Autumn McDonald

Autumn McDonald is the Vice President of Community Investments & Partnerships, leading EBCF’s strategic grantmaking, regional collaborations, and team of program officers to deliver on our mission across the East Bay. 

Autumn has more than two decades of experience working with foundations, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies at the intersection of strategy, advocacy, civic innovation, and social impact. Through her work with FSG, a social impact consulting firm, Autumn built expertise in providing strategic guidance to large, small, community, and family foundations. Autumn also served the late San Francisco Mayor, Ed Lee, shaping policies and public-private initiatives to improve economic opportunity for Bay Area families. Before joining EBCF, she was a member of the leadership team at New America where she served as a senior fellow and head of New America CA. 

At New America, Autumn’s work focused on issues of economic equity, community engagement, resident voice, policy influence, and narrative change. Her writing has been published by numerous media outlets, including Slate, The Washington Post, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Project Syndicate, Pacific Standard, CalMatters, and Britannica Parents. She also serves on the board of KQED, Women’s Foundation of California, and as Chair of the board for Lincoln Families.  

Autumn has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a master’s from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a master’s from the Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy. She, her husband, and their three children live in Oakland. Her parents moved to Oakland from the east coast right before the pandemic, happily making her East Bay kin now intergenerational!