Abdi Soltani, Executive Director at the ACLU of Northern California Joins The San Francisco Foundation’s Board of Trustees

Abdi Soltani, Executive Director at the ACLU of Northern California Joins The San Francisco Foundation’s Board of Trustees

For Immediate Release

Contact: Gail Fuller, 415.733.8589, gfuller@sff.org

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2017 – The San Francisco Foundation (TSFF) announced today that Abdi Soltani has been appointed to its board of trustees. Mr. Soltani is executive director at the ACLU of Northern California. He has been appointed to serve a five-year term.

“We are pleased and fortunate to have Abdi Soltani join our board of trustees,” said Fred Blackwell, CEO of The San Francisco Foundation. “As a long-time advocate and community organizer, Abdi brings valuable insight into advancing the foundation’s equity agenda of greater racial and economic inclusion in the Bay Area.”

As executive director of the ACLU of Northern California, Abdi has been engaged in a full array of civil rights issues: criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, immigrants’ rights, the intersection of technology and privacy, among others. Prior to joining the ACLU, Abdi served as a community organizer and led a number of policy campaigns in California. As a leader in the “No on 54 Campaign” in 2003, he helped defeat a proposition aimed at significantly weakening racial equality. Abdi has previously served as executive director of Californians for Justice, the Campaign for College Opportunity, and at PARSA Community Foundation.

“I am honored to serve The San Francisco Foundation as a board trustee,” said Abdi Soltani. “The foundation’s commitment to advance racial and economic equity aligns squarely with my personal and professional goals. For twenty years I have worked alongside the SF Foundation staff, grantees and donors; I am honored now to work with the board to support this mission.”

Abdi joins the board of trustees whose expertise, knowledge of the Bay Area community, and passion are vital in leading and advancing the foundation’s mission. The TSFF board is comprised of 10 individuals and is chaired by Andy Ballard, founder and managing partner of Figtree Partners, an investment firm. The full TSFF board of trustees and biographies can be found at www.sff.org.

About The San Francisco Foundation

With more than $1.3 billion in assets, The San Francisco Foundation is one of the largest community foundations in the country. The foundation is committed to expanding opportunity and ensuring a more equitable future for all in the Bay Area, and working with its donors, it distributed nearly $100 million a year to nonprofit organizations last year. The San Francisco Foundation serves Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties.

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