Negeen Darani

Vice President of Programs & Emerging Strategies

Negeen Darani oversees grantmaking strategy and program evaluation across the foundation, as well as our funding priorities for the newly launched Minerals + Materials program. Her primary areas of focus are transition mineral extraction for the clean energy transition, re-envisioning the materials economy (including how best to address the plastics crisis) and data science for social good — all through the lenses of equity, climate and human rights.  

Negeen brings over 25 years of experience working in philanthropy, nonprofit strategy, finance/economics and organizational change management.  She has served in advisory roles for local and national  nonprofits as well as as part of the planning committee for the Environmental Grantmakers Association’s annual fall retreat. Previously, Negeen was a researcher with Stanford’s Effective Philanthropy Lab and served as a philanthropic advisor to Bay Area-based funders. As executive director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, she led the creation of the first-ever humanitarian academy focused on community-driven crisis management. Within Morgan Stanley’s public finance group, she worked with nonprofits, municipalities, the State of California, school districts, and, water/wastewater districts on leveraging capital for infrastructure projects.

Negeen received her bachelor’s degree in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley and her master’s in public policy with a concentration in energy and environmental policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.