Jeri Howland is a fundraising leader and entrepreneur who has raised millions for climate causes and education. She served for eight years as Director of Development for Rainforest Action Network; she served as Chief of Advancement at Katherine Delmar Burke School for 13 years, and as the Chief of Development to improve education for underserved children at a college-prep charter school management group, Envision Schools, and an educational reform think tank, Partners in School Education. Most recently she has been the fundraising consultant for Academy Award documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos (The Cove, Racing Extinction, Game Changers), POW (Protect Our Winters), Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, and Figure Skating in Harlem. She’s drawn to missions that included climate change, social justice, education, and resilience.
Prior to fundraising, Jeri was involved in local food system work (San Francisco Bay Area) and teaching on an organic farm, at Putney School, in VT, her home state. She is a co-founder of San Francisco’s first “certified” farmers market, sponsored by American Friends Service Committee in 1981. This market was the seedling of today’s popular farmers markets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. She also co-founded SLUG, San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, way back in the beginning of what we know today as the food sustainability movement. Jeri is founder and CEO of bungalow munch organic granola. It’s 100% organic, wheat-free, and vegan. While she’s the finisher of 21 ironman triathlons, champion of 7, she’s proudest of her work/personal life balance act and never once has considered giving up her activism.
Jeri is also a 7x Ironman champion, mom, grandmother, and wife. She and her husband, Jerry Edelbrock, split their time between Marin County and South Central Idaho. Jeri did her graduate studies at UC Berkeley School of Public Health for a Masters in Public Health Nutrition. Jeri has one daughter, a teacher in San Francisco and a mom of two. When Jeri is not working she enjoys the trails of Mt. Tam by foot and bike, swimming in local pools and the Bay, baking and cooking for family and friends, gardening, and reading. She serves on the Board of The Adventure Activist.
Jeri considers addressing the climate crisis to be the #1 imperative of our time and came out of her own consulting business to be The Climate Center’s Director of Philanthropy because of its mission to use speed and scale to ensure California, the 5th largest economy in the world, is climate-safe within 10 years and serves as a roadmap for other states and countries.