Deputy Director of Development
Carolyn Cowen Nissen joined Advancement Project in September 2016 as the Development Manager for Foundation Relations and became Deputy Director of Development in 2020. She has a background in foundation management and civil rights. Carolyn worked for 2 and a half years at the Council on Foundations, cultivating relationships with funders and navigating the field of philanthropy. Prior to that, she worked at the DC Council with then Councilmember Tommy Wells, as a student attorney for the housing clinic at UDC, and as a legal intern with the Equal Rights Center.
Her top priority, personally and professionally, is to effectuate change in civil rights and work towards racial justice. She is an active member of Showing Up for Racial Justice and Stop Police Terror Project DC.
She is a native of St Louis, Missouri where most of her family still resides—Go Cardinals! Carolyn holds a J.D. from University of the District of Columbia and a B. A. in African and African American Studies from Earlham College.