David Weitnauer launched the Giving Related research project in 2025 through a fellowship sponsored by the National Center for Family Philanthropy. The project was inspired by his belief in the importance of relationships in every context and especially family philanthropy.
He has been working with families since graduating seminary in 1986. He served in a variety of settings during his formal pastoral career including institutional chaplaincy, congregational ministry, and an ecumenical counseling center.
David’s experience with family philanthropy began in 1996 when he was asked to serve as a community trustee for a new family foundation. Following a period of board service, David became the part-time director in 1998. Two years later, he became the full-time Executive Director of Rockdale Foundation and for the next seven years worked to advance its founders’ divergent interests. David worked locally on public education reform. Internationally, he worked cross-culturally in 6 countries of a then-developing Arab microfinance industry. During this same period, he partnered with an ecumenical Seminary in Cuba to strengthen community services delivered by local churches in the absence of a non-profit sector.
In 2007, David became President of the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation. He was charged with cultivating governance practices and operations in accordance with best practices, facilitation of an intergenerational board succession process (G2 to G3), and developing a focused approach to grantmaking that included proactive engagement. By 2023, five third-generation trustees were leading the Board in partnership with four community trustees. Priorities developed by trustees guided programmatic investments within three legacy areas. David facilitated the Foundation’s next gen program for 17 of its 23-year history. Most recently, he worked with the board on a two-year succession process prior to his retirement at the end of 2024.
While with Rockdale and Dobbs, he worked with partners to launch two non-profits that continue to thrive today, Sanabel Microfinance Network and One Hundred Miles, respectively. In partnership with the Southeastern Council of Foundations (now, Philanthropy Southeast), David teamed with colleagues to launch a state association of grantmakers, serving as its founding chair. He also contributed to the launch of the Georgia Social Impact Collaborative and co-led development of Stewards of the Georgia Coast, a donor affinity group that advances conservation philanthropy on behalf of Georgia’s internationally significant coast.
Board service includes One Hundred Miles and the Rockdale Foundation; David served previously on the boards of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, John H. and Wilhemina Harland Charitable Foundation, Georgia Social Impact Collaborative, Georgia Grantmakers Alliance, Philanthropy Southeast, Sanabel Microfinance Network, Agnes Scott College, and Columbia Theological Seminary. A 1982 graduate of Davidson College, David received his Master of Divinity in 1986 and his Doctor of Theology in 1997 from Columbia Theological Seminary.
He and his wife, Nancy, have two adult children and live in Decatur, Georgia.
