WMG SOCIAL JUSTICE FUND HIRES DIRECTOR

Comic Relief exec Lorelei Williams has been named the first executive director of the Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund (WMG/BFF SJF).

Based in New York, Williams will function as an employee of Moore Impact, the fund’s fiscal sponsor, and report to the organization’s president, Yvonne Moore.

Williams will work closely with the fund’s board to help build more equitable communities and create change in the lives of historically underserved and marginalized populations through investing in organizations at the forefront of this work.

Mark Baker, WMG/BFF SJF board member and SVP, Public Policy & Government Affairs, WMG, said of Williams, “Lorelei's extensive background in social justice philanthropy and community development make her a perfect fit for this role. With her strategic oversight and direction, the board is confident that it will have a sustained, long-term impact on advancing equity and justice around the world.”

Williams most recently served as Senior Vice President of Grant Programs at Comic Relief U.S., a nonprofit that uses the power of entertainment to help eliminate world poverty. While there, she launched a new grantmaking pillar focused on economic empowerment, providing thousands of low-income youth with access to job training, job placement and investment in youth-led social enterprises. In addition, she inaugurated a Youth Advisory Council, composed of eight young leaders who now inform the strategy for the fundraising campaign Red Nose Day.

Before Comic Relief, Williams spent more than 15 years working as a philanthropic strategist, with a focus on the U.S., South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. For the majority of those years, she was president of Onira Global Advisors, where she provided counsel on fundraising, grantmaking and program design to foundations and nonprofit organizations around the globe.

The WMG/BFF SJF recently released its annual report, which can be viewed here.