Making a Difference in Los Angeles

As a senior executive with the California Community Foundation (CCF), Nike Irvin is making a difference through advocacy, outreach and community investments.

Irvin is responsible for $25 million in annual grants, funding programs in Los Angeles in the arts, education, health care, transition-aged youth, and organizational sustainability. As a leading advocate, the foundation stewards $1.5 billion in assets and manages 1,600+ charitable foundations, funds and legacies.

Passionate about serving the public through systemic change, Irvin also manages four specialized initiatives: Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Men (BLOOM), the El Monte Community Building Initiative, Preparing Achievers for Tomorrow, and the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative.

Her colleagues describe her as an expert in capacity building, branding, and program development and implementation. She has two decades of experience in leadership and consulting with numerous nonprofit organizations, foundations, and charitable arms of for-profit companies. As her work impacts lives and transforms communities, Irvin is steadfast about improving the productivity, health and well-being of the Los Angeles region. She lives by the words: “Be stronger today than yesterday.”

Before joining CCF, Irvin served as president of The Riordan Foundation for seven years and as a consultant to nonprofits and foundations. She says her biggest career leap was receiving an invitation to oversee a foundation before she actually knew much about leading a philanthropic institution. As a results focused leader, she learned to be a quick study.

Irvin also has extensive marketing background in the private sector for Nestle USA and Pepsi Cola Company. She serves on several boards and is a trustee for The Riordan Foundation, Southern California Grantmakers; and previously for Crystal Stairs, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, and The UCLA Alumni Association.

Irvin holds a BA in Economics & Political Science from Yale University and was named among the “100 Most Inspirational Alumni” by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where she also earned an MBA. She is a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute, a Marshall Memorial Fellow, and a Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly.