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Victoria Vrana
Connecting donors and community leaders around the world for lasting change
Victoria Vrana is the Chief Executive Officer of GlobalGiving, a prominent nonprofit organization that connects donors with grassroots projects around the world. She assumed this role in January 2023, following an extensive career in philanthropy and nonprofit management.
Background and Career
Before joining GlobalGiving, Victoria spent over 11 years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she held the position of Deputy Director of Philanthropic Partnerships. In this role, she was instrumental in overseeing initiatives related to policy, data, and everyday giving. Her work at the Gates Foundation involved leading efforts to strengthen the infrastructure of charitable giving and supporting various social impact initiatives.15
Prior to her tenure at the Gates Foundation, Victoria served as Vice President of Communications and Assessment at Venture Philanthropy Partners and held roles in interactive media and communications at other organizations, including the Morino Institute and Millennium Communications. Her early career included directing an online network for women's rights activists across post-Soviet countries.123
Education
Victoria holds a degree in comparative literature from the University of California, Davis, and has studied in Germany and Hungary.13
Vision for GlobalGiving
Upon her appointment as CEO, Victoria expressed her commitment to understanding the GlobalGiving community better and enhancing its impact. She aims to leverage her extensive experience to drive community-led change and foster deeper connections between donors and local organizations.12
Personal Life
Victoria resides in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband and three daughters. She is also active in various philanthropic boards, including serving on the board of directors for the Washington Area Women’s Foundation.14
Highlights
Woke up worrying about the loss and devastation and 4 million people under evacuation orders in Japan…Thank you to the GlobalGiving team who jumped into action yesterday.
Twenty-nine long years ago, I had a crazy, amazing, life-changing opportunity to attend the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China when I worked at the Network of East-West Women. If the opportunity to attend wasn’t mind-shattering enough, I got there on something called “the Beijing Express” which was a train organized by the UNDP, from Poland to Beijing, full of women activists from all over the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Even more mind-blowing—my role in the train was to teach women how to use computers, access the Internet, use email and to send emails from the train through a satellite-a task which usually completely failed.
I could write a whole essay on that experience and maybe I will someday (see great mini-memoir from fellow train passenger, Lesley Abdela below!), but I share it because I’m about to embark upon my fifth trip to Beijing and FIRST trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong. In a full circle moment, I have the honor of speaking on the panel "Equality in Action: How are women in impact driving impact for women?" at Philanthropy For Better Cities Forum. This is as mind blowing in many ways as my very first trip, as I will combine the Hong Kong conference visit with a week in China where GlobalGiving has supported the nonprofit sector since 2008. We now have an registered Rep office in Shanghai, an amazing staff person, Wang Rui, and 52 active nonprofit partners. I can't wait to get in person time with all of them!
I will share more about my travels, hopefully in somewhat real time, and look forward to being in the region in person to viscerally experience what I know is an amazing wave of philanthropy and nonprofit leadership.
For the moment, I just want to recognize my past and present colleagues who are among the many folks responsible for making this trip possible, Ruixi Hao of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rui and Kristin Wright of GlobalGiving. Much gratitude to The Hong Kong Jockey Club and the Institute of Philanthropy for inviting me. I am honored. 好久不见,期待。
https://lnkd.in/gWr2VGrH
#hkjc #globalgiving #womenandgiving
