The Membership Committee actively advises and helps to execute membership recruitment and retention plans for the organization and serves as primary point of contact for new members to the broader membership. The committee reviews all new member applications and makes recommendations to the full board on all new members. The committee provides guidance and feedback to staff on membership services and future offerings, reviews progress toward recruitment and retention goals, and recommends tactics to support organizational growth. The committee reviews the dues structure and schedule as needed and makes recommendations for any changes to the board in the context of organizational sustainability. For information about serving on the Membership Committee, contact Angie Boone, Member and Development Associate.

The committee is chaired by a member of the board and will consist of at least one additional board member. Additional members of the committee must be current SAFSF members.

The Membership Committee meets quarterly to review new member applications. The meetings coincide with application deadlines (January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15). Additional meetings may be scheduled as needed to address membership policies, processes and other membership needs.

KATHRYN BUCKNER is the Executive Director of the Americana Foundation in Novi, MI. Prior to joining Americana, she was the President of the Council of Great Lakes Industries, a tax-exempt business association that promoted sustainability in the Great Lakes region. Before joining CGLI, Kathryn was a practicing environmental attorney who helped business and municipal clients develop proactive strategies for managing environmental challenges and opportunities. Kathryn has a JD cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a MBA with highest honors from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and a MS in Sustainable Systems from the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability.

LINDA JO DOCTOR is a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. In this role, she helps develop programming priorities; reviews and recommends proposals for funding; manages and monitors a portfolio of active grants; and designs and implements national grant initiatives, place-based work, and multi-year projects. Linda is a member of the Food, Health & Well-Being team, where her work focuses on the impact of environmental conditions on health equity. She co-leads the Food & Community Program, an initiative designed to transform food systems and the physical environments in places where children live, learn, and play. In Michigan, Linda Jo co-leads the foundation’s place-based work in Detroit, focused on creating conditions so vulnerable children and families thrive.

ILA DUNCAN has been an active member of the Lumpkin Family Foundation since she was a teen and has been on the board since 2016. Based in New York City, she is also a member leader in her local chapter of Resource Generation, organizing fellow young donors to support social justice movements.

Outside of her philanthropic work, Ila is a writer and comic artist exploring the ways that stories and art can shape society, and putting her own spin on favorite pieces of media just for fun. She has a background in film production but has moved away from that work to make more space for organizing. With the Lumpkin Family Foundation she supports land, health and community related work in and around Mattoon, Illinois where the foundation is located. Her role as a next-gen board member brought her to Resource Generation, seeking community with other young people in philanthropy, but their mission of redistributing wealth to support movements for social justice resonated so deeply that she now spends the majority on her time on that work.

BETH GOSCH is the Executive Director of Western New York Foundation, a $19 million regional capacity-building focused philanthropy with offices in Buffalo, NY. The WNY Foundation was created to support activities that improve the quality of life for people who live in the seven (7) counties of Western New York. Beth has led the foundation in several strategic refocusing efforts and leads with an undying commitment to elevating, advocating and fortifying exemplary nonprofit leaders and organizations meeting the pressing community needs of the region. Beth has recently led the Foundation to a new focused approach centered around empowering innovative people with the resources needed to create and implement sustainable solutions that will build a thriving and equitable food system that reflects the community it serves.

Beth served as a CFO of a multi-corporate real estate and construction management company in WNY with a portfolio including construction management, project management, commercial office management, and condominium development. Following her education at the Culinary Institute of America, Beth’s earlier career in hospitality included roles as chef and pastry chef at establishments across the northeast and Midwest. She was the founder and proprietor of a long-established retail and wholesale pastry company, managing a large portfolio of restaurant accounts. She served as an independent consultant supporting the concept development, strategic planning, and launching of new restaurant establishments.

Beth has served in different advisory roles and leadership positions including LISC WNY’s Advisory Board, Chair of the Fund for the Arts, Past-President of the Western New York Grantmakers Association, Ex-officio Board Member of New York Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Chair of East Side Avenues, Project Lead for WNY Regional Food Systems Initiative and Food Future WNY Report among other tables and collaborative efforts.

FABIOLA GREENAWALT is the Senior Program Officer for The Russell Family Foundation where she leads and implements strategies that advance the mission of the Foundation and support grantee partners through the Environmental Education and Food for Climate Solutions Programs. Fabiola is a board member of Blue Sky Funders Forum and the Trust for Public Land NW Region; a fellow of Class XXX of the Tacoma Pierce County American Leadership Forum and alumna of PLACES Fellowship at The Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. She also volunteers on various regional and national advisory committees focused on environmental issues.

JACOB ISRAELOW started Dirt Capital Partners in 2013 as a platform to channel private investment in support of farmland access, conservation and long-term land security for sustainable farmers. Previously, he was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in Asia, where he spent five years acquiring and developing real estate and infrastructure on behalf of the firm. Jacob chairs Dirt Capital’s Investment Committee and also serves on the New York Advisory Council of American Farmland Trust and the Investment Committee for Belltown Farms. He previously served on the Board of the National Young Farmers Coalition for 10 years from 2013-2023 including as Treasurer. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a BA from Williams College.

ADAM LIEBOWITZ joined North Star Fund in 2013. Adam directs Community Food Funders (CFF), a philanthropic organizing project for funders in the tri-state area to invest in the transition to an equitable, ecologically sound, and sustainable regional food system that emphasizes local growing, processing, and distribution. Adam administered and coordinated North Star Fund’s Greening Western Queens Fund and Community Fund for Sandy Recovery. In 2019, Adam led the process of the creation, design, and implementation of the Seeding Power Fellowship for food justice leaders, CFF’s newest initiative.

Adam has a rich history in the nonprofit sector and extensive experience in community outreach and development, urban farming, program design and management, youth development, and environmental justice. “My time as Education Director at a Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx provided a foundation to understand the strengths and struggles of underserved populations in New York City,” Adam says. “At The Point CDC, I worked with amazing people dedicated to undoing some of the systemic injustices in our city and culture, and learned the importance of community-based planning and grassroots activism to realize social change.”

Focusing on environmental justice and food access, Adam trained Hunts Point youth through The Point’s ACTION program as community organizers were able to establish their own projects and campaigns. He created an urban agriculture and food justice program that included cooking and nutrition classes, public health outreach, the establishment of a local CSA, and vegetable gardens across multiple sites. Adam designed and organized the 2009 South Bronx Food & Film Expo, and served on the steering committee in 2011 for the first Bronx Food Summit.

Prior to joining North Star Fund, Adam worked as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations and private firms specializing in food systems planning and food access projects in New York. He received a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2002 and an M.S. in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School in 2011. Adam Liebowitz joined North Star Fund in 2013. Adam directs Community Food Funders (CFF), a philanthropic organizing project for funders in the tri-state area to invest in the transition to an equitable, ecologically sound, and sustainable regional food system that emphasizes local growing, processing, and distribution. Adam administered and coordinated North Star Fund’s Greening Western Queens Fund and Community Fund for Sandy Recovery. In 2019, Adam led the the process of the creation, design, and implementation of the Seeding Power Fellowship for food justice leaders, CFF’s newest initiative.

DAVE NEZZIE is the Food and Agriculture Policy Officer at Thornburg Foundation. Dave is a tribal member from the Navajo Nation. He previously served as a field representative for the Office of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich where he engaged with federal, state, and local agencies, as well as organizations, community leaders, and sovereign tribal governments. Dave is a candidate in the LL.M. Program in Agriculture & Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He received a J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law with program certificates in Federal Indian Law and Natural Resources & Environmental Law. Dave attended Arizona State University as an undergraduate, earning concurrent degrees in Anthropology and American Indian Studies. Dave enjoys backyard farming with his wife and four children in the South Valley near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Emily Parker is the Executive Director of the Butterfly Equity Foundation. Ms. Parker is responsible for the overall administration of the Foundation, including identifying and vetting potential grantee partners, proposal evaluation, fundraising, and impact strategy and analysis.

She has over 10 years of non-profit experience, with a focus on fundraising, budget planning, grantmaking, and operations. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Parker was the Director of Development for Food Forward, helping to scale its Southern California hunger relief and food recovery efforts through growing annual funds raised by over 400% during her tenure. Previously Ms. Parker worked in grants management and operations at Fundamental Inc., a Los Angeles-based philanthropic advising firm.

Ms. Parker also serves on the board of directors of The Road Theatre. Ms. Parker graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre.