Sharnita C. Johnson is the Victoria Foundation’s first-ever Vice President of Strategy, Impact and Communication. In this role, Sharnita provides oversight and management of all programmatic activities, ensuring alignment with the Foundation goals and values. She leads the development and implementation of Victoria’s grantmaking, success measures, communications, and leadership activities as the Foundation transitions to community-centered work focused on equity and justice.
Sharnita has a wealth of lived and professional experience. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, she is a recognized leader who was shaped by more than 20 years of nonprofit experience, deep community roots, and a legacy of family entrepreneurship. She has created and partnered in innovative collaborations that have secured millions of dollars in philanthropic support for community-based initiatives.
Most recently, Sharnita served as the Arts Program Director at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, where she led a statewide grantmaking portfolio focused on arts, equity, and creative placemaking. Sharnita played an integral role in the Foundation's transformation in its mission to address root causes and repair of structural racism and inequity. Amongst many of her distinguished accomplishments, Sharnita co-chairs the New Jersey Arts and Cultural Recovery Fund, a first of its kind $5 million fund to support artists and arts organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also co-chair of ABFE’s $25 million fundraising campaign to strengthen and rebuild Black-led infrastructure for social change. ABFE is a national philanthropic serving organization that advocates for responsive and transformative investments in Black communities.
Prior to joining the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in 2015, Sharnita led grantmaking portfolios focused on collaborative, place-based work that increased investments in neighborhood development, arts and culture, and leadership development in communities throughout Southeast Michigan while working as a senior program officer and program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Skillman Foundation, Ruth Mott Foundation and Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Sharnita is active in the nonprofit sector and is the incoming chair of the board of directors of Grantmakers in the Arts, a national association of public and private arts and culture funders that advances philanthropic and governmental resources to support the growth of the arts and culture. She is on the board of ArtYard and joining the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America in 2022. She was an ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellow, Marygrove College Distinguished Alumni, and Council on Foundations Career Pathways Fellow.
Sharnita earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a bachelor’s from Marygrove College in Detroit.
