Our Team
Yark Beyan
Manager, Member Development and Education
Yark brings over 4 years experience in program administrative and event logistics support, youth civic engagement, and social entrepreneurship. Prior to joining FFJ, Yark was a Senior Program Assistant at the Open Society Foundations Fellowship Program, where she supported cross-programmatic operations and programming. Yark graduated Summa Cum Laude from Stony Brook University in May 2019 where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Studies. Yark has been recognized nationally for her efforts to advance youth voter participation. She is a recipient of the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Hidden Heroes Award, and the 2019 recipient of Stony Brook’s first-ever Excellence in Civic Leadership Award.
Lorraine Ramirez
Executive Director
Lorraine is a queer Chicana who has worked for the last twenty years in social justice philanthropy in the areas of queer and trans liberation, racial justice, immigrant rights, gender justice, criminalization and state violence, and housing and the foreclosure crisis.
Lorraine previously worked at Neighborhood Funders Group, managing their housing and place-based funder organizing work in its earlier formation, and then as co-founder and director of Funders for Justice while it was a program of NFG. Prior to NFG, Lorraine was part of the US Programs team at the Open Society Foundations, as a member of the Equality and Opportunity Fund. She began her work in philanthropy with five years on the grantmaking team at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, across their international and US-based grant programs. She has trained, consulted, and partnered with a number of grassroots social justice community-based organizations across the US, in the areas of fundraising strategies, organizational development, safety and security practices, and coalition-building, always in service to queer and trans BIPOC organizing to build the world we need and to end the prison industrial complex.
Lorraine now serves as the executive director of Funders for Justice (FFJ), after co-founding FFJ with member leaders in September 2014. She recently served on the board of JustFund.us and of Kolibri Foundation. She has previously served on the board of the Audre Lorde Project, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Justice Committee, a people of color organization dedicated to building a movement against police violence and systemic racism in NYC. Lorraine has also served as a board member of the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT), Trans Queer Pueblo, and Resource Generation; and as a member of the grants panel for the Mobilize Power Fund of Third Wave Fund. Lorraine holds a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Pomona College.
Kita Urias
Director of Administration and Operations
She brings over 5 years of administrative expertise, operational experience, and programmatic support. Prior to joining Funders for Justice, Kita was the Executive Coordinator at Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG) where she worked closely with the President to keep all of the organization’s programs and operations running smoothly. During her tenure at NFG, she supported the launch of several programs including: Project Phoenix, the Amplify Fund, Philanthropy Forward, and Integrated Rural Strategies Group.
Kita has a background in education and a passion for youth development and supporting racial and gender justice. She was an early childhood educator before making the leap into philanthropy and has since deepened her values and awareness around diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender equality. Kita earned a BA in English with a concentration in Education from the University of Texas – San Antonio.