Keenya Lambert: President and CEO
Chicago, IL – Keenya Lambert has been appointed President and CEO of Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW). A Chicago native, Lambert brings 20 years of nonprofit experience in fundraising, advocacy, direct service and executive leadership. She is currently a member of CFW’s South Side Giving Circle, already living the Foundation’s mission of investing in women and girls as catalysts for building strong communities for all.
Lambert has long been a strong advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion in fundraising and philanthropy, mentoring and supporting professionals of color in their growth and success in these fields. She has dedicated her career to funding movements that support justice, equity and opportunity, most recently as the Chief Development Officer at Nourishing Hope. Under Lambert’s leadership, her team raised millions of dollars, earned the inaugural Northern Trust Anchor Award of $1 million, and managed over 6,700 volunteers to help provide over four million meals a year to any person experiencing hunger in the city of Chicago.
Previously, Lambert led development operations for the Shriver Center on Poverty Law. For nearly a decade, she built a robust individual giving program, funded state and federal advocacy campaigns, and engaged national public leaders and celebrities as ambassadors of economic and racial justice. She has also held various positions with The Chicago Urban League, KIPP Chicago, Arts Alliance Illinois and Street-level Youth Media.
Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW) raises money to fund and support organizations that help women and girls—making smarter connections between need, money, and solutions. CFW believes that when women and girls are secure, whole communities are made better. It improves the lives of women and girls through grants, advocacy, leadership development, and public and grantee education. Since 1985, Chicago Foundation for Women has invested more than $45 million through over 4,000 grants, annually impacting 226,000 women, girls, trans, and gender nonbinary individuals across the Chicago region, so they are healthy, safe, and economically secure and helping thousands of women and girls become philanthropists. For more information, visit https://www.cfw.org/
