NFF Dialogue: Kristina Dixon, CFO and Managing Director, Finance and Administration

Antony: Kristina, we are super excited to have you on board team NFF. How did you come to pursue a career in finance?

Kristina: When I was in high school, my first job was working with my aunt, who was an accountant at a body shop. I was very intrigued by her ability to help keep the organization running based on her understanding of this very complicated and intricate thing that at the time I didn’t know was “accounting.” The power and the influence she yielded was amazing.

I started getting involved in introductory accounting and finance programs, learning about all aspects of finance. I was influenced by Madeleine Albright’s advice to Condoleezza Rice to pursue a career in spaces dominated by white males because that’s where the money and the power is.

Eventually, after a stint at law school, I decided to pursue my MBA. When I Googled careers that you can do with an MBA, finance was among the top results. When I Googled “Women in Finance,” it resulted in a small pool. And then I Googled, “Black Women in Finance” and three women came up. I thought, this is it. This is where I need to be. At NFF, I’ve found an opportunity to be at the table and use my power for good.

Antony: You’re highly skilled and driven. I think lots of people could start with a similar story and then end up saying, “That’s why I am a very successful investor.” Or, “That’s why I run a business and have focused my skills on making money.” Why do you want to use your expertise and power for good and not simply to make more money?”

Kristina: My motivation is directly tied to my family, my upbringing, and my sense of community. I’m a Black woman whose roots are in the rural South. On my mother’s side, my great-grandparents were grocery-store owners and educators whose success gave them the ability to give back. I also heard stories about my dad’s father, who was a very fair skinned Black man who as able to navigate through White spaces because he had a strong business sense.

He would use the information that he gained in those spaces and bring it back to the community and help people understand how they could navigate spaces. I’m also a preacher’s kid, and when you come from that moral fabric you realize that it’s not about you, it’s about what you can do, the knowledge you can gain, and how you can bring that back. A “giving back” mentality was further cultivated at Berkeley through the people who mentored me.

Antony: That approach of gaining skills and expertise to ultimately support your community is powerful. Can you share with us where that has landed you, because you have had a very interesting career in a range of nonprofit organizations, funders, and now a government agency. You’ve also served on several boards including with the Democratic party. So you’ve been on different sides of the table.

Kristina: In my experience, I’ve seen funders fail to understand their roles. They don’t always value the providers and the knowledge and experience that the providers have, and it sometimes feels like a parent-child relationship. I’ve also been in positions where I’ve helped change those dynamics. Funders have a responsibility to ensure that the agencies that they are relying on have the knowledge and access to resources to provide the services that they are being tasked with.

Antony: You’ve developed a reputation in Los Angeles as someone who works in a government agency who doesn’t treat service providers like children, but as valued partners. What are the changes that you’re most proud of?

Kristina: One change was creating space for agencies to give feedback. Another was creating a new toolkit that gave providers the information they needed to be successful as funding recipients. Having that document helped to reframe that relationship from being paternal to more like siblings or partners in this work. We also started bringing providers together to celebrate them for all the work that they’ve done and show appreciation. And we started CFO and Executive Director roundtables, so that these groups could each come together, discuss issues and opportunities, and learn from each other.

Antony: How does your experience building relationships of mutual trust between funders and grantees translate to the lending work that NFF does?

Kristina: Trust is built by taking the time to get to know partner organizations and to understand their vision and mission, and how you can help them reach their goals. Innovation is important; we need to challenge established ways of doing things, consider common goals, and find ways for those with shared aspirations to put resources to work for positive social change.

Antony: What more could community development finance institutions, including NFF, do to serve communities and reconnect to the spirit of the Civil Rights movement from which our industry was born?

Kristina: The Civil Rights movement was anchored in the goal to ensure that individuals and communities that were economically disenfranchised were provided with access to the systems and structures that had locked them out. People of color were and continue to be discriminated against in the lending process. You cannot do work related to change without considering equity in the finance function. CDFIs will need to be willing to take on more lending risk to provide more equal access to organizations led by and serving people of color. That requires getting to know better the organizations that have been shut out; understanding their assets and resources; challenging the market’s perception of “risk,” and providing technical assistance and financial literacy partnership as needed.

Antony: In addition to your other responsibilities, you’re pursuing a Doctorate of Public Administration focused on building the financial and administrative capacity of organizations that receive public funds. It might sound esoteric to others, but, as you know, at NFF we find this topic fascinating and so important. What made you decide to pursue a DPA, and to pursue this topic?

Kristina: My research stemmed from experiences within the nonprofit industry. From seeing how challenging it is for agencies to meet philosophical ideals around overhead and how much you should charge. I became intrigued by who determines what a sufficient administrative rate is, and what it is based on.

When I go to a grocery store, or another business, my expectation is that they will have the systems, the processes, the items, and the people that can help serve me and meet my needs. And I’m willing to pay the price that it costs. Governmental entities shouldn’t undercut a nonprofit’s ability to have the right infrastructure, to be efficient and effective in providing services, by setting unrealistic administrative rate restrictions. We all need nonprofits to be able to be solvent and to survive.

Antony: When you think about shifting funder/government/nonprofit dynamics, how hopeful are you? How do you hope to contribute to progress in your role at NFF?

Kristina: I am hopeful. I look at efforts like the Measure H funding that was supported by Californians who care about our homeless neighbors and see that service providers are getting more administrative support through that funding than from other sources. The movement toward better supporting nonprofits’ non-program costs is gaining traction. The arc of justice may bend slowly, but if we keep taking strategic opportunities to better allocate resources, I think we will make significant progress.

NFF is helping funders and government partners to understand that. I’ve studied NFF’s work—particularly on overhead and full costs – in my research. It’s awesome and really kind of surreal to be part of the team now. I’m excited to use my relationships and my ability to build relationships to have conversations about this topic and create traction in spaces and with people who ordinarily may not have been at the table or involved in these issues.

Antony: NFF is starting to be much more intentional about recognizing the way that racial dynamics and inequitable practices steer interactions between those who have money and those who need money to meet the aspirations of our communities. What are your thoughts on how to balance outrage and optimism when considering racial equity?

Kristina: What we are experiencing now is nothing compared to what my ancestors have experienced. If you think about what happened with the civil rights movement, that was local. It started in those small towns, in small communities, before becoming national. Communities of color had to survive despite what was going on around them. I balance outrage and optimism by knowing that all you can control is what you do. Keep moving forward and in the end what’s right will prevail.