Giving USA 2026: Rewriting the Philanthropic Playbook

Dr. Conrad was formerly a Managing Director at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she led the MacArthur Fellows program and steered the cross-Foundation team that created MacArthur’s 100&Change—an athematic, open call competition that periodically makes a single $100 million grant to help solve a critical problem of our time.

Before joining the Foundation in January 2013, Conrad had a distinguished career as both a professor and an administrator at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. She held the Stedman Sumner Chair in Economics and is currently a Professor of Economics, Emerita.

Dr. Danielle Vance-McMullen is an expert in donor behavior, fundraising, and nonprofit competition in new charitable giving contexts. Her current work in this area examines the rise of Giving Tuesday and the decline of workplace giving using big administrative data and behavioral experiments. Her article on Donor-Advised Fund giving during recessions was recently published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Dr. Vance-McMullen’s research has also been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Times’ Fresh Research Podcast. Before completing her PhD in Public Policy at Duke University, Dr. Vance-McMullen was a consultant at The Alford Group in Evanston, IL, where she specialized in strategic planning, Board development, and fundraising audits and plans.

Stephanie Ellis-Smith is a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) and has nearly 30 years of experience in advising high-impact individuals and companies. She is a Board Member for National Center for Family Philanthropy and works with ultra-high net wealth and high-profile individuals, families, foundations and corporations to invest in people and organizations.

Laura Coy works closely with clients, key stakeholders and colleagues around the world to develop and optimize their sustainability efforts and charitable giving. For the past nine years, Laura has overseen William Blair’s growing, global community engagement initiatives with a mission to inspire the next generation of philanthropists through its employee-centered matching and global grants programs.

Brenda B. Asare joined Alford Group in 2004 and assumed the role of President & CEO in 2014. Brenda brings nearly 30 years of management experience across sectors. She has assisted clients in raising over $2 billion, focusing on campaign execution, strategic planning, corporate partnerships, board leadership development and organizational design.

Sharon Tiknis has held leadership positions in the nonprofit sector for over 35 years, developing distinguished philanthropic programs and assembling influential volunteer leaders to build organizational capacity and drive results. Having worked previously with Alford Group, Sharon returned to the firm in 2014.