About Vini
Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of the Solidaire Network. In a wide-ranging international career devoted to social, ecological, and economic justice, she previously served as Executive Director of Thousand Currents for 9 years where she was credited with helping launch a collaborative climate justice fund, an innovative impact investment fund and grow the organization’s award winning grantmaking and partnership practices with social movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She has led a national social enterprise focused on youth development; managed a public telecommunications infrastructure fund addressing digital divide issues in Texas; and worked as a researcher, planner, policy analyst and strategy consultant for large public sector entities. Vini also worked alongside community leaders as a capacity builder for youth polytechnics in rural Kenya for over two years, an experience she credits as motivating her to work to transform U.S. based philanthropy.
Born and raised in India, Vini earned a Master’s in Public Affairs with a focus on technology and telecommunications policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor′s in Astrophysics and Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities & Social Sciences from UC Berkeley . In 2015, Vini was honored with a Leaders in Action award by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), and she was a Social Entrepreneurship (SEERS) fellow at Stanford University in 2016.
Vini has been involved in community organizing and volunteer board roles for the last two decades including serving on the boards of Greenpeace USA, Justice Funders Network, Agroecology Fund and Rockwood Leadership Institute among others. Currently, she serves on the board for Tides Advocacy and the Swift Foundation. She guest lectures in the Master’s of Leadership in Sustainability Program at the University of Vermont and also works as a popular educator, executive coach and leadership trainer. A lifelong learner, she is currently attempting to improve her Spanish language skills and training to be a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. When not involved with learning or organizing, Vini can be found nesting with her family in Richmond CA.
