BEN MURPHY, M.S.

Ben Murphy brings over 25 years of nonprofit leadership and development experience to the Empreinte team. With a focus on inclusive social impact and sustainable community development through grant writing, strategy, and government relations, Ben’s efforts have resulted in the successful development of over USD $160 million in public/private awards and investments across upstate New York.

Ben spent the first 15 years of his career in direct human services, overseeing multi-site teams across an array of operations including: workforce development; interpreting and translation; refugee resettlement/health and immigration; financial education, transportation and microfinance; social entrepreneurship; and adult/adolescent reentry services.

The past decade of Ben’s work has been focused on applying that operational expertise to grant development, government relations, and organizational strategy – helping nonprofits work through not only the procurement of funding, but also through the infrastructure, practices, and culture that sustain efforts over time to achieve sustainable impact in partnership with community.

Ben has held leadership roles with Catholic Charities Family and Community Services, Roberts Wesleyan University, Villa of Hope, and Hillside Children’s Center. He currently serves as the Director for the Office of Foundation & Corporate Relations at St. John Fisher University. Through various board, volunteer, and consulting roles Ben has also worked with Wine To Water, Kiva, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Tech Rochester, and the Rochester City School District. He is a co-founder of the conservation nonprofit TrailsROC.

Ben’s government relations work spans three decades of advocacy at the State, Federal, and International levels. Ben worked on multi-state TANF reauthorization in the early 2000s, has represented organizations in Albany and on multiple State Economic Development Councils, championed multiple Congressional appropriation requests, and was a regular participant with the White House’s Offices of Public Engagement and of Intergovernmental Affairs (Biden/Harris). As an active member of Oxford University’s POGO Club (Blavatnik School of Government), Ben was a signatory to the group’s efforts to shape the United Kingdom’s recently enacted National Procurement Policy, codifying social outcomes targets into government funding practices. Ben currently serves as a member of AFP Global’s U.S. Government Relations committee.

Ben holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication (Media) from Roberts Wesleyan University (‘00), a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from Oxford University (‘18), and a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management (Philanthropy) from Columbia University in the City of New York (‘21). At Columbia, Ben co-chaired his graduating cohort’s capstone which advised on a National Teacher Residency Model that was subsequently funded under the Biden White House. Additional areas of research and praxis include: Universal Basic Income efficacy, and emerging areas of Nontraditional Philanthropy such as cryptocurrency and blockchain applications, cannabis philanthropy, and social finance.

Ben’s consulting work for Empreinte will leverage his deep array of experience to help organizations, as well as donors, thoroughly understand and design philanthropic strategies for maximum sustainable impact. Areas of practice include: (1) pre- merger and acquisition analysis, (2) emerging areas of nontraditional philanthropy, and (3) organizational grant readiness.

Originally from Pennsylvania, and now a self-professed upstate New York convert, Ben enjoys spending time with his family, trail running, and attending punk rock shows.