Co-founder

Jeff Raikes is the co-founder of the Raikes Foundation with his wife, Tricia. The foundation works toward a just and inclusive society where all young people have the support they need to reach their full potential. Key areas of focus include creating a more equitable education system so all students can thrive, preventing and ending youth homelessness nationwide, and helping individual donors and philanthropic organizations increase the impact of their giving.
Jeff is the former CEO of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, where he led the foundation’s efforts to promote equity for people around the world. Before joining the foundation, Jeff was president of Microsoft’s Business Division and served as a member of the company’s senior leadership team that set the overall strategy and direction for the firm. He began his career with Microsoft in 1981 and was instrumental in creating the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications.
Currently, he is part of the ownership group of the Seattle Mariners and serves on its board. He also serves on the boards of Costco Wholesale Corporation, the Raikes School at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Green Diamond Resource Company, EpiCrop Technologies, EpiMethyl Analytics, and Hudl. After ten years of board service, Jeff is Chair Emeritus of Stanford University.

Jeff Raikes

Co-Founder

Tricia Raikes is the co-founder of the Raikes Foundation with her husband, Jeff. She is a philanthropist, advocate and executive who collaborates with communities, government and business leaders to advance racial justice and equity in our country. Tricia believes that progress on our most enduring challenges requires investing in leaders with lived expertise, strong field experience and strategic advocacy.
Inspired by the values they were raised with, Jeff and Tricia's Foundation focuses on transforming youth-serving systems to be more equitable and accessible so that all young people can achieve healthy life outcomes and increased agency. Tricia’s background is in marketing communications, and she previously led Creative Services at Microsoft.
A longtime advocate for research universities, Tricia serves on the advisory boards for Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, Stanford’s Undergraduate Cabinet, and the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska. She is also part of the ownership group of the Seattle Mariners. 
Tricia was recognized as a White House Champion of Change by President Obama for her work to prevent and end youth homelessness.

Tricia Raikes

Executive Director

Dennis Quirin is the executive director of the Raikes Foundation. Dennis oversees the Foundation’s work in advancing equity and sets the organization’s priorities on strategy, grantmaking and partnerships. In 2023 he established the Resourcing Equity and Democracy (RED) department at the Foundation to compliment the foundation's long-standing and successful focus on improving youth serving systems. RED focuses on building a representative, multiracial democracy through base organizing. While at the Raikes Foundation, Dennis has overseen the grant approval process moving 125 million dollars to hundreds of nonprofits to advance the Foundation’s work.   

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2019, Dennis was the president of the Neighborhood Funders Group, where he led the organization’s strategy, partnership development, budgeting, and overall management.  

Dennis has spent more than two decades supporting social and racial equity as a funder, campaigner, fundraiser, and organizer through a variety of roles in California and nationally. Specifically, he designed and led the Race and Equity Collaborative at the Proteus Fund and was on the senior leadership teams at Californians for Justice, and the government reform initiative California Forward. He got his start in social equity and social impact work as a fellow at Public Allies and as a community organizer at Aids Healthcare Foundation and Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE). He has worked on a variety of political campaigns, ballot initiatives, and other special projects. He currently serves on the boards of the Common Counsel Foundation, Way To Rise, and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. Dennis is a proud Alumni of Carleton College where he earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts.

Dennis Quirin

Director, Youth Homelessness

Casey Trupin is the director of the Raikes Foundation’s youth homelessness strategy, which supports efforts in Washington state as well as national approaches to ensure that all youth have a safe and stable place to live. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Casey was the directing attorney for the Children and Youth Project at Columbia Legal Services, where he engaged in litigation, legislative advocacy and other systemic initiatives to improve outcomes for children, youth and adults experiencing homelessness, as well as those in foster care and the justice system. 
Casey has chaired a number of national initiatives related to children and youth, including the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Homelessness and Poverty and the ABA’s Children’s Rights Litigation Committee. He has also authored and edited numerous books and articles on adolescents and the law, and in 2011, was awarded the ABA’s Distinguished Lawyer Child Advocacy Award. Casey has worked on issues related to youth experiencing homelessness since 1994 in Seattle, California, Washington D.C. and throughout Latin America. 
Casey earned his doctor of law degree from the University of Washington School of Law and completed his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College.

Casey Trupin

Program Assistant

Denise Thomas is a program assistant at the Raikes Foundation, where she provides administrative support to the Youth-Serving Systems team at the Raikes Foundation.

Denise Thomas

Program Officer, Education

Dina Blum is the program officer of the Raikes Foundation’s national education strategy, where she is responsible for the organization’s post-secondary education portfolio, including the cornerstone initiative, <a href="https://studentexperienceproject.org/resources/copilot-ascend/">The Student Experience Project</a>. 
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2016, Dina was an associate professor at Heritage University, where she served as associate dean of the college of education, chair of educational administration and facilitator with HU’s Center for Intercultural Learning and Teaching. She began her career as a middle school teacher and has 20+ years of experience in a variety of public and private sector roles in PK-20 education to advance equity and justice. She is passionate about supporting systems change that centers student experience to create equitable learning experiences and outcomes. 
Dina earned her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Washington, earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, and a master’s degree from Lesley University.

Dina Blum

Chief of Staff

Fatima joined the Raikes Foundation as chief of staff in 2020 and is passionate about creating the context and environment for people to do their best work. At the Foundation, Fatima manages all the systems and processes that support the programmatic and operational goals of the organization, including strategic planning, organizational learning and culture.
Fatima has spent much of her career supporting young people to thrive in their communities. Prior to joining the foundation, Fatima was the Director of Operations at Casey Family Programs, working primarily to streamline public data, fiscal and reporting systems to identify factors that create a transformative child well-being system that supports children, families, and their communities.
After immigrating to the United States from the United Arab Emirates, Fatima completed her BA in Economics in New York, moved to the Pacific Northwest and completed her MA in Public Administration at Seattle University. Fatima lives in West Seattle with her husband and two daughters.

Fatima Gulamali

Director, National Education Strategy

Gini Pupo-Walker is the Director of National Education Strategy at the Raikes Foundation where she helps design strategies that advance K-12 and post-secondary systems that work for every student. She has been an educator and advocate for over 20 years, most recently serving as the founding Executive Director for the Education Trust - Tennessee, where she worked alongside partners, students, and advocates to increase educational opportunity and achievement for historically underserved students. 
She previously worked as the Senior Director of Education Policy and Programs at Conexión Américas and prior to that as the Executive Director of Family and Community Partnerships for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Gini began her career as a high school teacher, working in Seattle, San Diego, and Nashville. Gini was elected to the school board for Metro Nashville Public Schools, serving one term from 2018-2022, and she was the first Latino/a school board member in Tennessee. 
She has a B.A. in Spanish and an M.A. in History from Indiana University and an M.A. in Education Administration from Tennessee State University. Gini is a 2012 graduate of Leadership Nashville and a 2018 graduate of Leadership Tennessee. She is married to Eddie Wright-Rios, a professor of Latin American history at Vanderbilt University, and is the proud mother of two grown children who live in Panama and Chattanooga.

Gini Pupo-Walker

Director, Grants Management

Kori Dunaway is the director of grants management at the Raikes Foundation, where she works closely with program officers to support key initiatives and oversees grants and contract management for the organization. 
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2012, she served as the senior development program manager at Washington STEM, a statewide nonprofit organization devoted to advancing science, technology, engineering and math education. Previously, she managed business and operations for Partnership for Learning, led T-Mobile's national internship program and supported Washington Mutual's regional and national corporate giving. 
Kori has roots in the Midwest, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business from Kansas State University.

Kori Dunaway

Communications Officer

Kristen has spent her career working in policy and political communications for nonprofits and advocacy campaigns at the state and national level. She has worked on a broad range of issues including health care, immigration, environmental justice, community safety, and economic security. Most recently, she served as Communications Director for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility where she oversaw the organization's communications strategy across its C3, C4, and PAC arms. She believes effective communications can make complex issues accessible and help all our communities thrive. She is looking forward to putting her skills to work in support of the Raikes Foundation's mission.
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kristen can now be found in Seattle working very hard to keep her plants alive. She enjoys seeing live music, exploring new places through food, and talking about her bean club. She holds a B.A. in political science and journalism from Emory University.

Kristen Ellingboe

Maegan provides administrative support to the Education team, assists the Youth Serving Systems Department, and is a vital member of the Foundation managing a variety of projects to keep our programmatic work moving, including assisting with education-related grants management.
Maegan comes to the Foundation after almost eight years at University of Washington in the Executive Office of the President and Provost. During her time there she has managed constituent relations, project managed events and key initiatives, and provided direct support to the Chief of Staff &amp; Chief Administrative Officer. She is also a proud UW alum who recently graduated with a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership &amp; Policy Studies. Maegan is excited to embark on a new journey as part of the Raikes Foundation, where she looks forward to leveraging her schooling, passions, and administrative expertise as an integral member of the Education Team.
When she's not working, Maegan enjoys spending quality time with family and friends exploring local breweries and restaurants, playing board games, watching movies, reading books, and enjoying live music and games. Her daily hobbies include taking long walks and dancing to music from the Disney movie Encanto with her one-year-old son, Jude, and husband, Steven. In addition, she has two adorable and fluffy Siberian cats named Phoebe and Joey. Originally from Southern California, she has called Seattle home for the past 12 years and continues to explore all the Emerald City has to offer.

Maegan Reilly

Senior Director, Resourcing Equity & Democracy

Maria De La Cruz is the Senior Director for the Resourcing Equity &amp; Democracy portfolio at the Raikes Foundation. She joins Raikes from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), where she served as Vice-President and Chief External Affairs Officer overseeing strategic development as well as communications and marketing efforts. A seasoned executive leader, resource mobilizer, and philanthropic organizer, Maria is passionate about moving money to those with the least wealth, opportunity, and power. 
Previously, Maria worked at Headwaters Foundation for Justice (HFJ). While at HFJ, Maria served in several leadership roles including as a board member of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, the co-chair of the Impact Driven Philanthropy Collaborative, and a co-chair of the Giving Project Network. Committed to the values of racial justice and collective liberation, she led HFJ's Fund of the Sacred Circle, a community-led grant program committed to Native communities in Minnesota, and she launched the Emergency Fund for Black Lives to support Black-led community organizing in the wake of the murders of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile. 
After the murder of George Floyd, Maria sprung to action organizing individual donors and institutional funders to move millions of dollars to frontline groups organizing for racial justice. She also served on the design and core teams of Freedom Funders, a national network working to build philanthropy dedicated to Black Freedom. 
Maria holds a bachelor's degree in women's studies from Metropolitan State University, a master's degree in nonprofit management from Hamline University School of Business, and a juris doctorate from Hamline University School of Law.

Maria De La Cruz

Mark Teoh, Ed.D., is a Program Officer at the Raikes Foundation with a focus on education policy. Before joining the foundation in 2023, Mark was the Vice President of Learning, Research, and Impact at Teach Plus where he helped elevate teacher voices and perspectives in education policy, led the research agenda, and developed initiatives to improve educational equity at the local, state, and national levels. 
Mark taught high school history in Texas and Pennsylvania and is a former district administrator in the Boston Public Schools and Seattle Public Schools. He has authored several reports on the teaching profession, school and district improvement, and education policy issues and is a contributing author to two books on instructional practice and school leadership, “Data Wise,” and “Data Wise In Action.” 
Mark earned a B.A. in History from Rice University, an M.S.Ed. in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. in Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice from Harvard University.

Mark Teoh

Administrator, Grants Management and Operations

Morgan has managed grants and contracts through roles at the University of Washington and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. She has extensive experience in program operations with a natural curiosity for database administration. Her educational journey includes graduating from Western Washington University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Social Sciences. Building upon this foundation, she furthered her academic pursuits at the University of the Rockies, obtaining a master's degree in human services with a specialization in Nonprofit Management. 
Outside of her professional pursuits, Morgan finds joy in spending time with her loved ones, including her husband and three young children. On the weekend you can find them having a BBQ, visiting one of the Seattle area’s many parks or taking a long drive to explore all that beautiful Washington State has to offer.

Morgan Keys

Administrative Assistant

Pam Astrof is an administrative assistant at the Raikes Foundation. With more than 15 years of office administration experience, she oversees the Foundation's daily office functions and provides administrative support to the Raikes Foundation team. 
Prior to joining the Raikes Foundation in 2010, Pam supported a group of attorneys in the legal and corporate affairs division at Microsoft Corporation and managed office operations as office manager at Wildland Adventures.

Pam Astrof

Program Officer, Youth Homelessness

Paula Carvalho, MIT, is the program officer of the Raikes Foundation’s youth homelessness strategy, where she leads initiatives to ensure that young people experiencing homelessness secure safe and stable housing quickly. Paula also focuses on supporting field building and advocacy that is built on empowering young people with lived experience, supporting BIPOC leaders, and aligning with multi-sector movements that seek to equitably end youth homelessness across the country.
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2019, Paula served as the director of youth programs at the Mockingbird Society. Having both lived experience in foster care and youth homelessness, she brings a crucial perspective to the work. Paula joined Mockingbird in 2014 as their youth network coordinator before being promoted to youth programs director in 2016. Paula oversaw Mockingbird’s statewide Youth Programs, which has a dual focus on youth development and systems reform. She also initiated and chaired the agency’s Race Equity Committee. Before joining Mockingbird, Paula worked at the YMCA of Greater Seattle as an independent living resource specialist focusing on youth transitioning out of foster care. 
With over a decade working in this field, Paula continues to elevate the voices of young people at decision making tables. Paula earned a master’s degree in teaching from Seattle University, where she was also the first graduate of its Fostering Scholars program.

Paula Carvalho

Raquel joined the Raikes Foundation in 2022. She is passionate about bringing youth voices into the important conversations being had at the Raikes Foundation and in the world broadly. She currently supports both the Resourcing Equity and Democracy portfolio as well as the Communications team. Previously, Raquel was a programs assistant to the Education department of the Commonwealth Club of California. There, she aided in the production of over 50 programs, including her own titled ‘Civil Dialogue in Partisan Times’.
Raquel earned high honors alongside her B.A. in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations from the University of California, Berkeley.

Raquel Kunugi

Director, Impact-Driven Philanthropy Initiative

Stephanie Fuerstner Gillis is the director of the Raikes Foundation’s impact-driven philanthropy initiative, where she leads a portfolio of work focused on resourcing movements by supporting donors to give in ways that center equity, effectiveness, and systems change. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2017, Stephanie served as a managing director at Arabella Advisors, where she led its practice supporting family and individual donors.
Before Arabella, Stephanie was the COO and Senior Consultant at Blueprint Research + Design, Inc., supporting philanthropy clients on strategy and evaluation. Stephanie worked for over 10 years in the nonprofit sector, including in positions with the Youth Leadership Institute (a Bay Area youth development organization), the Boys &amp; Girls Clubs of America, and the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies. She has served on the boards of a number of organizations, including College Kids and Food Runners, and has held various school leadership positions. 
When she is not at work, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her family, though her sons are both in university, so she spends more time traveling, and going on adventures with her husband and dog, Marla.

Stephanie Fuerstner Gillis

Senior Director, Youth Serving Systems

Zoë Stemm-Calderon is the senior director of the Raikes Foundation’s youth serving systems strategy, where she supports the teams to co-develop strategy and do strong grantmaking in support of the field. Previously, she led the Foundation’s education strategy where she oversaw the development and implementation of our grantmaking in that portfolio. Zoë is passionate about working with young people, communities, policy makers and practitioners to build a world where all young people thrive. 
 Prior to joining the Foundation in 2015, Zoë served as a resident at the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation while completing her doctorate in education leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously, Zoë was assistant superintendent of professional support and development at Houston Independent School District (ISD). Prior to her work in Houston ISD, Zoë was a senior leader at Teach for America, where she spent her 10-year tenure focused on advancing the organization's approach to teacher, coach, and manager development. Zoë began her career as an elementary school teacher in Houston. 
She earned her doctorate in education leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education and completed her bachelor’s degree in international studies at the University of Washington. Zoë lives in Seattle, loves camping with her husband Andre and two teenage daughters, and puttering in her garden.

Zoë Stemm-Calderon

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth face unique societal obstacles including discrimination that put them at higher risk of housing instability. While 4.2 million young people experience homelessness each year in the United States, LGBTQ+ youth have a 2.2x greater risk of experiencing homelessness compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers, all else held equal. <a href="https://truecolorsunited.org/">True Colors United</a> believes that safe, stable housing is a basic human need, and that in order to develop effective policy solutions to end youth homelessness, young people who have been affected by homelessness must be a part of the solution.

True Colors United

Philanthropy often perpetuates the same social and economic inequalities that it seeks to alleviate. The <a href="https://justfund.us/">JustFund</a> seeks to realize a new approach to philanthropic grantmaking that is centered in equity and trust. It is the only nonprofit grantmaking solution that removes traditional barriers that prevent grantmakers from moving resources quickly and efficiently to organizations at the forefront of social change.

JustFund

The <a href="https://belenetwork.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Building Equitable Learning Environment (BELE) Network</a> is a collective of educators, students and parents, community partners, school and system leaders, and policymakers committed to prioritizing practices and structural changes that improve student engagement, experience, and outcomes. We are reimagining public education and enacting change to ensure every student receives a quality education.

BELE Network

Founded by Dr. Mary C. Murphy, lead scholar of the <a href="https://studentexperienceproject.org/">Student Experience Project</a>, <a href="https://accelerateequity.org/">Equity Accelerator</a> harnesses research, practice, and policy to create more equitable learning and working environments, from college through careers. Equity Accelerator creates and consults on the implementation of evidence-based solutions for equitable institutional and system transformation that are practical, efficient, and have greater potential to be widely adopted and highly effective.

Equity Accelerator

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Raikes Foundation

When we work together and center community voices and leadership, we can *build a fair and just society for all.* Get to know our team. The Raikes Foundation partners with leaders committed to building a society where all communities, especially young people, have the *opportunity to reach their full potential*. We're stronger together.  Send us a line if you are interested in learning more about our work.

When we work together and center community voices and leadership, we can *build a fair and just society for all.* Get to know our team. The Raikes…

When we work together and center community voices and leadership, we can build a fair and just society for all.

Get to know our team.