Sarah Howard

Sarah Howard is the Managing Director of the Global Philanthropy Forum, where she has led the organization’s post-founder strategic transformation, helping shape its vision for a new era of philanthropy. Her work is driven by a central question: how do we redesign the systems, institutions, and stories that enable societies to navigate periods of profound transformation?

A strategist, filmmaker, and systems thinker, Sarah works at the intersection of narrative, governance, and collective action. Over the past decade, she has traveled extensively documenting communities responding to some of the defining challenges of our time—from climate change and technological disruption to questions of democratic legitimacy and global cooperation. These experiences have informed her approach to building initiatives that connect ideas with action and bring diverse communities into meaningful dialogue.

Across her work, Sarah combines strategic foresight, narrative development, and convening to help leaders imagine and build new operating systems for the future. She is particularly interested in the role that values, trust, and institutional design will play in shaping the next chapter of global society.

Beyond her work at the Global Philanthropy Forum, Sarah is the director and co-producer of Climate Blueprint, a documentary series exploring the outsized climate leadership of small island states, currently screening internationally. She is also a co-founder of Listening Lab, a social cohesion initiative, and host of Track Two, a podcast exploring one enduring question: What is a good society?

Sarah serves on the Board of Directors for Accountability Counsel and a community foundation in rural Honduras. She grew up in Berkeley and lives on Ohlone land in Oakland, California.