I help organizations turn uncertainty into opportunity

Movement minded.
Impact driven.
People centered.

For over 25 years, I’ve led, partnered with, and helped transform complex, diverse organizations as a strategist, program designer, and relationship builder. I’ve built inclusive teams, launched coalitions, and scaled national and international programs through innovative models for change.

My consulting work with nonprofits and philanthropies has spanned a wide range of sectors, including women’s and girls empowerment and violence prevention, refugee protection, immigration and legal rights, grantmaking strategy and next-generation philanthropy, food security, and school-based civic engagement. Select engagements, include:

  • Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation

  • United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

  • Heartland Human Care Services

  • Apna Ghar

  • The Bishop Family Foundation

  • Catholic Charities

  • Beyond Legal Aid

  • One Earth Film Festival

  • The Orland Fund

  • Collective Learning Lab

  • Illinois Hunger Coalition

  • Ivory Coast Mothers and Children

Areas of Practice

Strategy

  • Strategic planning & restructuring

  • Ecosystem mapping & needs assessments

  • Organizational audits

Leveraging Capacity

  • Fractional / Interim CEO, COO, program director & advancement leads

  • Project management for short-term initiatives

Fund Generation

  • Fundraising strategy, major donor plans & revenue forecasting

  • Proposal strategy & writing for government and private foundations

  • Donor investment briefs & reports

Impact Storytelling

  • Impact analysis & evaluation

  • Data visualization & insights

  • Theory of change frameworks

  • Impact narratives & contextualization

Anne Sweeney, Principal

My commitment to social impact is rooted in more than two decades of building and leading organizations and programs across every stage of development. Most recently, I served as National Program Director for Welcome Corps—an innovative refugee sponsorship initiative launched by President Biden under the U.S. Department of State—where I oversaw a $15 million budget, led a 40+ person team, operationalized policy frameworks, and helped scale the program to reach over 150,000 sponsors.

Previously, as Senior Advisor for Community Impact at Catholic Charities of Chicago, I established new rigor for impact measurement and storytelling and advised on the strategic restructuring of more than $200 million in direct service programming. As Managing Director, I also co-designed and launched the New Coast Foundation, a venture philanthropy fund supporting emerging, high-impact nonprofits in Chicago, where I led grantmaking, donor strategy, and fundraising with high-net-worth individuals and foundations.

Earlier in my career, I focused on international migration and refugee protection—working with the United Nations Refugee Agency in Tanzania, the U.S. Department of State’s refugee processing center in Kenya, and as co-founder of RefuSHE, an internationally recognized nonprofit that protects and empowers refugee girls and young women in Nairobi, Kenya.

I hold an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, a B.S. from the University of Minnesota, and a Certificate in Forced Migration from Oxford University. I am a 2019 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow and have served as board chair of Illinois Birth Justice and on the boards of Girl Forward and the Mayan Health Initiative.

I live on the northside of Chicago with my husband, Pete, and 10-year-old son, Joe.