HELEN C. DANNELLY
SENOR DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT

As senior director of development, Helen is responsible for developing the strategy that seeks out and brings in new donors to Silicon Valley Community Foundation to raise over $300 million annually. Working closely with the chief of staff and the leadership team, Helen is responsible for managing all activities related to analysis, planning, execution, control and evaluation of fundraising for the community foundation.

Prior to joining the community foundation, Helen served as director of development for the Department of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco where she was responsible for coordinating and advancing the development agenda for its largest department. Previously, she served in various development roles at Mills College in Oakland, San José State University and Macalester College, a small private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

She is a member of the President’s Club of the Association of Fundraising Professionals where she also serves as a mentor. She serves on the board of Spirit in Action, a nonprofit organization that provides small business loans to individuals in developing nations

Helen graduated from Cowell College at University of California, Santa Cruz, then later pursued her interest in the arts by studying painting at San Francisco State University and sculpture at the University of Minnesota.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama and raised in Southern California, she has been a Bay Area resident – with an interim stint in Minnesota – for 25 years. She lives in Sunnyvale.