Donna Chavis, BS

Executive Director
NCGives

Donna Chavis has led nonprofit organizations through staff and board positions for over thirty years. Ms. Chavis currently leads NCGives, a field of interest fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. Prior to joining NCGives, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Community Action, an organization she co-founded with her husband in 1980. Among other positions, she was an organizational and philanthropic development consultant. The North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs and the North Carolina Community Solutions Network were among her clients. She also served for ten years as the Executive Director of Native Americans in Philanthropy, an affinity group of the Council on Foundations.

Ms. Chavis has an extensive history of service on nonprofit boards and commissions. Among those are founding President of the Southeastern Family Violence Center in Lumberton NC; the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits (1992-1998, chair-1993-1997); the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research; the Wildacres Leadership Initiative (1996-present, co-chair 1997-present); the North Carolina Community Solutions Network; the NC Rural Economic Development Center; the North Carolina Discovery Alliance (2002-2005 co-chair); the Foundation of Renewal for Eastern North Carolina (FoRENC); the Charles Bannerman Fellowship Program Advisory Committee; the Changemakers Fund (co-chair-2003-2004); the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation (1992-2000, chair-1998-2000); founding board member of the Robeson County Community Foundation; and current President of the Board and current Board member and vice-president of Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina.

Ms Chavis received a BS degree from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in Math and Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. Born to the Lumbee people, she resides in her home territory of Pembroke, North Carolina with her spouse, Mac Legerton. They are the parents of four children and proud grandparents of two.