Elana Wien is a trusted community leader, nonprofit executive and advisor with over 20 years of experience, known for her thoughtful, creative approach to philanthropy and social impact. Elana advises a select portfolio of individuals, families and foundations on their philanthropic strategy, charitable giving, and grantmaking through her private consultancy practice, Elana Wien LLC.

She previously served as inaugural executive director of a North American network and grantmaker of over 175 organizations focused on nonprofit best practices, workplace culture and equity issues, awarding over $5 million in grants during her tenure. Prior to that, Elana led grantmaking programs and advised a portfolio of family foundations at a community foundation with over $1 billion in assets, overseeing over $100 million in grants over the course of her 8-year tenure. Elana has also previously served as fund development consultant to a portfolio of nonprofit clients including a regional medical center, a national early childhood think tank, a major Los Angeles County community clinic system, and a youth development & housing services agency.

Elana graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in geography and received a master’s degree in anthropology from the Universidad de las Americas as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Mexico. She is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Elana is an alumna of the Coro Southern California Women in Leadership Cohort 2, a former Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies Fellow and a former Wexner Foundation Field Fellow. She received the LGBTQ Professionals Network Leadership Award of Southern California Grantmakers in 2019 and previously served on the Family Philanthropy Advisory Council of Southern California Grantmakers. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently resides in Ventura on the Central Coast of California with her wife and children, having previously lived in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., NYC, Brazil, Mexico and Spain.

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