Lesley Grady

LESLEY GRADY is senior vice president of Community Partnerships for The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. She oversees the Community Partnerships department including grantmaking and scholarships as well as multiple community initiatives and helps connects this work with donors interested in critical community needs.  Lesley is also responsible for identifying, recommending and managing appropriate community initiatives for the Foundation’s involvement by maintaining accurate, timely knowledge of current national and local trends, issues and resources and represents The Community Foundation in a variety of local and national Foundation leadership initiatives and partnerships.
 
Lesley has more than 25 years’ experience working in community development.  Immediately prior to joining the Foundation, she worked as an independent contractor for corporations, nonprofit organizations and governmental entities.  Her work included administering corporate philanthropic giving; developing funding feasibility studies; training, strategic planning; program design and volunteer coordination.  Her clients included John Wieland Homes & Neighborhoods, United Way of Metro Atlanta, Leadership Strategies, Inc. and the Atlanta Public Schools.  Lesley served from 1989 to 1995 as Vice President of Education for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.  Lesley has a Masters of Public Policy from Georgia State University and a BA in English from LaSalle University.
 
Lesley’s areas of expertise include deep knowledge of children, youth and family issues (particularly education and social programming) as well as adult training and education.  She also has extensive knowledge of Atlanta’s nonprofit community, development/capacity building of communities and public/private partnerships.