About

The Moonlight Collaborative partners with nonprofits and philanthropy to achieve their goals in community-centered research and analysis, grantmaking and funding support, programming design and funding strategy, risk analysis, and network building.

Headshot of Claire Downing

About Claire

Claire Downing, Founder and Principal at The Moonlight Collaborative, has spent the last 10 years of her career in the racial equity and DEI space, first as a Program Associate and then Program Officer at the RISE Together Fund (RTF), and then subsequently as a Consultant with Frontline Solutions and now as an independent consultant. Claire is a community builder, connector, educator, advocate, and conflict resolver whose work centers empathy, healing, and creativity.

Claire’s particular expertise is in working with faith communities such as the Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (BAMEMSA) field served by RTF and other funders. In her consulting work and current PhD candidacy work in conflict resolution, Claire has employed critical race theory, gender theory, and equitable evaluation theory and practice. She is a skilled and culturally-competent researcher, evaluator, and facilitator. Finally and critically, Claire is a Muslim convert whose lived experience helps her better understand, empathize, and connect with marginalized communities and frontline advocates.