Focus Areas

DFN takes a big-picture view of the challenges facing American democracy and the approaches to solving them. We do not believe there is a silver bullet that will enable American democracy to thrive over the next fifty years and beyond. On the contrary, many approaches will likely play a role in fixing what ails us. We help donors better understand and respond to the long-term challenges facing U.S. democracy, with a programmatic focus in six primary areas:

RACHEL PRITZKER, CHAIR

Rachel Pritzker is President and Founder of the Pritzker Innovation Fund, which supports the development and advancement of paradigm-shifting ideas to address the world’s most wicked problems. The Fund is primarily focused on U.S. Democracy and Climate and Energy. She is chair of the Democracy Funders Network and is co-founder of Patriots & Pragmatists, a network and convening space through which civic leaders and influencers debate, envision, and realize a brighter future for American democracy. Rachel is chair of the board of the Breakthrough Institute and is a board member of the Energy for Growth Hub. Rachel is also a board member of Third Way, a national think tank that champions modern center-left ideas. Rachel attended Brown University, where she majored in Latin American studies.

Mike Berkowitz, Executive Director

Mike Berkowitz is Executive Director of the Democracy Funders Network and co-founder of Patriots & Pragmatists, a cross-ideological network and convening space through which civic leaders and influencers debate, envision, and realize a brighter future for American democracy. Mike is also Co-Founder and Principal of Third Plateau, a full-service social impact consulting firm, where he leads the firm’s Democracy practice and works across its Philanthropic Management and Jewish Community Impact portfolios. Mike is an experienced facilitator, strategist, philanthropic advisor, and grantmaker. He specializes in weaving networks, curating philanthropic learning, and developing strategies for addressing complex challenges. A native of New York City, Mike lives with his family in Berkeley, California. He enjoys spy thrillers and a good meal in a new city and is in awe of anyone who can speak more than one language.

Emily Thielmann, Deputy Director

Emily Thielmann is Deputy Director of the Democracy Funders Network, where she oversees core activities of DFN, including member engagement, donor advising, and program and resource development. Emily is also a Vice President at Third Plateau, helping to oversee the firm’s Democracy practice. Her background is in public systems reform, youth and community engagement, and network management. Emily grew up living in the Soviet Union, Virginia, and Brazil. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Vassar College, has a Master’s in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, and is a certified 21/64 Advisor. She lives with her husband and daughter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Advisor

Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  She is a leading expert on how troubled democracies facing violence, polarization, and other forms of failure can improve.  Her work internationally and within the United States includes service on the National Task Force on Election Crises and on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and States United for Democracy, as well as the advisory board of Protect Democracy.  She previously served on the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, which advised Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quarterly, and co-founded the Truman National Security Project, which she led for its first decade, for which Time Magazine named her one of the top 40 political leaders under 40 in America.  Rachel has written three books and numerous articles; her TED talk on violence in democracies has been translated into 17 languages and viewed more than a million times.  She attended Yale University where she was a Truman Scholar and received her M. Phil and D. Phil from Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.  She is not expert in her husband and two young, fierce daughters.

Zafreen Jaffery, Research Director 

Zafreen (she/her/hers) is Vice President of the Research, Evaluation, and Learning Team at Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies. In this role, she oversees client engagement for research and evaluation projects to enhance our partners’ initiatives and strengthen Third Plateau’s overall impact. She specializes in building client capacity to make sense of their data and translating research to nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and funders. Drawing upon collaborative approaches to research and evaluation, Zafreen engages in client work with organizations such as the NDN Collective and Jim Joseph Foundation. She oversees a team of talented researchers to ensure we have evidence to inform program and policy decisions and tell the story of organizational and system-level change.

David Solimini, Director of the Democracy Communications Fund

David Solimini is the Director of the Democracy Communications Fund. He works with practitioners and funders to protect and improve American democracy and invest in the community’s strategic communications needs. He is also a Senior Director in Third Plateau’s Democracy practice. Dave has two decades of experience in senior nonprofit and advocacy roles, transforming fast-growing organizations and empowering innovative policy leaders to tell compelling stories and have impact. His background is in national security and foreign policy. He held leadership roles at the Stimson Center and the Truman National Security Project and advised leading issue and advocacy organizations through his independent consultancy. In 2017 he led communications for the Nobel Peace Prize-winning effort to create the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the UN. Earlier in his career, Dave co-founded Virginia21, a civic engagement organization for young voters and the Virginia Redistricting Coalition, a democracy reform effort. He is a graduate of the College of William & Mary and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Carly straus CHAN, Program Director

Carly Straus Chan is Program Director at the Democracy Funders Network, where she manages communications, program planning, resource creation, and relationship building to enable a brighter future for American democracy. Carly leads the network’s Political Violence Working Group and Bay Area chapter. She is also a Director at Third Plateau. Carly joined Third Plateau with a background in philanthropy, public health, and community development, and holds a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She grew up splitting time between the Bay Area and Arizona, and currently lives in Oakland.

Suzette Brooks Masters, Senior Fellow

Suzette Brooks Masters is a Senior Fellow at the Democracy Funders Network and Director of DFN’s Better Futures Project. She prides herself on seeing around the corner and challenging conventional thinking. 
She is a social entrepreneur, philanthropic advisor, thought leader and strategist in the fields of democracy, futures and pluralism. Previously, she advised foundations, non-profit organizations, policy makers and corporations on the impact of immigration on America. She did so from roles at the American Immigration Council, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Welcoming America, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, where she directed the Migration Program from 2007-2016, and as a consultant.
She has received numerous awards for her philanthropic vision and impact, and accolades for her publications. She has served on the boards of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Define American, the New York Immigration Coalition, the Tenement Museum, HIAS, the National Immigration Forum and New York Cares, which she co founded. Ms. Masters is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Cambridge University, and Amherst College. A lifelong New Yorker, she is the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants.

Hillary Hooke,  Program Associate

Hillary Hooke is a Program, Associate for the Democracy Funders Network. Hillary supports individuals, nonprofits and funders within the democracy field through research and project management She began her non-profit career as an advocate for survivors of intimate partner violence in her home state of Maine - accompanying survivors to court dates, coordinating community responses to high risk DV cases, and working with local schools to provide advocacy and education to children ages 4-18yrs. More recently, Hillary managed the foster and volunteer programs at the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County. Hillary earned a B.A. in English Literature from Bowdoin College, which is where she developed her love of all things Arctic as a student worker at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. Like her father and grandparents, Hillary is Mi’kmaq from the Sipekne’katik (Shubenacadie) Band of Mi’kmaq. She spends most of her free time crocheting and exploring her new city of Reno, NV.