Donnie Charleston Joins Social Finance as Vice President, Public Sector Partnerships

Charleston comes with deep local and state government experience and strong public policy expertise

Boston—Today, the national impact finance and advisory nonprofit Social Finance announced that Donnie Charleston will help lead its growing public sector partnership work as Vice President, Public Sector Partnerships.

Following eight years of service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, Charleston began his career in local and state government in North Carolina. He also served in various public policy roles in organizations across the state, including the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, the North Carolina Central University Juvenile Justice Institute, and the North Carolina State University Institute For Emerging Issues.

Charleston was also the Director of State and Local Fiscal Engagement at the Urban Institute and most recently served as the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy at E Pluribus Unum.

In his new role at Social Finance, Charleston will collaborate with state partners across the country to bridge the gap between research and implementation, and work toward achieving positive outcomes for people and communities through tools like the Pay It Forward Fund. Social Finance has launched Pay it Forward Funds in Miami and New Jersey and is poised to launch five more of these self-sustaining pools of job training dollars over the coming years.

“We’ve maintained close partnerships with local and state governments for more than a decade and it’s incredibly exciting to bring aboard someone like Donnie who has himself navigated those institutions and can connect with our partners there on a deep level,” Jake Segal, Vice President and Head of Impact Advisory, said.

“Local and state governments have historically placed a lot of trust in Social Finance’s ability to bring to bear evidence-based practices and innovative financing solutions but in an adaptable, responsive way,” Charleston said. “I’m eager to build on that trust by taking our work into new communities where the need for change is high.”

Social Finance has pioneered a set of innovative outcomes-based funding strategies in the U.S. over the past decade, including the Social Impact Bond. The organization launched the first-ever Career Impact Bond in 2019. Founded in 2011, Social Finance has a team of more than 100 people with offices in Austin, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

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About Social Finance

Social Finance is a national impact finance and advisory nonprofit. We work with the public, private, and social sectors to create partnerships and investments that measurably improve lives. Since our founding in 2011, we have mobilized $350 million in new investments designed to help people and communities realize improved outcomes in education, economic mobility, health, and housing. In addition to managing the investment program funded by the Google Career Certificates Fund, our economic mobility portfolio includes the UP Fund, place-based Pay It Forward Funds, and the Dreamers Graduate Loan Fund. Learn more at socialfinance.org.

Contact

Carrie Benjamin, Director of Media & Communications, Social Finance
(857) 340-6064
cbenjamin@socialfinance.org