Pamela J. Oakes

Board Member

 Managing Director of The Profitable Nonprofit, has remained at the forefront of driving racial equity solutions across the globe. She consulted with the top 100 corporations in South Africa during the post-apartheid Racial Reconciliation period, conducting training workshops for government, corporate, and faith-based organizations in the areas of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Gender Equity, Employment Equity, Affirmative Action, Organizational Transformation, and Change Management. As a grantmaker managing a multi-million dollar portfolio with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, her team worked to create a more equitable system of social mobility and economic development for low-income, underrepresented, student populations of color. 

In 2020, she designed a participatory engagement strategy for the Race & Equity Advisory Committee of a Californian community foundation on their multi-year $ 4.5 billion initiative. The project goal was to develop and implement inclusive economic initiatives targeting disparate outcomes in health and economic mobility for specific races and vulnerable populations. 

In 2021, Pamela was selected to facilitate a mayoral-appointed community group in Washington, tasked with developing investment recommendations as part of a $ 100 million city initiative. This initiative was an historic investment in BIPOC communities to address the deep disparities caused by systemic racism and institutionalized oppression. 

Pamela is on a personal mission to increase the distribution of philanthropic resources earmarked for under-resourced, under-represented, marginalized communities by building capacity in BIPOC-led nonprofits, charities and social impact enterprises. A native of Seattle, Pamela attended the University of Washington where she majored in Political Science.