Joanna Colangelo, Principal

Joanna is a community impact professional with twenty years’ experience in grantmaking, corporate social responsibility, philanthropic advising, fundraising, grantwriting, cause-related marketing, strategic planning, community-based writing, and non-profit organizational development.

Before founding Razem Worldwide, Joanna served as Vice President of Community Impact at the Albuquerque Community Foundation where she oversaw nearly $5M of grants annually through the Foundation’s various grant programs, including leading the Foundation’s multiple COVID-19 emergency response efforts. During her tenure, Joanna launched Tapestry, a multi-partner, community grant program to increase economic opportunities, education, arts and access to food and green space in Albuquerque's International District. She advised $1M+ of grants annually in partnership with donor-advised fund holders and developed local grant programs with national funders including, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, The Obama Foundation/My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and Facebook.

In previous roles, Joanna oversaw Corporate, Foundation and Community Relations for the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse organization, founded by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actress, Mariska Hargitay. Joanna joined Joyful Heart by way of Capital One Bank, where she was the Community Relations Program Manager and was responsible for grantmaking, corporate volunteerism and community engagement strategies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. She began her career in marketing and communications at the Advertising Club of New York and later, served in the Hon. Mayor Michael Bloomberg administration in New York City.

Joanna founded and chaired the New Mexico Funders Collaborative, and sits on the Boards of the Italian Film and Culture Festival of New Mexico, and the Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico. In addition to her community work, Joanna is a writer whose essays have appeared in the Huffington Post and the Columbia University Journal of American Studies (Monthly).

She holds a BA in American Studies with a concentration in American cultural anthropology from Skidmore College (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and an MA in American Studies from Bowling Green State University.