Melissa Mendes Campos is an Associate with La Piana Associates.  Melissa has over ten years experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector in program and administrative staff capacities.  She possesses strong research and writing skills, in addition to a well-developed understanding of organizations and their dynamics.  Her consulting work focuses on leveraging qualitative and quantitative data to meet a variety of client needs.  She applies her research and analytical expertise to projects involving strategic planning, organizational assessment, and in-depth market and field scans.  She has worked on projects for nonprofits from a wide range of subsectors and ranging from major national organizations to community-based and grassroots groups.
 
Prior to joining La Piana Associates, Melissa served as program assistant and grants manager for the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County.  There, she played a vital role in administering grantmaking programs in the arts, education, environment, community development, health, and human services.  Melissa also assisted with community leadership initiatives addressing youth development, neighborhood-building, health care access for the uninsured, and the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
 
During her tenure at the Community Foundation, she gained awareness of nonprofit management issues and capacity-building needs through the Foundation's grantmaking activities, management assistance program, and other services supporting community-based organizations.

Previously, Melissa worked for Life Lab Science Program, a Santa Cruz County nonprofit promoting garden-based learning for children.  In her roles as office assistant and later office manager, she provided key administrative support to the organization and its programs.

Melissa has a Bachelor's degree in Literature from the University of California Santa Cruz.