As managing director of the Strengthening U.S. Democracy program, Geri Mannion is responsible for the Andrew Carnegie Foundation’s grantmaking in support of increasing nonpartisan voter engagement, state community service, civic learning, and legal immigration pathways at the federal level.
Mannion brings a wealth of experience about the role of philanthropy in challenging, improving, and deepening civic dialogue. She has directed the program since 1998, after staffing Carnegie’s Special Projects program for almost 10 years. Previously, Carnegie’s grantmaking in civic participation was a subprogram within Special Projects.
In 2009, Mannion and her colleague Taryn Higashi received the Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking, one of philanthropy’s highest honors, for founding the Four Freedoms Fund, a funder collaborative housed at NEO Philanthropy. In 2010, she was named one of the nonprofit sector’s top 50 leaders by the NonProfit Times, and in 2021, Inside Philanthropy named Mannion “Program Director of the Year.” Mannion holds a BA in English and an MA in political science from Fordham University.
