About David Holmes (he/him)

Dave Holmes is an Educational Programming Manager at Candid, coordinating national trainings and the training and educational programming for the Midwest region. He returned to the Foundation Center (now Candid) in 2015 from a position as Senior Consultant at Grants Plus, writing grants and doing research for a variety of large and small nonprofit clients. In his initial nine-year tenure with Foundation Center, Dave served in various roles including Regional Training Specialist, Interim Director of Foundation Center – Cleveland, and Director of Capacity and Leadership Development.

Earlier in his career, Dave served as a Program Officer for the Stocker Foundation in Lorain, Ohio, and as the Director of Grants and Prospect Research at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. He is a current board member of Upcycle Parts Shop and a former board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Cleveland Chapter and of Joel's Place for Children. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh, an MA from Villanova University, and an MLIS from Kent State University.

About Phyllis Seven Harris

With over twenty-five years of exceptional experience with nonprofits, Phyllis Harris has developed a keen passion for nonprofit management, social justice, and anti-oppression work to help ensure a better quality of life for all marginalized people. She has served in program development, fundraising, and upper-level management positions where her leadership skills and passion have led organizations and projects to success. She is considered to be a thought leader on issues related to cultural change and skilled in the facilitation of anti-oppression, anti-black racism, and LGBTQ inclusion workshops.  In her role as a nonprofit leader, Ms. Harris is community-focused, believes in coalition building, and known for addressing service gaps and problems via collaboration, a positive attitude, and unwavering commitment towards social justice.

Playing a vital role as an advocate in Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community for many years, and now in leadership at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, the organization has experienced transformational growth under her direction since the year 2012. Being a visionary, she was able to amplify the work of the organization toward enhanced credibility and now Center patrons enjoy expanded affirming programming for all those who seek it. In 2015, the Center launched Pride in the CLE, a family-oriented and community-driven LGBTQ Pride festival that the group continues to produce annually. In addition, in 2019 Ms. Harris and her team moved into a newly constructed 15,000 sq. ft. facility with more space, accessibility, and versatility to serve the LGBTQ Community.

Ms. Harris’ experience in organizational leadership sprang from her passion for the nonprofit industry and her love of civic engagement. She has had the honor to serve with several nonprofit organizations, one of which includes; Vice President of Programs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cleveland. She is regularly recognized with awards because of her leadership. In addition to her work at the Center, she is the co-founder of consulting practice “Sage and Maven” where she supports organizations around issues relevant to strategic direction, organizational culture, equity, and inclusion. Ms. Harris has extensive experience serving on local and national nonprofit boards. She was recently appointed to the Community Advisory Board for Equity for Cuyahoga County. Ms. Harris was recognized as one of 2020’s most interesting people by Cleveland Magazine.

She holds a master’s degree in non-profit management from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Arts from Baldwin Wallace College. She is a proud graduate of the 2019 class of Leadership Cleveland.

About Caroline Linden

first joined SVP as an intern in November 2012, then was hired as its program assistant in February 2013, and promoted to the manager of programs and operations in August 2014. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2012 with a double major in political science and international studies.

While at NU, she was greatly involved in organizations and coursework related to social justice. She became interested in venture philanthropy while working as a co-chair of the Global Engagement Summit, an annual conference to build the capacity of the next generation of global change leaders. She was also student director of LIFT-Evanston, a nonprofit which helps community members achieve economic stability and well-being. In her junior year she studied in Amman, Jordan where she interned as the program manager with Young Entrepreneur’s Association (YEA), a nonprofit that aims to help small and medium sized Jordanian companies become investor and market-ready, and develop their ideas to facilitate the growth of their business. These experiences allowed her to combine global thinking with local action, and be continually motivated to do good well.

She feels grateful to have found a wonderful group of like-minded individuals in SVP’s Partners who not only work to strengthen local nonprofits, but also stretch themselves through a culture of continuous learning. As a native of Northeast Ohio, and a boomeranging young professional, she is driven by SVP’s work to unleash potential in Greater Cleveland.

About Chrissy Stonebraker-Martínez

Chrissy was raised in the legacy industrial city of Youngstown, Ohio. Chrissy devotes passion for social justice to their union-laborer father and concern for Latin American solidarity to their mother, who found refuge in the US from Medellin, Colombia, during the height of the civil war in the 1980s. Chrissy received a BA in International and Financial Management from Hiram College and an MA/MEd in Higher Education Administration and Counseling from Kent State University. At Kent, Chrissy worked in Student Affairs, coordinated experiential education, civic engagement and service learning trips, taught Student Development and Leadership courses and served on the staff Sustainability, Equity and Professional Development committees. While studying at Hiram College, Chrissy helped with the creation of the 501c3 Hiram Farm Living and Learning community for people with autism spectrum disorders, and co-founded the Olive Branch fair trade store at Hiram College.

Chrissy joined the IRTF staff in 2013. Currently, Chrissy serves as a representative to the United Nations for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (iFOR), Co-Moderator of the Disciples Peace Fellowship (DPF), Co-Chair of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR/FORUSA), Chair of the Ohio Fair Trade Network (OFTN), on the Council of School of Americas Watch (SOAW), and as a steering committee member of the Ohio Poor Peoples Campaign (PPC) and Christian Peacemaker Teams (ECAP-Colombia, CPT IK-Iraqi Kurdistan). Chrissy is proud to be a community organizer, organizing in the greater Cleveland area, with groups such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA), Alliance for Fair Food with the Fair Food Program (AFF/FFP), Witness Against Torture (WAT), Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), Tree of Life Education Fund (Israel/Palestine), the Asociacion de Trabajadores del Campo Nicaragua (ATC), Refugee and Immigration Ministries with Disciples Home Missions (RIM DHM) and others. Their favorite organizing groups in Cleveland are: Amplifying BIPOC (AMPNEO), Clevelanders for Public Transit (CPT), the Social Justice Institute at Case Western Reserve University (SJI), and the Cleveland chapter of DSA.

About Dawn Arrington

Dawn Arrington is a born and bred Cleveland, OH with a love for helping others and her community. With several years of experience in community network building, customer service, and project development, Dawn sees her life’s mission as one of service. After obtaining her MBA, Dawn pursued an MA in English and Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University, completing her studies in 2015. 

In addition to her work as ioby’s Cleveland Action Strategist, Dawn is also the Board President of Larchmere PorchFest, a free one-day music festival in the Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland’s East Side. When she’s not working with community partners or volunteering on a number of projects, Dawn spends her time with her husband, children, and pets. 

About Samantha Ryder

Samantha Ryder is the Senior Manager of Network Engagement and leads the operational strategy for the Network Engagement team and oversee the development of account management processes, including onboarding, engagement, and retention for Network Engagement program partners. Design centralized standards, training, and common tools that can be leveraged by the Network Engagement team with the goal of improving efficiencies and supporting ambitious growth targets while ensuring quality program delivery throughout domestic and global regions.

She joined Candid in 2018 after operating a consulting group that worked with a variety of clients including universities, private and nonprofit organizations, and the City of Cleveland. Before consulting, she served as Chief of Staff for Cleveland City Council and as a Family Liaison for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Akron, and a Masters of Arts from John Carroll University.