Rishard Allen is an emerging philanthropic professional with multiple years of experience in grants management and administration, program management, and racial equity initiatives. He currently serves as an Equitable Initiatives Officer at The Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), and is responsible for managing the foundation’s role in a national cohort of community foundations developing a common strategy to dismantle systemic racism—entitled Nexus for Equity + Opportunity Nationwide (NEON)—along with other projects to expand support for grassroots community organizers and to expand the foundation’s community leadership into the public policy arena.
Formerly, Rishard served as the Director of Grant Services at the Arts Council of Indianapolis and as a Program Director at Arts for Learning Indiana prior to that. He has also lent his talents to several local, regional, and national working groups and committees, including IndyHub, WolfBrown, Americans for the Arts, Arts Midwest, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Community Foundation Opportunity Network.
Rishard obtained his B.S. in Arts Management from Indiana University Bloomington in 2017 and is currently pursuing his M.A. in Philanthropic Studies at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.