Wonder Woman in Business, Claudia Miller

Freeman Means Business' Wonder Women in Business Podcast

Claudia Miller has dedicated the last 15 years of her career to supporting SF Bay Area nonprofit organizations focused on social justice and racial equity build stronger communities and advance their missions through effective fundraising. As Senior Director of Advancement with Venture Leadership Consulting, she creates results-based development plans, leads high-performing teams as an interim fundraising executive, and guides nonprofits in telling their stories. Since joining Venture Leadership in February 2020 (hello COVID!), she has worked with organizations focused on ending the prison pipeline for Bay Area youth, helping foster youth overcome challenges as they transition to adulthood, community organizing and safety net services, and finding permanent solutions to homelessness in SF.

Prior to joining Venture Leadership, Claudia was the Vice President of Advancement at First Place for Youth, a nationally-recognized leader in providing foster youth the education and employment skills they need to become independent, successful adults. During her tenure, the organization grew rapidly and she was responsible for increasing private revenue from $1 million to more than $7 million annually. Her strategic vision for growing private fundraising led to increased engagement with donors, stronger relationships with funders and corporate partners, and targeted communications and branding. First Place grew from a Bay Area-based nonprofit to a statewide organization, and now a national organization in four states. She successfully completed the organization’s first-ever Growth Campaign which raised more than $16 million from individual donors.

Prior to her work at First Place, Claudia was a reporter and freelance writer covering topics as wide-ranging as education, early childcare, sports features, home + garden, and real estate for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hayward Daily Review, and various magazines. Like all good newspaper reporters, she got her start writing obituaries and the weather.

She has a BA in Latin American Studies and Political Science from Duke University. Outside of work, an ideal day is an early morning hike with friends and pups in the Oakland hills, an afternoon bike ride along the Bay, and a good meal shared outside with family. She loves nothing more than a day spent at the beach, be it Northern California or her Jersey Shore roots.

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