Evanston Community Foundation (ECF) is excited to announce the appointment of Cynthia Dominguez in her new role as Vice President of Finance and Operations. Cynthia brings a wealth of experience, an incredible thirst for knowledge, and a passion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to the organization. We are extremely grateful to Cynthia’s predecessor, Jan Fischer, for her years of service, leadership, and dedication to ECF. ECF would also like to thank Candance Chow NextGroup Co-Founder for her support during the search. It can be difficult to find talented finance professionals in the market today and ECF believes they’ve found an outstanding one thanks to NextGroup’s partnership.
“I am very passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and I believe it’s fundamental for it to be part of the fabric of any organization; this is one of the values that drew me to ECF,” Cynthia Dominguez said. “This role has a unique opportunity to balance a lot of structure and logic within the finance part of a role, while navigating the interpersonal and operational side of an organization as well – all while prioritizing racial equity. I’m excited to continue to uphold the inclusive value ECF has, ensuring the right people are at the table, all voices are heard, and decisions are made thoughtfully and methodically, to best serve the Evanston community. Internally, I see an opportunity to ensure this philosophy is used for everything from budgeting, to strategic planning, and policy and process implementation.”
Cynthia arrives to ECF with more than eight years of experience in finance and operations in the nonprofit sector. Prior to ECF, Cynthia worked at Lakeview Pantry, where, as the first finance employee, she was charged with bringing the 50-year-old organization up to speed with modern, streamlined, financial processes. Previously, Cynthia led the finance department at Urban Initiatives, where she formalized the financial, operations, and human resources processes over the course of her five-year tenure. At both organizations, Cynthia also spearheaded the launching of DEI initiatives. Cynthia is a proud graduate from Grinnell College and is also a graduate of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE)’s Mujeres de HACE Leadership Program. Most recently, Cynthia has been a part of the first cohort for the University of Chicago’s Rustandy Center Nonprofit Network for Strategic Operations and Finance Program.
“Cynthia is known for aligning the organizational mission and impact with the ongoing goals of the finance and operations team, and excels in communicating across the organization. She has a true passion for DEI with a specific experience applying a racial equity lens from finance efforts to fundraising strategies and program operations,” said Sol Anderson, Evanston Community Foundation CEO. “Bringing in a woman of color into this leadership role as we enter a new era where we are championing justice throughout the Evanston community is incredibly important for us as we seek to live into those values. That commitment coupled with Cynthia’s passion, expertise, and dedication for those issues is going to help us continue to be the best organization we can be.”
Submitted by Evanston Community Foundation