Allison Lugo Knapp, M.P.A.

Bio

Allison Lugo Knapp is program director of Philanthropic Services at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich. In this role, she provides leadership with the planning and development for The Grantmaking School’s programming, as well as professional services to philanthropic organizations. In addition, she assists with coordination of the AIM (Arizona-Indiana-Michigan) Alliance and provides support to special projects for the Frey Chair for Family Philanthropy. She has experience working nationally with a broad spectrum of foundations and philanthropic organizations in the areas of training strategies and design, organizational and process development, and best practices for grantmaking models and operations. She is the co-author of "What is a Family Foundation", published in The Foundation Review. (2011).

Ms. Lugo Knapp is also an adjunct faculty member of the School of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Administration at Grand Valley State University, and a member of the Latin American Studies Advisory Committee in Area Studies within Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies. She is a former member of the national board of advisors of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and is a founding member of the EPIP Michigan chapter. She currently serves as co-chair of Next Generation Task Force of the Council on Foundations, and on the Ethics and Practices committee. She is a member of the board of directors of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, and serves on the organizing committee of the Grand Rapids Latin American Film Festival.

Allison has been the recipient of a Ford Fellowship through the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and is a graduate of the Michigan Nonprofit Association's Emerging Leaders program. Prior to her role at the Johnson Center, she was a program officer at the Battle Creek Community Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich., where her work focused on arts and culture, youth, and neighborhood grantmaking. She holds a bachelor of arts in international relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and masters of public administration in urban and regional planning from Grand Valley State University.