Christiana DeBenedict

Senior Director, Environmental Initiatives

Christiana DeBenedict serves as Senior Director of Environmental Initiatives at San Diego Foundation (SDF) and oversees a portfolio of environment initiatives that support our most vulnerable communities facing air and water pollution, climate change impacts and lack of access to green spaces.

Since 2021, Christiana has managed SDF’s Climate and Outdoor Initiatives; led the establishment of the Binational Resilience Initiative; and co-founded the Climate Funders Collaborative (San Diego / Baja / Imperial). She oversees the Environment team that is serving as lead grant administrator for a Transformative Climate Communities grant of $22 million and an Environmental Protection Agency Community Change Grant of $20 million to facilitate over $42 million in funding to community-driven climate projects benefiting the historic central barrios of San Diego.

Prior to her tenure at SDF, Christiana worked at The Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego, managing The Equinox Project and the Outdoor Leaders Initiative. She directed the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, a network of cities and public agencies working to advance local climate solutions.

She previously served as Assistant Director of Climate Education Partners, a $5 million National Science Foundation funded project that engaged and informed government, business and community leaders on local climate impacts. As Director of Member Services and Operations at the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership, Christiana worked to strengthen philanthropy, leadership and collaboration in the US-Mexico border region.

Christiana graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts in Hispanic Languages and Bilingual Issues and holds an International MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.


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