Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Gifford Foundation names Dirk Sonneborne its new Executive Director

Dirk Sonneborn, a certified public accountant who used to operate a regional venture capital fund, has been named executive director of the Gifford Foundation.

Sonneborn will replace Kathryn Goldfarb-Findling who is retiring at the end of this year.


Gifford is a private charitable foundation that has been supporting community needs in Central New York since 1954. Last year it had $20.3 million in assets and awarded $1.18 million in grants.


Sonneborn, 56, grew up in Albany, attended Utica College and moved to Syracuse in 1976 to work for an accounting firm. From 1993 to 2004, he was managing partner of Exponential Business Development, a venture capital company that helped nurture new businesses in Central New York.

Sonneborn said he became interested in the world of philanthropy while serving on the board of the Central New York Community Foundation. While attending a national conference by the Council on Foundations “ . . . I got bit by this bug,” he said. “I could see this cooperative spirit with which people gave money. There were a lot of similarities in the venture capital world.”


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