Media Contact: Chloe Heskett | chloeh@cep.org | +1 617-395-4092
Cambridge, MA, July 1 — The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) welcomes new board member Pam Foster, chief operating officer at Co-Impact, who begins a three-year term on the CEP Board effective July 1, 2025.
As COO at Co-Impact since 2017, Foster leads strategic operations in the areas of finance and reporting, human resources, grants management, corporate governance, compliance, and information technology. She has also served as a CEP Advisory Board member.
“Pam has been deeply engaged with CEP’s work for decades as both a client and an advisor and her understanding of philanthropic practice is unparalleled,” said Phil Buchanan, president of CEP. “Her experience, her commitment to continued learning and improvement, her work building up one of the most important funding collaborative efforts in philanthropy, and her focus on the crucial funder-nonprofit relationship make her a great addition to our Board.”
Prior to joining Co-Impact, Pam served in various legal and operational roles for The Rockefeller Foundation, including most recently serving as Managing Director and Associate General Counsel. In between two stints at the Foundation, Pam was an associate with the Wall Street law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton.
She also chairs the Board of Directors of Safe Passage Project, a NYC-based 501(c)(3) organization that addresses unmet needs of indigent immigrant youth living in New York by providing legal representation for unaccompanied minors in immigration court, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of New York Law School. She formerly served as vice-chair of the Board of Philanthropy New York.
“I am delighted to join the board of CEP,” said Foster. “I have a deep appreciation for the organization’s contributions to the field about what is — and isn’t — working within philanthropy. I look forward to sharing what I can, and to learning more from the extraordinary Board and team of CEP.”
Foster joins a CEP Board of Directors that, as of July 1, 2025, includes: Board Chair Anthony Richards (President of The George Gund Foundation), Alesha Washington (President and CEO of the Seattle Foundation), Caroline Altman Smith (Deputy Director, Education Program at The Kresge Foundation), Don Chen (President of the Surdna Foundation), Jesús Gerena (CEO of UpTogether), LaTida Smith (President of the Winston-Salem Foundation), Lee Alexander Risby (Director of Effective Philanthropy at the Laudes Foundation), Sampriti Ganguli (Former Senior Advisor at Arabella Advisors), Stephanie Hull (President and CEO of Girls, Inc.), and ex-officio Phil Buchanan (President, CEP).
About CEP
The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness. We do this work because we believe effective donors, working collaboratively and thoughtfully, can profoundly contribute to creating a better and more just world. For more information on CEP’s work, including its research, assessments, advisory services, and programming, visit www.cep.org.
