Carissa López is a Development Officer on the Foundations Relations Team based in San Francisco. Carissa brings over 12 years of experience in development, specializing in raising funds from foundations and individuals in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to joining Earthjustice, Carissa was a senior writer for foundations at Human Rights Watch, where she led donor outreach, writing, stewardship, and prospect research to raise funding from institutional and private foundations to defend human rights. She worked closely with their health and human rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and the Americas program divisions.

Prior to that, Carissa served as a fundraiser for international children’s rights organization, Child Soldiers International, which advocates for an end to the use of child soldiers. Based in London, she helped raise revenue from European governments, trusts and foundations. Before joining Child Solders International, Carissa served as a program analyst with Special Service for Groups in Los Angeles serving 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.