Cathy Cha is vice president of programs with the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Cathy will become the Fund’s president in January 2019. Based in San Francisco, the Haas, Jr. Fund seeks to fulfill its founders’ vision of a just and compassionate society where all people have the opportunity to live, work and raise their families with dignity. 

Cathy is a leader in advancing new models for how foundations can collaborate and partner with communities, advocates, and government to expand equity and opportunity. She co-created and led California Civic Participation Funders, a collaborative that is increasing voting and community organizing in immigrant and low-income communities in four regions of the state. She worked with the Carnegie, Knight, and Grove foundations to start the New Americans Campaign, which has assisted more than 300,000 legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens. In 2018, Cathy helped create the California Campus Catalyst Fund, a coalition of funders, educators, and advocates working to expand support and services for undocumented students and their families across California’s public higher education systems.

Cathy joined the Haas, Jr. Fund as a program officer in 2004. She led its Immigrant Rights and Integration program starting in 2009. Earlier in her career, Cathy was a program officer with the Hyams Foundation in Boston. She also has worked at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation in San Francisco and the United Way of King County in Seattle.

Cathy served for seven years on the board of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), including two years as national co-chair. She has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Washington in Seattle.