A. Nicole Campbell has over a decade of legal and operational experience in the social sector and has worked in private practice, private philanthropy, and the public sector. Nic is passionate about using her legal training, operations and strategy expertise, and knowledge of nonprofit law to think creatively to transform the way organizations work and learn from their work.
For over a decade, Nic has been trusted to lead brave infrastructure design for philanthropies with grant-making budgets in excess of $100 million.
I never knew where to begin when people would say, “Tell me about yourself.” I did not know what aspects of me they should know about or what I should focus on. And after all these years, I realize that, at the end of the day, at the core of everything I do, I create peace of mind. It is my north star. My goal is to help be a guide towards an outcome that can sustain a vision and create a legacy.
Musing
“My clients trust me because I have the years of experience to have seen the solutions to the problems they are facing.”
Private Philanthropy
Most recently, Nic was the Senior Director of Operations and Foundation Counsel for Dalio Philanthropies, the philanthropy of Ray Dalio, where she was responsible for the Philanthropies’ infrastructure build-out, management of the Philanthropies’ legal affairs, and programmatic leadership of the Philanthropies’ China portfolio of grants. In her inaugural roles, Nic designed creative protocols and processes to increase the efficiency and impact of the Philanthropies’ grant making and streamlined operations in order to help the Dalio family create a multi-generational, sustainable family philanthropy, which facilitates over $120 million in grants annually. She also created special diligence processes and legal frameworks for staff to effectively use different philanthropic vehicles both here in the United States and internationally, including fiscal intermediaries, and safely navigate complex regulatory requirements.
Immediately prior to joining Dalio Philanthropies, Nic was the Deputy General Counsel of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), where she was responsible for providing strategic legal, governance, and operational advice to the global network of over 35 charitable organizations and foundations created by George Soros.
Nic served as the Primary Legal Advisor for OSF’s grants management team, which facilitated over $700 million in grants annually. Nic advised on matters concerning grants processes, international grant making, third-party and government funding, scholarships/fellowships, fiscal intermediary relationships, and complex grant structuring.
Nic also served as the Lead Legal Counsel for OSF’s Africa regional foundations, helping with governance, contractual, grant management, operational, systems, and funding matters. She was also Secretary and Lead Legal Counsel for the network’s public charity and social welfare organization, responsible for all legal and operational matters, and building the capacity of those institutions, which resulted in more robust governance and stronger internal controls for both organizations, and an increase in net assets from $400,000 to over $20 million for the public charity.
Thought Leadership
Nic is frequently asked to lecture and speak at professional meetings and conferences in various regions around the world, including the Caribbean, West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, Eurasia, and throughout the United States, on a variety of topics impacting the social sector, including philanthropy trends, governance, and grant making.
Nic regularly speaks at the annual Georgetown Law Exempt Organization Conference, the leading exempt organization conference in the United States, and was appointed to the U.S. Secretary of State’s Global Philanthropy Working Group, comprised of select U.S. foundation leaders and senior government officials.
Because of her deep grant-making and infrastructure design expertise, Nic was asked by OSF’s President to join a select group of OSF leaders and grantees to analyze, evaluate, and re-design OSF’s grant-making policies and practices, which led to the revamping of the network’s approach to grantee assessments, delegation of grant-making authority, monitoring and evaluation, and flexible funding awards.
Nic was also an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Law where she taught the law school’s inaugural course on the operational, governance, and tax aspects of charitable nonprofit organizations.
Private Practice
Prior to joining the Open Society Foundations, Nic was in private practice as an associate tax attorney, helping both for-profit and nonprofit clients with organizational and tax structuring. Her nonprofit clients consisted of foundations, museums, public charities, social welfare organizations, universities, hospitals, and trade associations. Nic advised her clients on formation, governance, employment law, grant making, intellectual property, charitable giving, investment management, unrelated business income tax, and excise taxes. She was also instrumental in building the capacity of the firm’s nonprofit practice group
Public Sector
Nic has also worked as Associate General Counsel at the New York Community Trust where she advised donors on donor-advised funds and charitable giving.
Education
Nic received her B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her JD from Northeastern University School of Law, and her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law.
Outside of Work
Nic resides in Connecticut with her husband, Kevin, their daughters, Kayden and Nova, and their cats, Soleil and Helios. She was born in Barbados and grew up in Barbados, Grand Cayman, and New York (the South Bronx), all of which shaped her into who she is today. She is a certified plant-based chef and loves listening, writing, good music, perusing real estate, and snowboarding black diamond moguls.