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 pioneering community impact initiative in Albuquerque’s International District that ignited economic and social prosperity while building bridges between geographic communities, diverse populations and burgeoning local industries. She advised $1M+ of grants 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 UNM Management of Technology Advisory Board, and 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). During COVID-19, Joanna launched The Other Spread as a way to document ongoing stories of survival and resilience during the pandemic.

Joanna holds a BA in American Studies from Skidmore College and an MA in American Studies from Bowling Green State University. When she’s not writing or working in the community, she can be found traveling to distant countries and learning new languages.