Spotlight on 25 Years of Grantmaking Rosalyn Benjamin

What’s a site visit that stands out in your memory?

When I first joined the Foundation, the Grants Against the Greek Crisis initiative had been running for a year and had supported numerous social welfare and health-related projects. Greece was still experiencing a severe socioeconomic crisis, and the city of Drama in Northern Greece was one of the most affected areas. With this in mind, we organized a three-day visit to Drama where we talked to local communities to understand their needs and how the crisis had affected them. We met over 20 local nonprofits and, although we weren’t able to support all of them at the time, the experience of being there, talking to so many people and having the local community open up about their struggles and needs really shaped my understanding of the impact SNF can have.

What’s your favorite part of working at SNF?

Meeting people and communities with very diverse background and unique stories to tell. I can’t imagine any other job that would give you such insight and let you experience the world in this way. Every grant, every conversation, every interaction has something new to teach you.

Rosalyn Benjamin, Program Officer, Athens
Athenian who worked in the creative economy sector in London prior to joining the Foundation in 2013