Kathy Buechel is a Visiting Practitioner at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.  From 1999 to January, 2006, she was president of Alcoa Foundation, where she led the reorientation of Alcoas philanthropy toward active community investment, expansion of investable assets and corporate citizenship. For eight prior years she directed the Foundations operations and programs. Over this period, Alcoa Foundation assets grew to $500 million, and combined contributions reached $38 million from both Alcoa Foundation and Alcoa in 2005.

During her tenure, key pieces of the foundations strategy included globalized giving in 31 countries that is locally rooted but regionally coordinated and internationally connected; the addition of three worldwide employee engagement programs; the introduction of corporate contributions and the sharing of corporate products and knowledge. The foundation focuses now on four key areas and recently inaugurated a large scale, multi-sectoral international fellowship program in Conservation and Sustainability. To complement and inform grant making, she helped to establish Alcoas social metrics for its triple bottom line reporting, and collaborated on the introduction of stakeholder engagement and community consultation.

She serves on the board of the Independent Sector and is a member of the Public Policy Committee of the Council on Foundations. She was Immediate Past Chair of the Contributions Council of the Conference Board and was president of Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. She currently serves on the Finance Council for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and is a Mayoral Appointee to the City of Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board. In addition to the boards of The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, Marian Manor, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Advisory Council of the Womens Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, she has been involved in education and several efforts that advance the participation of women and girls in the new economy.

At the Hauser Center, she will examine methods and mechanisms that contribute to the long term financial sustainability of nonprofits. The study will highlight promising practices that range from sharing operations, support for social enterprise, pooled loan or grant funds, capacity building, and the distillation of more robust performance metrics that support long term sustainability. The work will present brief case studies and offer guiding principles for funders to help fortify the underlying financial needs of nonprofits.