Biography
Linetta J. Gilbert serves as Managing Partner of Gilbert & Associates. A respected leader in the philanthropic community, Linetta provides consulting, coaching and network-building support to foundations, large and small non-profits and emerging thought leaders. Her areas of practice include strategy development/planning and technical assistance for advancing organizational and community wide racial equity outcomes; board development; strategic planning; leadership development; and group facilitation.
Linetta has held leadership positions with a number of notable foundations. She served as Senior Program Officer for Social Justice Philanthropy with The Ford Foundation, where, over nearly a decade, she invested, monitored and leveraged $1 billion in resources dedicated to transforming and strengthening community-based philanthropic organizations worldwide. A significant portion of her career has focused on the influencing the reach into Black and other communities of color as donors and leveraging their leadership on critical national and global issues.
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Linetta helped guide decisions on philanthropic investments that would help to rebuild infrastructure and increase capacity in government, resident leadership, non-profit organizations and the business community and transition the region from recovery to transformation. She served as a place-based consultant in New Orleans to the Annie E. Casey Foundation for its Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. As the former Vice President of Programs for the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Linetta designed and implemented grant-making and programs for this regional foundation, expanding its programmatic reach to include critical issues such as housing and community development; workforce development; violence prevention; neighborhood resident engagement; faith-based economic development; and rural development initiatives. She has also served as a national consultant on public policies in the fields of early learning/education, health, housing and child welfare services.
Linetta actively uses her years of development experience to help improve her community and currently serves on the boards of Agenda for Children, the Amistad Research Center and the Old Algiers Main Street Corporation, The Solutions Project. She is the immediate past Chairman and founding member of the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Louisiana, a statewide public charity that invests in people and practices working to reduce vulnerability and build stronger, more sustainable communities.
In 2019, she was recognized for her achievements in philanthropy by being selected as the 29th James A. Joseph Lecturer by the Association of Black Foundation Executives.