Kelsey McCarthy

Kelsey McCarthy, CAP®

Senior Director, Private Donor Services

I serve as the Senior Director of Private Donor Services at CAF America. I began my tenure at CAF America in 2016 working with charity partners and individual donors. Now leading the Private Donor Services team, I manage a team of fund managers and provide support to our donor clients for their cross-border grantmaking. My background in grants management, fundraising, community outreach and public health initiatives have helped me in my work at CAF America. One of my favorite aspects of my work with donors is to learn about their “why” for giving and their connection to the causes their philanthropy supports. In addition to my work on the Donor Services team, I am also involved in many staff initiatives at CAF America including our Values, Principles, and Practices working group and our Diversity and Inclusion working group. 

My interest in public health, community outreach, and fundraising led me to work for a nonprofit healthcare system in Southeast Los Angeles County, where I evaluated the local programs the health system funded, conducted financial reporting of the system’s community benefit activities, and helped oversee the healthcare foundation’s grants management program. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!) with a minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Through the Global Poverty and Practice minor at UC Berkeley, I received a fellowship to work with a small NGO in Cape Coast, Ghana, where I developed and implemented a peer health education program in a local village.

I am certified in Anti-Money Laundering (AML/CFT) by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and I am a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®).