Nonprofit Finance Fund Announces Leadership Changes

New York, NY-- June 8, 2021 -- Antony Bugg-Levine will leave Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) on August 15, following almost 10 years of thought and practice leadership as the organization's Chief Executive Officer, NFF’s Board of Directors announced today. 

A trio of long-standing members of NFF’s senior executive team will manage the organization on an interim basis, effective today. This includes Trella Walker as Executive Transition Team Lead; Kristin Giantris as Executive Transition Team Co-Lead, Client Services, and Andrea Briscoe as Executive Transition Team Co-Lead, Talent & Administration. 

During his tenure as NFF's CEO, Bugg-Levine oversaw impressive growth that allowed the organization to help many more clients as a lender, consultant, and advocate for the nonprofit sector. This includes increasing lending to clients by almost five times and expanding reach to a greater diversity of organizations and communities across the country through consulting work. To support this, NFF doubled its annual budget to $25 million and expanded its net assets by nearly tenfold. 

Most recently, Bugg-Levine was instrumental in introducing an ambitious new strategy for NFF rooted in efforts to dramatically expand the organization's work on racial diversity, equity and inclusion. To advance this work, Bugg-Levine and the executive team recently secured major grants exceeding $25 million from leading donors and funders including MacKenzie Scott, Ford Foundation, and Morgan Stanley, among others. 

Bugg-Levine states, “I have had the honor to lead NFF during a period of great change for our organization, the communities we serve, and our country. I am excited for NFF’s future with a strong foundation of amazing team members, a values-oriented culture, inspiring nonprofit clients and partners, enough reserves to be bold, and a compelling strategy. NFF can play a crucial role in helping to close persistent racial disparities in funding for U.S. nonprofits. Now is the right moment for me to make room for new leadership to bring a fresh vision and voice to realize this potential. 

“Over the past 10 years, NFF has grown substantially thanks to our remarkable team, clients, donors, investors, and partners. We have increased NFF’s loan portfolio by 400 percent, are on a path to more than double our team’s size, and have secured an additional $43 million of unrestricted net assets to invest in our mission. Beyond the numbers, I am especially proud of the way we have organized around intentional values.” 

Bugg-Levine continues, “Since the summer of 2016, we have also deepened our commitment to racial equity. This has been the hardest and most rewarding work of my career and is impacting every aspect of who we are, who we serve, and how we serve. It has challenged me personally to lead with more empathy, self-awareness, and conviction. When we first started on this journey, I knew that we were building to a time when my departure would be necessary so that NFF could take this work to its next level guided by a visionary, community-centered leader with lived expertise of the issues we work on. That time is now.” 

According to NFF’s Board Chair Henry A. J. Ramos, "We are most grateful to Antony for his visionary leadership over recent years in helping to grow NFF and position it for continued, next-stage leadership. NFF aims to serve as an exemplar in inclusive financial practices that better meet the needs of nonprofits led by people of color and serving communities of color, across the nation." 

Recent national reporting by leading social investment organizations like Echoing Green and Bridgespan has revealed that nonprofits led by people of color are substantially underfunded compared to white-led organizations. With massive demographic shifts and pervasive racial injustice concerns, NFF has committed itself to deepening racial equity more squarely across its various program and influence platforms. 

During recent years, NFF significantly diversified its board and staff leadership to reflect the changing communities and nonprofits that it serves. More on NFF’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy is available here. 

Throughout the balance of 2021, NFF will undertake a nationwide search for a new CEO who can help the organization advance its expanding commitment to racial equity and inclusion. 

Based in New York City with offices in Boston, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Philadelphia, NFF has provided over $1 billion in grants, loans, and federally supported New Market Tax Credits, as well as financial consulting, to thousands of nonprofit groups since its formation in 1980. 

During 2020, NFF transformed its lending, consulting and advocacy work to respond to nonprofit needs and opportunities in the COVID crisis and the uprisings for racial justice. NFF raised $118 million of zero-interest loans for a broad range of education, human services, and arts and culture organizations across the United States, including the $37 million New York Covid-19 Response and Impact Fund. 

For more information on the Nonprofit Finance Fund, visit nff.org. 

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Nonprofit Finance Fund® (NFF®) is a nonprofit lender, consultant, and advocate. For more than 40 years, we’ve worked to strengthen nonprofit organizations and improve the way money flows to social good. We are committed to building a more equitable and just social sector, and helping community-centered organizations led by and serving people of color access the money and resources they need to realize their communities’ aspirations. To learn more, visit https://nff.org/