Nicole Baker Fulgham is the founder and president of The Townsend Collaborative, a philanthropic network empowering African American philanthropists to effect systemic change. She also leads Littlefield Advisors, a philanthropy advising firm specializing in Black individuals, families, and foundations.

Previously, Nicole was the Schusterman Family Philanthropies’ Chief Impact Officer, leading their work to understand and deepen the impact of grantmaking and to ensure that systems and processes effectively support grantmaking, as well as reflect the foundation’s commitment to racial, gender and economic equity. In this role, Nicole started and led the Impact and Operations team, which facilitates organization-wide learning, knowledge management, grantee capacity support, and effective grantmaking practices. Nicole’s team led organization-wide measurement, research and evaluation projects. She also led the leaders of color and higher education grantmaking portfolios.

Prior to joining Schusterman, Nicole was the founder and president of The Expectations Project, the nation’s largest network faith-motivated public education equity advocates, numbering more than 46,000 individuals. Immediately prior, she coached CEOs of national organizations around strategy, management and DEI at The Management Center. This built on her work, over the course of a decade, as a key member of Teach For America’s leadership team, where she held several Vice President positions including Faith and Community Relations, Teacher Training and Support, and Research and Evaluation. She began her education career as a fifth grade teacher in Compton, California.

Nicole has authored several books and articles about the intersection of education equity, advocacy and justice. She received her B.A. from The University of Michigan and her Doctorate in Education Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. She sits on the board of both non-profits and private companies and is deeply committed to the role of faith communities in justice and liberation movements. Nicole is an active member of several African American women’s organizations that promote community empowerment.