Biography
Tony Bowen is Executive Director of the Catalyst Fund at Fidelity Charitable®, an independent 501(c)(3) public charity that has helped donors support more than 406,000 nonprofit organizations with $84.5 billion in grants. The mission of Fidelity Charitable is to grow the American tradition of philanthropy by providing programs that make charitable giving accessible, simple, and effective.
Tony joined Fidelity Charitable in 2021. He partners with the Board of Trustees to oversee and manage a strategic grantmaking program dedicated to connecting donors with promising nonprofits that have less access to resources. The Catalyst Fund aims to help donors make more effective giving decisions, elevate nonprofits making a difference in our communities, and strengthen collaboration and shared learning between nonprofits.
Before joining Fidelity Charitable, Tony ran the DC office for BDO FMA, a national consulting firm dedicated to building the confidence of nonprofit leaders. Before that, he was a managing director at Democracy Fund, a national private foundation. He has also worked at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, GuideStar, and numerous family and community foundations.
Tony is passionate about improving the ability of foundations and nonprofits to build more equitable and empowered futures for those with less access to power and resources. He is a member of the Indiana University Lilly Family School Alumni Board and GivingTuesday Data Commons Advisory Committee. He recently served as the board treasurer for Kid Power, co-founded an LGBTQ youth center in Kansas City, Mo., and served as vice president and steering committee member of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy DC Chapter. He is the author of Forty Years of LGBTQ Philanthropy, and his writing on foundations has appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.