Marianna Schaffer

Project: Philanthropic Leadership for Change is a research project and community for philanthropic board leaders navigating transformational change at their institutions. The project provides a place for learning and community where foundation leaders can access training, understand their role better, and have a community of others to connect with and learn from. 

Marianna Schaffer is a curious connector and strategist with over 20 years of service in the philanthropic and movement sectors. She brings her highly passionate, personable, and dynamic approach to her work as Vice President of Programs at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation where she oversees and manages all programmatic activities and ensures alignment with Foundation goals and values focused on equity and justice. 

Prior to Dodge, she was the inaugural Director of Artist Initiatives at Creative Capital, an organization that provides adventurous artists across the country with substantial financial and capacity-building support. As a Program Officer at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, she worked with individual artists and small arts organizations at the intersection of arts and social justice primarily through pioneering initiatives such as the Artist as Activist Fellowship, SEED programs, and the New Climate Initiative, a partnership with the Sundance Institute to uncover and support films and emerging media projects that address the environment, conservation, and climate change. Marianna began her career in philanthropy as a member of David Rockefeller Sr.’s philanthropic team rising to become the Director of Programs at the David Rockefeller Fund where she was responsible for day-to-day operations and grantmaking focused on arts access and engagement, criminal justice reform, and climate justice and advocacy.

Marianna holds a Master of Arts from New York University and Bachelor of Arts from Antioch College. Outside of her professional activities, Marianna serves on the Board of Directors of HI-ARTS, Impact Guild, Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, and Opendox. She is also the first non-family member and woman of color to serve as Board Chair of the Scherman Foundation, a New York City-based foundation dedicated to the arts and movement building in New York along with ensuring democracy, environment, and reproductive justice nationally. 

She lives in Harlem with her husband, filmmaker, and educator Micah Schaffer, and two children.