GEOASKS: Sarah Cotton Nelson and Ann Marie Warrick, Communities Foundation of Texas

When Sarah Cotton Nelson joined Communities Foundation of Texas in 2008, the foundation was a staff of 46, in a state of finding new footing following leadership changes, and just embarking on the creation of a new vision and identity for the 60 year old organization. Since then, CFT’s staff has grown to 90, and Sarah, chief philanthropy officer since 2009, and Ann Marie Warrick, a project coordinator and leader of the Employee Engagement Committee for the organization, credit some of the great changes along the way to the formation of the engagement committee, an opt-in internal working group with representatives from across the foundation that focuses on planning staff-wide events. In this GEOAsks, we interviewed Sarah and Ann Marie about how the foundation shaped its organizational culture and the challenges it still faces.