Carissa López is a Development Officer on the Foundations Relations Team based in San Francisco. She joined Earthjustice in 2018. Carissa brings experience in raising funds from foundations and individuals in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to joining Earthjustice, Carissa was a senior writer for foundation relations at Human Rights Watch, where she helped cultivate and steward institutional and private foundations to support programs in health and human rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and the Americas.

Carissa previously served as a fundraiser for an international children’s rights organization working to end the use of child soldiers, where she helped raise revenue from European governments, trusts and foundations. She began her development career in Los Angeles at Special Service for Groups — a community-based non-profit committed to providing health and human services to Latino and Asian Pacific Islander communities. A native of California, Carissa holds a BA in Women’s Studies from UC Berkeley and a Master of Social Work from UCLA.