About the Speakers: How to Get on the Radar of Family Foundations

Phil Buchanan leads the Center for Effective Philanthropy, which helps foundations and donors maximize their impact. He has led CEP since its inception in 2001. Buchanan is author of the forthcoming book, Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count; a columnist for the Chronicle of Philanthropy; and a frequent blogger. Buchanan co-founded YouthTruth, a CEP project to help educators and donors improve K-12 education and is a trustee of Philanthropy Massachusetts, an association of donors and philanthropic groups. He was named Influencer of the Year by the Nonprofit Times in 2016.

Isa Catto runs the Catto Shaw Foundation and is a recent contributing writer for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. A professional artist who has spent the last 25 years working in watercolor and mixed media, she also teaches workshops at arts institutions around the country. She is represented by Harvey Meadows Gallery and Kristy Stubbs Gallery. She and her husband, the writer Daniel A. Shaw,  host the Catch and Release Writers in Residence Program on their small farm with the national literary organization Aspen Words.

As Associate Director, Anthony Richardson oversees grant making in civic affairs and education. He chairs a joint local and state committee established to turnaround schools in Lorain, Ohio. In 2011, Richardson was elected as a councilman at-large in the City of Lorain, becoming the youngest African American elected to an at-large seat. During his second term, sponsored legislation to increase hiring goal percentages for racial minorities, ethnic minorities, and women on city projects. Richardson is an active member of Philanthropy Ohio, where he serves on the Public Policy Committee and Education Initiative Coalition. He is a board member for Funders Together to End Homelessness and an advisory board member for The Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Alex Daniels covers foundations and policy issues at the Chronicle. He recently wrote the report What Donors Want: Donor-Advised Funds and has covered donor-advised funds extensively. Previously, he covered business and politics for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and an International Reporting Project fellow.