Placed Leaders

Denise Collazo

Executive Director

Fund to Build Grassroots Power

Koya Partners | Diversified Search Group partnered with the Fund to Build Grassroots Power (FBGP) on the search for their inaugural Executive Director. Since its inception in 2019, FBGP has worked to advance environmental and climate justice in the United States through the awarding of general operating support grants to organizations within specified national grassroots networks and alliances.

As an intermediary fund, FBGP plays a critical role in providing flexible funding to frontline organizations – allowing these organizations to determine how to build their own power in a way that best reflects the needs of the communities they serve. To date, FBGP has granted $25.3 million to 136 organizations across the United States.

Our work resulted in the recruitment of Denise Collazo to the role.

For the last 25 years, Collazo was a key builder of Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network), the nation’s largest organizing network of faith and spiritual communities. Most recently she served as Faith in Action’s Chief of External Affairs, where she led growth of the organization’s brand awareness and revenue.

In 2021, Collazo wrote the award-winning book Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change.

Collazo received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Romance Languages and Literature.