“Without Community Initiatives, California would not see the impact of hundreds of beneficial projects. They are an important part of our nonprofit landscape.”

Pamela H. David
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
WALTER AND ELISE HAAS FUND
staff
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James Ball
Director of Financial Services
James@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7707
Bringing solid finance, accounting and management skills, James Ball comes to Community Initiatives with a unique variety of experience at many different organizations.  He began his career in the corporate sector developing and refining accounting policies and procedures at entities such as Shorenstein Realty Services and Fisher Development.  James moved into the nonprofit sector when he became a Government Grants Administrator at the Tides Center in San Francisco.  His most recent position prior to joining CI was at KCSM Public TV and Jazz 91 FM in San Mateo, serving as the Accounting and Business Operations Manager. He was responsible for all finance and business activities for both stations, broadcasting in the 6th largest television and radio market in the U.S.  He has participated in many volunteer activities with nonprofits throughout his career including United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties in Washington State.  James’ academic training includes a B.S. in Accounting from Central Washington University.

 

Jim Buerer
Staff Accountant
Jim@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7729
Jim brings experience from a variety of industries to Community Initiatives.  For the last decade, he has been in the Engineering field, mostly as a staff accountant for Brown and Caldwell, and for LFR, Inc.  He has extensive computer skills and has worked with many software packages.  In his spare time, he plays soccer, softball, and basketball, and brews beer.  Jim is a graduate of Heald Business College and lives in Walnut Creek

 

M. Melanie Beene
President & CEO
Melanie@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7733
During more than three decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, Melanie Beene has served as a management consultant, a development director, philanthropy program officer, board member and volunteer with hundreds of nonprofit organizations throughout the country.  For eight years she managed the Advancement Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Her foundation clients included the Bush, Ford, Heinz and Packard Foundations, as well as the Pew Charitable Trusts, among others.  She served as Program Director, Arts, for The James Irvine Foundation and for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Her publication, “Autopsy of an Orchestra,” has become a classic case study, and she has written articles for The Reader, Grantmakers in the Arts Newsletter. Her board service includes Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts, Institute of Nonprofit Management (USF), and the Alliance of California Traditional Arts, among others. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Tennessee.  Melanie, a former member of the California Bar Association, lives in San Francisco.



Rey Canoy
Payroll & Accounts Payable Specialist
Rey@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7723
Rey Canoy brings to Community Initiatives a wealth of payroll and accounts payable experience.  He served as Accounts Payable Specialist at the Dynalectric Company and also at a variety of organizations in temporary positions with NCIRE.  Earlier experience included accounting and payroll positions at Wollborg/Michelson Personnel Service and CB Richard Ellis. Rey’s nonprofit experience includes payroll work at Edgewood Center for Children and Families.  A native of the Philippines, he grew up in Hawaii. He is a graduate of Heald College, and now lives in San Francisco’s Richmond District.



Prudy Kohler
Director of FSP and Philanthropic Services
Prudy@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7700
Arts and education have dominated Prudy Kohler’s career in the nonprofit sector.  For more than 20 years she taught arts and humanities and held administrative positions at the high school and the college level.  She then spent another seven years working in philanthropy as a Program Officer at The James Irvine Foundation.  Most recently Prudy served as interim executive director of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and as interim director of the Cultural Equity Program at the San Francisco Arts Commission.  She is the owner/founder of ART FOR LUNCH, a program that provides hands-on art making workshops for team building in businesses.  Her educational background includes a B.A. in art history from Pomona College and an M.A. also in art history from San Francisco State University. A practicing artist (photo-transfer techniques), Prudy lives in San Francisco.



Ani Rivera
Compliance Specialist
Ani@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7710
With experience in several San Francisco nonprofit organizations Ani Rivera is well suited to her work with Community Initiatives’ FSPs.  She managed payroll and grant funds for the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and also supervised accounts and served as a teacher at the Cross Cultural Environmental Leadership (XCEL) Academy.  For several years Ani was the business-operations manager for Galleria de la Raza.  Her volunteer activities include participation and performance in the San Francisco Dyke March and events at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  Fluent in Spanish, Ani also brings strong computer skills to CI.  She is currently enrolled in several courses at City College of San Francisco that will lead to an A.A. degree and eventually a BA.  Originally from southern California, Ani now resides in San Francisco. 



Susan Scarborough
Director of Human Resources & Administration
Susan@Communityin.org
415.230.7717
Susan Scarborough brings rich human resources experiences from a variety of sources.  Most recently she was the Director of HR at Gentiae Clinical Research where she designed and implemented a full spectrum of HR services.  She also served as VP of Human Resources at RadioCentral, Inc. and as VP at Bank of America where she was promoted rapidly into various HR positions.  Susan also provided consulting services in diverse business environments, owned and operated her own financial services search and consulting firm, and built an $18M regional business operation for ITT from scratch.  Her education includes a B.A. in Communications from Antioch College and courses completed toward an M.B.A. in Marketing Management at Golden Gate University.  A midwesterner by birth, Susan now lives in Mill Valley.

 

MiChele Starling
Human Resources Assistant/Office Coordinator
MiChele@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7700
Her experiences in benefits coordination at firms such as AMB Property Corporation, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP, and Westaff have prepared MiChele Starling well for her work with assisting the CI Human Resources area.  She enhanced and maintained customer focus to the large staffs of these organizations, and she is clearly an asset to CI’s relationships with the employees of our FSPs.  MiChele has also served as administrative assistant at a number of Bay Area organizations, and she applies those skills to her work as CI office coordinator.  She holds a B.S. degree in Management from the University of Phoenix, as well as a Human Resource Management Certificate.  MiChele and her teenage son live in the East Bay.

 

Danya Adolphs
Social Media Associate
Danya@CommunityIn.org
415.230.7700
Danya Adolphs brings a variety of skills to her work as Social Media Associate at Community Initiatives. With a background in both writing and healthcare, Danya combined these skills, adding grant writing and marketing communications to her repertoire through the Technical and Professional Writing Program at San Francisco State University. Always interested in social causes, she has acted as a volunteer for several nonprofit organizations in San Francisco and Madison, Wisconsin. In her free time, Danya enjoys traveling and delighting in food from around the world. Her true passion is learning and experimenting with cooking and healthy eating. Most recently, this led her to create the Homegrown Marin Market, a community food event to support new chefs and local agriculture in the Bay Area. When not at Community Initiatives, Danya works as a nutritionist at UCSF Medical Center.