June 3, 2021

FORGE funders and the SAGE Fund welcome new staff

The FORGE donor collaborative and the SAGE Fund are pleased to welcome Karyn Keenan and Carlos Lozano. Karyn and Carlos, both experienced human rights leaders, will strengthen the organizations’ efforts to advance a global economy that works for all people and the planet, shaped by and accountable to worker and community-led movements.   

Karyn Keenan joins FORGE as its coordinator, where she will drive learning and strategy development, and will align members’ funding approaches. Karyn brings over two decades of experience advocating for environmental and social justice. Prior to joining FORGE, she was the founding director of Above Ground, a Canadian non-profit organization that promotes corporate accountability and access to justice for the victims of corporate abuse. Her previous work focused on international financial institutions. Karyn also worked for several years in Latin America, where she supported communities impacted by the extractive industries. Karyn is a lawyer and holds a Master in Environmental Studies from York University.  

Carlos Lozano is a Colombian human rights and environmental lawyer who joins FORGE as its program officer. Carlos will develop a collaborative grantmaking program to shift the economy in a more just and sustainable direction. Prior to joining FORGE, Carlos was a senior attorney at the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA). Carlos has also worked as a researcher and consultant for non-governmental organizations, government and cooperation agencies on issues of institutional reform, sustainability and transitional justice. He provided technical assistance to the Colombian government on human rights and environmental issues. Carlos has an LL.M. in environmental and natural resources law from the University of Oregon, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.  

FORGE (Funders Organized for Rights in the Global Economy) is a collaborative of leading philanthropic donors that supports reforms that are grounded in the rights and power of communities and workers, that strengthen accountability and that seek to address underlying flaws in the financial system. FORGE funders collaborate through a learning agenda, aligned funding and strategy development, and via the Response and Vision Fund.  

Karyn and Carlos join the team at the SAGE Fund, a founding member of FORGE. Together with Fundación Avina, the SAGE Fund is leading and managing FORGE’s collaborative grantmaking. The SAGE Fund strengthens accountability for economic actors by spurring innovation in approaches and building greater field capacity in the human rights movement to address gaps in protection created by the global economy.   

FORGE includes the Ford Foundation, Fundación Avina, Humanity United, Laudes Foundation, Open Society Foundations, SAGE Fund, True Costs Initiative, Wallace Global Fund and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.