Isabela Cigarroa | Grants Manager
As the Grants Manager, Isabela manages the backend administration of the Foundation’s grant and scholarship processes, ensuring philanthropic operations are conducted with accuracy, consistency, and integrity – and enabling the Foundation to scale its impact.
Isabela joined the Foundation in 2026 bringing years of experience across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, with a background spanning grant writing, program administration, and development. She previously served as a Program Assistant at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, managing a $17 million climate portfolio; a Development Associate at the Urban Assembly; and as a Grants Writer at the Rio Grande International Study Center where she gained experience managing full grant lifecycles. Earlier in her career, she interned with the Helsinki Association for Human Rights in Yerevan, Armenia, where she developed strategic communications for European donors and led a multinational intern team.
Isabela is deeply committed to equity-centered philanthropy and to ensuring that frontline communities have access to the resources they need to thrive. She is particularly drawn to the role that strategic grantmaking can play in advancing systemic change.
Raised in Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, Isabela brings a perspective shaped by firsthand experience with the inequities that border and underserved communities face. That background informs everything from how she manages grant lifecycles to how she thinks about to whom philanthropy is ultimately accountable. She holds a B.A. in Russian and Political Science from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University’s Elliott School.