Daranee Petsod

Background

About Daranee Petsod

In a career spanning more than 35 years, Daranee has played numerous leadership roles to advance justice and equity for marginalized communities. She currently serves as a senior advisor to Hyphen, which builds public-philanthropic partnerships to achieve equitable outcomes for low-income families, people of color, and other underserved communities. She is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity and the Atlantic Institute. During the pandemic, Daranee led the California Immigrant Resilience Fund (CIRF), which she founded as part of a $150-million public-private partnership with the State of California to provide cash assistance to undocumented immigrants impacted by the pandemic. For 22 years, Daranee served as the founding president of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), which galvanizes U.S. philanthropy to advance justice and belonging for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Guided by her vision and leadership, foundations invested hundreds of millions to support citizenship and DACA, fight racist and xenophobic policies, address urgent humanitarian needs, and cultivate the belonging and contributions of immigrants in our society. As a consultant for more than a decade, Daranee helped foundations and social-change organizations develop their program and communications strategies to expand opportunities and rights for women and girls, family farmers, and low-wage immigrant workers. In her role as interim executive director, Daranee shepherded the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights through its first leadership transition—while mounting an aggressive campaign to address the impact of the most sweeping federal welfare and immigration legislation in recent history. Daranee previously served as a program officer at the Field Foundation of Illinois, where she was responsible for a diverse funding portfolio, including health, education, housing, and economic security. At the Sophia Fund, she focused on issues affecting low-income women and girls of color, from gender-based violence to leadership development. At the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, she developed an innovative program for Southeast Asian refugee women impacted by gender-based violence. Daranee is the recipient of the 2020 Journey to Justice Award from CHIRLA; the 2020 Outstanding Grantmaking Professional from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Golden Gate Chapter; and a 2014 Professional Development Fellowship from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.