Keri McDonald is a communications and grant writing consultant for nonprofits and public education groups. She received her BBA from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001. After graduating, she spent a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA. This experience profoundly shaped her career path and she has since made it her personal mission to work with organizations that serve marginalized populations. After AmeriCorps, she worked in child welfare for a number of years as a CPS conservatorship caseworker, case manager for a child placing agency, and in outreach and recruitment with Texas CASA. She then spent several years working in education policy while earning her Master's in Public Affairs from UT's LBJ school. At LBJ, Keri focused much of her research on the school to prison pipeline and crossover youth. Keri is also seasoned fundraiser having worked as the Grants Manager for Austin Sunshine Camps where she exceeded her fundraising goals for three years running and was also the 2015 national winner of the Best Grant Proposal, a peer-reviewed award from the Grants Professionals Association.