Catherine Crystal Foster has been driving social change for more than 20 years. 

She launched her consulting practice in Palo Alto, California in 1998 after more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit and government sectors.  A successful strategist, Catherine offers policy expertise, advocacy experience, knowledge of community issues, and expert strategic, analytic, and writing skills to non-profit and philanthropic organizations.  Her areas of focus include education, youth development, child health, family poverty, and child care. 

She brings unique expertise at the intersection of advocacy and evaluation.  Both independently and in partnership with Blueprint Research & Design, Catherine engages in leading-edge efforts to help funders and their grantees evaluate policy and advocacy activities to promote learning and social change.

From analyzing complex policy proposals to bringing the voices of struggling families to light, and from leading grantmakers through a theory of change process to helping grassroots organizers refine their strategy, Catherine increases impact and provides timely and positive results.

Catherine's prior experience includes leading national projects to aid state and local child advocates at Voices for America's Children (formerly the National Association of Child Advocates), authoring the primary welfare and child support implementing legislation for the District of Columbia following welfare reform, leading a seminar on welfare policy at Stanford Law School, and representing Spanish-speaking women in domestic violence litigation at Ayuda.

An active community and school volunteer and the parent of two children, she has served on a range of non-profit boards of directors.  She currently serves on the board of the Palo Alto Community Fund, where she co-chairs the grantmaking and grantee support committees.  Catherine received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.