Cindy T. Rizzo is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Chair, as well as the Senior Advisor of Evaluation & Strategy at the Arcus Foundation in New York City. Arcus is a private foundation dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and with the natural world. It advances its mission through strategic grantmaking, leadership, and listening and learning in two areas: LGBTQ+ social justice and conservation of the world’s great apes.
Rizzo has also served on the boards of Funders for LGBTQ+ Issues and Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, where she co-chaired the committee that planned and oversaw the opening of the synagogue’s new building. Other past board service includes Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (founding board member and former chair) and the National LGBTQ+ Task Force.
Prior to Arcus, Rizzo was the Director of Grantmaking at the Boston Foundation, and oversaw the foundation’s health and human services portfolio; she was also the Associate Director of Development at Fenway Health Center, Boston’s LGBTQ+ health center. Cindy holds a JD from Suffolk University School of Law in Boston.
Rizzo is a published author of three novels as well as short fiction and essays. In 2014, her first novel won the Debut Author Award of the Golden Crown Literary Society. Find her writing on Amazon (fiction), at her blog, and on Medium.
