Shelley Trott

Chief Program Officer, Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Shelley Trott is Chief Program Officer for the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, serving on the Foundation’s executive and leadership teams. In this role, she advances organizational strategy, supports a diverse grantmaking portfolio, and fosters collaboration, evaluation and learning, and impact.

Before holding this position, Shelley was Director, Arts Strategy & Ventures, leading the Foundation’s strategic direction for the arts. Shelley joined the Foundation in 2009 as one of its first employees and has played an integral role in the evolution of its three program areas. Shelley has extensive nonprofit and philanthropy experience. Her past work as a dance and media artist has informed her entrepreneurial and collaborative approach.

Under Shelley’s leadership, the Rainin Foundation’s Arts program established a reputation for taking smart risks and gained national recognition for its visionary work. She was instrumental in establishing the Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), an inventive nonprofit model founded on the belief that the arts promote strong, vibrant, diverse communities. CAST secures permanent, affordable space for arts and cultural organizations to facilitate equitable urban transformation. The model is being adapted to serve the broader nonprofit sector, exceeding expectations around scale and replication, with the potential for national impact. She regularly speaks about the important role the arts play in innovative place-based approaches to improving neighborhoods and communities. In 2014, Shelley was awarded the Council on Foundation’s prestigious Robert Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking for her work with CAST.

Shelley earned a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She is Board President of Immersive Arts Alliance, serves on the board of CAST and co-produces the annual Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival.

Contributions

Effective Family Philanthropy in Action

Living Our Values Through Stakeholder Compensation

Posted on July 15, 2023 by Alexandria Featherston-Gomez, Shelley Trott

Two people shaking hands across a table
What does it look like to equitably compensate grantees and other partners and how can funders do it in a way that aligns with their values? The Kenneth Rainin Foundation explored this question and shares their process for paying stakeholders. This piece was originally published by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and is re-published here with permission. In 2022 we wrote about our… Read More
Voices from the Field

Five Lessons from Our DEI Growth and Transformation

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Laverne Matías, Jennifer Rainin, Shelley Trott, Lauren Webster

This blog was collaboratively written by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation’s Executive Team A few years ago, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation embarked on a mission to explore how we could play a role in building a more diverse, equitable and inclusive future. Like many other foundations on this journey, a core part of our process has been documenting and sharing what… Read More