Meet dynamic and dedicated Christie Herrera, working hard to continue the philanthropic tradition that promotes the best in American values.
Independent Women’s Forum is pleased to announce that Christie Herrera, President and CEO of the Philanthropy Roundtable, is the latest entry in our popular series of Champion Women profiles.
Herrera joined the Philanthropy Roundtable in 2019 and was promoted to the top job in October. “What we do at the Roundtable is connect donors with organizations that not only do great work on the ground, but also put our values—liberty, opportunity and personal responsibility—at the heart of what they do,” she says. “So, we’re able to advise donors and help them make great investments that really, again, align with their values. We also work with donors to help them with the nuts and bolts of philanthropy.”
Herrera says frequently that philanthropy should help individuals realize their dreams. “In recent years,” she says, “we’ve seen otherwise effective charities on the ground get infected by wokeism—pulling their staff and resources away from pursuing their original intent and valuable missions.”
Many major foundations now put a heavy focus on addressing “systemic racism” and promoting “equity.” Herrera believes that injecting identity politics into philanthropy misses the mark. “It all goes back to Alexis de Tocqueville,” Christie tells IWF. “He visited America two hundred years ago and revered it. He wrote about the thriving civil society that’s made up of charities, religious institutions, and all of our voluntary associations.”
Christie’s background represents the kind of old-fashioned work and civic ethic that de Tocqueville found so appealing. “I am a blue-collar kid and have done everything from clean rooms at a motel,” Christie says, “to waitress, to gosh, like every blue-collar job, I have done it. That work ethic and that perseverance brought me to where I am today, and that is why I am so passionate about getting government out of the way and letting people work hard and pursue their dreams. Philanthropy is a big part of that.”
We know you will enjoy meeting this dynamic and dedicated woman who works hard to continue the philanthropic tradition that promotes the best in American values.
