Cynthia Renfro

Cynthia Renfro is the principal and CEO at Civis Consulting LLC in Seattle, Washington, a consulting firm launched in 2012 to support philanthropic institutions and community-based organizations in developing and implementing strategic and intentional programs. Civis Consulting has expertise in grant-making, organizational development, comprehensive human resources development and program implementation at local, state and national levels.

Until November 2012, Ms. Renfro was the director of programs and evaluation for the Marguerite Casey Foundation, where she was responsible for overseeing the foundation’s core grant-making activities and evaluation strategy. Prior to joining the foundation, Ms. Renfro served as a program officer at the Beldon Fund and a consultant to the Iraq Peace Fund of the Tides Foundation. Before joining the Beldon Fund, she worked at the Turner Foundation in Atlanta as a program officer and then program director, where she helped manage approximately $25 million in payouts to more than 400 environmental organizations each year.

Ms. Renfro started her nonprofit career working for the Multinational Monitor, a magazine that tracks multinational corporations and is part of Essential Information, founded by Ralph Nader. There, she championed corporate accountability, human rights and a clean environment both domestically and internationally. Ms. Renfro also serves on the board of directors of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and is on the Capital Campaign Advisory Committee at the Highlander Research & Education Center. She has served on the boards of the National Network of Grant-Makers, the Environmental Leadership Program and the Neighborhood Funders Group.

Cynthia Renfro is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, and went on to become a Rackham Merit Fellow PhD student of American History at the University of Michigan.