Kathleen Freis

Kathleen Freis is the Director of Development for the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center at Yale University, bringing more than two decades of experience in global nonprofit leadership, strategic fundraising, donor engagement, and collaboration with civil society groups. She has worked nationally and internationally with distinguished organizations such as Save the Children, the Gates Foundation, Fairfield University, and Open Society Foundations, addressing urgent global needs and advancing equity and social justice through interdisciplinary, cross-sector partnerships and philanthropic investment.

Kathleen has led high-impact fundraising initiatives with major foundations, corporations, and individual donors, securing six- and seven-figure gifts. She has organized events for scholarly exchange among students, faculty, and alumni, to strengthen community ties, to build networks, and to elevate institutional visibility, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Kathleen brings deep cross-cultural fluency, having designed and led programs in Costa Rica, Chile, Hungary, India, and Turkey, and worked with community-based organizations and educational institutions globally. She earned a Master of Arts in International Education Development from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University.