BA Leadership: Women on a Mission

This Women’s History Month we want to celebrate the triumvirate of incredible women who lead AFJ’s Bolder Advocacy team.

Bolder Advocacy, AFJ’s flagship, 30-year-old program builds grassroots power by equipping nonprofits with the tools, training, and resources to advance their missions through policy advocacy.  Bolder Advocacy (BA) also educates and supports foundation staff and board members on the importance of funding advocacy, and how to do so effectively and legally. Not only that, but these BA team members have been instrumental in the creation and launch of the Nonprofit Legal Defense Network — training attorneys in the We The Action network on the laws that govern nonprofit compliance — some 600 at last count — and supporting the legal clinics that nonprofits can attend to assess their compliance  with the law.

Program Director, Natalie Roetzel Ossenfort, has been at AFJ for 11 years. She started as the Director of Bolder Advocacy’s Texas office and is now the Program Director for the entirety of the program, overseeing a team of 14, including nine lawyers and three operations, evaluation, and program coordinators.  Natalie brings a deep background in criminal justice and legal defense issues, previously serving as Executive Director and Chief Staff Attorney for the Innocence Project of Texas.

Legal Director, Quyen Tu, has been at AFJ for seven years. Quyen is an invaluable member of the leadership team at Bolder Advocacy and AFJ. With her breadth of legal expertise from public interest lawyering to nonprofit support, she ensures AFJ’s Bolder Advocacy team is always pushing the limits of what nonprofits and foundations can legally do to advance their missions.  Before AFJ, Quyen was in private practice, advising legal entities that blend nonprofit and for-profit models.

Senior Director of Operations and Evaluation, Shannon Williams, has been at AFJ for seven years. Shannon is responsible for the administration of a program that serves several thousand nonprofit and foundation organizations every year. She also is passionate about evaluation to ensure that we are not only achieving our aim to help grassroots organizations build and wield their advocacy power, but are also continually innovating, refining, and improving our program.

Together these three power-house women run a program that is nationally recognized and appreciated for the expertise it provides to both nonprofits and foundations. All three feel extremely gratified to do the work they do. They share that the successes of the nonprofits they serve really keep them going, even during times as hard as these. Knowing each day that their work matters to those we serve and is a means of fighting back against the tide of authoritarianism keeps them going.