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Partnering with purpose

Guiding donors, families, and social impact organizations to align their time, talent, treasure, ties, and testimony with their values and purpose

Hi, I'm Sharmila. As a philanthropic advisor, I have the privilege of partnering with philanthropists/donors, families, foundations, nonprofit leaders, and social impact organizations to support thoughtful grantmaking, strengthen governance, engage the next generation, and navigate opportunities for organizational growth and impact.     

I believe philanthropy is most meaningful when it reflects our values, relationships, and sense of purpose. Recognizing the immense power and potential in giving back, I am passionate about helping individuals and organizations align their time, talent, treasure, ties and testimony to their motivations, interests, and values.

Let's connect to explore what’s possible together.

About Sharmila

Sharmila Rao Thakkar (MPH & MPA, Columbia; BA, Brown; CAP®) is an independent philanthropic advisor with 25+ years in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. She partners with donors, families, foundations, and nonprofit leaders on strategy, governance, grantmaking, and next-generation engagement — with a distinctive focus on diaspora and cross-border giving. Her work spans board development, executive coaching, and hands-on foundation start-up and operations; she has served as Senior Advisor to the India Philanthropy Alliance and as executive director of a family foundation. Sharmila helps leaders align their time, talent, treasure, ties, and testimony with the causes they care about most.

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Services & Offerings

Taking your work to the next level with a focus on grantmaking, governance, board development, facilitation, coaching, planning & communications

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Mission & Vision
Development

Governance & Board
Development

Grantmaking
Strategies

Multigenerational
& Next Gen Engagement

Testimonials

  • "We feel fortunate to have found Sharmila. From the earliest stages of our foundation's development, she has served as a trusted advisor, thought partner, and guide. As we built the foundation from the ground up, she became far more than a consultant—she has been a true partner in helping us shape our vision, strengthen our governance, and approach philanthropy with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose."

    — Kent J., founding trustee, family foundation

  • "You've helped me become a better board member and board chair. You gave me the confidence to make these changes. Your thought process, your patience and persistence, thoughtful ways of doing things...just works."

    — David C., board chair, community foundation

  • "We are better engaging our board members, especially in providing guidance on how they can support the organization between meetings. This experience has been eye-opening — I've learned how to be a better chair and to truly incorporate a distributive leadership framework."

    — Vivienne N., board chair, youth-serving nonprofit

  • "The assessment was a good way to start, and we engaged board members in completing the planning worksheets. While nothing surprised us, it gave us motivation to develop key objectives and board goals. We needed ownership of this work, and board leadership is now there. This has been an opportunity for reflection, focus, and growth toward action and now we have a plan of work in place to sustain what we've started."

    — Rich S., July 2023

  • "Your presentation was brilliant today. Confidence and courage. I appreciate you sharing your challenges, misstep(s) with your peers. It made me think about my own practice, how I don't spend enough time reflecting on the hard lessons, let alone share it with people outside of my team. There was so much packed into an hour that I wished it was a two-part session where we could unpack some of your insights."

    — Gwen K., August 2023

  • "In just a few meetings, you've been able to instill the drive for our board to take more ownership and have helped with board education."

    — Lakshmi R., October 2023

  • "I have immense gratitude for your positive outlook on the work, recognition of our efforts and ability to make the work to be done not daunting, but achievable."

    — Jean L., December 2023

  • "Sharmila's work with our Foundation has been consistently successful and deeply valued across leadership. Her guidance on next gen engagement has been thoughtful, strategic, and highly effective—and her continued work with current and new leadership is viewed as both vitally important and full of promise. Over multiple years of partnership, Sharmila has built deep trust with key leaders, who have complete confidence in her judgment and abilities."

    — K.J., December 2025

  • "I've always believed the best leaders are servant leaders—leaders who don't force people where they don't want to go, but help them get where they were trying to go all along. That's exactly what I found in Sharmila. She led us through this entire process, shared her insights thoughtfully, and consistently supported us in becoming our best as foundation trustees and new grantmakers."

    — Hunter J., January 2026

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