Prebys Foundation is pleased to welcome Christiana DeBenedict as its new Director of Impact Strategy, bringing to the organization a deep background in environmental leadership, cross-sector collaboration, and mission-driven investment strategy.
Christiana joins Prebys after serving as Senior Director of Environmental Initiatives at the San Diego Foundation, where she led a comprehensive environmental grantmaking portfolio and helped secure more than $50 million in public investments supporting climate resilience, clean energy, environmental programs, and outdoor access initiatives across the region.
She also spearheaded the Binational Resilience Initiative, a first-of-its-kind cross-border philanthropic fund investing jointly in U.S. and Mexico partners to strengthen climate resilience and community collaboration across the border region.
For Christiana, the opportunity to join Prebys represented a chance to help shape an evolving organization focused on long-term community impact.
“What attracted me to Prebys was the combination of being a place-based funder deeply invested in San Diego, while also being in a moment of growth and evolution,” Christiana said. “There’s an opportunity to be learning, designing, innovating, and creating in real time. That responsiveness and willingness to ask how we can best serve community was really exciting to me.”
Her new role sits at the intersection of strategy, investment, and community impact — an area she sees as increasingly important as philanthropy adapts to changing social and economic realities.
“I’m really interested in how foundations can maximize capital in ways that reinforce mission and create greater social and environmental impact,” she said. “Especially at a time when communities are facing increasing pressure and philanthropy is being asked to do more collaboratively.”
Before joining the San Diego Foundation, Christiana worked at the University of San Diego, where she managed The Equinox Project, the Outdoor Leaders Initiative, and Climate Education Partners — a National Science Foundation-supported initiative focused on translating climate science into public understanding, decision-making, and behavior change.
Throughout her career, she has worked across philanthropy, academia, nonprofit leadership, sustainability consulting, and regional collaboration efforts. She co-founded the Climate Funders Collaborative (Baja/Imperial/San Diego) and led the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, helping connect philanthropic, government, nonprofit, and community leaders around shared environmental and social goals.
Her approach to impact strategy centers on creating “multiple benefit outcomes” — aligning investments and partnerships in ways that strengthen communities across sectors at the same time.
“What gets me really excited is when there’s more efficiency and more benefit,” Christiana said. “How can we align resources and increase investment in projects that create greater outcomes for communities?”
That systems-oriented thinking is expected to play an important role as Prebys continues exploring innovative approaches to philanthropy, community investment, and cross-sector collaboration.
Prebys Chief Financial and Investment Officer Gil Alvarado said Christiana’s experience and perspective make her uniquely positioned to help advance the foundation’s long-term vision.
