Vanessa Priya Daniel

Governance Committee

Seattle

Vanessa Daniel has worked in social justice movements for 25 years as a labor and community organizer, writer, researcher, and funder. She is the founder of Groundswell Fund and Groundswell Action Fund, two leading funders of organizations led by women of color, and transgender people. 
She was featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of 15 “Influencers” who are changing the non-profit world and named by Inside Philanthropy as one of their “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy”. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, among other publications and her first book, Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning was published by Random House on March 4, 2025. 
Currently, through her firm, Vanessa Daniel Consulting, LLC, she offers strategic advising and coaching support to donors, foundations, grassroots organizations and organizational leaders. She serves on the boards of directors of the National LGBTQ Task Force and Common Counsel Foundation, and on the Advisory Board/Brain Trust of the Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resource Collective, and the Democracy Frontline Fund. She is currently a fellow with the Decolonizing Wealth Project.