Meet Our Principal: Rebecca Cacayuran

Rebecca Cacayuran has over twenty years of expertise in trust-based philanthropy, grantmaking, and organizational development. Becca founded NorthStar Bound because she loves working with social impact organizations and philanthropies to hone in on their priorities, identify their assets and barriers, and build partnerships. She has worked with myriad organizations of all sizes, including emerging community groups, established nonprofits, coalitions, universities, family foundations, donor-advised funds, and religious institutions. Becca is driven by a deep commitment to social and racial justice, which guides her work every day.

Most recently, Becca served as Senior Vice President at the Evanston Community Foundation (ECF), where she pioneered community-led grantmaking strategies, fostered stakeholder and philanthropic engagement, and built the capacity of dozens of nonprofit organizations. Through her work at ECF and with Evanston Cradle Career, a collective impact coalition, she has extensive experience working in community to develop and realize systems change strategies.

Prior to her role at ECF, Becca served as Interim Vice President and Director of Major & Planned Gifts at Planned Parenthood of Illinois, overseeing a substantial fundraising revenue budget, crafting major and capital gift strategies, and significantly elevating fundraising for the 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and PAC. Becca served on the inaugural PPFA National Fundraising Initiative Leadership Council to develop collaborative fundraising guidelines for the national office and affiliates.   

Becca is a certified CCAT facilitator, providing expert guidance to nonprofit and foundation leaders to translate assessment results into meaningful organizational improvement. She has a certificate in nonprofit management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree in sociology and gerontology from the University of Illinois. She sits on the Board of Episcopal Charities in Chicago, Illinois.