpractitioners@lists.unitedphilforum.org)- You must be a member of the Forum & this Peer Community to post to this list.
- Three round-robin calls per year
- In-person meeting at Forum’s Annual Conference
Interested in joining this Peer Community? Submit your email address on the form at the bottom of the Our Networks page.
Forum Staff Lead: Ivana Bikombe (202) 869-4327 and Brandon Iracks-Edelin (202-991-5217)
Co-Chairs
Jocelyn Bissonnette, The Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation
Jocelyn Bissonnette is the Director of the Funders Census Initiative at FCCP. For nearly a decade, she served as Director of Policy & Advocacy for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS), where she represented public school districts that encompassed American Indian reservations and military installations before Congress and the Administration. At NAFIS, she led the organization’s grassroots and grasstops advocacy, engaging members across the country and national stakeholders in several successful advocacy campaigns around the $1.4 billion Impact Aid program, school infrastructure investments, and private school vouchers.
Jocelyn earned a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters in Policy Management from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where her capstone focused on the undercount risk of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 2020 Census.
Katy Pelissier, Southern California Grantmakers
Katy Pelissier is responsible for developing and implementing programs and conferences at SCG, and supports peer networking and collaboration.
Prior to joining SCG, Katy spent eight years in the Pacific Northwest working in the nonprofit sector on local food and agriculture issues, including business development for regenerative farmers and ranchers and increasing local food procurement in school meals. She has deep experience managing both public and private grant awards, and enjoys coordinating diverse coalitions and partnerships. Katy graduated from the University of Oregon with B.A.s in Family & Human Services and Theatre Arts. She joined SCG in 2019.