Renee was previously the Development Director at Rural Democracy Initiative. Before joining RDI, Renee was an active grassroots fundraiser and activist. Renee had a successful career as a technology executive in a series of start-ups before focusing her energies on grassroots organizing and supporting organizations devoted to racial, economic, and climate justice. She is passionate about educating new political donors about the importance of funding the year-round work of grassroots organizing and building progressive political infrastructure. Renee’s love of rural places and commitment to rebuilding progressive political power in small towns is rooted in her childhood summers spent in a small mill town in southern Washington, and her childhood of fishing, tubing, and swimming in the Klickitat River.