CCF North American Council

Liyen Chong is an advocate, artist, and development professional whose work bridges culture, creativity, and community care. Having lived in countries with diverse social systems, her work is also informed by a lifelong interest in how communities create the conditions for everyone to thrive.

Drawing from her background as an artist, Liyen approaches leadership with creativity, empathy, and collaboration. She has led coalitions supporting artists and cultural workers and co-organizes More Than Grant Writers, a national network advancing more equitable approaches to philanthropy.

In her current role as Development Manager at Movement Strategy Center, she helps mobilize resources to strengthen inclusive, sustainable initiatives that foster shared prosperity and social resilience.

Naya Díaz is a national impact strategist, cultural weaver, and narrative architect working at the intersection of community power, healing-centered leadership, and systems transformation She brings over 18 years of experience in nonprofit executive leadership, community organizing, and movement building.  She currently serves as a Member Services Director at YWCA USA, supporting 190+ local CEO and board leaders across the country in strengthening governance, sustainability, and movement alignment with a deep commitment to dignity, equity, and community-centric infrastructure. 

Beyond institutional strategy, Naya is the founder of the Mythic Plurality Project, an emergent narrative and cultural design framework that activates story, ancestral memory, and imagination as tools for remythologizing political, spiritual, and economic possibility. Her work bridges funders, organizers, artists, and frontline community leaders; moving fluidly between the strategic and the soulful to reimagine philanthropy and social impact beyond transactional cultures and into relational, cultural, and world-shaping practices.

She joins the Community-Centric Fundraising North American Council with a devotion to re-rooting philanthropy in communal reciprocity, storytelling, and right relationship ensuring that the ways we resource movements reflect the futures we are daring to build together.

Meena Haque is an activist, organizer, and fundraiser with more than a decade of experience in fundraising and 15 years of experience in domestic and international organizing. Passionate about wealth redistribution and movement building, she uses storytelling and relationship-building to inspire donors, funders, and corporate partners to invest in communities driving social change.

Meena currently serves as the Development Director at the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, where she leads fundraising efforts that advance environmental justice, community health, and equitable access to green spaces across Los Angeles.

Previously, she served as the Individual Giving Manager at UltraViolet, a national gender justice organization, and as the Development Director at the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. At the Workers’ Center, her fundraising supported a COVID-19 relief fund for undocumented workers, amplified awareness of labor trafficking in crawfish processing plants, and helped sanitation workers striking for fair pay and safer working conditions during the pandemic. Before that, Meena was the Development Manager at the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, where she raised funds to combat housing discrimination and gentrification in New Orleans.

Her extensive experience spans 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and PAC fundraising, including major gifts, grant writing, corporate partnerships, and special events. Meena combines grassroots organizing tactics with donor stewardship to build deep, sustainable relationships with supporters, particularly those contributing major and leadership gifts.

In her free time, Meena enjoys cooking, going to live shows, and exploring national parks across the United States.

Nel Taylor (they/them he/him, Umatilla), is an organizational equity strategist, ethical fundraising expert, and nonprofit systems fixer with over 14 years of nonprofit experience. As the Founder and Steward of Now This Consulting, Nel guides organizations through operationalizing anti-racist principles into everyday operations and practices, moving their clients beyond DEI committees, into direct action and organizational change.

Their introduction to nonprofit work came out of their transition from houselessness when they were 18 years old, advocating as a program participant in the fundraising efforts of the nonprofit that supported them. After experiencing exploitation at the hands of the nonprofit industrial complex, he set out to shift traditional practices in the internal systems that perpetuate harm throughout the nonprofit sector.

Nel has supported clients in adopting non-hierarchical organizational structures, building out HR handbooks to align with equity values, building restorative justice-based accountability structures, ditching outdated and harmful fundraising practices, and many more human-centered projects for organizations looking to make long-term changes to center liberation. 

A member of the Confederated Tribes of The Umatilla Indian Reservation, Nel approaches their work with a simply stated motto: “I’m just out here trying to Indigenize the nonprofit sector”