The organization expands global staff to accelerate innovation and collaboration in the social sector
Building on its mission to increase generosity worldwide, GivingTuesday announced the launch of two new global hubs—one in Africa and one in India—to support leadership, collaboration, and innovation throughout the global movement’s network. This expansion includes the hire of four international staff who will foster the growth of programs and partnerships in these regions, in areas such as data collection and sharing, youth engagement, community and coalition building, and more.
The new hubs and added staff reflect GivingTuesday’s international focus on developing and supporting regional leaders who strengthen local philanthropic infrastructure, democratize philanthropy, and grow cultures of giving, generosity and robust civic participation at all levels of society, especially the grassroots.
“Civil society is playing an ever-increasing role in developing the infrastructure and policies needed to promote a fair, inclusive, and vibrant society,” said Asim Ijaz Khwaja, GivingTuesday board member and Director of the Center for International Development at Harvard. “At the heart of these efforts are local leaders and organizations who are coming together to uplift the social sector and create long-term systems change. With the expansion of its global reach, GivingTuesday is taking crucial steps to foster increased resiliency in communities worldwide.”
With these new hires, GivingTuesday has expanded its global expertise with strategic leaders who bring a wealth of international experience in the social sector.
From left to right: Nasra Ismail, Priyanka Dutt, Catherine Mwendwa, Kavita Mathew
- Nasra Ismail, Senior Director, Global Strategy & Operation
Based in the United States, Nasra brings over 10 years of international development experience in Africa and Asia and will lead GivingTuesday’s global hub strategy and operations. - Priyanka Dutt, Director, India Hub
Based in India, Priyanka will lead GivingTuesday’s India Hub, implementing its strategy to strengthen the movement in this region and modeling a collaborative social sector ecosystem. - Catherine Mwendwa, Director, Africa Hub
Based in Kenya, Catherine will lead GivingTuesday’s Africa Hub and work with partners on the ground to develop programs and resources to support generosity initiatives across the continent, in collaboration with GivingTuesday’s country leaders in the region. - Kavita Mathew, Programs and Partnerships Director, India Hub
Based in India, Kavita will build relationships with social sector leaders, support capacity-building initiatives, and manage data work and collaboration.
“Over the past ten years, GivingTuesday has seen the impact local leaders can have on transforming society through generosity, and we are thrilled to welcome these new team members,” said Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday. “We believe that local people on the ground know best how to solve the challenges and grow giving authentically in their communities. We must provide hands-on support for partnerships, resourcing, and knowledge sharing to continue to grow and strengthen this global leadership network and its impact.”
“I’m overjoyed to join GivingTuesday and take on this role during a period of time when generosity, building community across differences and localized engagement and leadership are most needed,” said Nasra Ismail, GivingTuesday’s newly hired Senior Director of Global Strategy and Operation. “The movement’s leadership network has shown the importance of representing a country’s own unique cultures and needs, while remaining united in the determination to mobilize their countries around generosity and shared humanity. I am committed to serving and strengthening support for grassroots movements, global south leadership, and partnerships.”
New Hubs and Added Staff Support GivingTuesday’s Global Leadership Network
GivingTuesday, the year-round global generosity movement, drives innovation and systems change throughout the social sector by investing in movement building, supporting entrepreneurial leaders, and inspiring grassroots civic engagement. Central to this work is the GivingTuesday global leadership network of hundreds of leaders representing over 80 country movements. These leaders spearhead on-the-ground activities, driving local impact by engaging their own ecosystems of communities, nonprofits, platforms, religious institutions, families, schools, and private sector partners to drive increased giving, organizing and activism, and civic participation. GivingTuesday’s new global hubs will serve to support this existing global network.
The regional hubs will play a key role in expanding the organization’s collaborative data work to better inform and inspire the social sector around the world. The new hubs and their staff will work to build the necessary infrastructure to gather learning and research in these regions and translate those findings into actionable insights and programs.
“We will continue to both broaden and deepen our distributed leadership community to produce data-driven, locally-led, and culturally responsive programs that promote greater learning, innovation, and impact,” Curran said. “We have seen firsthand the incredible insights and information we can gather, and we realize there is much to learn in partnership with leaders in these regions, co-creating a new approach that is inclusive and focused on proximate leadership, and not relying on traditional top-down models.”
