Our New Program Associate: Diana Martinez

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I’m excited to join the Weitz Family Foundation as the newest Program Associate, primarily taking on organizations N-Z. As a former nonprofit arts administrator, I’ve experienced philanthropy from the grantee side. I know what it’s like to feel as though the fate of a project or program lives in the hands of funders who feel inaccessible or unknowable.

And I like to know how things work. As a scholar and educator, I understand that knowledge is power. When I was in graduate school, I wanted to know why women filmmakers were underrepresented in Hollywood year after year. So I researched funding allocations, studio DEI initiatives, corporate work cultures, networking practices, and the whole system of operations that created barriers to success for women directors. I learned there is a complicated set of issues that make it hard for women to just keep working that cannot be easily fixed. This opportunity at Weitz Family Foundation feels like a similar deep dive — the next step in understanding how nonprofit organizations can run and grow sustainably.

As someone who values transparency, I was drawn to the Weitz Family Foundation’s openness and willingness to share its social and financial capital. In fact, that power sharing is crucial to maintaining the unique strength of the Omaha nonprofit landscape. I believe there is something special about how quickly positive change can happen in our city when organizations have what they need. I’m excited to connect grantees with resources to be nimble, resilient, and impactful. Our team wants to share what we know and how it all works — to put “behind the scenes” front and center.