Kafi Blumenfield

Kafi brings more than two decades of experience in grantmaking, philanthropy, and nonprofit leadership in support of Community Initiatives’ mission to provide fiscal sponsorship services and organizational support to mission-driven projects. Throughout her career, Kafi’s commitment to participatory approaches and capacity building has shaped her work across executive leadership, board governance, and philanthropic advising.

Kafi currently serves as a trustee of The James Irvine Foundation, which has a $3.3 billion endowment, and previously served as Board Chair from 2021-2023. She also serves on the board of Self-Help Federal Credit Union, which holds more than $2.15 billion in assets; on the Executive Committee of the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands Board, and on the advisory board of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her past board service includes Tides, where she provided governance oversight to one of the nation’s early fiscal sponsorship organizations.

As President and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation, Kafi managed $3 million in annual grantmaking to grassroots organizations focusing on community organizing, economic justice, environmental justice, LGBTQ equality, and grassroots voter engagement. She developed participatory grantmaking models, donor education programs, and giving circles, and founded the Wally Marks Leadership Institute, which provided capacity building and peer learning for grantee leaders. As the inaugural Executive Director of Discovery Cube Los Angeles, she helped build a science education institution serving historically underserved communities. Earlier in her career, she led grassroots voter engagement and advocacy efforts at Neighbor to Neighbor and addressed urban air quality and environmental justice issues at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Kafi holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a B.A. from Pomona College. She lives in Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley with her husband, Bob Blumenfield, a current Los Angeles City Council member and former member of the California State Assembly. She is the proud mother of two children.