Denise Fosse

Denise Fosse (she/her) joins Pillsbury United Communities with a wealth of experience. She has spent twenty years in development, focusing on health and human services, housing, early childhood, and climate change. Her career has been marked by securing funding for issues that align closely with our core areas of focus. These include re-entry for formerly incarcerated people, employment, DEI organizational resources, political engagement, voter enfranchisement and engagement, early childhood education, mental health, and climate justice. Denise’s approach to fundraising is community-centric, aiming to organize donors and communities to find solutions. Her role will be developing inclusive resource-building strategies that engage internal and external stakeholders in our work and the communities we serve.

Denise began her professional development career as Director of Development for Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota, where she worked at national, regional, state, and local levels to secure dollars, goods, and services for people seeking jobs that lead to careers. She then joined the Minnesota Children’s Museum as Vice President of Development, working with government agencies, donors, and communities to secure resources for Minnesota’s youngest learners.

Denise’s most recent position was as Senior Director of Development, Marketing, and Communications at Climate Generation, where she secured and expanded resources for climate justice for youth, formal and informal educators, and community members passionate about finding solutions to climate change.

Denise is a daughter, sister, auntie, friend, partner, mother, and grandmother above all else. She is an avid reader and loves birdwatching, canoeing, walking, dancing, and writing. A self-described Renaissance woman, she cultivates curiosity and believes that reciprocity, radical caring, and people-centered perspectives can and do affect positive outcomes on global levels.