Caren Yanis is a philanthropic consultant and currently principal at Croland Consulting – a boutique firm specializing in philanthropy for high-net worth families. She is a past President of Crown Family Philanthropies but most notably she was executive director of the Oprah’s Angel Network for 9 years. We were lucky to have Caren Yanis join us in the podcast booth at Nexus US. Thanks to Ami Aronson of the Bernstein Family Foundation for making sure we were introduced during a busy coffee break in the lobby.
Almost a decade ago, our host Dave was the development associate at a foundation and took notes during a call between the directors and Caren. At the time, she was the go to person for Oprah’s philanthropy and the founder (and current evaluator, Raj Vinnakota) had won Oprah’s “Use Your Life” Award. It was a pleasure to meet Caren years later and catch up while discussing philanthropy. When it comes to advising powerful individual and family philanthropists there is no one better to hear from than Caren Yanis.
During this interview, Caren promised to join the evaluation committee and provide feedback to Unfunded List applicants. We are pleased to report that Caren completed all of her assignments candidly and on time. Caren’s perspective and experience is really unparalleled so we’re looking forward to sourcing many more helpful and candid reviews from her in future rounds. For now, we hope you enjoy listening to this fascinating philanthropy chat.
