Let YOUR cause
be OUR cause.

Dr. Ingrid Alvarado specializes in educational nonprofits and organizations that support Black and Brown communities. Ingrid has been fundraising for more than 15 years and has a proven track record of securing multi-year, multi-million dollar investments from diversified sources. Her strengths include building relationships, connecting partners with funding opportunities, developing fundraising strategies, leading capital campaigns, building individual major gifts programs, and facilitating solicitation meetings. Prior to founding Acceleraise, Ingrid led strategic planning and development for several renowned universities and nonprofits. She has a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of New Orleans as well an MBA and a BA in Communications from Spring Hill College. Ingrid’s passion is helping develop Black and Brown leaders into becoming confident fundraisers.

CHEYENNE SALUD-GONZALES

Cheyenne Gonzales is a talented, experienced, and organized professional who manages operations at Acceleraise. Cheyenne is skilled at collaborating with internal and external stakeholders, developing marketing strategies and materials, designing curriculum, managing data, and improving company-wide processes. Before joining Acceleraise, Cheyenne worked at Peak Insight, where she developed a curriculum for implicit and explicit bias training courses that were administered to city employees and over 100 police officers in New Orleans. She holds a BS in Psychology from the University of New Orleans, where she graduated cum laude, and plans to pursue an MBA. Cheyenne is committed to supporting Acceleraise’s work bolstering visionary organizations who work toward intersectional justice across New Orleans and beyond.

KELLY CONNELLY

Director of Capacity Building

She is a former journalist and communications professional who specializes in researching and synthesizing information and presenting complex ideas in simple language. While working for nonprofit news outlets, she gained experience writing grant requests to fund her own projects. With nearly a decade of experience reporting on the Louisiana Legislature and working in state government, Kelly comes to Acceleraise with a base of knowledge that will benefit our clients. Kelly holds a BA in English with a Concentration in Film Studies from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. Kelly finds fulfillment in conversing with clients, learning about their passions, and offering her expertise to help them meet their goals.

Anna Loftus is a skilled fundraising consultant with nearly a decade of experience in the education and nonprofit sectors. Her strengths include writing original content for development efforts, creating brand identities, identifying partnerships, and developing and implementing fundraising and communications strategies. Before joining Acceleraise, she led partnership work as a grant manager with both public agencies and national philanthropic organizations including AmeriCorps, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Walton Family Foundation. She holds a BA in English literature from the University of Tennessee, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa and an MA in education from Marian University. Her favorite projects with our partners enable her to dream big alongside them as she seeks out opportunities that fund their ambitions and then creates the connective content and narratives necessary for building relationships and winning grants.

Marissa Douglas is a skilled writer and consultant with a decade of experience working with schools and nonprofits in New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. Marissa has expertise in grant writing and reporting, logic model design, research, classroom teaching, professional development and training, and process improvement. She produces a diversity of content for our clients by writing with intent, technicality, and emotion to yield results. Prior to joining Acceleraise, Marissa served 5 years as an educator in Philadelphia public schools, where she drove student growth and earned a value-added rating in the 91st percentile among teachers of the same grade and subject statewide. Marissa holds a BA in English from Tulane University and a MSEd from the University of Pennsylvania. She is passionate about advancing equity and racial justice by empowering nonprofits and the communities they serve in order to ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in decisions that impact their lives.