The Evanston Community Foundation has named Maureen Powers its new program officer.
Powers will be a key liaison with Evanston’s nonprofit community, managing the foundation’s responsive grantmaking and developing workshops and other training opportunities.
Powers most recently worked at Zonta International and the Zonta International Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing the status of women and girls.
She served as interim executive director there from 2009-2010. During that period, she directed all of Zonta’s philanthropic programs, oversaw development, and led changes in communications and technology, including a new website.
Previously, she served as director of programs and foundation administration at Zonta for eight years. In this role, she directed a $4.5 million portfolio of grants and programs designed to prevent gender-based violence and improve the economic security, education, health, and legal rights of women and girls.
“We’re very excited to have someone with Maureen’s depth of experience in grantmaking join our staff,” says Foundation President & CEO Sara Schastok. “As our capacity to make grants has grown from $85,000 in 2001 to nearly $700,000 in 2011, we constantly strive to improve our own knowledge of best practices in philanthropy.”
Powers previously served as public relations director of TimeLine Theatre Company, as director of programs for Chicago Cares, and as director of a domestic violence shelter in California.
She holds a bachelors in communications from Loyola University in Chicago.
The Evanston Community Foundation was established in 1986 to help Evanston thrive, now and forever, as a vibrant, inclusive, and just community. The foundation builds, connects, and distributes resources and knowledge through local organizations for the common good.