Sara Kriksciun

A lifelong advocate for gender equity and racial justice, Sara’s special talent is bringing people together to scale big ideas—especially those led by communities closest to the world’s toughest challenges. To date, her work has helped move more than $500 million to breakthrough ideas from women and communities in the U.S. and globally.

Sara has held senior leadership roles at CARE, Futures Without Violence, EngenderHealth, and the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. She also served on the Advisory Board of the Criterion Institute, supporting a global commitment to rethink the way finance is used to mobilize $10 billion in investment capital toward ending gender-based violence.

Her work has been featured in Inside Philanthropy and recognized with awards for innovation from the Open Minds Initiative (Next Big Idea in Mental Health), Engage for Good, a Global Philanthropy Prize hosted by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, PR News NonProfit PR Awards, DoGooder Video Awards, MarCom Platinum Award, Population Institute’s Global Media Awards “Best Social Media Campaign.”

A Fulbright Scholar and Ford Knight Fellow, Sara brings over 25 years of experience spanning gender-based violence prevention, economic opportunity, health, education, and climate and environmental justice. She has worked on initiatives in more than 40 countries and has trained human rights advocates from the Global Majority to strengthen organizational sustainability and impact.

Sara holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights from Columbia University. She is fluent in conversational German and is—humbly—learning Korean at a much slower pace than her amazing kids.